The Orthodox and Western Christians
Just like the Muslim minority, the Orthodox minority in Germany is mainly the result of the immigration in the 20th century.
Russian emigrates escaping the 1917 Revolution were the first Christian Orthodox arriving in Germany, followed by the people who moved after World War 2. In the framework of the recruitment programmes of the FDR in the 1960s, they were later joined by Greek and Serbian Orthodox. Then, like for the Jewish community it is the immigration of people coming from the former States of the Soviet Union which contributed to the increase of this community, as well as Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants. The Wars in Ex-Yugoslavia also led a great number of Serbian Orthodox to emigrate in Germany.
Today, there are about 1,2 million of Orthodox Christians living in Germany who belong to several dioceses with the Commission of the Orthodox Church in Germany (KOKID) as a structure of cooperation and national representation.
See :
– Ortag, Peter (1995; 2003): Jüdische Kultur und Geschichte. Ein Überblick. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. S. 89.
– Gouvernement fédéral (2006): Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Große Anfrage der Abgeordneten Josef Philip Winkler u.a. und der Fraktion BÜNDNIS90/Die Grünen - BT-Drucksache Nr.16/2085 vom 29.Juni 2006: "Stand der rechtlichen Gleichstellung des Islam in Deutschland".