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Emigration stories

Germany.
Homecoming

Anastasia Tappert, 32

We publish real stories of emigration to Germany to make it easier for you to understand how the move actually happens.
1
The idea of emigrating to Germany
The word "emigration" first appeared in my life when I was 15 years old, at that time my mother's relatives began to leave for Germany as ethnic Germans under the program of late resettlement. My mother is also German, we are descendants of those Germans who came to Russia under Empress Catherine II, but the idea to move to their historic homeland was not supported by my father and older brother, who said they were patriots, and are not going anywhere. As a result, I lived in Russia, near Ekaterinburg, until I was 25. I graduated from the evening university as an elementary school teacher and even managed to work in a school.
Beilstein, Germany
2

Problems and solutions when moving to Germany

By this time our relatives had already settled in Germany and were again talking about us also moving to them, so my mother and I secretly contacted immigration specialists and began to prepare for the move. The most important thing was to do the application properly and collect all the documents proving our right to return to our historic homeland.

We talked to immigration attorneys, outlined a plan of action, began to collect the documents and at the same time learned the language - we had to pass the German exam. Secretly from Dad, Mom was the first to pass the language exam at the German Consulate, then I passed, and only then we decided to tell about our plans to emigrate to Dad, and he, miraculously, agreed that moving to Germany would be nice. German was more difficult for my dad than for me and my mom - he failed two exams, but the third time he passed it up to the minimum level of A1!
From the experience of relatives, we knew that it is easier and cheaper to contact a lawyer, because obtaining a residence permit - a serious matter, on this visa is often trying to move crooks who fake documents, and if you gather evidence of their ethnicity yourself - the process can take years, or even end up with nothing.
Anastasia Tappert
Freeland
3
Documents, price, final
We flew to Frankfurt am Main and almost immediately went to the Latecomers Camp Freeland, where foreigners are assigned to different categories: refugees, Jews, and ethnic Germans. There was only one camp left in Germany, where they register late immigrants, and it was through them that we came to Germany. In Friedland we were registered and began to look for social housing - ethnic Germans, as it seems, Jews, are entitled to free apartments and social payments until they can stand on their feet and pay their bills on their own. This attitude after Russia was surprising - we are Germans in the unknown generation, and we are given a free apartment, money and subsidized health insurance for the whole family!

While we were in Freeland, we did not pay for anything at all - we were fed free, and there was nothing else to spend there. After passing all the bureaucratic procedures, we were issued a registration certificate, and my mother also fell under the law on a one-time payment to ethnic Germans born before 1956, and received 2000 € compensation.

The biggest challenge was to find a place to live - in Germany it is really a problem, we even had to go to a real estate agency, through which we eventually found an apartment. While we were looking, we lived with relatives.
Today we are a real German family, almost like burghers. My mother and father live separately, I got married and I feel absolutely happy!

Of course, the move was not easy for us, but we coped with it and changed our lives, although, if you think about it, we just went back to our roots, remembered who we are. We don't go to Russia, but sometimes my older brother visits us, he is still a patriot and lives in Yekaterinburg with his wife and two daughters.