Albanians in Germany

There are approximately 300,000 ^[1] ethnic Albanians living in Germany. They migrated to Germany from Albania, Kosovo and Republic of Macedonia.

History

The first Albanian immigration wave to Germany began in 1968, they came as guest workers and worked mainly in the industry. They were usually regarded as Yugoslavs and not as Albanians, because they came from Kosovo which belonged that time to Yugoslavia. Due to the political situation in Kosovo came more and more Albanians since the beginning of the 80s.

During the Kosovo war in 1999 were many Kosovo Albanians as asylum seekers in the Federal Republic of Germany. End of 1999, the number of Kosovo Albanians in Germany was about 400,000, about 100,000 have returned voluntarily after the war in their homeland or were forcibly removed.

Migration situation

The number of people with Albanian originy living in Germany is approximately 300,000 most of them originally from Kosovo, 20 126 are mainly from Albania and about 30,000 from Macedonia. Currently the citys with the largest population of Germans with Albanian descent are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich region and the metropolitan region of Stuttgart. In Berlin in 1999 were about 25,000 Albanians, the number dropped because of returnees in their home and population decline of Germany.

Notable people

• Luan Krasniqi, boxer^[2][3]
• Valdet Rama, football player^[4]
• Faton Toski, football player^[5]
• Fatmire Bajramaj, football player of the German women's national football team
• Shpejtim Arifi, Persepolis player in Iran Pro League
• Lorik Cana, football player
• Miriam Cani, singer
• Blerim Destani, actor and film producer
• Colos, rapper
• Ferdinand Laholli, poet
• Burim Osmani, businessman
• Ardian Bujupi, DSDS contestant ^[6]

See also

• Kosovo war
• Arbëreshë

References

External links

• Frosina.org: An Albanian Immigrant and Cultural Resource