During the medieval period, the powerful German Hanseatic League made London one of its trading bases. The 17th century saw a German community establish itself in London.
George I, who became King of England in 1714, was from Hanover in Germany. During the 18th and 19th centuries Germans in London worked as bakers, clerks and engineers.
However, World War I aroused public hostility towards Germans and caused the erosion of their long-established London community. Today there is a small German population in Richmond.
German London has its famous German Hospital, the noble institution at Dalston, which is largely supported by German benevolence. It has its newspaper the ‘Londoner Zeitung’ and its financial paper, ‘Die Finanz-chronik’…Within its area are many fashionable residents.Count E. Armfelt in ‘Living London’, 1903
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Medieval Germans had wide trading interests. By 1130 a group of traders called the 'men of Cologne' had established themselves in London.
In 1281 merchants from various north German cities formed a federation called the Hanse or Hanseatic League. It was based in the Steelyard near London Bridge.
Like many 'aliens', these merchants sometimes suffered from English hostility. On 'Evil May Day' 1517, a mob attacked foreigners and their property. King Henry VIII had the ringleaders hung, drawn and quartered.
By the late 17th century, a German community was established in London. In 1708-09 this was briefly swelled by refugees from the Palatinate in south west Germany.
In 1714 George, elector of Hanover in Germany, became King of England. The House of Hanover occupied the English throne for almost the next 200 years.
The 18th century German population consisted mainly of merchants and workers in the sugar-baking industry. Resident in Spitalfields, they built St. George’s Lutheran Church which still survives today.
By the 1880s Germans had moved into employment as waiters, bakers, butchers, hairdressers, office clerks and governesses. Firms like Siemens Brothers imported expertise in mechanical and electrical engineering from Germany. Higher up the social scale were bankers and industrialists, attracted by London’s advanced economy.
The political dissident Karl Marx wrote ‘Das Kapital’ while living in London, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery. The community supported a number of churches, clubs and other organisations. Numbers peaked at 27,000 just before World War I.
The closeness between Britain and the German states, symbolised by Queen Victoria's marriage to the German Prince Albert, was shattered by World War I. There were widespread anti-German riots, and German Londoners were interned. Many were later repatriated to Germany.
Germans were again interned in World War II, including many who had fled to London to escape the Nazis. Some former prisoners of war remained after the war and were employed in reconstruction work.
Postwar, Britain drew increasingly closer to the continent with membership of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973 and the European Union (EU) in 1992.
The 2001 census found 40,000 Germans resident in London. There is a small German population in Richmond in the south west. The town is also home to the Deutsche Schule London, the Backhaus German Bakers and Stein’s Bavarian beer garden.
Other areas popular with German migrants include Barnet and Camden in north London, and Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster in the centre.
There are over 630 German companies in London, most of which specialise in financial and business services. The capital is also popular with German students, 3000 of whom graduated from London universities in 2004.
The Goethe-Institut in South Kensington is the major cultural centre. It hosts events, offers German classes and is equipped with a library. The German Embassy is in Belgravia.
Germans in London have a choice of churches, including the Protestant St. Marien mit St. Georg near Kings Cross, the Christuskirche in Knightsbridge, the Dietrich-Bonnhoeffer-Kirche in Sydenham and the Catholic St. Bonifatius in the City.
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