Germans in Switzerland

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Albert Einstein of German descent as an employee of the Swiss Patent Office (1905)

The Germans who immigrated to Switzerland in the 2000s mainly live in German-speaking Switzerland . In contrast to most other migrant groups, immigrants from Germany today are primarily qualified and highly qualified, including students.

For Germans, Switzerland is the most popular emigration country. In 2017, almost 305,000 Germans lived in Switzerland. Including dual nationals, their number is around 450,000.

The sudden increase in immigration, especially German immigration, observed in the 2000s is the result of the opening of the EU-15 , as is, for students, the Bologna reform .

History

Already in the early modern period there were considerable population movements in both directions, which were closely connected with the special relationship between the two territories: Although areas of what is now Switzerland were for a long time part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation , they became under the jurisdiction of the Reichstag in Taken out in 1499 as a result of the Swabian War. The formal recognition of Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation by the Peace of Westphalia dates back to 1648. More significant waves of immigration took place after the Napoleonic era , especially after the establishment of the restored Swiss Confederation and the German Confederation in 1815.

The Germans, and people living in Germany, who fled or were expelled from the militarism of the German Reich and shortly afterwards from the National Socialist regime , also sought refuge in Switzerland in the first decades of the 20th century.

2002-2009, 1995-2015

The number of German citizens in Switzerland doubled in the period from 2002 to 2009. From 1995 to 2015 it more than tripled. In 2007 the number of Germans in Switzerland - at 203,000, 2.7% of the population, 12.7% of foreigners - exceeded the historical maximum of 220,000 Germans before the First World War . Since Switzerland had a smaller population at the time, citizens from what was then the German Empire made up 6% of the total population.

Last years

Number of German citizens (in thousands) in Switzerland 1995–2017
year 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
German population
 92 94 96 99 104 110 118 126 135 146 159 174 203 235 252 263 275 284 292 298 301 304 305
2017 - German citizens with permanent residence in the larger cantons of German-speaking Switzerland
Zurich : 89
Aargau : 34
Bern : 28
Thurgau : 22
Basel-Stadt : 16
Lucerne : 14
Basel-Land : 12
_____________________

total approx. 214
 % of residents / Germans
5.9% / 29.1%
5.1% / 11.2%
2.7% / 9.1%
8.0% / 7.2%
8.1% / 5.2 %
3.4% / 4.6%
4.3% / 4.0%
_____________________

70.4% of 305
EU-15 opening 2002–2007

The reason for the steep rise in the 2000s located in 2002 came into force of the bilateral agreements (treaties Switzerland-EU), which the free movement of persons for labor from the EU and EFTA guaranteed and which was fully implemented in 2007 (for the EU-15 / EU-17 , EU-8 and EFTA). While the Free Movement of Persons Agreement applies in principle to all EFTA and EU citizens , German and Austrian citizens were the main beneficiaries, as their knowledge of the German language allows them to get qualified jobs in German-speaking Switzerland without the additional difficulties of a language barrier .

2007

Due to the unequal size of the two countries, German immigrants in Switzerland have a much more visible presence than the other way round: In 2007, over 37,000 Swiss citizens, or one in 180 Swiss citizens, lived in Germany, which is only 0.05% of the German population mattered. Together with people with dual Swiss-German citizenship, there were around 75,000 Swiss citizens in Germany in 2007. At the same time, almost 224,000 German citizens, or one in 350 German citizens, lived in Switzerland, which was 3% of the Swiss population. However, this comparison does not take into account dual citizenship .

The rate of naturalization has also increased gradually since 2007. The reason for this was a change in German citizenship law , which allowed German citizens to receive dual Swiss-German citizenship - above all against the background of the increasing number of qualified Germans who have been living in Switzerland for over 12 years Swiss citizenship law is required. Before 2007, Germans who wanted to be naturalized in Switzerland had to give up their German citizenship.

2009

In 2009, migrants from Germany were the second largest group of immigrants in Switzerland with a total of 266,000 (or just under 3.4% of the total Swiss population), directly behind the Italian- Swiss with 294,000 (3.7% of the total Swiss population) . 22,000 of them were born in Switzerland. Of these, 18,000 were minors - children who were born to parents living in Switzerland. 19,000 Germans residing in Switzerland were married to Swiss people.

2013

In 2013 there were 276,000 Germans in Switzerland ( Ulrich Schmid , NZZ , but 292,000 according to the FSO ), 3.4% of the Swiss population. For comparison - in Germany at that time (according to U. Sd., NZZ) almost 83,000 Swiss people were registered, 0.1% of the total German population, of which 53,000 were dual citizens. Thus, 2.7 million Swiss would have to live in Germany - and speak dialect - in order to be noticed as intensely as Germans in Switzerland.

2014

In 2014, 298,000 German citizens had a permanent residence in Switzerland, most of them in German-speaking Switzerland , especially in the Central Plateau , the city of Zurich , the greater Zurich area and canton .

2015

Of the almost 301,000 Germans living in Switzerland, around 240,000 were born in Germany, which corresponds to 80%.

2017

The almost 305,000 Germans in Switzerland make up 3.6% of the population in Switzerland. In 2017, almost 15,000 German citizens (without dual citizenship) lived in the non-German-speaking cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Ticino, Neuchâtel and Jura. This represented a share of less than 5% of all Germans in Switzerland. In the same year, more than two thirds (67%) of Germans in Switzerland had a permanent residence permit, i.e. they were in possession of the C EU / EFTA permit.

Based on sample surveys from 2015 to 2017, data on the religious composition of German citizens in Switzerland could be obtained. According to these surveys, 50% of Germans in Switzerland are non-denominational, 22.6% Roman Catholic, 20.3% Protestant Reformed, 4.1% members of other Christian communities, 1.4% Islamic and the remaining 1.6% Members of other religious communities or did not provide any information.

2018

In 2018, 6,136 Germans were naturalized in Switzerland. This represents the highest value so far.

Germany is the country of birth of around 355,000 inhabitants in Switzerland. Of these, 106,000 have Swiss citizenship, either since birth or through naturalization.

Admission and reception in Switzerland

Xenophobia and excessive demands

According to media reports, Swiss xenophobia towards German immigration ( germanophobia ) has increased since around 2007, when the EU-15 was fully opened as a result of the agreement on freedom of movement with the EU .

According to Marc Helbling, who, based on a survey in the city of Zurich from 1994–1995, examined the extent and reasons for the Swiss rejection of German immigrants in his research project and reports, Germans are “seen as less likeable compared to other Western Europeans”.

Hostile attitudes towards immigrant groups - City of Zurich, 1994–95
compared to the measured by the percentage of 940 Zurich Swiss people
Italians
  1.5%
Spaniards
  1.9%
Portuguese
  3.3%
French people
  4.3%
Black Africans 
  9.9%
Tamils
10.3%
Germans
11.3%
Turks
27.6%
Arabs
33.1%
Yugoslavs
51.1%
full hostility
100% (for comparison)

Taking into account other literature and media reports, Helbling concludes that this xenophobia also affects this group, although Germans and German-Swiss are culturally very close "at first glance". Furthermore, also that the “inferiority complex” of the German-Swiss “cited in the investigations could lead to German immigration being perceived as a cultural threat” and that “better educated people in higher professional positions feel threatened by comparably well-educated immigrants” .

While the Swiss resistance to immigration from southern Europe and Africa is primarily expressed through concerns about crime and the burdens placed on social welfare by a large number of poor immigrants from the lower classes, the rejection of immigration from Germany has contrary motives. This includes, in particular, the fear of wage dumping in the “high-price island” of Switzerland by qualified immigrants on the labor market and of rising prices on the real estate market due to the higher demand from better-earning German immigrants. In contrast, the German community is the one with the lowest crime rate of all groups in terms of crime statistics ; it is even 40% less than the crime rate among Swiss citizens.

Nevertheless, there are / were German nationals in Zurich - according to the survey of 940 people of Zurich from 1994 to 1995 - the rejected the fourth most immigrant group (unpopular with almost every ninth). They are / were a little less popular than the Tamils (unpopular with one in ten) and the black Africans (unpopular with almost one in ten). The Germans follow - but with a certain "sympathy gap" - the immigrants of Turkish origin (unpopular with every third to fourth), the migrants from the Arab world (unpopular with every third), and the immigrants from the former Yugoslavia (unpopular with every second - and which are generally viewed as a single group, but with particular attention to the Kosovar Albanians ).

Gunhild Kübler comments on the feelings of the overwhelmed, "intimidated" part of the German-speaking Swiss :

“China has 1.3 billion inhabitants, 16 times more than Germany. The Federal Republic in turn is exactly 16 times as many as German-speaking Switzerland. So if a German wants to put himself in the position of a German-Swiss who is intimidated by this overwhelming power, he should imagine that his country in the east does not border on the Czech Republic, but on China. "

- Gunhild Kübler

Uncertainty among those arriving

In addition, Jürg Altwegg gives a historical review:

“As everyone knows, the Helvetii are an extremely warlike and bloodthirsty race. Your xenophobia is notorious. "

- Julius Caesar , : quoted by Bertolt Brecht , that of Jürg Altwegg is cited

As a counterpoint to this: Hans von Liebig wrote a paper in 1928 as a critique of developments in Germany, which among other things says:

"A people is Swiss when their natural striving to defend against foreign influences is extinguished."

Gunhild Kübler comments on the feelings of insecurity among some of the newly immigrated Germans :

“Nothing unsettles a newcomer more than the juxtaposition of Zurich, Basel, Aargau and Bern dialect variants in the same group. In addition, every group of Swiss adults in which a German, tentatively speaking a dialect, opens his mouth immediately breaks up into several parties that incessantly comment on his excursion into the dialect. Some will greet it firmly, some just as flatly reject it because they find it unattractive or superfluous, some will feel ripped off, some will be piqued at the amount of mistakes made, and the rest will burst into joy for the same reason. "

- Gunhild Kübler

Differences in manners and language use

Experience has shown that the excitement subsides over every major wave of immigration with its increasing integration . So a./z. For example, Helbling cites the popular example of the Italians who are largely integrated today , who came to Switzerland as guest workers in one of the “waves” in the 1960s and whose generations now form part of society in German-speaking Switzerland without giving up their culture.

"It is particularly noteworthy that Italians are the most popular immigrants, while when they arrived in the 1950s and 1960s they were the group of immigrants who suffered the most hostility."

- Marc Helbling

In the relationships between the German-speaking Swiss and the incoming Germans, specific misunderstandings can be seen, openly or covertly - which can be traced back to supposed similarities, different mentalities and manners and the language problems and differences that are now known.

Cristiana Baldauf, project manager and speaker at the information evenings in the city of Zurich for newcomers from Germany and Austria, says about the fundamental differences:

"There are often small differences that hold the potential for misunderstandings."

- Cristiana Baldauf-Hornig

“The language plays a central role in the misunderstandings. The Swiss German for most German Swiss more than a dialect, it is the mother tongue, the language of the heart. Much that has to do with closeness is expressed in Swiss German: familiarity, spontaneity and emotionality [...]
High German is learned and spoken at school, but active knowledge is often stored in the basement, which is why the Swiss often feel like the most eloquent Germans feel inferior. In addition, there is the 'disgrace' that the Germans sometimes mistake the High German of the Swiss for Swiss German, so that the German interlocutor suddenly realizes with great enthusiasm that the Swiss German gives him no trouble at all. "

- Cristiana Baldauf-Hornig

Zurich, metropolitan region, German-speaking Switzerland

The Germans who immigrated in recent years have settled in Zurich and the wider metropolitan region with around 1.7 million inhabitants ( Zurich agglomeration approx. 1.3 million, canton Zurich approx. 1.5 million) also in the “triangle” of Basel, Bern, Zurich and other centers and agglomerations in German-speaking Switzerland - a total of just over two thirds of the Germans living in Switzerland. In 2009, the German population in the city of Zurich was around 30,000 or almost 8% of the population; in 2015 it was 33,297, just over 8% of the 410,404 inhabitants, 131,168 of whom are foreigners , which corresponds to a third of the city of Zurich.

Review - in 1910 there were over 41,000 Reich Germans in the city of Zurich - at that time 22% of the city's population.

literature

  • Daniel Frei , Werner Meier, Ulrich Saxer / Kaspar Luchsinger, Werner Reimann (collaboration) / Romy Fröhlich / Christina Holtz-Bacha (eds.): Switzerland and its neighbors: Report on the survey carried out as part of the educational recruit tests in 1981. Sauerländer, Aarau / Frankfurt a. M. / Salzburg 1983, ISBN 3-7941-2512-6
Last years

Fiction, popular

Scientific

  • Sociological Institute of the University of Zurich , October 1994 to March 1995, 1,300 respondents between 18 and 65 years of age, response rate 72%, i.e. H. approx. 940 respondents - Author (s): Jörg Stolz (et al.?). / Source: Helbling (2009–11)
  • Jörg Stolz: Sociology of Xenophobia. Theoretical and empirical analyzes. Campus, Frankfurt / New York 2000.
  • Jörg Stolz: Attitudes towards foreigners 1969 and 1995: a replication study. In: Hans-Joachim Hoffmann-Nowotny (Hrsg.): The foreign in Switzerland. Seismo, Zurich 2001, pp. 33–74.
  • Josef M. Niederberger: Excluding, assimilating, integrating. The development of Swiss integration policy. Seismo, Zurich 2004.
  • Daniel Müller-Jentsch (Ed.): The new immigration. Switzerland between brain gain and fear of foreign infiltration. NZZ-Verlag, Zurich 2008.
  • Marc Helbling (2009–11): Variants of Migration: Why Swiss-Germans dislike Germans. Opposition to culturally similar and highly skilled immigrants. In: European Societies 13 (1), February 18, 2011 - Abstract, info on tandfonline.com / Marc Helbling: Germanophobia in Switzerland . (PDF) Discussion Paper SP IV 2010-702, WZB , Berlin, May 2010 (with a German summary) / Marc Helbling: Why Swiss-Germans dislike Germans. Opposition to culturally similar and highly skilled immigrants . (PDF) paper for the annual meeting of the Swiss Political Science Association at the University of Geneva, January 8, 2010, WZB January 2010 / Marc Helbling: Germanophobia in Switzerland: Theoretical background and objectives . Research project WZB, 2009–2010 / (=> the various, probably identical, versions compare, clean up)

Web links

Commons : Germans in Switzerland  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Ivo Marusczyk, Marion Leibrecht: Germans in Switzerland: How Switzerland ticks - Minister Steinbrück does not know. He could learn in integration courses for Germans , Die Zeit , March 26, 2009
  2. ↑ a b c d Marco Lauer: Integration: I ha di gärn! - Germans in Switzerland , Tagesspiegel June 24, 2009 / also as: Integration for Germans in Switzerland: "Grüezi Gummihälse!" , TAZ October 21, 2009
  3. ↑ a b Gordana Mijuk and Michael Furger: Two million foreigners will soon be living in Switzerland: It's getting tight , NZZ April 17, 2011
  4. ^ A b c Matthias Müller: Refuge Switzerland: Fewer and Fewer German Immigrants , NZZ June 13, 2013
  5. ↑ Gunnar Heinsohn : Germany as a country of emigration: Competent migrants , NZZ July 7, 2016
  6. ^ A b c Adrian Daub: Emigration: Germany's lack of culture of emigration , NZZ July 11, 2016 / NZZ Podium Berlin, July 4, 2016
  7. ↑ a b c d Marc Helbling (2009-11) - see literature above
  8. ↑ (ap): Switzerland continues to be the most popular destination: More and more Germans are emigrating - More and more Germans are turning their backs on their country: Last year, the number of emigrants rose to 155,300, the highest level since 1954, according to the Federal Statistical Office on Announced Tuesday in Wiesbaden. The most popular destination was Switzerland with 18,000 emigrants. The USA (13,800) and Austria (10,300) follow at a distance , NZZ October 30, 2007
  9. ↑ Christoph Eisenring: Most popular country of emigration from 2005 to 2014: Switzerland remains popular with Germans , NZZ January 6, 2016
  10. ↑ Christina Neuhaus: Zurich and immigration: Strangers among friends ?: The welcoming culture in Zurich is sometimes slightly suspicious - the influx of highly qualified specialists from abroad has given the location new impetus, NZZ March 16, 2016
  11. ↑ Foreign Office: Foreign Office - Relations with Germany . In: Foreign Office . ( Auswaertiges-amt.de [accessed on November 18, 2018]).
  12. ↑ a b c d EU-15 - more precisely EU-15 / EU-17 , EU-8 and EFTA - EU-15: the "old" EU member states, EU-17: plus Cyprus and Malta, EU-8: ten new EU states minus Cyprus and Malta - see: Free movement of persons Switzerland - EU / EFTA , SEM , on sem.admin.ch
  13. ↑ FSO (bfs.admin.ch): Permanent resident population on December 31, 2007: total 7,593,494, Swiss 5,991,401, foreigners 1,602,093 (26.7% of residents)
  14. ↑ a b Absolute figures, source Federal Statistical Office : 1990–2010 , 2010–2014 , 2015-2017
  15. ↑ a b c in principle - CH implementation and immigration control, see bilateral agreements CH-EU
  16. ↑ 10 Germans are naturalized every day - The number of naturalizations of citizens of the Federal Republic has almost quadrupled since 2007. Behind the increase is the right to dual citizenship introduced in Germany , photo spreads, Tages-Anzeiger , May 30, 2010
  17. ↑ German-Swiss dual citizens keep the red passport - Swiss abroad who apply for German citizenship no longer have to surrender their Swiss passport. The new German law on foreigners came into force on Tuesday , swissinfo August 31, 2007
  18. ^ Ulrich Schmid : Swiss in Germany: Well-liked, satisfied guests , NZZ January 22, 2014
  19. ^ Federal Statistical Office: Population by place of birth. Retrieved January 29, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: permanent and non-permanent resident population by canton, presence permit, gender, age group and nationality - 2010-2017 | Table. August 31, 2018, accessed March 17, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Permanent resident population aged 15 and over by nationality and religious affiliation, Switzerland - 2013–2017 | Table. March 19, 2019, accessed March 24, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Demographic balance according to nationality - 1981-2018 | Table. August 27, 2019, accessed August 27, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Permanent and non-permanent resident population by canton, nationality (selection), country of birth, gender and age, 2018 - 2018 | Table. August 27, 2019, accessed August 27, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Der Spiegel : January 2007 , NZZ : October 2007 , Swiss television : October 2009 , Die Zeit : February 2014 , 20 minutes : May 2015 , Blick : May 2015 , Der Spiegel : May 2015 , Focus : May 2015 , Handelszeitung : May 2015 , Tages-Anzeiger : May 2015 , watson.ch : May 2015 , web.de : May 2015 ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - see also other articles, individual references  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / web.de
  25. ↑ a b c Sociological Institute of the University of Zurich , October 1994 to March 1995, 1,300 respondents between 18 and 65 years, response rate 72%, d. H. approx. 940 respondents - Author (s): Jörg Stolz (et al.?) / Source: Helbling (2009–2011)
    Comment - the designation of the immigration groups in this study, which Helbling (2009–11) also adopted, was in Adopted the Wikipedia article as long as the text relates to this study
  26. ↑ Source: Jörg Stolz (2000), Fig. II, p. 7. In: Marc Helbling: Germanophobia in Switzerland . (PDF) Discussion Paper SP IV 2010-702, WZB Berlin, May 2010
  27. ↑ (mrs): New statistics: Tamils ​​are more criminal than ex-Yugoslavs - for the first time, exact figures on crime in relation to the country of origin are available. The statistics show a clear picture, but also contradict common clichés that prevail in the population , photo series, Tages-Anzeiger September 12, 2010
  28. ↑ Jürg Altwegg : Oh, you love Switzerland - essay on the state of the nation , Nagel & Kimche, Zurich 2002 - reading sample publisher as PDF ( memento of the original from October 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / files.hanser.de
  29. ↑ Jürg Fink: Switzerland from the perspective of the Third Reich. Schulthess Polygraphischer Verlag, Zurich 1985
  30. ↑ Gunhild Kübler : Of cow Swiss, Sauschwaben and other slip-ups in a changeful relationship. Impressions of being German in Switzerland - In Helvetias Armen , NZZ January 19, 2003
  31. ^ Marc Helbling, based on Gianni D'Amato (2001) and Josef M. Niederberger (2004). In: Germanophobia in Switzerland . (PDF) Discussion Paper SP IV 2010-702, WZB , Berlin, May 2010, p. 6
  32. ↑ a b c Cristiana Baldauf-Hornig: Germans in Switzerland: Beware of Fränkli and Grüezi - How Germans manage not to offend Swiss people . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 17, 2010
  33. ↑ see also literature - fiction, popular above
  34. ^ Resident population of the agglomeration of Zurich , City of Zurich, February 12, 2015, stadt-zuerich.ch
  35. ↑ Facts and Figures: Population ( Memento of the original from July 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Zurich city  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadt-zuerich.ch