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About a quarter of a million German nationals had permanent residence in
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
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 2007
Ivo 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 ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") 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 ...
, 26 March 2009
Christoph 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 U ...
– 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.ch
Matthias Müller:
Zufluchtsort Schweiz: Immer weniger deutsche Einwanderer
', NZZ, 13 June 2013
Gunnar Heinsohn Gunnar Heinsohn is a German author, sociologist and economist and professor emeritus at the University of Bremen. In 1984 he received a ''Lehrstuhl'', a tenured chair in social pedagogy at the University of Bremen. Heinsohn has published on a wid ...
:
Auswanderungsland Deutschland: Kompetente wandern ab
', NZZ, 7 July 2016
and, for students, of the Bologna Process.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
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as distinct nations in the Early Modern period – 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 ( gsw, Schwoobechrieg (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 Hab ...
, formal recognition of Swiss independence dates to 1648 (
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) 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 pea ...
) – 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 Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative ...
, with the formation of the
restored Swiss Confederacy The periods of Restoration and Regeneration in Swiss history lasted from 1814 to 1847. "Restoration" is the period of 1814 to 1830, the restoration of the ''Ancien Régime'' ( federalism), reverting the changes imposed by Napoleon Bonaparte on ...
and the
German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) 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, w ...
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 (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
and shortly afterwards the
Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, 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 stat ...
, 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 languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...
allows them to take qualified jobs in
German-speaking Switzerland The German-speaking part of Switzerland (german: Deutschschweiz, french: Suisse alémanique, it, Svizzera tedesca, rm, Svizra tudestga) comprises about 65 percent of Switzerland (North Western Switzerland, Eastern Switzerland, Central Switz ...
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 , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...
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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. 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/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...
(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 Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
and the city's wider
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
. 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 Zurich.


Reception and image in Switzerland

;Fears, xenophobia, feelings of being left-behind Since 2007, there have been reports on Swiss
xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
(or " germanophobia") 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 in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
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 Ca ...
and the burden put on
social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, 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 specifical ...
by large numbers of lower class or
destitute Extreme poverty, deep poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, includi ...
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 Crime statistics refer to systematic, quantitative results about crime, as opposed to crime news or anecdotes. Notably, crime statistics can be the result of two rather different processes: * scientific research, such as criminological studies, vi ...
, 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
Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
Institute of Sociology of the Zurich University, 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, Zurich 2001, pp.33–74 (Zurich, and the Zurich 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 ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
(disliked by each 3rd to 4th), the
Arab World The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
(disliked by each 3rd) and
Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
(considered as a single group, disliked by each 2nd). And disliked slightly more than the
Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...
(disliked by each 10th) and
Black Africans Black is a racialized 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; in certain countries, often in s ...
(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 worker, 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 ge ...
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 2010
see also ''Literatur - Beletristik, populär'' on German Wikipedia Cristiana Baldauf comments on the fundamental differences, on the petty ones and on the different languages:


See also

*
Demographics of Switzerland This article about the demographics of Switzerland features the population of the Swiss Confederation, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects ...
*
Demographics of Germany The demography of Germany is monitored by the ''Statistisches Bundesamt'' (Federal Statistical Office of Germany). According to the most recent data, Germany's population is 84,079,811 (30 June 2022) making it the most populous country in th ...
* Migration within Europe * Switzerland–European Union relations


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