What does ethnic German mean?

Answer 1

Today, "ethnic German" usually refers to people who live outside of Germany, especially in Russia and Eastern Europe, whose ancestors came from Germany at some point. There are large communities of ethnic Germans in Russia, for instance. Generally, people only count as "ethnic Germans" if they have retained something of their German cultural and linguistic heritage and regard themselves as Germans. The citerion of self-identification as culturally German is extremely important. Most U.S. citizens of German origin are not"ethnic Germans"; it is essentially a European phenomenon as far as Germans are concerned.