Kurds in Germany () are residents or citizens of

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 ...

of full or partial Kurdish origin. There is a large Kurdish community in Germany. The number of Kurds living in Germany is unknown. Many estimates assume that the number is in the million range.https://kurdische-gemeinde.de/zahl-der-kurden-in-deutschland-sprunghaft-angestiegen/ This source says that the Kurdish population in Germany increased to 1.15 million in 2015. In February 2000, the

Federal Government of Germany The Federal Government (, ; abbr. BReg) is the chief Executive (government), executive body of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany and exercises executive power at the Federal level (Germany), federal level. It consists of the Chancellor ...

(Die Bundesregierung) estimated that approximately 500,000 Kurds lived in Germany at that time.

Immigration history of Kurds in Germany

1919 & 1920s

The first Kurds migrated to

Imperial Germany 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 ...

in 1919 and the years following, most came for diplomatic reasons related to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and later

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 ...

1961-1973 (First wave)

The first wave of Kurdish immigrant workers from Turkey arrived after Germany and Turkey signed an economic treaty which allowed Turkish citizens (mostly men) to immigrate to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

as '' Gastarbeiter'' ( English: "guest workers") in October 1961. This immigration officially stopped in 1973. By then, the number of immigrants had reached 867,000 (1.5 million in 1980 and 2.1 million in 1998). The percentage of Kurds in this immigrant diaspora is unknown but is speculated to be in the high hundreds of thousands.

1980-2003 (Second wave)

The oppression of Kurds in the 1980s under the then-newly formed Islamic republic of Iran and the then following

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

(1980–1988) kickstarted the second wave of Kurdish migration to Germany and other countries. This second wave only increased in scale after the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

(1990–1991) and later invasion of Iraq by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(2003).

2011-2025 (Third wave)

Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, many of the Syrian refugees who have come to Germany are Kurds. The later War against ISIL also created a wave of immigrants from

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Kurdistan Region Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous Federal regions of Iraq, federal region of the Iraq, Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurds, Kurdish-majority governorates of Arabs, Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate ...

Impact of Kurdish immigration to Germany

Integration of Kurdish immigrants to Germany

According to the '' Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge'' (''BAMF'') ( English: "Federal Office for Migration and Refugees") most Germans with ancestry going back to

(thus including Kurds from Turkey) speak fluent German. Notably,

gender roles A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gende ...

in second generation immigrants resemble that of native Germans (i.e women are seen as equal). Overall the " BAMF" concludes that immigrants with German citizenship are more integrated in German society than those without.

Religion of Kurds in Germany

Islam

Sunnism

Most Kurdish immigrants in Germany follow the Sunni branch of Islam, who are often from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and

. Around 40 mosques in Germany are part of the umbrella association ''Islamische Gesellschaft Kurdistans'' ( English: "Islamic society of Kurdistan"; Kurdish: ''Civaka Îslamiya Kurdistan'' (''CÎK'')).

= Alevism

= The number of Alevis in Germany is between 450,000 and 800,000 (mostly from Turkey), a high percentage of which are Kurds.

Yazidism

According to the German public-broadcasting radio station '' Deutschlandfunk'', 190 thousand

Yazidis Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish languages, Kurdish-speaking Endogamy, endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The major ...

lived in Germany in 2018. 7,000 live in Celle and 1,300 in Oldenburg.

Cities

German Kurds live spread throughout Germany, especially in cities with a large proportion of

Turkish people Turks (), or Turkish people, are the largest Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group, comprising the majority of the population of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. They generally speak the various Turkish dialects. In addition, centuries-old Turkish co ...

. Examples are

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

, and

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Political representation

There have been several politicians in German political parties with a Kurdish origin and who also openly demand an embetterment of the situation for the Kurds. Prominent names are the Members of the Bundestag Gökay Akbulut, Evrim Sommer, and Sevim Dagdelen, all members of the Die Linke. Muhterem Aras of the Green Party is the president of the State legislature of Baden-Württemberg.

Political activism

Rojava solidarity demonstration Berlin 2019-10-10 22

In 2014, Kurds in Germany marched in protest over the siege of Kobani by ISIL. In 2015, thousands of Kurds in Germany marched against

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force () is the Air force, air and space force of the Turkish Armed Forces. It traces its origins to 1 June 1911 when it was founded as the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons, Aviation Squadrons by the Ottoman Empire. It was composed ...

air strikes on Kurdish civilians. In October 2019, thousands of German Kurds protested against the

2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria On 9 October 2019, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an offensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and later it involved the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northern Syria. It was code-named the Op ...

. In November 2023, around 4.100 people (mostly Germans of Kurdish origin) protested against the ban of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK) and against the politics of

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

Gangs

According to the German authorities tin 2013. The Swiss newspapers Blick and

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The (''NZZ''; "New Newspaper of Zurich") is German language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zurich. The paper was founded in 1780. It has a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the German Swiss newspaper of record ...

claimed that the Kurdish gang/motorcycle club "Sondame", allegedly "fighting" for a free

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

, was formed in Stuttgart, and in 2015, it had about 1,000 members in Germany and Switzerland. The group is not well known and its existence is controversial. Other Kurdish motorcycle club and gangs include Median Empire and Red Legion.

Women's rights

Some cases of honour killing have been reported among the Kurdish diaspora in Germany. In March 2009, a Kurdish immigrant from Turkey, Gülsüm S., was killed for a relationship not in keeping with her family's plan for an arranged marriage. In 2016 a Kurdish woman was shot dead at her wedding in

after refusing to marry her cousin.

Notable people

:''See List of German people of Kurdish descent''

References

{{Portal bar, Germany, Kurdistan German people of Kurdish descent Middle Eastern diaspora in Germany Muslim communities in Europe