A study devoted to Ukrainians in Germany and Poland
First, however, it is necessary to know what the Ukrainian diasporas in Germany and Poland are. According to Deutsche Welle, the staff of the two institutes took up this task. They presented the results of their study in Berlin on Thursday, May 26.
In Germany, the number of Ukrainian citizens has increased several times over the last ten years. In 1995 there were about 30,000, now almost 130,000, two-thirds of them women. Most Ukrainians are in Germany due to family circumstances (married to Germans), studying or working.
Ukrainian students, for example, number about six thousand in German universities, as many as French students. But Ukrainian refugees are few. In 2015, 4,658 Ukrainian citizens applied for asylum in Germany to the German authorities. Only 54 people received a positive response.
In total, over eight million foreigners live in Germany (9.3% in 2014). Against the backdrop of such numerous communities as Turkish (1.5 million), Polish (670,000) or Italian (570,000), the Ukrainian diaspora is barely noticeable. It is different in Poland.
Unlike Germany, the share of migrants in Poland is extremely small, only 0.1% of the population. But the largest group of foreigners is Ukrainians. In second place are Russians, in third are Belarusians, and in fourth are Vietnamese.
As Agnieszka Lada from ISP said, last year Poland issued 900,000 visas to Ukrainians for temporary stay and work in the country. “If in Berlin you hear Turkish, Arabic, Polish or Italian speech on every corner,” she noted, “then the only foreign language I hear everywhere in Warsaw is Ukrainian. Or Russian, if migrants are from eastern Ukraine.”
Polish universities are even more popular among Ukrainians than German ones. Tuition must be paid, but as Lada emphasized, 27,000 Ukrainian students in Poland (half of all foreign students) believe that it is better to do it officially and receive a European education that promises good prospects than to do it under the table in the form of bribes back in Ukraine.
A significant difference from Ukrainians in Germany is that in Poland there is a recognized Ukrainian national minority of 40 to 65 thousand people. “This group has a special status,” said Agnieszka Lada, “enjoys special rights, is well organized and receives financial support from the state.”
Before the well-known events in Ukraine in late 2013 – early 2014, the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany was rather passive and inert. If it did anything, said Julian Plottka from IEP, it was maintaining national and cultural traditions. The situation, in his words, changed radically after the Maidan, which led to numerous, sometimes spontaneous political actions by Ukrainians living in Germany – demonstrations, rallies, pickets, information campaigns, initiatives aimed at helping the wounded in Kyiv, and later the Ukrainian army. Over time, Plottka noted, the actions of the Ukrainian diaspora became more organized and professional.
The Maidan, the annexation of Crimea, the war in eastern Ukraine and Russian propaganda became catalysts for civic activity among Ukrainians living in Germany, said her colleague Ludmila Melnyk. Moreover, she added, they were outraged by the absence of a Ukrainian perspective in German public discourse, the fact that in Germany Ukraine was often equated with Russia and there was generally a vague idea about their homeland.
The authors of the study also drew attention to the different attitudes of Polish and German societies toward the conflict in Ukraine, which manifested itself, for example, in the fact that in Germany only purely Ukrainian initiative groups initially launched active activities in support of the new government in Kyiv, while in Poland it was joint Polish-Ukrainian groups. “Unlike Germany, in Poland no one needs to be convinced that Russia is an aggressor,” says Agnieszka Lada, “it is obvious to everyone, so there is no question of whether Ukraine, the victim of this aggression, should be helped.”
Moreover, in Poland, according to her, unlike in Germany, Russian propaganda is powerless, Poles are immune to it. Pro-Ukrainian sentiments in Poland are so strong, she stated, that propaganda from Russian media plays no role. “Poles like to go to demonstrations, protest, argue, fight for freedom,” says Agnieszka Lada, “and they saw a kindred spirit in Ukrainians; it is clear that they need to be helped.”
However, among the organizations created in Germany by Ukrainians who came here relatively recently, there are those that support the separatists of Donbass. But attempts to involve them in the study were futile. “For our interview requests,” said Julian Plottka, “we either received no response at all, or the response was negative.”