Social relations, individual attitudes and migrant integration experiences in small and medium-sized towns and rural areas in Germany

WP5 Country Report - Germany (January 2023)

This report looks at social relations, individual attitudes and migrant integration experiences in small and medium-sized towns and rural areas (SMsTRA) in Germany. Drawing on participant observations, interviews with post-2014 migrants, and focus group discussions with long-term residents in six case study localities, integration of post-20014 migrants is analysed as a whole of community process along four dimensions: (i) spatial, (ii) social, (iii) ideational and political as well as (iv) governance-related factors. The report finds that a considerable share of the interviewed post-2014 migrants see SMsTRAs as good places to live, in case private housing and work can be found. SMsTRAs are valued for their dense civil society network of support, calm atmosphere after exhausting years of flight, and, for families, as safe places for children to grow up.