Greece is facing a demographic problem. One of the main causes of its shrinking population is emigration. Greek diaspora communities have taken root across the world — and the largest in Europe is found in Germany. Roughly half a million people of Greek descent now live in the Federal Republic, having arrived in distinct waves of migration. Over the decades, a wealth of publications have explored their story — even a body of “guest worker literature” that captures the migrant perspective.
For the first time, however, a comprehensive scientific study has appeared, drawing on extensive demographic and survey data. The 150-page report, filled with charts and tables, was published by diaNEOsis, a respected Greek think tank known for its original research on social and political questions related to Greece, and for work that reaches well beyond the country’s borders.
The beginning of Greece’s mass migration dates to 1960, when the governments in Bonn and Athens — Germany was still divided at the time — signed a bilateral agreement to recruit Greek laborers for German factories. The second great wave came decades later, in the wake of Greece’s economic and financial crisis after 2009, this time to a reunified Germany.
Between 1960 and 1976, according to the study, 623,320 so-called guest workers made their way from Greece to Germany. The Federal Republic was by far the leading destination: 53 percent of Greek emigrants chose Germany, and among Greeks who left for other parts of Europe, a striking 85 percent settled there. After Turks, Yugoslavs and Italians, Greeks formed the fourth largest national group among migrant workers.
For both Bonn and Athens, the arrangement was a classic win-win. Germany’s rapid economic expansion created a desperate demand for labor, while a struggling Greek economy offered few opportunities or prospects. Germany became a kind of “promised land.” Yet, as the diaNEOsis report notes, this was no love affair. The journey north was, in the words of the study, an “unwanted development” — almost as if the immigrants had been forced to board the trains from Athens or Thessaloniki bound for central Europe. “Greek emigration,” the report says plainly, “was more a matter of necessity than of personal choice.”
The motivations were, above all, economic: higher wages, material stability, better chances for one’s children. But other factors also played a role: a belief in meritocracy (“axiokratia”), a longing for personal freedom, and the hope for a more tolerant society.
Ultimately, a whole bundle of reasons drove Greeks to leave their homeland — aware that migration to an unfamiliar country meant deep emotional and social disruption. The survey data make that clear. Asked what they associate with Greece, a majority of respondents said “homesickness,” followed by “pride.” Yet that pride has limits: Third on the list came “disappointment,” followed by “sorrow,” “stress,” “anger” and “shame.”
Their feelings toward Germany — which for most has long become a second home — are no less ambivalent. The most common association is “gratitude,” followed by “loneliness” and “stress.” The study paints the portrait of a community caught between longing and pragmatism, torn between affection for a homeland that could not meet its citizens’ economic expectations and pragmatic appreciation for a host country that provides material security but little emotional warmth.
The report devotes considerable space to the political attitudes of Greeks in Germany — and here too the picture is mixed. Ideologically, social democracy comes first: More than 30 percent identify with it. Around 10 percent describe themselves as liberal, slightly fewer as conservative. At the last Greek parliamentary election — in which only a tiny fraction of the diaspora could take part, given the procedural hurdles — the social democratic PASOK received about 7 percent of the vote from Germany, while the conservative New Democracy captured more than 37 percent. Greeks in Germany do not appear to be an especially politicized community: Roughly half say they plan to vote in future elections, the other half have no such intention, citing disinterest or personal reasons.
What is unmistakable, however, is a deep disenchantment with Greek politics itself. Confidence in the country’s institutions is near zero. Especially low are the trust ratings for the judiciary, the civil service, the government, the media, the unions and Parliament. Only the armed forces command significant respect — nearly 20 percent of respondents express “very high” confidence in them – but that can hardly offset the collapse of trust in Greece’s constitutional institutions.
While the study offers detailed insight into how emigrants view the conditions in their homeland, it remains silent on a crucial question: how Greeks in Germany participate in the political and civic life of their adopted country. This omission is hard to excuse.
Most of those surveyed no longer see themselves as temporary guests. The majority have built new lives in Germany and imagine returning to Greece only after retirement. They have settled in; their children speak German; many have married German partners. Added to this is a loss of faith in Greece’s capacity to change.
Yet life in Germany also has its darker side. A majority report having experienced racism or discrimination — something the report’s authors link to the rise of right-wing extremism. How those affected respond, however, remains unexplored. Both Greece and Germany are democracies, after all. In Germany, a broad social alliance has formed to combat racism and xenophobia — and of course, many Greeks are part of that movement. It is all the more regrettable that the diaNEOsis study says nothing about joint initiatives in which Greeks and Germans stand together for tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
This article first appeared in Kathimerini English on 11/01/2025 and is re-published with permission.
Cover Photo Credit: Wikipedia (Bundesarchiv)
