Why do some Germans look French or Polish while others look Scandinavian?

Question

Are there many ethnic groups in Germany?

Answer 1

Because there is no "German race" and because there have been lots of wanderings, the last one after WWII out of the former German parts in today's Poland, Czech Republik etc.

Of course, around the Baltic Sea people tend to look more Scandinavian and Polish :P

My great-grandparents of both sides were Pomerian, my mother's grandparents flew to Eastern Frisia, my father's to Brandenburg, where I was born then.

Due to the wanderings, many Polish names can be found in Berlin and all around it.

My last name, though, can be tracked till Sweden.

Alsace is, was, and hopefully always will stay a mixture of French and German culture. And, yknow, big parts of Southwest Germany were called Franken once ;)

Answer 2

Germany is similar to the US in that there are many immigrants and their descendents here.

Ethnic groups:

German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish)

Answer 3

Because  we all  mixed  up

Answer 4

In Germany language is far more a factor for integration then anything else.

I myself am half German, and the "German" side of my ancestry has French Huguenots, Algerian Berber and Italian blood, and that's only as far as 100 years back. And we know that 150 AD the Romans gave land in the area to 3000 Nubian veterans, at the time an influx of about 20 percent of the population within a day's travel. They can still be seen in occasional throwbacks who look like bleached-out Africans.

In the 60s we got Italians, then Turks, and now we get Eastern Europeans in bigger numbers, and within another hundred years their descendants will just be Germans with weird surnames looking down on another crowd of newcomers...

In short, Germans are a mixture of all kinds of everything, and I think that is a healthy way to be.

Answer 5

due to the location in central europe there is always a mixture...people travel and meet a partner from a different background...

Answer 6

Look at a map.

If there's one really bad stereotype about Germans it's

"blue eyes and blond hair". Germany is and always was

a cultural and genetic melting pot in Europe.

If you're talking about ethnic groups. It's difficult to say.

There are some "groups". But the people you mention

are not considered as that. The majority of Germans

do have some kind of foreign ethnic background in the

family. It's just a question how far you look into the past.

With it's location and the time it's been around anything

else would be extraordinary.

Answer 7

Hello,

I am from the UK - I live here with my German boyfriend.

Because there are so many borders people mix-up. There are many Russian, Polish and Turkish people in Germany.

The different ethnic groups are roughly...

German 91.5%, Turkish 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish).

I guess there is something about those Germans that makes us 'Auslanders' want to come and be with them!!

Answer 8

Its probaly just you