Lebanese people in Germany

Lebanese people in Germany express their support of the 2015 Lebanese protests in Berlin at Alexanderplatz, August 29, 2015

Although there has been sporadic migration from the Middle East to Germany since the 20th century, the real growth of the German Lebanese population began in 1975, with the start of the civil war in Lebanon which drove thousands of people away. Nevertheless most people immigrated in the 1980s and in the beginning of the 1990s (the year after the war) to Germany as refugees. Especially in the late 1980s a large number fled to Germany. Notably in the second half of the 1990s and in the beginning of the 2000s, many Lebanese were naturalized.

Nowadays, people of Lebanese descent form one of the largest minorities in Germany. Most of them hold German and Lebanese citizenship (dual citizenship). Berlin has the largest community of Lebanese and their descendants. Other big cities with a high percentage are Essen, Bremen and Hannover Region.

Mhallami are also called Mardalli, Lebanese Kurds or Kurdish Lebanese because their ancestors have lived in Mardin (a predominantly Kurdish region located in Turkey near Syrian border) or other regions in Turkey as an Arab minority. Although with the authorities they were forced to have Turkish surnames, they kept their Arab surnames in everyday life and speak Arabic. Since the 1920s, many Mhallami immigrated from Turkey to Lebanon and lived there where they bore Arab surnames. Since Lebanon Civil War, especially in the 1980s, a large number of Mhallami from Lebanon immigrated to Europe. Most of them came to Germany without any citizenship. Nevertheless they were listed under "Person with unknown origin" and not "stateless persons".

Nowadays, the majority of Lebanese Kurds have German citizenship and see themselves as Lebanese or of Lebanese descent. The largest community is in Berlin. Other cities with many Mhallami are Essen and Bremen. In recent years they have become a frequent topic in German media because almost all Kurdish clans in Germany that are known to the police to be involved in organized crime are Mhallami families. Many clans have thousands of members. Nevertheless the majority of them are not involved in crime or similar things, only some parts of the family. Examples of large Lebanese-Kurdish clans are Al-/El-Zein, Omeirat, Miri, Remmo/Rammo, Saado, Semmo, Fakhro and Ali-Khan.

In the beginning of the 1970s and 1990s and especially during the Lebanon war (1975-1990) many Palestinians fled to Germany as refugees from Lebanon. While most Lebanese immigrated during the last years of the war, the biggest immigration wave of Palestinians was earlier. A lot of them had lived in refugees camps in Lebanon for some years or longer before they moved on to Germany. Palestinian immigrants usually came to Germany as stateless persons without citizenship.

Libo-Palestinians mostly see themselves as Palestinans or of Palestinian descent/heritage and not as Lebanese or of Lebanese descent. Most German Palestinians live in Berlin by far where they form the largest community of Arabs besides Lebanese. Nevetherless there are also other cities with a high percentage like Bonn and Frankfurt.

There is no official data how many Libo-Palestinians and also Palestinians in general live in Germany. In 2017, ca. 25,000 people were stateless in Germany[2] and most of them were Palestinians. Nevertheless today, the majority is not stateless any more and have German citizenship. In 2010, the number of all Palestinians living in Germany is estimated at ca. 200,000 people.[3][4][5]