Offenbach Is Almost All Right

Offenbach has a long tradition of immigration. It functions as an “arrival destination” at the center of the Frankfurt/Rhein-Main area, a global metropolitan region with a high proportion of immigrants.
152 nations are represented in the population. Former migrant workers still make up the largest individual national groups, mainly Turks, Italians, and Greeks. Over the last ten to fifteen years other national groups have begun to arrive from the new EU member states in eastern and southeastern Europe, but also from Asia, North Africa, and other parts of the world. Within the “older” groups of immigrants from southern Europe and Turkey, a growing number of people, mostly from the second and third generations, are going on to higher education. There has been a large rise in the number of Turkish students attending high school, and many more of them are now going to university.
Homogeneous ethnic milieus can also be “upwardly mobile” if, for example, education is highly valued and a factor in gaining recognition and status within the group, as is the case for many migrants from Asia. However, homogeneous milieus can also be obstructive if, for fear of becoming a social outcast, they lead people to isolate themselves or to curb their educational ambitions and career aspirations.
Matthias Schulze-Böing, head of the Office for Labor Promotion, Statistics, and Integration of the City of Offenbach