My Community in Germany, which I wish to
mention here, is the community from "GODS OWN COUNTRY" viz. the Malayalee
Community from Kerala State, the single largest community in Germany from India. Many are
of the opinion that the strength of the Malayalee community in Germany is between 9 to 12
thousand including the second generation out of a total of about 48000 Indians in Germany.
During the early sixties, few
Malayalees began to cross the ocean to study medicine in Germany, followed by young men
and women who wished to become priests and nuns inspired by the churches in Kerala. Later
many changed their minds and slowly started to think of family life.
In the early seventies there was a
good flow of female nursing students, as there was shortage of nurses in Germany, when
German authorities started to recruit students from Asian countries for a limited
period. By the end of seventies the regulations became stringent and the
German authorities introduced Visa system for Indians with effect from 18th July 1980, 3
months later, as due reciprocation to this, Govt. of India also introduced
the visa system for German nationals from 1st of October 1980.
From 1976 to 1982 when the young
Malayalee nurses start to marry from their own community in India, many Spouses arrived in
Germany. Those who arrived during this period to join their family were of
different professions and talents and started to cultivate their own small communities as
they had much free time due to the German labour law regulations.
Slowly "Samajams" and
Associations began to form and flourish , clubs and teams mushroomed nurturing the
different ideas and interests.
The present Malayalee community in
Germany can be generally divided into 4 categories.
1. Those who have already
settled permanently in Germany.
2. Those who actually wanted to go
back to Kerala but have finally started to integrate fully into to the
German community.
3. Those who still think that they
would settle once permanently in "Gods Own Country" and are not ready
to give up their current identity or those who are experiencing an identity crisis.
4. The last category is the
cheerful second generation enjoying their life, as they want and are the happiest section
of the Malayalee community in Germany.
