Aussiedler and Spätaussiedler

German ethnicity

The definition of German ethnicity can be found in §6 BVFG. It is divided into paragraph 1 (persons born before 31 December 1923) and paragraph 2 (persons born on or after 1 January 1924).

Paragraph 1 is based in its basic outline on a circular issued by the Reich Ministry of the Interior on 29 March 1939 (RMBliV, p. 783) and was only shortened by the introduction of the Federal Expellees Act (BVFG) by the passage "Persons of foreign blood, especially Jews, are never considered to be of German ethnicity, even if they have previously described themselves as such." The fact that part of this definition was adopted from the wording of the National Socialist regulation of 1939, has repeatedly given rise to criticism and tensions in connection with the discussion about "Germanness", for which this legal definition is often used. Nevertheless, a sharp distinction can be drawn between this and the West German concept of ancestry (Abstammung [de]), because today adopted children are treated equally to biological children.

Paragraph 2, which today applies to the far greater number of people (>99%) is split into three sections:^[7]

Cut-off date rule, residence criterion and entry via the admission procedure

A late repatriate is someone who […]

• since May 8, 1945 or
• following his expulsion or the expulsion of a parent since 31 March 1952 or
• since his birth, if he was born before 1 January 1993 and is descended from a person who meets the cut-off date requirement of 8 May 1945 according to number 1 or of 31 March 1952 according to number 2, unless that parents or ancestors only moved their residence to the resettlement areas after 31 March 1952, had his residence in the resettlement areas.

Only those born before 1 January 1993, can become ethnic German resettlers. According to the Cologne Administrative Court, this seemingly arbitrary cut-off date does not constitute unconstitutional unequal treatment compared to those born from 1993 onwards. Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Basic Law does not prohibit the legislature from drawing this line.

For persons who already have their main residence [de] in the federal territory, admission is only possible on a hardship basis for a foreseeable period (3–12 months) after entry (special conditions must be asserted, e.g. refugee of the war in Ukraine, which explain why waiting for the procedure in the country of origin was impossible for the applicant).^[9]

After this period, recognition as a late repatriate is no longer possible, as the criterion of § 4 BVFG is lacking (no entry within the framework of the admission procedure with admission or inclusion notice).

Persons who have taken up their main residence in a country that is not listed in § 4 BVFG may also lack the above-mentioned criterion.

Today, all ethnic German repatriates entering the Federal Republic of Germany are initially received at the Friedland border transit camp [de].^[10] They are registered there and distributed among the individual federal states according to the Königsteiner Schlüssel [de].^[11]

Exclusion criteria according to § 5 BVFG

According to § 5 BVFG, the legal status of a late repatriate is not acquired by anyone who:

• in the resettlement areas of the National Socialist or other tyrannical regimes,
• in the resettlement areas, his behaviour violated the principles of humanity or the rule of law,
• in the resettlement areas, he has seriously abused his position for his own benefit or to the detriment of others,
• has committed an unlawful act which would be considered a crime within the meaning of Section 12 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code in Germany, unless the act is time-barred under German law or a conviction for it is to be expunged under the Federal Central Register Act, or
• based on a conclusion justified by factual evidence – unless he credibly demonstrates that he has renounced his previous actions
  • belongs or has belonged to an association that supports terrorism, or supports or has supported such an association,
  • has participated in acts of violence in pursuit of political goals, or has publicly called for or threatened the use of violence, or
  • pursued or supported, or has pursued or supported, endeavours that are directed against the free democratic basic order, the existence or security of the Federation or a state, or the idea of international understanding,
• leave the resettlement areas due to the threat of criminal prosecution for a criminal offense or
• in the resettlement areas, he performed a function that was usually considered important for maintaining the communist system of rule, or was important due to the circumstances of the individual case, or
• who has lived in the same household as the holder of such a position for at least three years.

Reopening of proceedings that have been definitively concluded

The current legal situation also allows for the possibility of reopening legally concluded (and unappealable) proceedings without a time limit. This is made possible by an amendment to Section 27 Paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitutional Court Act (BVG), which overrides the normally applicable three-month period stipulated in Section 51 Paragraph 3 of the Administrative Procedure Act [de].

Subsequent inclusion

It is becoming increasingly common for descendants born after the departure of a late repatriate living in Germany to be considered no longer residing in their country of origin. Consequently, they can only be granted asylum in Germany under immigration law. This wording of the law often leads to inconsistencies in practice. For example, a late repatriate who entered Germany in 2004 and now wishes to retroactively include two grandchildren born in 2003 and 2005 in their asylum application. The grandchild born in 2003 receives the privileged status under Section 7 Paragraph 2 of the Federal Expellees Act (BVFG) as well as German citizenship. The child born in 2005 does not, as it is not considered to have remained in its country of origin and is therefore considered to be residing in Germany under immigration law.

Rights and obligations of ethnic German repatriates

In principle, all civil rights apply to ethnic German resettlers and late repatriates. Due to the Residence Allocation Act late repatriates were previously restricted in their freedom of movement after entering Germany if they could not support themselves through their own employment. The background to this measure was the fact that many late repatriates settled where family members already lived, which led to high proportions of resettlers in the municipalities concerned and threatened to overwhelm the capacity of these municipalities. Due to the steadily declining immigration of ethnic German resettlers over many years, the law became largely obsolete and was therefore repealed on 31 December 2009.^[12][13]

Some municipalities view "resettler" or "late repatriate" quotas in the allocation of building plots as a tool to limit the proportion of resettlers and late repatriates among the inhabitants of the municipality in question (for example, the municipality of Holdorf).^[14] However, such regulations can be overturned by the local government supervisory authority [de] for violating Article 3, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law, since unequal treatment of people born in the "wrong place" constitutes prohibited discrimination based on national origin and is unconstitutional.

With regard to the Foreign Pensions Act [de], it is of central importance whether someone entered Germany as a resettler or late resettler, or as a relative of a resettler or late resettler: Only persons who themselves had resettler or late resettler status upon entry have thereby acquired entitlements under the Foreign Pensions Act, i.e., a higher old-age pension (Altersrente [de]) than mere relatives.

Young men with resettler or late resettler status were also subject to conscription and military service according to Article 12a of the Basic Law until this was suspended as part of a Bundeswehr reform on 1 July 2011.

Immigration and recognition

German citizens who remained in the former German territories east of the Oder and Neisse rivers after 1945, and their descendants, initially formed the largest group among the resettlers. Due to their mostly continued German citizenship, this group possessed the right to freedom of movement in the Federal Republic of Germany under Article 11 of the Basic Law, meaning they did not require an entry permit.

From 1950 to 2005, the following people came to the Federal Republic of Germany as ethnic German repatriates or late repatriates:

• from the Soviet Union and successor states: 2,334,334
• From Poland: 1,444,847 (the Polish diaspora in Germany has a total of 2.5 million members)
• from Romania: 430,101
• from Czechoslovakia and successor states: 105,095
• from Yugoslavia and successor states: 90,378
• from other areas: 55,716
• from Hungary: 21,411

In 1990, a formal admission procedure was introduced, in which applicants must demonstrate in their country of origin that they meet the admission criteria. Since 1997, a language test, known as Sprachtest [de], has been required, and since 2005, this has also been required for spouses and children.^[15]

The descendants of German emigrants who settled in Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, and especially Russia) before the 20th century were able to immigrate to the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1960s onwards, upon application (and by citing their German ethnicity and/or family reunification) , provided they were granted permission to leave their respective countries. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, obtaining an exit permit from a socialist country of the Soviet Union was fraught with great difficulty, decades of waiting, and reprisals, even if German authorities signalled their willingness to accept them.

Many ethnic Germans had come to Germany during the Second World War or had served for Germany abroad. They were often defamed as "poached Germans" by "Reich Germans", primarily because their supposedly "strange", "foreign" language was deemed unnatural, preventing them from being considered "real Germans." Other ethnic Germans were deported to the Siberian or Asian territories of the Soviet Union immediately after the war—as reparations to compensate for the costs incurred by the USSR in fighting Germany—and forced to work in factories or mines. Even these ethnic Germans, as resettlers or late repatriates, were later insulted as "poached Germans" by some long-established residents of the Federal Republic of Germany after their resettlement.

The term Spätaussiedler (late repatriate) was originally an unofficial designation for repatriates who, from the end of the 1970s until December 31, 1992, had succeeded in leaving for the Federal Republic of Germany or had often been permitted to do so in exchange for German "compensation payments" to the countries of origin.

Between 1951 and 1987, approximately 1.4 million ethnic German repatriates immigrated to West Germany, predominantly from Poland and Romania. Their integration proceeded largely without problems. With the opening of the Eastern Bloc following Mikhail Gorbachev's rise, the situation changed drastically: from 1988 onward, the number of repatriates increased dramatically, reaching a peak of almost 400,000 in 1990. Since then, the influx of repatriates has steadily declined. While the proportion of people from Poland and Romania decreased rapidly due to democratization processes and the improvement in the minority situation, the proportion of ethnic Germans from Russia and Kazakhstan has risen sharply since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the ease of emigration.

The emigration requests of Germans and ethnic Germans in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe were supported bilaterally, and from 1986 also within the framework of the Helsinki Accords by the Working Group on Resettlement in the Legal Department of the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn.

As part of family reunification, some Germans from the aforementioned countries also came to East Germany. However, their numbers were not officially recorded by the local authorities, as they were classified not as Germans, but as citizens of their country of origin, and thus as foreign immigrants or "aliens".

When classifying people as ethnic German resettlers, it was automatically assumed, for the sake of simplicity , that anyone who came to Germany as a German from a (formerly) communist country had been "expelled" from their homeland as an "ethnically persecuted person" (even if they wanted to leave the country themselves without pressure from the authorities or the majority of the population, or if entirely different factors than discrimination as a German were at play). However, during the deliberations on the War Consequences Settlement Act, which came into force on 1 January 1993, the majority in the Bundestag came to the conclusion that the political situation in Romania and Poland had normalized to such an extent that the German minorities there were no longer persecuted. Thus, only those members of the German minority who could individually prove that they had been persecuted and discriminated against because of their nationality would be entitled to recognition as expellees. With regard to ethnic Germans from the successor states of the Soviet Union, however, it was maintained even after 1992 that every ethnic German had been subjected to ethnic persecution in their region of origin and had been expelled from there.^[19]

After 1990, Germany experienced an increased influx of ethnic German repatriates from Eastern Europe. In recent years, this influx has slowed. Until 1995, more than 200,000 ethnic German repatriates still came to Germany annually, in accordance with a legally defined annual quota; the language tests introduced in 1996 limited this influx, so that the numbers fell below 100,000 annually until the new millennium. While more than 1.6 million people migrated to Germany again until 2012, since 2006 the number has been only a few thousand per year. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), 7,500 ethnic German repatriates came to Germany in 2005, but only 1,817 in 2012.^[20]

The Federal Statistical Office determined, based on the Mikrozensus [de], that in 2011 approximately 3.2 million ethnic German resettlers and accompanying family members were living in Germany, meaning that 71% of the approximately 4.5 million ethnic German resettlers and ethnic German resettlers who immigrated between 1950 and 2011 were still living in German.^[21] The difference is mainly attributed to deaths and only to a small extent to emigration from Germany.^[21]

It was only in 2014 that the number rose noticeably again to 5,649 due to a change in the law. Also in 2014, 30,009 applications were received by the Federal Office of Administration (BVA), more than in the three previous years combined. According to historian Alfred Eisfeld [de], the reasons for this renewed increase included the removal of the ban on family reunification and the fact that many Germans living in Kazakhstan no longer saw a future for themselves there.^[22]

People who wish to resettle in Germany as late repatriates today and in the future must prove their claim to be of German ethnicity by demonstrating sufficient command of the German language.

The focus on the German language skills of those wishing to emigrate was justified in 2001 during the deliberations on the revision of Section 6 of the Federal Expellees Act (BVFG) in the German Bundestag as follows: “Late repatriates would hardly be perceived as (former) ethnic Germans if they could be recognized as such without German language skills; moreover, their integration would be further hampered. In particular, a lack of German language skills is increasingly proving to be a significant obstacle to the integration of ethnic German late repatriate families from Russia into Germany. This creates burdens on social welfare budgets (Sozialhaushalte [de]), which will be particularly difficult to justify if recognition as late repatriates is to be possible despite a lack of German language skills”.

According to censuses in the Soviet Union, the proportion of those who stated German as their mother tongue among those registered as “Germans” fell from 66.8 percent in 1970 to 48.7 percent in 1989. In a study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in 2003, 64 percent of ethnic German resettlers admitted to Germany stated that they had not spoken German at home in their country of origin.

Recent studies of sociolinguistics suggest that someone “who does not have native-level fluency in German […] will find it difficult to maintain their claimed German identity without question".^[23] However, there is also opposition to the idea that only those who have been taught German by their parents are ethnically German.^[19]

To encourage ethnic Germans, especially those living in Poland and Russia, to remain in their current areas of residence, the Federal Government of Germany has developed a system of assistance (Bleibehilfen [de]) for remaining in the country, based on Section 96 [de] of the Federal Expellees Act (BVFG).

Integration into society

Regarding the integration of ethnic German resettlers, the Schader Foundation [de] states in a study published in 2007:

• The vast majority of ethnic Germans from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic who emigrated to Germany were socialized in a Soviet environment. Only the oldest generation still remembers the purely German marriages and neighbourhoods that were common before World War II, after which they were destroyed. Their culture and way of life were no longer even based on an outdated and stagnant image of Germany, but rather on contemporary cultural and consumer patterns of Soviet societies.
• The main reason for relocating to Germany after the collapse of the Soviet Union was the chance to secure a better future for themselves and their children in a wealthy country.
• Emigration to Germany was often achieved against the resistance of family members. Older children and teenagers, in particular, were unwilling to give up their old way of life and the peer groups within which they moved.
• The stigmatization of people of German descent as 'Germans' or even pejoratively as 'Nazis' in the Soviet Union transformed, after resettlement in West Germany, into stigmatization as 'Russians'. This verbal expression of exclusion was adopted, particularly by the younger generation, as a marker of their own identity formation and self-differentiation, and still causes considerable integration problems.
• The exclusion experienced in the host country, both externally imposed and self-imposed, which particularly affects many young male immigrants, is closely linked to the timing of their resettlement to Germany, before or after the mid-1990s. The early groups of immigrants still possessed knowledge of the German language and culture and encountered favourable labour market conditions in Germany; their structural integration was swift and successful. Among the later groups of immigrants, only a few individuals still had German language skills, and their cultural socialization was entirely Russian or Soviet. The deteriorating labour market situation in Germany and reduced funding, for example for language courses, significantly hampered their integration into the host country. For these individuals, the history of migration is therefore, in many cases, a history of social decline.

A major reason for this stigmatization is the belief held by many long-established Germans that one is only "German" if one has a sufficiently good command of the German language. According to a study presented at the 47th Congress of the German Society for Psychology in Bremen in 2010, 96.6 percent of all native Germans hold this view.

At a conference on “Migration and Integration” held by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in March 2003, it was noted that ethnic German repatriates are disproportionately affected by and at risk of unemployment. “Although […] around two-thirds of ethnic German repatriates have several or even many years of professional experience, very few are able to apply their skills in Germany. Professional integration often fails due to a lack of German language skills and computer skills. Only about 21 percent of those surveyed rated their language skills as advanced or very good. 36 percent of the repatriates surveyed stated that they had already spoken German at home”.

The theory that adolescents and young adults from immigrant backgrounds are more susceptible to drug use and crime is controversial.^[24][25]

The Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland (Association of Germans from Russia) emphasizes the opportunities that the immigration of ethnic Germans from Russia to Germany brings, “because they bring young, large families and hardworking people into a society that is increasingly facing the danger of an aging population, and because they certainly don't need to hide their abilities and their willingness to perform”.^[26]

In 2006, the then Federal Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Schäuble, commented on the situation, saying: “The noticeable increase in accompanying family members with insufficient language skills and the difficult situation on the labor market in Germany are causing us more problems today than in the past. The majority of resettlers are making efforts to integrate by learning German and taking jobs that are often far below their personal qualifications. […] Unfortunately, we have some problems with a portion of the younger male generation – although I suspect that the portrayals in the media are often exaggerated and one-sided. […] We must counteract this problem with all our strength and together, as best and wherever we can.”^[27]

In Russia, the situation is viewed more skeptically: “Today, approximately 2.5 million citizens live in the Federal Republic of Germany who immigrated as ethnic German repatriates, late repatriates, or their family members from the states of the former Soviet Union. For many of them, the dream of acceptance and a better life has not been realized in Germany”. In the context of this Russian criticism, the government of the Russian Federation adopted a state “Program for the Permanent Repatriation of Russian-Speaking Persons Living Abroad to the Territory of the Russian Federation” (short name: ‘Compatriots Program’) in June 2007. Its aim is to promote the return migration of 300,000 Russian-speaking people from the CIS, Israel, the USA, and Germany (late repatriates, Jewish immigrants, and Russian nationals) (by 2009).^[28]

Of the ethnic German resettlers, 80 percent or more successfully completed the integration courses they attended (the average for all immigrant groups is approximately 70 percent).^[29] In 2007, an average of 23,542 ethnic German resettlers were registered as unemployed (in 1998, 116,871 ethnic German resettlers were registered as unemployed; in 1999, their number was 92,054).^[30] While 218,708 German immigrants came to Germany from the Russian Federation between 2000 and 2006, 13,661 returned to Russia during this period.^[31]

In numerous German states, special courses for resettlers have been established, although the target groups and admission requirements vary from state to state. These courses generally build upon foreign secondary school qualifications of at least ten years' duration and lead to the Allgemeinen Hochschulreife

or the entrance qualification (Fachhochschulreife [de]) for universities of applied sciences within two years . Supplementary funding to BAföG (Federal Training Assistance Act) is provided, for example, by the Otto Benecke Foundation [de].^[32][33]

Eisfeld estimates that the integration of late repatriates in Germany has been "largely successful", although for many of those affected it meant a social decline, especially if they did not receive (Anerkennung ausländischer Berufsqualifikationen [de]).

Refugees and displaced persons

Germans who were expelled from the former German eastern territories that were subsequently under foreign administration after the Second World War (1945–1948) are referred to as expellees .

Refugees of Flucht [de] (1944/45), expellees (or, in the terminology of the GDR, " resettlers" (Umsiedler [de]) – 1945–48), and ethnic German repatriates (1957–1992) are all referred to as German Expellees. Until 1992, ethnic German repatriates were also included in the group of expellees. Ethnic German repatriates from the historical German eastern territories already possessed German citizenship, as either their ancestors or they themselves had been citizens of the German Reich within the borders of 31 December 1937 [de].

Germans from Russia, Germans from Russia

The meaning of the term "Russian Germans," which formerly referred to resettlers and late resettlers from the successor states of the Soviet Union and those still living there, is increasingly narrowing to those Germans who reside permanently in the successor states of the Soviet Union, particularly in Russia, while those who resettled there now predominantly refer to themselves as "Germans from Russia." The self-designation of the Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland e. V. (Association of Germans from Russia) is particularly influential in shaping this linguistic landscape.

The increasing use of the term "German Russians" for ethnic German repatriates and late repatriates from the successor states of the Soviet Union as an external designation is misleading, unless it is assumed that the people in question are Russians who wish to become German. In fact, from an official German perspective, ethnic German repatriates and late repatriates were already considered German before their resettlement in Germany and must therefore be classified as German even if they converse among themselves in Russian and speak it better than German (→  Russian-speaking population groups in Germany ).

In a 2016 article published by Spiegel Online about “Russian-speaking citizens and Russians living in Germany,” the terms “so-called Russian Germans,” “German Russians,” “Russian-speaking citizens,” and “people of Russian descent” are used interchangeably, apparently referring to the same people. The headline even includes them among the “Russians”. The article cites an English-language study, “Russians in Germany,” published by a Russian institute presented as critical of the Kremlin, which also refers to Germans from Russia (78 percent of respondents were “German Resettlers,” i.e., German “repatriates”.^[36] The article notes that, according to the study, 44 percent of the reference group “consider themselves German”.

Migrants

After Rainer Ohliger had already advocated in 2005 for a differentiated integration of expellees and late repatriates into the general migration history, Panagiotidis argues that all those who have moved from the successor states of the Soviet Union are “migrants” to whom the research methods that are common for other migrant groups (especially from the Mediterranean region) must be applied. According to Panagiotidis, both “unobtrusive integration [and] persistent segregation […] describe the reality of different milieus within the large group of ‘ethnic German repatriates from Russia.’ This large group is necessarily heterogeneous given its size, the diverse backgrounds of its members, and the variety of their socioeconomic circumstances. With this heterogeneity, which will only intensify in the now-adult second generation and the growing third, ethnic Germans from Russia are today first and foremost part of Germany’s diverse migration society (Migrationsgesellschaft [de]). The use of the Russian language and the consumption of Russian food products are just as much a part of this as assimilation into the German middle class while simultaneously maintaining a more or less pronounced awareness of their own ‘other’ origins, or even ‘segmented integration’ in religiously defined communities. Just as with other migrant groups, it is essential to always consider this diversity of experiences and life plans among ethnic Germans from Russia in order to avoid inaccurate, homogenizing stereotypes.” to avoid interpretations of their present. In general, Panagiotidis and others warn against “groupism”, i.e., against the frequently encountered thought pattern: “A certain person (does not) belong to social group x and therefore (does not) exhibit the characteristic y”.

The term "migrants" used to describe ethnic Germans from Russia is met with resistance from representatives of ethnic German resettler associations. Dietmar Schulmeister, state chairman of the Association of Germans from Russia in North Rhine-Westphalia, states: "Germans from Russia are not migrants". The Siebenbürgische Zeitung explains its rejection of the term "migrants" for ethnic German resettlers and late repatriates by arguing that the term almost inevitably carries the connotation of "Ausländer". The essential characteristic of a person of German ethnicity, however, is their "cultural self-understanding as German" already present in their country of origin. The process of moving across national borders is, in the case of ethnic German resettlers and late repatriates, more comparable to the return of ethnic Germans from abroad to Germany, which is also not considered "migration." The newspaper quotes a statement by Chancellor Angela Merkel: "Ethnic German resettlers and late repatriates are Germans and, as such, must be distinguished from foreign migrants".