The Life of Indians in Deutschland
Life in Germany has been hard for Indians. Even when they are needed, they have been maligned and have suffered. Now, a new breed of Indian in Germany is coming to fore.
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The Life of Indians in Deutschland
Bobby Castro is the online editor at the NRI community, where he has published a number of articles about NRI Indians living in Germany and many other topics.
With the unification of Germany, many lauded the openness of the country to immigrants from Europe and other countries of the world. According to figures obtained in 2003, there are about 43,566 Indian nationals in the country with an estimated 17,500 Persons of Indian Origin cardholders in the country.
This number is small compared to the other larger ethnic minorities in Germany today. This is due to the restrictive immigration policies instituted during the 1970s and 1980s. The turn of the millennium though changed this immigration policy, with the German Chancellor announcing a “Green Card” for Information Technology specialists to be employed in German industry. This immigration policy though was limited to only five years but it allowed these hired Indians to bring their family along to the country. Most of these new worker immigrants lived in urban areas such as Munich.
This though is not without backlash. Because of the relative fear of Indians in Germany, many remain very cloistered, preferring to interact with fellow Indian nationals in social circles. There have also been many political movements specifically targeting Indians fostered by the conservative right wing opposition under the slogan “Kinder statt Inder” or children instead of Indians.
Despite such xenophobic tendencies, there is a new generation of Indians that have flourished in Germany. These are the children of the first Indian migrants to the country that have acclimatized themselves to the German culture. They have become fluent in the German language and have difficulties speaking an Indian tongue. They have become integrated to the German environment but remain outsiders because of their ethnicity. This creates a phenomenon called double otherness, neither truly German nor truly Indian. This creates a new sub culture for these individuals that has broken the normal parameters, allowing free interaction between Pakistanis, Bangladeshis or Afghan. All have a common lineage of Indian but speak and act like many other Caucasian Germans.
Despite the many challenges, Indian in Germany has overcome many obstacles. These include being able to live comfortably through hard work despite the underlying racism pervasive in the country. Many Indians have become middle class level families, even making two Members of Parliament with Indian ethnic backgrounds. The continued acclimatization of Indians in Germany, with the first generation strictly Indian in culture to the second generation with both German and Indian backgrounds can only bode well for the development and growth of Indians in the country in the long run.
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