View source for German Assyrians

{{refimprove|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox Ethnic group
|group     = German Assyrians
|image     =
|image_caption     = An Aramean protest with 25.000 attendants in [[Berlin]] (2009)
|pop       = over 130,000<ref name="Borken">[https://web.archive.org/web/20111008014028/http://www.borkenerzeitung.de/lokales/kreis_borken/borken/1561426_Diskussion_zum_Thema_Aaramaeische_Christen_im_Kapitelshaus.html "Diskussion zum Thema 'Aramäische Christen' im Kapitelshaus"] Borkener Zeitung {{in lang|de}} (archived link, 8 October 2011)</ref>
|regions   = {{center|[[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Hesse]], [[Bavaria]], [[Baden-Württemberg]]}}
|pop1      =
|languages = [[German language|German]] '''·''' [[Neo-Aramaic languages|Aramaic]]
|religions = Mainly [[Christianity]]<br/><small>(majority: [[Syriac Christianity]]; minority: [[Protestantism]])</small>
}}
{{Assyrian culture}}

'''German Assyrians''' ({{Langx|de|Assyrer in Deutschland}}) are [[Germany|Germans]] of [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] descent or Assyrians who have [[German citizenship]]. The Assyrians in Germany mainly came from [[Turkey]], [[Iraq]], [[Iran]] and [[Syria]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bwLdCQAAQBAJ&dq=northern+Iraq%2C+southeastern+Turkey%2C+northwestern+Iran%2C+northeastern+Syria+Assyrians&pg=PT18 Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century By Sargon Donabed]</ref> 

The immigrant community of people of [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] descent in Germany is estimated at over 130,000 people.<ref name="Borken" /> They are known in German either as ''Assyrer'' ("Assyrians") or as ''Aramäer'' ("[[Aramaean identity|Arameans]]").<ref>Lembert, Christiane (2002): Migranten aus dem Tur Abdin: Suryoye in einer diaspora community. In: Martin Tamcke (ed.), ''Daheim und in der Fremde: Beiträge zur jüngeren Geschichte und Gegenwartslage der orientalischen Christen''. Münster: LIT Verlag, p. 143–162.</ref>

==History==
[[File:Mor Had Bschabo (Hausen) 15.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Mor Had Bschabo Church in [[Pohlheim]]]]
Being oppressed and persecuted throughout the 20th century for their religion, many arrived from Turkey only seeking a life. The first wave arrived in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the German economic plan of "[[Gastarbeiter]]". As Germany was seeking immigrant workers (largely from [[Turkey]]), many Assyrians saw an opportunity for freedom and success and applied for visas along with Turks. Assyrians started working in restaurants or as construction workers for companies and many began running their own shops. The first Assyrian immigrants in Germany started organizing themselves by forming culture clubs and building churches. The second wave came almost immediately after the first, as a result of two events.

The first event was when the Assyrian mayor of [[Dargecit]] was assassinated in 1979 in what has been looked at as a takeover of the local government by Kurds of the [[Tur Abdin|Assyrian homeland in Turkey]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundgren |first1=Svante |title=The Assyrians: Fifty Years in Swedenq |date=15 May 2019 |publisher=Nineveh Press |isbn=978-91-984101-7-4 |page=14}}</ref> The new mayor was a Kurd, and that caused the local government to allow huge influxes of Kurds to start squatting on land and driving people off their land. The second event was when the [[Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)|Kurdish–Turkish conflict]] began in 1984. The area was effectively turned into a sectarian warzone between Turkey and the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party|PKK]] with Assyrians caught in the middle. Nearly all Assyrians ended up fleeing the area, seeing as how both the Turks and Kurds were hostile, and they would be defenseless now that the local government is out of their hands. They continued to trickle out all the way until the late 90s when the conflict died down, by that time only around 1,000–2,000 people out of 70,000 prior to the conflict remained. Since the early 2000s some reverse migration back to Turkey has occurred now that the conflict is over, with now around 3,000 in the region. Most Assyrians are settled into Germany's high quality of life and good economy now, so the majority would probably only rebuild/repair their homes and property in Turkey for use as vacation homes at most.

==See also==
*[[Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden|Swedish Assyrians]] 
*[[Assyrian diaspora]]
*[[Assyrians in Turkey]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
*[http://www.suryoyosat.de/ Suryoyo Sat Germany]
*[http://www.oromoye.de/ Federation of the Arameans in Germany - FASD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026013524/http://www.oromoye.de/ |date=2008-10-26 }}
*[http://www.ajm-online.com Assyrian Youth Federation Middle Europe]
*[http://www.bethnahrin.de Mesopotamian Club Augsburg]

{{Immigration to Germany}}
{{Assyrian communities}}
{{Europe in topic|Assyrians in}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Assyrians in Germany}}

[[Category:Assyrian diaspora in Europe|Germany]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Germany]]
[[Category:Middle Eastern diaspora in Germany]]
[[Category:German people of Assyrian descent]]

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