There is a significant Russian population in Germany. 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 biggest migrant group in Germany, together with Turks.[1]
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There are about 3,500,000 native Russian speakers in Germany,[2] split largely into three ethnic groups: ethnic Russians, Russians descended from German immigrants, and Russian Jews.
560,178 people in Germany were categorized as ethnic Russians in 2007. Their number is growing.[3]
Earlier in history, particularly during the 17th century, a number of Germans migrated to Russia and modern-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Around the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of their descendants migrated to Germany as "Aussiedler" (transferred settlers). Today their number stands at about 2,300,000.[4] Germany's right of return law allows them to obtain citizenship in Germany.
The Aussiedler and their identity have raised many issues. Although they were expected to assimilate rapidly into German society, Aussiedler and their descendants are struggling with their identity, and most consider themselves Russian. In Russia, due to outside pressure, they had become assimilated into Russian society, in most cases speaking Russian as their first or only language, and this has made their return difficult[5] Native Germans typically consider them Russian, just as they consider German-Americans visiting Germany to be American, despite their German surnames.
The number of Russian Jews in Germany is about 228,000.[6] Many, speaking Yiddish as well as Russian, picked up the German language easily.
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