Serbs in Germany are German citizens of ethnic Serb descent and Serbian citizens living in Germany. According to official data from 2022 census, there were 232,252 Serbian citizens in Germany, while estimated number of people of Serb ethnic descent stands at around 387,000, representing the largest group within the global Serb diaspora.[1][2]
Serbian immigration to Germany began during the 1960s and 1970s when Germany's Gastarbeiter ("guest worker") program attracted many laborers from Yugoslavia, including ethnic Serbs.
The foundations of the modern Serbian community in Germany were laid during West Germany’s Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle"). Devastated by war and facing acute labor shortages, the West Germany turned to southern Europe for workers. In 1961, West Germany and Yugoslavia signed the Belgrade Treaty, the first bilateral labor recruitment agreement between a NATO-aligned state and a non-aligned communist country: Germany needed labor for its factories; Yugoslavia needed hard currency remittances to fund its ambitious industrialization.
Serbs formed a significant portion of the Yugoslav migrant stream, though official statistics recorded them simply as "Yugoslavs". Most came from rural Serbian regions with high unemployment and strong traditions of seasonal labor migration. Recruitment offices in Belgrade, Niš, and Kragujevac processed thousands of young men, often with only primary education, promising two-year contracts in auto plants, steelworks, and construction.[3] They concentrated in industrial corridors: the Ruhr (Essen, Duisburg, Dortmund), North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart, Mannheim), and Bavaria (Munich). Companies like Volkswagen, Opel, ThyssenKrupp, and Siemens became synonymous with Yugoslav-labor. Workers lived in factory dormitories, wages were modest by German standards but transformative back home: a worker earning 1,200 DM monthly could send 600–800 DM to Serbia, enough to build a house in a village within a few years. The phrase ("I’m going to Germany to earn for a house" (Idem u Nemačku da zaradim za kuću) became a refrain in Serbian villages.[4]
Despite the hardship, the early 1960s saw the first seeds of community life. In 1965, the Serbian Orthodox Church in Düsseldorf consecrated Saint Sava Church in the first permanent Serbian parish in Germany. Weekend gatherings, slava celebrations, folk dances, and choir practices, became vital for preserving identity in an alien industrial landscape.
The 1973 oil crisis and subsequent recession abruptly ended active recruitment. The Chancellor Willy Brandt’s government imposed a freeze on new guest worker visas. But rather than triggering mass return, it accelerated permanent settlement. Workers already in Germany were allowed to extend contracts, and crucially, family reunification became possible under a new legislation. This marked a profound demographic shift as wives and children arrived, transforming single-male enclaves into family communities. By 1980, the Yugoslav population in Germany had significantly grown, with a growing second-generation born in Germany. Children attended German schools but maintained Serbian language and culture through weekend supplementary schools (dopunska škola), often held in Serbian Orthodox churches. The first such school opened in Cologne in 1977, followed by others in Hamburg, Berlin, and Frankfurt. Radio programs in Serbo-Croatian, such as WDR’s "Yugoslav Hour", broadcast news, music, and call-ins, linking diaspora to Yugoslavia.[5]
The violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s brought another wave of Serbian migration to Germany. Germany, bound by its liberal asylum laws, became the primary destination. Many entered on tourist visas and applied for Duldung ("tolerated stay") or asylum. The German government, overwhelmed, introduced the "safe third country" rule and restricted benefits, but family ties built over decades facilitated chain migration. This wave was different than the one in 1960s and 1970s: more urban and educated.
People with Serbian ancestry (including Serbian citizens born in Germany and all persons born in Germany as German citizens with at least one Serbian parent who migrated to Germany or was born in Germany as a Serbian citizens) are currently estimated to number around 387,000, forming the 15th largest ancestry group in the country.[2]
Map of districts by population of Serbian citizens
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