Syrians in Germany

Syrians in Germany (السوريون في ألمانيا) refers to Syrian immigrants in Germany, or Germans with Syrian ancestry. The number of people with an immigration background from Syria, including those with German citizenship, was estimated at around 1,225,000 in 2022. Additionally, the population with Syrian citizenship residing in Germany is 923,000 in 2022, making it the second-largest group of foreign nationals living in the country. Notably, Germany boasts by far the largest Syrian diaspora outside of the Middle East.

The population consists mainly of refugees from the Syrian Civil War, who arrived during the 2015 European migrant crisis. In 2018, Germany granted 72% of Syrian refugees protection for the right to work without any setbacks or restrictions.

Significant Syrian communities exist in Berlin, especially in the district of Neukölln and in the Ruhr-Area.

Migration history
During the European migrant crisis of 2014-2015, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees of the Syrian Civil War entered Germany to seek refugee status. The European migrant crisis was eased on September 4, 2015, by Chancellor Werner Faymann of Austria and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. They announced that migrants would be allowed to cross the border from Hungary into Austria and onward to Germany. On the morning of September 5, 2015, buses with migrants began crossing the Austro-Hungarian border.

As of December 31, 2014, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany estimated that there were 118,196 people with Syrian citizenship in Germany. According to the German Interior Ministry, between January 2015 and October 2015, there were 243,721 Syrian citizens who entered Germany to seek asylum. Therefore, there were more than 360,000 Syrian citizens residing in Germany as of October 2015. As of 31 December 2016, the total number of Syrians in Germany reached 637,845.

As of December 31, 2023, the total number of Syrians in Germany reached 972.460.

Germany's number of asylum applicants peaked at 890,000 in 2015, however, the trend began to reverse. In 2018, only 185,000 Syrians applied for asylum in Germany. Despite the heavy drop in applications, deportations nearly doubled to 20,000 a year, marking a shifting sentiment among the German people away from the welcoming culture that brought thousands of Syrians to Germany since 2015. The changing sentiment among German leaders and citizens towards Syrian refugees comes in light of an increasingly right-wing Parliament. In the 2017 elections, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party gained seats, bringing far right opposition to immigration to the national stage.

Of the approximately 740,000 Syrians living in Germany, under 1,000 of them voluntarily agreed to return to Syria in 2018. Due to this extremely low rate of return to Syria, there is growing concern amongst Syrian refugees that once the volunteers and criminals are deported from the country, the idea of deportations will be normalized. Some Syrians believe this normalization will lead to a larger wave of deportations that will negatively affect people who can't speak German or did not secure jobs. A large part of the resistance to return to Syria is the ongoing war and Bashar Al-Assad's rule of majority of the country.

Turkmen
Established in Germany, the "Suriye Türkmen Kültür ve Yardımlaşma Derneği - Avrupa", or "STKYDA", ("Syrian Turkmen Culture and Solidarity Association - Europe") was the first Syrian Turkmen association to be launched in Europe. It was established in order to help the growing Syrian Turkmen community who arrived in the country since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. The association includes Syrian Turkmen youth activists from many different Syrian cities and who are now living across Western Europe.

Notable people

 * Ijad Madisch, CEO and founder of ResearchGate
 * Aias Aosman, footballer
 * Mahmoud Dahoud, footballer
 * Rasha Nasr, politician
 * Mamoun Darkazanli
 * Aziz Dyab, actor
 * Rafed El-Masri, swimmer
 * Hanin Elias, techno musician
 * Lamya Kaddor, scholar of Islamic studies and member of German parliament
 * Adel Karasholi, writer
 * Yusra Mardini, swimmer
 * Sarah Mardini, swimmer
 * Rafik Schami
 * Bassam Tibi, professor of political science
 * Radwan Yousef
 * Mohammed Haydar Zammar, political scientist and international relations professor