Minority Populations in Europe

Minorities in Europe Europe is a multicultural, multi-ethnic continent that is experiencing significant growth of its immigrant and minority communities. Countries that have not had to contemplate the status of minorities, are now faced with the issue on how to incorporate successfully incorporate them into society. This paper examines two countries, Estonia and Germany, and their approach to minorities and their inclusion into their respective societies. Estonia is an interesting case because its minorities are Russian; a group that while always small was the dominant political and economic force.

The change in status occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union, Estonia once a satellite country, wanted to assert its independence by shedding its Soviet past. Ethnic Russians, on the other hand, did not feel included in Estonia's revival. The issue, according to Greene (2010), is about a people who want to protect their culture and forget its Soviet past against a minority group that wants equal rights.

When Estonia gained its independence it did not grant citizenship to ethnic Russians who were not in the country before the Soviet era. The Estonian government returned land to fellow Estonians and is now pursuing legislation that eliminate the Russian language from public schools and insisting on knowing Estonian for citizenship (Greene, 2010). Understanding Estonia's history with the Soviet Union is important to comprehend the Estonian government's actions. The Soviet Union deported Estonians to Siberia and forced the Russian language on Estonians.

Wealthy intellectuals who threatened Soviet dominance were sent away (Greene, 2010). In the eyes of modern Estonians, they are not doing anything particularly unjustifiable. The pursuit of making Estonian the national language is especially important as it connected to the identity of the Estonian people. However, not all is doom and gloom; many Russians have successfully attained their Estonian citizenship and are happy to live in a democratic country. Other countries, however, have different issues when it comes to minority populations.

The issue in Germany is different from Estonia, in the fact that Germany does not have a large indigenous minority. Their minority population stems from a guest worker program when Germany faced a labor shortage (Bosswick, p. 52). This was implemented during the 1950s but the policy changed during the oil crisis of the 1970s. Immigration was possible only through family reunification, which continued into the 1980s (Bosswick, p.52). Germany attempted a repatriation program that made only a small impact in the immigrant population.

By 1996, 8.9% of the German population was foreign or descendant of at least a foreign parent. 6.3% of all births were of Turkish origin, making them.