About a quarter of a million German nationals had permanent residence in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in 2009, rising to some 300 thousand five years later. Accounting for multiple citizenships the number of German nationals living in Switzerlands is much higher, at about 450,000 in 2019. For the Germans, Switzerland became the most appreciated country to settle in, to find work or to study.(ap):
Schweiz weiterhin beliebtestes Ziel: Immer mehr Deutsche wandern aus
– Immer mehr Deutsche kehren ihrem Land den Rücken: Im vergangenen Jahr stieg die Zahl der Auswanderer auf 155'300 und damit den höchsten Stand seit 1954, wie das Statistische Bundesamt am Dienstag in Wiesbaden mitteilte. Das beliebteste Ziele war dabei mit 18'000 Auswanderern die Schweiz. Erst mit Abstand folgen die USA (13'800) und Österreich (10'300)'', NZZ, 30 October 2007Ivo Marusczyk, Marion Leibrecht:
Deutsche in der Schweiz: Wie die Schweiz tickt
– Minister Steinbrück weiß es nicht. In Integrationskursen für Deutsche könnte er es lernen'',

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

, 26 March 2009Christoph Eisenring:
2005 bis 2014 beliebtestes Auswanderungsland: Die Schweiz bleibt bei Deutschen hoch im Kurs
', NZZ, 6 January 2016 The "surge" of immigration during the first decade of the 21st century, especially the German one, is a result of the

EU-15 The 1995 enlargement of the European Union saw Austria, Finland, and Sweden accede to the European Union (EU). This was the EU's fourth enlargement and came into effect on 1 January of that ...

opening EU-15 for short – more precisely:

EU-15 The 1995 enlargement of the European Union saw Austria, Finland, and Sweden accede to the European Union (EU). This was the EU's fourth enlargement and came into effect on 1 January of that ...

/ EU-17, EU-8 and

EFTA The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European Union ...

– i.e. EU-15: the "old" EU member states, EU-17: plus Cyprus and Malta, EU-8: ten new EU-Staaten minus Cyprus and Malta – see:
Personenfreizügigkeit Schweiz – EU/EFTA
', SEM, auf sem.admin.chMatthias Müller:
Zufluchtsort Schweiz: Immer weniger deutsche Einwanderer
', NZZ, 13 June 2013

Gunnar Heinsohn Gunnar Heinsohn (21 November 1943 – 16 February 2023) was a German author, sociologist and economist and professor emeritus at the University of Bremen where he had a chair in social pedagogy from 1984. Heinsohn published on a wide array of ...

:
Auswanderungsland Deutschland: Kompetente wandern ab
', NZZ, 7 July 2016 and, for students, of the

Bologna Process file:Bologna-Prozess-Logo.svg, 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo file:Bologna zone.svg, alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements b ...

.Gordana Mijuk und Michael Furger:
Bald leben zwei Millionen Ausländer in der Schweiz: Es wird eng
', NZZ, 17 April 2011

History

Ever since the emergence of

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as distinct nations in the

Early Modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

– the Swiss became exempt from the jurisdiction of the Imperial Diet in 1499 as a result of the

Swabian War The Swabian War of 1499 ( (spelling depending on dialect), called or ("Swiss War") in Germany and ("War of the Engadin" in Austria) was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg. What had begun ...

, formal recognition of Swiss independence dates to 1648 (

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

) – there has been considerable population movement in both directions. Meaningful population statistics became available only after the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...

, with the formation of the restored Swiss Confederacy and the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

in 1815. In the first decades of the 20th century, a number of Germans and other groups living in Germany fled or were expelled by the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

and shortly afterwards the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, and sought refuge in Switzerland, among other places.

21st century

Demographics

Because of the unequal size of the two countries, Germany being roughly ten times larger than Switzerland, German residents in Switzerland have a much greater visibility than Swiss residents in Germany: In 2007, about 37,000 Swiss nationals, or about 1 in 180 Swiss citizens, lived in Germany, accounting for just 0.05% of German population. At the same time, about 224,000 German nationals, or 1 in 350 German citizens, lived in Switzerland, accounting for 3% of Swiss population. The number of Germans in Switzerland has doubled in the period of 2002 to 2009. The reason for this is the Swiss–European treaty regarding the

freedom of movement for workers The freedom of movement for workers is a policy chapter of the acquis communautaire of the European Union. The free movement of workers means that nationals of any member state of the European Union can take up an employment in another member st ...

, activated in 2002. While the freedom of movement treaty applies to all EU citizens, German nationals have been the main beneficiaries because their proficiency in the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

allows them to take qualified jobs in

German-speaking Switzerland The German-speaking part of Switzerland ( ; ; ; ) comprises about 65 percent of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switzerland, most of the Swiss Plateau and the greater part of the Swiss Alps). The variety ...

without the added difficulty of a language barrier. As of 2009, they were the second-largest expatriate group in Switzerland, numbering 266,000 (or 3.4% of total Swiss population) second to the

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

with 294,000 (3.7% of total Swiss population). 22,000 were born in Switzerland (of these, 18,000 were minors, children born to German parents living in Switzerland). 19,000 Germans with permanent residence in Switzerland were married to a Swiss citizen. In 2007, the number of Germans in Switzerland passed the historical maximum of 220,000 Germans recorded prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. However, because of the lower total population at the time, the pre-1914 fraction of Germans relative to total Swiss population was as high as 6%. The rate of naturalizations has also steeply increased since 2007. The reason for this, beyond the rising number of qualifying German nationals who had resided in Switzerland for the twelve years required by Swiss nationality law, was a change in German nationality law which permitted German nationals to hold Swiss-German

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

(while prior to 2007, Germans wishing to be naturalized in Switzerland had to give up their German citizenship). In 2017, there were almost 15,000 German nationals living in the non-German speaking cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Ticino, Neuchâtel and Jura. In the same year more than 67% of Germans, living in Switzerland, were permanent residents (i.e. have the permit C). Historical demographics 1995–2017: German citizens have mostly settled in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and the city's wider

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

. Already at the historical maximum of German presence in Switzerland in 1910, German population in Zürich was as high as 41,000 or 22% of the city's total population. As of 2009, German population in Zürich was at about 30,000, or close to 8%. As of 2015 this population counted 33,297, slightly above 8% of the 410,404 inhabitants, of which 131,168 were foreigners, some third of all people of the city of Zürich.

Reception and image in Switzerland

;Fears, xenophobia, feelings of being left-behind Since 2007, there have been reports on Swiss

xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

(or "

germanophobia Anti-German sentiment (also known as anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is fear or dislike of Germany, its people, and its culture. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment mainly emerged following the unification of Ge ...

") directed against German immigration, both in Swiss and in German media. While Swiss opposition against immigration from Southeast Europe and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

is – as in other places – characterized by concerns about

criminality In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...

and the burden put on

social welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...

by large numbers of lower class or destitute immigrants, opposition to immigration from Germany has a contrary motivation, notably the fear of competition from qualified immigrants on the job market,Helbling (2009-11), see below and rising prices on the real-estate market because of the increased demand created by well-to-do German immigrants, while in terms of

crime rate In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

, the German community was recorded as the group with lowest delinquency, at only 0.6% of the crime rate among Swiss nationals. The extent of and reasons for Swiss opposition to German immigration were studied in Helbling (2009–11), based on a survey from 1994 to 1995 of 1,300 Swiss (of which some 940 responded) from the city of

Institute of Sociology of the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

, October 1994 to March 1995, 1'300 targeted participants between 18 and 65 of age, response rate 72%, i.e. some 940 respondents (source: Helbling 2009-11) – a survey conducted by Jörg Stolz (et al.?), published in German: ''Soziologie der Fremdenfeindlichkeit. Theoretische und empirische Analysen'', Campus, Frankfurt/New York 2000 and ''Einstellungen zu Ausländern und Ausländerinnen 1969 und 1995: eine Replikationsstudie'', in: Hans-Joachim Hoffmann-Nowotny (publisher): ''Das Fremde in der Schweiz'', Seismo, Zürich 2001, pp.33–74 (Zürich, and the Zürich area, are the main target of recent German immigration – see demographics above). The survey found that, in 1994–95, the Germans were the fourth-most disliked immigrant group in Zürich (disliked by almost each 9th). Following – with a distance – the immigrants from

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

(disliked by each 3rd to 4th), the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

(disliked by each 3rd) and

Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

(considered as a single group, disliked by each 2nd). And disliked slightly more than the

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

(disliked by each 10th) and

Black Africans Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical c ...

(disliked by each narrowly under each 10th of the 940 respondents).

;" , hostility – in percentage of the 940 Swiss who responded...
, - , • Italians ,

1.5%

, - , • Spaniards ,

1.9%

, - , • Portuguese ,

3.3%

, - , • French ,

4.3%

, - , • Black Africans ,

9.9%

, - , • Tamils ,

10.3%

, - , • Germans ,

11.3%

, - , • Turks ,

27.6%

, - , • Arabs ,

33.1%

, - , • Yugoslavians ,

51.1%

, - , ,

, - , style="color:grey;" , (full hostility 100%) ,

Helbling concludes – summing up further literature and media – that "German immigrants put in danger Swiss characteristics as much as immigrants from the Balkans", that "contrary to many other studies, education does not improve attitudes towards Germans", that "people who are young and seek to improve their job position are significantly more Germanophobic than those who are satisfied with their current job situation and are already established" and that "it appears that as much as low-skilled workers fear that poorly educated immigrants take their jobs, well-educated Swiss consider German immigrants as competitors on the job market". As to the feeling of the "intimidated" part of Swiss-Germans, feeling being left-behind, the journalist Gunhild Kübler, a German living in Switzerland, remarks: Cristiana Baldauf, one of the course leaders of the Swiss integration courses for Germans and Austrians, and a German and Swiss citizen, with a German mother and Italian father, says: ;Integration – differences in culture, behavior, manners, language problems Experience shows that the excitement fades away on every major wave of immigration with its increasing integration. So, a.o. also Helbling cites the popular example of now largely integrated Italians, who came in one of the "waves" in the '60s as

gastarbeiter ; ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered t ...

s to Switzerland, and whose generations are today a part of the society of the German-speaking Switzerland, without giving up their culture. In the relations of the German-Swiss and the incoming German come up, overtly or covertly, specific misunderstandings – perceived similarities, different mentalities and manners and, now already well known, language problems and differences.Cristiana Baldauf-Hornig:
Deutsche in der Schweiz: Vorsicht vor Fränkli und Grüezi
– Wie es Deutsche schaffen, bei Schweizern nicht anzuecken'', SZ, 17 May 2010see also ''Literatur - Beletristik, populär'' on German Wikipedia Cristiana Baldauf comments on the fundamental differences, on the petty ones and on the different languages:

Notes and references

21st century – 1st decades (most references in German) * Official demographic data fro
Swiss Federal Statistics Office
* Marc Helbling (2009–11): ''Variants of Migration: Why Swiss-Germans dislike Germans. Opposition to culturally similar and highly skilled immigrants.'' In: ''European Societies'' 13 (1), February 2011 �
''Abstract, Info''
on tandfonline.com / Marc Helbling:
Germanophobia in Switzerland
' (PDF), Discussion Paper SP IV 2010–702, WZB Berlin, May 2010 / Marc Helbling:
Why Swiss-Germans dislike Germans. Opposition to culturally similar and highly skilled immigrants
'' (PDF), paper for the annual meeting of the Swiss Political Science Association at the University of Geneva, 8 January 2010, WZB January 2010 / Marc Helbling:
Germanophobia in Switzerland: Theoretical background and objectives
', Forschungsprojekt WZB, 2009–10 {{Immigration to Switzerland Immigration to Switzerland

History

21st century

Demographics

Reception and image in Switzerland

See also

Notes and references