Iranians in Germany

Iranians in Germany

Total population
100,000–120,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main
Languages
German, Persian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Luri (See languages of Iran)
Religion
Shia Islam, Atheism, Sunni Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Bahá'í Faith, Zoroastrianism and Other

Iranians in Germany include immigrants from Iran to Germany as well as their descendants of Iranian heritage or background. There are 100,000 to 120,000^[1] ethnic Iranians living in Germany. With around 25,000 people of Iranian descent, Hamburg is the main center of the Iranian diaspora.^[2]

Multiple Nationality

As Iran almost never frees its citizens from their Iranian citizenship (see Article 989 iran. Civil Code ^[3]) , which is inherited through the father (or descent), there are many German-Iranian (multiple nationality). The still existing German-Iranian agreement of 1929 ^[4] regulates in no. II of the Final Protocol that government approval is required prior to the naturalization of nationals of the other State.

Notable Iranians in Germany

Academia/science

• Katajun Amirpur, scholar
• Nossrat Peseschkian
• Majid Samii
• Gholam Reza Sinambari, environmental engineer

Arts/entertainment

• Melika Foroutan, actress
• Navid Akhavan, actor
• Akbar Behkalam, Painter
• Niloofar Beyzaie, Playwright, Theatre director
• Shaghayegh Dehghan, actress
• Mohammad Farokhmanesh
• Fereydoun Farrokhzad, actor, entertainer
• Taies Farzan, actress, Producer in film Breathful
• Yasmine Mahmoudieh, architect, interior designer, and CEO
• Naveed Nour, photographer
• Narges Rashidi, actress in film breathful and A2Z
• Shermine Shahrivar, Miss Europe 2005, actress
• Daryush Shokof, artist, film producer and director
• Benny Rebel, photographer

Business/technology

• Hossein Sabet, entrepreneur, hotel owner worldwide.
• Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile
• Sandra Navidi, strategic and macroeconomics advisor
• Mohammad Moghaddas, Network Consultant at AT&T^[5]

Literature

• Abbas Maroufi, novelist
• Sudabeh Mohafez, writer
• Alexios Schandermani, writer

Media/journalism

• Abbas Maroufi, publisher
• Navid Kermani, writer and scholar

Music

• Amir Abbas Zare, Iranian musician and composer
• Mehrzad Marashi pop singer
• Shahin Najafi, Rapper
• Navid Akhavan, Iranian pop singer
• Maryam Akhondy classical Iranian singer
• Ateed, singer
• Ramin Djawadi, composer
• Monika Jalili, vocalist
• Sima Bina, notable Persian classical musician (singer), composer, researcher, painter

Personalities

• Soraya Esfandiary, ex-wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Queen Consort of Iran

Politics

• Yasmin Fahimi, politician and since January 2014 the general secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
• Omid Nouripour, Alliance '90/The Greens
• Sahra Wagenknecht
• Bahman Nirumand, many years of association with the German Green Party, and in 2009 signed an open letter of apology posted to Iranian.com along with 266 other Iranian academics, writers, artists, journalists about the Persecution of Bahá'ís.^[6]
• Mina Ahadi

Sports

• Daniel Davari, footballer
• Ashkan Dejagah, footballer
• Patrik Baboumian, strongman
• Alireza Marzban
• Babak Rafati
• Shervin Radjabali-Fardi
• Amir Shapourzadeh
• Fereydoun Zandi, footballer

Known Criminals

• Ali Sonboly, responsible for 2016 Munich shooting

See also

• Iran-Germany relations
• Iranian diaspora

References

1. Zuwanderung und Integration
2. "'Nieder mit dem Diktator' - 3000 Exiliraner demonstrieren in Hamburg". www.abendblatt.de (in German). Retrieved 2016-01-13.
3. Iranian Civil Code. On UNHCR-Website: "The Civil Code of Iran" published in Basic Document in Iranian Law, introduced and edited by Professor S. H. Amin. "Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran" published by Alavi and Associates, Legal Counsels, Islamic Republic of Iran.
4. Settlement Agreement between the German Reich and the Empire of Persia from 1929
5. https://de.linkedin.com/in/moghaddas. Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. "We are ashamed!", Iranian.com, 2009-02-04