There are 300,000 ethnic Albanians

Albanians

Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...

 living in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. They migrated to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 from Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

, Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

 and Republic of Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

.

History

The first Albanian immigration wave to Germany began in the early 1960s, 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 about 400,000, of which about 350,000 are 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
  Luan Krasniqi
  Luan Krasniqi is a professional German boxer of Kosovo Albanian descent.On April, 2006, he was ranked #2 by the WBO, coming before other heavyweight contenders such as Lamon Brewster, Shannon Briggs, and Ruslan Chagaev....
  
  , boxer
• Valdet Rama
  Valdet Rama
  Valdet Rama is an Kosovar football player representing the Swedish football team Örebro SK in Allsvenskan, Sweden's top division.-Career:...
  
  , football player
• Faton Toski
  Faton Toski
  Faton Toski is a German footballer playing for VfL Bochum.-Career:Toski began his career for TuS Makkabi Frankfurt and signed after one year an youth contract for Eintracht Frankfurt. He debuted in the Bundesliga for the Eagles in a match against Werder Bremen on 12 May 2007...
  
  , football player
• Fatmire Bajramaj
  Fatmire Bajramaj
  Fatmire "Lira" Bajramaj is a German footballer with Albanian etnicity. She plays as an attacking midfielder for 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam and the German national team. She placed 3rd in 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or competition, an annual award given to the world's best player.-Club:Bajramaj began her...
  
  , football player of the German women's national football team
• Shpejtim Arifi
  Shpejtim Arifi
  Shpejtim Arifi is an Kosovar Albanian footballer also a German citizen playing for Tractor Sazi football club in the Iran Pro League.-Club career:...
  
  , Persepolis player in Iran Pro League
• Lorik Cana
  Lorik Cana
  Lorik Cana is an Albanian footballer, who plays for Lazio as a defensive midfielder and the Albania national football team. He is the captain for Albania at international level...
  
  , football player
• Colos, rapper
• Ferdinand Laholli, poet
• Burim Osmani, businessman
• Ardian Bujupi, DSDS contestant

External links

• Frosina.org: An Albanian Immigrant and Cultural Resource