At the end of 2022 there were approximately 1,164,200 Ukrainians in Germany (). In 2021, before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was of 155,310. Germany's Ukrainians have created a number of institutions and organizations, such as the Central Association of Ukrainians in Germany and Association of Ukrainian Diaspora in Germany.
Tourist-visa scandal
In 1999, a conflict arose involving the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who eased conditions for citizens of the former Soviet states to get German visas. Many people opposed this claim that it enabled thousands to enter Germany illegally using the abuse of visas granted to them. The majority of Ukrainians that are in Germany on scholarship are there on such visas, adding to the controversy.
Some Ukrainian organizations in Germany have accused Germans of racism and prejudice, and of the belief that Ukrainians are only in Germany to work illegally.
Well-known Ukrainians in Germany
- Pavlo Skoropadsky - Ukrainian aristocrat, military leader and statesman who served as the hetman of the Ukrainian State
- Isaak Mazepa - one of the central figures of the 1917 Ukrainian revolution
- Yevhen Petrushevych - lawyer, politician, and president of the West Ukrainian People's Republic formed after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918
- Robert Olejnik (pilot) - Luftwaffe flying ace of World War II, credited with 41 aerial victories claimed in some 680 combat missions
- Eugene Archipenko - politician, agronomist, and beekeeper
- Andrej Hunko - member of the German Bundestag from 2009 to 2025
- Alexander Donchenko - chess grandmaster
- Taras Bidenko - professional boxer who fights in the heavyweight division
- Alexander Dimitrenko - former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019, and held the European heavyweight title from 2010 to 2011
- Eugen Gopko - professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for TSG Pfeddersheim
- Panas Fedenko - socialist politician, historian, and revolutionary
- Aleksey Semenenko - classical violinist
- Leo Sheljuzhko - entomologist who specialized in Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera
- Alex Simirenko - sociologist
- Oleh Kucherenko - wrestler
- Denis Osadchenko - footballer
- Stanislav Iljutcenko - footballer
- Aljona Savchenko - pair skater
- Iana Salenko - ballet dancer, principal dancer at the Berlin State Ballet
- Maria Protsenko - architect known for her role as the chief architect for Pripyat during the Chornobyl disaster
- Lisa Matviyenko - tennis player
- Mateusz Przybylko - high jumper
- Kacper PrzybyÃ
Âko - footballer
- Emma Andijewska - modern poet, writer and painter
- Boris Rajewsky - biophysicist, who was one of the most influential researchers on the impact of radiation on living organisms in the 20th century
- Andriy Livytskyi - politician, diplomat, statesman, and lawyer
- Mariana Sadovska - actress, singer, musician, recording artist, and composer, resident in Cologne
- Jaroslaw Pelenski - historian, political scientist and professor emeritus
- Ihor Kostetskyi - writer, playwright, translator, literary critic and publisher.
- Lenn Kudrjawizki - actor and musician
- Sergei Bortkiewicz - Romantic composer and pianist
- Mateo Klimowicz - professional footballer
- Oleg Velyky - handball player
- Tamara Desni - actress
- Iryna Gurevych - computer scientist, Professor at the Department of Computer Science of the Technical University of Darmstadt and Director of Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing Lab
- Gennadij Cudinovic - freestyle wrestler
- Oleg Bryjak - bass-baritone opera singer
- Denis Kaliberda - volleyball player of Ukrainian origins, member of the Germany men's national volleyball team, bronze medallist of the 2014 World Championship
- Andrei Kushnir - fine art painter
- Lilia Usik - politician serving as a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin since 2023
- Anatoliy Mushchynka - footballer
- Platon Kornyljak - Ukrainian Greek Catholic hierarch in Germany
- Michael Prawdin (Charol) - historical writer
- Noize Generation (Jewgeni Grischbowski) - music producer and DJ
- Nadja Nadgornaja - former handball player for Borussia Dortmund
- Peter Potichnyj - political scientist and historian
- Tatiana Morosuk - mechanical engineer whose research analyzes exergy, and especially the exergy of refrigeration systems
See also
References