The Ethnic German reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Ethnic German

Ethnic Germans (usually simply called Germans) are those who are considered, by themselves or others, to be German rather than anything else but who do not live within the Federal Republic of Germany nor hold its citizenship. The concept of ethnic belonging is always problematic; it can relate to

• cultural connection with German culture, often including
• speaking the German language
• having ancestors being born in Germany or an area that is or was otherwise considered German, without having the German citizenship

The concept of who is an ethnic German has repeatedly changed in history. For example, Austrians used to consider themselves as ethnic Germans up to the 20th century. The first attempts to create a consciousness of the "Austrian nation" took place in the early 1930s, but without major effects. After WW II Austrians increasingly see themselves as a nation distinct from the German one, and today no more than 10 percent of German-speaking Austrians consider themselves as Germans.

Ethnic Germans form an important minority group in several central and eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Romania, and the Commonwealth of Independent States) as well as in Namibia and southern Brazil.

Related articles

• Imperial Germans
• Auslandsdeutsche
• Volksdeutsche
• Baltic Germans
• German speaking community in Belgium
• German minority in Russia and Soviet Union
• South Tyrol
• Volga Germans
• Persecutions of Nazi collaborators

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