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Federal Government Aid for Ethnic
Germans in the former Soviet Union
Updated:
Information from the Office of Jochen Welt
Member of the Deutscher Budestag
Federal Government Commissioner for Matters related to Repatriates
and National Minorities in German, Federal Ministry of the Interior,
Berlin, Germany
July 2003
Visit to Bismarck, Strasburg, Lehr and Fargo, North Dakota
Assistance in the respective regions
of origin
In the former Soviet Union live the majority of ethnic Germans
today in the Russian Federation (over 500,000),
in Kazakhstan (around 300,000), and in the
Ukraine (around 40,000).
The Federal Government stands by its responsibility
towards members of German minorities in the successor states
of the former Soviet Union and supports these by means of specific
measures to help put an end to discrimination against ethnic
Germans in Russia – a relic of the Communist era that
still lives on.
The focus of this aid has been
on:
-
Measures to support local communities.
In Russia, a total of around 450 community
centers and meeting places have now been set up, as well as
80 in Kazakhstan and 69 in the Ukraine.
These centers provide a roof under which a variety of measures
can be brought together.
-
Youth work, such as prompting
youth organizations, programs to support vocational training
and language camps for children and adolescents.
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Vocational training and further training
measures in cooperation with Russian training instructions,
such as vocational training colleges, and other training
assistance such as courses on modern management methods,
business and economic consultancy, and computer courses.
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Counseling on preventative medical welfare.
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Extracurricular language courses in
Russia and Kazakhstan. These serve to reinforce and
revive the German minority’s identity and to refresh mother-tongue
language skills, which may have been lost to a large extent.
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Small-scale economic aid in
the form of loans granted to set up a small business or trade,
housing projects, creation of jobs in Russia, and agricultural
aid.
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Medical and social aid. For
example, individual humanitarian aid for the needy, such as
ethnic Germans in Russia forced into hard labor under Stalin
(providing food, coal, wood, medication, clothing, etc.).
The main regional emphases, corresponding to the
main regions of origin of ethnic Germans in Russia, are the
Russian Federation – Western Siberia in the two German
national rayons (administrative districts) in Asovo (Omsk region)
and Halbstadt (Altai region), as well as in Tomsk and Novosibirsk,
the Volga region and the St. Petersburg region; Kazakhstan –
Northern Kazakhstan, including the cities of Pavlodar and Karaganda;
and the Ukraine – in the Odessa region and the Mukachevo
(Transkarapthia) region in Western Ukraine.
Repatriation
The Federal Government will continue to enable ethnic Germans
from Russia who fulfill the legal prerequisites to repatriate
to Germany. Between 1950 and 2002, a total of 2,167,921
ethnic Germans from Russia were admitted to Germany
from the Soviet Union.
Integration aid
Pursuant to the Federal Act on Refugees and Expellees,
repatriate are to be given help in integrating into the job
market, cultural life and society in the Federal Republic of
Germany. This task falls jointly to the Federal Administration,
the federal states and municipalities. The Federal Administration
is responsible for providing the majority of financial assistance
for the integration of late repatriates to Germany. In the period
between 1990 and 2003, the Federal Government alone made around
16 billion Euros available
for the integration of repatriates. The federal
states and municipalities have contributed a considerable sum
in addition to this.
The system of integrating repatriates which has proved its
worth consists of four main elements:
1. Language is the key to integration. Repatriates
are currently able to take a full-time language course over
a period of six months free of charge. The Immigration Act
envisages that not only late repatriates should take these
language courses, but also non-German members of their families
and foreigners with a permanent residence permit. The Act
obliges all immigrants to take an integration course consisting
of:
- A basic course comprising 300 lessons,
-
An advanced course comprising
300 lessons,
-
An orientation course comprising
30 lessons on the legal structure, culture and history of
Germany.
2. The Federal Labor Office promotes vocational integration
by providing vocational training measures combined with language
classes. In addition, young repatriates can take advantage
of measures, which prepare them to enter training or a job.
The support they receive throughout the training course guarantees
the success of these measures.
3. Counseling is available to help overcome
personal problems during the integration process.
4. Social integration of new citizens in
their social and cultural environment.
In addition to the above, repatriates receive individual
assistance in the form of:
-
A one-off payment (102 Euro) to cover
the cost of travel from the Soviet Union. Upon arrival in a
reception center, they receive 11 Euro in order to buy everyday
items. If they need it, they will receive payment in kind totaling
25.56 Euro.
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Integration assistance for a period
of six months. The repatriate must be registered as unemployed
and have no other income at his or her disposal to sufficiently
support himself/herself.
-
A pension based on the provisions of
the law on pensions for expellees and repatriates. This legislation
takes account of the fate of repatriates after the end of the
Second World War.
-
A one-off payment to compensate political
imprisonment or a period of exile on account of the person’s
German ethnicity totaling 2,045.17 Euro for
those born before 1 April 1956 and 3,067.75 Euro
for those born before 1 January 1946.
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by contacting Michael
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