Romanians in Germany are one of the sizable communities of the Romanian diaspora in Western Europe. According to German statistics, in 2022, the number of Romanian citizens in Germany was 883,670. [3] The number of people with Romanian ancestry in 2022 (defined as all persons who migrated to the present area of the Federal Republic of Germany after 1949, plus all foreign nationals born in Germany and all persons born in Germany as German nationals with at least one parent who migrated to Germany or was born in Germany as a foreign national) was 1,096,000.[4]
Emigration to Germany from Romania was common throughout the 20th century, and continued steadily way into the early 21st century. Large numbers of ethnic Germans of Romania (most notably Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians) left the country prior, during, and after the events that ultimately led to World War II.[citation needed]
In the times of the communist regime in Romania, albeit the borders were officially closed by authorities, significant numbers of Romanian-Germans were allowed to emigrate to West Germany, particularly in the later years of the Ceaușescu era. This formed part of a series of ethnic migrations (including Jews to Israel and Hungarians to Hungary), which were tolerated under the then socialist rulership. During the 1980s, more than half of the people who left Romania went to Germany.[5]
After the Romanian Revolution which took place in December of 1989, there has been a mass migration of Transylvania Saxons to Germany, approximately half a million of them immigrated to Germany.[6]
Emigration of ethnic Romanians to Germany become quite common in the 21st century, particularly after the entry of Romania in the European Union in 2007.[citation needed] The Romanian diaspora in Germany has a strong presence. If descent is actually taken into account as the main criterion of immigration, then the total number of individuals living in Germany who stem from Romania (both Romanian-German and Romanian) may amount to as much as 2,000,000 residents, therefore putting the Romanian diaspora living in this country the largest of all Romanian ones living within the European Union.
Distribution
According to German statistics from 2016, the number of Romanian citizens in Germany on 31 December 2015 was 452,718, which was up from 94,326 in 2008.[7] By 2022, the number had increased to 883,670 Romanian citizens.[8]
Dan Petrescu (1953–2021), Romanian businessman and billionaire, one of the richest people in Romania at the time, stayed in West Germany for around a decade and had German citizenship
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