The Integrative German-Albanian Association (IDEAL) is a non-profit organisation that coordinates activities of German-Albanian associations, institutions, companies and common people. It’s main aim is to improve the bilateral relations between Germany and Albania/ Kosovo by increasing the cooperation in the areas of integration, economy, culture, and society.

Our association is not only focused on supporting the full integration of Albanian emigrants into the German society in the areas of education and professional jobs, but we are also focused on supporting the new generation of Albanian emigrants in identifying themselves with the Albanian and German history and culture.

IDEAL supports the social integration of Albanian emigrants, while keeping their native identity and culture. IDEAL facilitates the exchange of the knowledge and experiences between different individuals, institutions and companies. This way IDEAL improves the dialogue and the relations between the citizens of both countries, and helps in reducing and eliminating misunderstandings as well as preconceptions.

For more detailed information on IDEAL’s aims and structure please refer to the section “Über uns” on our German pages of this web site.

The Albanian territories were until recently, because of economic hardships and political unrest for many centuries classical emigration areas.The emigrants today are connected to their homeland in many different ways. This gradually ranges from centuries-old ethnic awareness to the active use and transmission of the Albanian language, culture and traditions.

Albanian emigrants exist in Greece, Italy, Dalmatia and Turkey. 

Furthermore left in the 19th century, Albanians settled their Ottoman domicile for economic and political reasons and settled in Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, USA and Austria-Hungary.

After large parts of the Albanian settlement area had come to Serbia and Greece in 1912 as a result of the 1st Balkan War, the new rulers put pressure on the Albanian population to leave the country.

Many went to Albania, in each case a few thousand Kosovars and Çamen emigrated between the world wars but in Turkey, in the US and in the western part of Europe.

In Kosovo, Albanians continued to be oppressed by the Yugoslav authorities. Tens of thousands of Albanians emigrated to Turkey until the mid-sixties.

 In the 70s the Albanians from Kosovo were disproportionately involved in the migration of Yugoslav immigrant workers to the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

In the meantime, intra-Yugoslav migration also increased.

Kosovars and Albanians from North Macedonia settled in Slovenian and Croatian industrial centers and Greater Belgrade until the 1980s.

From 1989 to 2004, around one million people left the Republic of Albania, which represented about one third of the current population of Albania.

The mass exodus to Italy or Greece reached its peak with more than 440,000 Albanians in Greece (until 2001, about 60% of all immigrants).

Between the years 1990 until the beginning of 2006, around 350,000 Albanians migrated to Italy.

Larger Albanian diaspora communities also exist in Germany, especially here in NRW.

At the invitation of the IDEAL Initiative Group, interested migrants and promoters from Albania, Essen, Bochum, Wuppertal and Mettmann met on 12.07.2011 in the Extrablatt on Kennedyplatz in Essen and founded the “Integrative German-Albanian Society e.V.”.

The aim of IDEAL is to promote the integration of Albanian migrants into society, education, professional development and working life and to foster their cultural and national identity.

IDEAL:

• supports the identification of the younger Albanian generation with Albanian and German history and culture;
• helps to promote understanding for others and to reduce and overcome reservations;
• promotes the exchange of experience and knowledge between people, institutions and companies in Germany and Albania;
• is committed to promoting dialog, friendship and cooperation between Albanian migrants, German citizens and citizens of other nationalities;
• aims to increase the educational and professional opportunities of the younger generation with an Albanian migration background by promoting communication between Albanian-speaking migrants and the regional social and educational institutions.

Organs of the Integrative German-Albanian Society are:

The Presidecy

The Board of Directors

The General Assembly

The Presidency & The Board of Directors

The Presidency is elected by the General Assembly by a simple majority for a term of three years. The Presidency consists of the President, his deputies, the auditor and a maximum of three further members appointed by the Presidency. There should be no less than three members of Albanian origin among elected presidency members.

A cash auditor is elected from the circle of members from The Presidency, who reviews the accounts of the current financial year for a period of one year and reports to the following regular Presidency meeting. Re-election of the same persons as auditors is permitted.

IDEAL is represented in and out of court (§ 26 BGB) by the President and his deputies, each by two of these persons jointly by two members of the Presidency. In the internal relationship, every action requires a 2/3 majority decision of the Presidency.

Only the assets of the Company are liable for the liabilities of the Company. A civil liability of the members of the board is excluded.

Employees and corporate bodies of the company are only liable for intent and gross negligence in the context of their activities for the association vis-à-vis third parties.

The Board can appoint a managing director with 2/3 majority. This does not have to be a member of the association or the Board.

General Assembly

The general Assembly meets once a year. It must also meet if at least one third of the members request it. The invitiation for the general meeting is to be delivered in written form with a notice period of at least 14 days, stating the agenda. A protocol is to be prepared about the general meeting in which the resolutions are to be included. The minutes are to be signed by the chairman and the secretary.

The general meeting decides with simple majority of the present members. Amendments to the statutes require a majority of two-thirds of the members present. Each member can be represented in the general meeting by a written proxy.

A properly convened General Assembly is quorate regardless of the number of members present.

Case by case, IDEAL may have the following two bodies:

Advisory Board

An advisory Board may be formed to support and advise the Board. The Chairperson of the Advisory Board shall be appointed by the Board. The Advisory Board shall be formed by the Board for the duration of its term of office.

Honorary membership

The General Assembly may appoint honorary members upon proposal of the IDEAL Board. Each honorary member shall have the right to attend all meetings of the General Assembly with voting rights.

Name, seat, financial year, association membership:

The association bears the name “Integrative German-Albanian Society” (IDEAL) and is registered in the association register responsible for the seat of the association. By registering, IDEAL introduces the suffix “e.V.”

The headquarters of IDEAL is in Essen.

The financial year is the calendar year.

IDEAL can become a member of German and international business associations.

Purposes:

IDEAL pursues exclusively and directly charitable purposes within the meaning of the section “tax-privileged purposes” of the tax code. IDEAL is selflessly active. It does not pursue primarily self-economic purposes.

IDEAL funds from membership fees and donations may only be used for statutory purposes. Members receive no contributions from the Company’s funds.

No person may benefit from expenses that are foreign to the purpose of the company or that are disproportionately high.