There is a significant Russian population in Germany (German: Deutsch-Russen or Russischsprachige in Deutschland). The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 triggered mass immigration to the West, with Germany being the top destination, mostly for economic and ethnic reasons. Russians are the 3rd largest migrant group in Germany.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians_in_Germany
RussiansinGermany
here isa significant RussianpopulationinGermany (German:Deutsch-Russen orRussischsprachigein
Deutschland).The collapse of the SovietUnion in1991 triggeredmassimmigrationtothe West,
withGermany beingthe topdestination,mostlyforeconomicandethnicreasons. Russiansare
the 3rd largestmigrantgroupinGermany.
Sovietandpost-SovietemigrationfromRussia[edit]
Germanpopulationdatafrom2012 records1,213,000 RussianmigrantsresidinginGermany—this
includescurrentandformercitizensof the RussianFederation aswell asformercitizensof the Soviet
Union.[4]
The RussianMinistryof ForeignAffairsreportsthatabout3,500,000 speakersof Russianlive in
Germany,[5]
splitlargelyintothreeethnicgroups:
1. ethnicRussians
2. Russians descendedfromGermanmigrantstothe East (known
as Aussiedler,SpätaussiedlerandRusslanddeutsche(RussianGermans,GermansfromRussia))
3. RussianJews
ImmigrationtoGermanysurgedinthe late 1980s and early1990s. Accordingto the Global Commission
on International Migration research,"Inthe 1990s ethnicGermans andJewscomprisedthe largest
componentsof emigration,andthe mostattractive destinationswere Germany,Israel andthe United
States."[6]
Between1992 and 2000 Germanypurportedlyreceived550,000 emigrantsfromRussia,60%
of the total amountemigratingtothe three maindestinations.[7]
Ethnicbackground[edit]
AussiedlerfromRussia[edit]
See also:Volga Germans
Earlierinhistory,particularlyduringthe 17thcentury,a numberof Germansmigratedto Russia.Article
116 of Germany'sBasic Law, approvedin1949, providesindividualsof Germanheritage withthe rightof
returnto Germanyand the meansto acquire Germancitizenshipif theysufferedpersecutionafterthe
SecondWorldWar as a resultof theirGermanheritage.[8]
Asaresult,roughly3.6 millionethnicGermans
movedtoWest Germanybetween1950 and 1996.[8]
These Germandescendantsincreasinglypetitioned
to returnto Germanyunderthe First Secretaryof the CommunistPartyof the SovietUnion Nikita
Khrushchev.Accordingtohistorian JohnGlad,by1957 the petitioners,commonlyknown
as "Aussiedler"(singularandplural) ortransferredsettlers,filedover100,000 applicationsayearto
migrate to WestGermany;several thousandreturnedinthe 1970s.[9]
The flow of Aussiedlerincreased
withthe breakupof the SovietUnion.[9]
Forinstance,between1992 and 2007, a total of 1,797,084
ethnicGermansfromthe formerUSSR emigrated toGermany.Of thistotal number923,902 were from
Kazakhstan,693,348 were fromRussia,73,460 were fromKyrgyzstan,40,560 fromUkraine,27,035 from
Uzbekistan,and14,578 fromTajikistan.[10]
Numberspeakedin1994–213,214 Aussiedler—andthen
graduallybegantodecline.[11]
The numberof non-Germanrelativeswhoemigratedalongwiththem is
not known,butmanyif not mostare presumablymembersof Germany'sethnicRussiancommunity(see
below).The numberof emigrated Aussiedlerfluctuatesasmanyretainedhousinginthe FormerSoviet
Union—some are presumedtohave returnedtotheirresidencesinFormerSovietRepublics.[9]
SovietJews[edit]
Afterthe SecondWorldWar Germany'sJewishpopulationwas15,000, a small percentage of the
country'spre-warJewishpopulationof 500,000.[12]
That numbergrew to 30,000 bythe late 1980s. Then

2. between1991 and 2005, more than200,000 Jewsfromthe formerSovietUnionmovedto
Germany.[13]
Intotal,the BermanJewishDataBankestimatesthatover225,000 Jewsfromthe Former
SovietUnion(Russiaandvariousrepublics) immigratedtoGermanybetween1989 and2012.[14]
Many,
speakingYiddish aswell asRussian,pickedupthe Germanlanguage easily.The BermanJewishDataBank
estimates"Germany's coreJewishpopulationat118,000 in2013," of whichall butabout 5,000-6,000
are post-Sovietimmigrants;the communitynumbersabout250,000 if non-Halachic-Jewishrelativesare
included."[14]
Growthbegantodiminishin2005 whenthe Germangovernmentreplacedthe special
quotaimmigrationlaw(Kontingentsflüchtlingsgesetz) withmore restrictive rules(Zuwanderungsgesetz)
Other Russian speakers[edit]
OtherRussianspeakersinGermanyfall intoafew differentcategories.The German Statistisches
Bundesamt(Federal Statistical Office)reportedthe followingfiguresforRussianspeakersfromthe year
2000: legal aliens(365,415), political asylees (20,000),students(7,431),familymembersof German
citizens(10,000-15,000), special workersinfieldsof science andculture (5,000-10,000), anddiplomatic
corps (5,000).[15]
The largestpercentage comesfromthe "legal alien"category.The vastmajorityof the
legal aliens,whoare mainlyethnicRussians(withsmaller numbersof Belarusians,Ukrainians,andother
groups) are familymembersof returnees(AussiedlerandSovietJews),butwhohave yettoreceive
Germancitizenship.[15]
IntegrationintoGermansociety[edit]
Most Russian-Germanshave assimilatedandintegratedwell intoGermansociety.[16]
Aswithmostother
immigrantgroups,there remainsome contemporaryissues.Germanauthoritieshave beenconcerned
that the highnumberof Russianimmigrantsself-segregatingincertainneighborhoodshinderssocial
integration.Thishasledtorestrictionson immigrationfromRussiaandthe formerSovietUnion.Other
issueshave includedcrime,drugs,povertyandunemployment.[17]
The Aussiedlerhave raisedmanyissues.Althoughtheywere expectedtoassimilaterapidlyintoGerman
society,Aussiedlerandtheirdescendantsare strugglingwiththeiridentity,andmostconsider
themselvesRussian.[18]
InRussia,due tooutside pressure,theyhadbecome assimilatedintoRussian
society,inmostcasesspeakingRussianastheirfirstoronlylanguage,andthishas made theirreturn
difficult.[19]
Native GermanstypicallyconsiderthemRussian,justastheyconsider German-
Americans visitingGermanytobe American,despite their Germanroots.
A 2006 studyby the GermanYouth Institute revealedthatRussian-Germansface highlevelsof prejudice
and intolerance inGermany,rangingfromlow jobopportunities,toproblemsinthe real estate
market.[20]
The same reportalsofoundoutthat most Russian-Germansstill identifyasRussian,rather
than German.[18]
Notable individuals