Young poles in Germany: Unobtrusive and yet present

“come on, Alex!”, it echoes through the gym. “Give it your all!” Alexander Przybylski stands tense in front of the ping pong table. He looks over to the enemy side. A faster ball exchange, then the ultimate smash ball. It 11 to 9 victory. The 19-year-old athlete from claps his team-mates. “Very strong”, says a teammate. Przybylski is one of the best players in the table tennis Department of the Eintracht Wiesbaden – a typical downtown club with members from different countries.

Alexander Przybylski has an immigrant background: He has a Polish passport. His parents came nearly 30 years ago from the Polish Wloclawek to Germany, he was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. For the team-mates, his roots are hardly an issue. Why, Alexander was well integrated, they say.

“Well integrated”, which applies to most of the poles in Germany. Often you are even referred to as the “invisible migrants”. Because Poland is unlikely to fall – though after the Turks, the second largest group of immigrants. According to the Federal Statistical office, a total of 866.855 Polish nationals were living in 2017 in Germany. If we add people with a Polish migration background, there are almost two million. Many of them came in the 1980s from the then-socialist Poland. Whether or not you can ever return to their home country, was long uncertain.

That the poles are not externally distinguishable, according to a study, you know, in Germany, less discrimination than other migrant groups. Also Przybylski has made no major experiences with exclusion. In its table tennis team, industrial engineering Student, feels comfortable. With double partner Anton Fischer, he is a friend privately as well. Although it is a strenuous tournament, fooling around, the two in the breaks between the Games.