Resident aliens in Germany and Germans with immigrant backgrounds are, in some respects, more "German" than people whose families have been German citizens for generations. That's the main conclusion of a 104-page study by the conservative Konrad Adenauer Foundation, entitled "What Makes Us Who We Are, What Unites Us," which was unveiled in Berlin on Friday.
"Integration entails the willingness to take majority society on board and to adopt the rules of that society as one's own," said Peter Altmaier, the head of the Chancellor's Office and the government's refugee coordinator, at the presentation. "What the study tells us is that this willingness is abundantly and distinctly present."
The author of the study, sociologist Sabine Pokorny, conducted extensive interviews with three groups of roughly 1,000 people each: resident aliens, German citizens who either were not born in Germany or have one parent born elsewhere, and citizens from longer-standing German families. The surveys indicated that first- and second-generation immigrants valued integration slightly more than anyone else. [Deutsche Welle] Read more
