The community of Germans with Indian background includes Indian expatriates in Germany, as well as German citizens of Indian origin or descent. In 2009, the German government estimated that the number of people of Indian descent residing in Germany at 110,204, of which 43,175 people were holding an Indian passport, while 67,029 were holding a German passport.[2] In 2020 the number stood at about 177,000 of Indian descent of which 139,000 had a migration background.[3] According to the Federal Statistical Office the number of nationals from India is the second largest in Germany from either South, South East, East or Central Asia, only below the number of nationals from Afghanistan.[4]Majority of the Indians are Tamils and Bengalis.While other significant Indian Communities are Telugus, Punjabis, Malayalis and Gujaratis.
History
In early to late 1960s and 1970s, many Malayali Catholic women from Kerala were recruited by the German Catholic institutions to work as nurses in German hospitals.[5] According to the documentary ‘Translated lives’, around 5,000 women migrated from Kerala during the 1960s and 70s to become nurses there.[6]
Modern era
Germany has become a popular destination for higher learning, and of the total student population in Germany about 12% are International students.[7] Hundreds of schools in India have signed up to teach students German as their primary foreign language as part of an effort by Germany's top technical colleges to attract more Indian students.[8] As a result, there has been a steady increase in the Indian student population in Germany which has quadrupled in 7 years since 2008.[9][10] Of these, more than 80% Indian students pursue their studies or research in the STEM fields i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.[11]
Academic year
No. of Indian students enrolled in German universities
Joybrato Mukherjee, Professor of English Linguistics and the President of the University of Giessen.Youngest university president ever appointed in Germany. President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
^Bundesamt für Flüchtlinge und Migration, Dr. habil. Sonja Haug Stephanie Müssig, M.A. Dr. Anja Stichs (Hrsg): Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland, 2009: page 76, chart 5
^Goel, Urmila (2008), "The Seventieth Anniversary of 'John Matthew': On 'Indian' Christians in Germany", in Jacobsen, Knut A.; Raj, Selva J. (eds.), South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America, Ashgate Publishing, p. 57, ISBN 978-0-7546-6261-7
Van Hoven, Bettina; Meijering, Louise (2005), "Transient Masculinities: Indian IT-professionals in Germany", in Van Hoven, Bettina; Hörschelmann, Kathrin (eds.), Spaces of masculinities, Critical geographies, vol. 20, Routledge, pp. 75–85, ISBN 978-0-415-30696-6
Lal, Brij V.; Reeves, Peter; Reeves, Rajesh, eds. (2006), "Germany", The encyclopedia of the Indian diaspora, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 358–362, ISBN 978-0-8248-3146-2
Goel, Urmila (2008), "The German Internet Portal Indernet: A Space for Multiple Belongingness", in Goggin, Gerard; McLelland, Mark (eds.), Internationalizing Internet Studies: Beyond Anglophone Paradigms, Routledge advances in internationalizing media studies, vol. 2, Taylor & Francis, pp. 128–144, ISBN 978-0-415-95625-3
External links
Indians in Magdeburg - a student initiative that helps and provides useful information to non-German speakers, especially Indian students
Indien-Institut in Munich/Bavaria ; attached to Völkerkundemuseum
Escape from East Germany 1972, autobiographical account of an Indian Ph.D. student in Dresden who married an East German woman
Marathi Katta Germany, Frankfurt - A Marathi Indian Community, a non-profit organization serving Marathi/Maharashtrian Indian community living in Germany for many years.
Recent Comments