Why are there SO MANY Turks in Germany?

Explore the fascinating history that ties Turkey and Germany together in a series of alliances and exchanges that ultimately helped propel Germany to economic greatness.

This video delves into the centuries-old relationship between the two nations, from the Ottoman–Habsburg wars to the post-World War II era, concluding that the Turkish workforce was instrumental in fueling the German Economic Miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) of the 20th century.

Learn how Turkey's role as an ally and a source of labor helped transform Germany into one of the world's strongest economies.

🔔 Subscribe and turn on notifications to stay updated on our weekly deep dives into the untold history of the Muslim World.

[XY-uctw]

As a Turk, your video is surprisingly accurate. Unlike most people think, Turks went there not as refugees.

[tkendirli]

As a son of one those workers. My Father was a technician who worked in the rebuilding of the fallen infrastructure of Germany starting in for almost 15 years and had a different job after that, before he went back to Turkiye in 1985 taking us with him. As a person who was born in Germany and raised there i can say, i have experienced only one time a case which can be described as discriminatory when i was Germany. I've much more good memories rather than bad ones. As a Turkish citizen living in my homecountry for more 35 years now i often visit Germany for business reasons and everytime i went there my chilhood memories are coming back. I wish only good to German people, my german, italian, moroccan, pakistani and greek childhood friends yes we lost our connection but my prayers on your wellbeing never changed. Most of them are 50 years old now. Mein Kindergarten, meine Schule, Offenbach, Sachsenhausen und Frankfurt AM.

[ayhanfedai]

Turkey actaully asked Germany to send Turks back because they needed trained workers .

[MahaKhanED]

Jazakallah for educating us. Knowledge is power. I was telling a sister in Palestine about your videos. She was so distressed and i told her about Maldives video and how one man was victorious in liberation of Maldives. Thanks for the light and best sadqa is to spread the knowledge

[NoName-nnlj]

germans never thanked for this, the first line of defense on the Berlin Wall were Turks, yes Turkish families were settled there, so soviets would shot Turks instead of germans.

[mortihucay]

My Grandfather worked in Istanbul for a weapon factory. At some point people came and said they were looking for a caster for metallic materials in Germany and poached him (Company near Hamburg - Aluminium Oxid, AOS). He then brought his wife and my father to Germany as a small child and worked in Germany's heavy industry until he retired. He later died of cancer. Due to all the hazardous substances and the lack of protection, it has collected toxic gases. Many of his buddies who were also Turks or Slavic died in a similar way.

My grandparents' generation was called because the Germans themselves didn't want to get their hands dirty doing such work. In addition, the Germans thought that we would leave of our own accord at some point. But my grandfather stayed and got an apartment first. Later he was able to finance a house and my father still lives there to this day. And his grandson (me) now works as a technical manager in the IT department at Germany's largest training companies for crafting.

But the question is. Even though we were born here, do we still feel comfortable? I have often thought about emigrating. Back to turkey or to another state. Germany and Turkey no longer have anything in common. Something like a German-Turkish friendship, if it existed, only existed during the war. But not in my reality.

[rk]

But Germans now have the audacity to want to kick all Turks out (Far right political party). Absolutely ungrateful. I'm also a foreigner in Germany, but not Turkish.

[maltek]

U forgot something. While the Turks went to Germany to support the economic miracle it was the idea that after the two years the Turks would go back to turkey as qualified workers to fuel the turkish economy because most of the men that went to Germany at first were unqualified farmers from rural turkey

[Nordanatolier]

Great video. As a grandson of those turkish guest workers who came in the late 60s to germany I was born and raised here in Germany. Raising up between two cultures is really very difficult and sometimes you have an identical crisis. But you can also use this as your advantages when you can speak both languages fluently and is an enrichment for your cultural understanding.
But unfortunately we are anyway experience a lot of discrimination and racism here. And in Turkey like you said in the video they call us „Almanci“ and when we are in Turkey we also still some kind experience discrimination in another way. So we are sticked between two cultures and try to make the best out of it.
But for me it is something special and I‘m proud of to be one of these „Almanci“ in the third generation.
Greetings from South Germany.
#Plaka55

[ggoddkkiller]

Turks living in Germany got indeed germanized to a degree but they also turkified Germans and literally created Turkish towns inside Germany. This is the reason why some right wing Europeans don't like Turkish migrants as they don't become Europeans in few decades like other migrants, even after 60 years they are still Turkish, their children are Turkish. Only their grandchildren recently began becoming Germans especially if one of their parents is German. So they aren't ''ideal migrants'', Europeans might brag about their liberalism all day long but if you look at their actions they don't like liberalism at all and always favouring their own against foreign cultures...

[NC]

a little night story has it that a Turkish man from the Black Sea region, working in a chocolate factory, one day he ate the hazelnuts he brought from his homeland, which he had in his pocket while he was working, at one point he must have screwed an M4 bolt onto the machinery . Then he dropped nuts from his pocket onto the chocolate that had already been poured into the cast plates. The man was embarrassed by it and said nothing, later the boss came into the canteen and shouted. Who made this brilliant chocolate? The man said, I have that, meister, sorry. But the boss came and hugged him. etc etc. The factory called the chocolate Nussbeisser.

[haskalah]

I am German and I thought public law at university.
There are some facts you need to know.
The turks are perfectly legally in our country and every single one has a residence permit from our authorities or citizenship!
2. The Turks faced heavily discrimination in our country.
Though there has never been a decree or any LEGALLY based actions against them, there were governments like that of Helmut Kohl who wanted to force them out by discrimination and illegal actions.
There children were systematically prevented to visit the higher education schools though they were qualified and had/ have the legal right to do.
During military rule in Turkey German governments would ask turkish authorities to send people spying on the Turkish people in Germany. The reason is to prevent them from using the freedom of speech or practice their religion freely as they would face reprisal actions when visiting their relatives during holidays.
When Mr Erdoğan came to power the German governments started to condemn the same institutions THEY asked the Turkish military to install in Germany!
3. Until recently ehe German governments usef asked the Turkish governments to send Turkish teachers to teach the Turkish students in Turkish language at school and the German governments would pay for that to prevent them from integrating into society.
Again all those actions despite that every Turkish person is perfectly legally in Germany with legal residence permit!!

[YallaGoetheTV]

Im german and i can tell you that the turkish-german relationship is a hate-love relationship

[bill]

MaşAllah I love your Ottoman and other Türk content brother.
No Muslims speak about this today!!!

Wish you would speak about the treacherous Arab Revolt though, which is what put the Muslims in the state they are in today.

[La-Stranger]

Im not from turkey but my father was also called as „Gastarbeiter“!
One thing I have to say is this generation of my father who came here in the 60s 70s were treated as second class humans where they put 5-10 of them in a flat with 1-2 rooms and treated them as animals just go work shut up here money and hopefully u go back.
And now they playing moral advocate on other country’s, the west and its double standards

[cemyildiz]

Cem Karaca's "Es kamen Menschen an" song is nice one about the topic.

"They have called labors but people came"

[lolgast]

The last part is simulair in the Netherlands. We had a labour shortage after WWII and some even argue we didn't automate enough or were to arrogant to do enough jobs. Whatever in the end many morrocans and Turkish labours stayed. Starting a steady Muslim population in the Modern Netherlands.

[PotatoBlaster]

my fathers side of the family were Gastarbeiters in the 70s and stayed in west germany until the early 90s when they moved to my current town near berlin in former east germany.
My mother side had the oppurtunity to work in germany too in the 60s however they rejected it but as you see im in germany right now so those gastarbeiters also later on brought in more turks in the 80s and 90s and 2000s which is the reason my aunt, uncle and mom ended up here too.

[artfasil]

For a long time now the Germans and Turks have been allies and that is good for both nations.

[rainman]

And now some Germans are angry that there are so many turks here...