The number of migrants in the eastern states of Germany is much lower than in the western states for several reasons. However, immigration in the eastern states is still mainly by assignment. There is a lack of specific recruitment measures that provide incentives to immigrate to the eastern German Länder despite the lack of locational conditions. On the contrary, the incentive to immigrate or to stay permanently continues to decline in view of the existing and recently again strongly increasing xenophobia. Around 10.6 million people with foreign citizenship live in Germany. Of these, a maximum of 0.6 million are in the new federal states, which is why the topic of migration was not really noticed until 2014. There was more talk about migrants than with migrants and the phenomenon of "xenophobia without foreigners" is conspicuously visible. Therefore, the interest groups of the East German migrant organizations have topics on their agenda that differ from those of the West German states.

Various meetings and conferences of the local state communities of migrant and foreigners' advisory councils from the new federal states had already been held since 1997. The aim was, among other things, to articulate the interests of the East German migrant councils, to discuss the special challenges and problems, but also the potentials of migrants in eastern Germany, and to coordinate activities. At these meetings, representatives of the migrant councils from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia met several times. Due to a lack of funding for organization and coordination, no networking could emerge from these efforts.

At the beginning of 2018, a team consisting of representatives of all East German state networks of the MO (provisional speaker's council) was formed to accompany the foundation of an association for migrant organizations in East Germany. The task of the association will be to politically represent the East German concerns at federal level and to bring East German specifics of immigration to bear.

On the 20th October 2018, the first conference of migrant organizations in East Germany took place in Berlin.  The Association of Migrant Organizations in East Germany (DaMOst) (Dachverband der Migrantenorganisationen in Ostdeutschland) was officially founded. DaMOst bundles the existing potentials of migrants under one roof and can thus be a strong mouthpiece for people with a migration background living in East Germany. DaMOst represents over 300 migrant organizations and individuals with a migration background in East Germany.

Statute

Association of Migrant Organizations in East Germany
DaMOst e.V. (Dachverband der Migrant*innenorganisationen in Ostdeutschland)

Satzung (*.pdf-Datei, 351 KB)