I’m from Ukraine and I was forced to move to Austria. I speak German at a B1 level, which I learned in about six months (I also had some basics from school).
What I keep noticing, quite often, is a kind of “white racism” toward Eastern Europeans, especially Ukrainians. Online and in the news there is a lot of sympathy for Ukrainians. In real life, however, we are often treated as if we were mentally backward natives. In one conversation, an Austrian seriously asked me whether we even have the internet in Ukraine. A friend of mine, who already has a child, told me that her child gets bullied at school because of their background, sometimes even indirectly by teachers. Situations like this are not rare.
I’m not here just to complain. I’m genuinely trying to understand why this happens. Why are we treated this way? Is it because Eastern Europe is seen as less economically developed? Yes, salaries are higher here, but not everyone here is a millionaire. I also see many homeless people on the streets who clearly look European, most likely Austrians.
Another friend once told me a story about an Austrian guy she dated. He seemed to come from a wealthy family, with parents working in a big bank. He openly talked about Ukrainian women as prostitutes and Ukrainians in general as homeless people, and his friends supported these views. I’ve also lived in Germany for some time and saw similar attitudes there.
For example, Ukrainians are very often pushed toward jobs like elderly care, as if that’s all we are fit for. Meanwhile, most Ukrainians I know who are now doing hard physical work here actually have higher education. Back in Ukraine they were lawyers, business owners, doctors.
I’m really interested in hearing thoughts on why this perception exists and where it comes from.
There is a two dimensional racist dynamic in Europe. As you go East and South you are considered less European/“White” by the people North/West-wards.
Let me explain. There are multiple factors why Eastern Europeans are looked down upon and underestimated by Western Europeans. Biggest factors are the second world war and the Soviet Union and ignorance. Let’s also be honest, rich countries like to think they are better by virtue of being rich. From what I remember Ukraine was also seen by the Soviets as farmland. If I’m not mistaken, Russia still thinks that Ukrainian is just poor, farmer Russian.
A lof of this has to do with history. Germany used to be a big kingdom and had a large neighbour, the Austro-Hungarian empire. The French also had a large empire, many colonies from which they extracted wealth and exacted inhumanity upon. They were only second to the United Kingdom which owned a large chunk of world in the 20th century. Spain and Portugal were smaller players despite their humungous impact on South America. The first and second world war allowed Eastern European countries to gain independence, only to be invaded again and taken over by Russia which became the Soviet Union. Due to this, they had to rebuild from less and had less time as independent nations.
While Eastern Europeans were either under foreign rule, rebuilding, or fighting each other (Balkans are a good example), Western Europe was pulling away in nearly all ways. Most Eastern European countries were mostly agrarian, not industrial, had fewer highly educated people, and recovering from the yoke of the Soviets. Even in Germany, some 35 years after unification and the fall of the Soviet Union, people do not understand the value of democracy. Eastern Germany has the biggest support for the new Nazi party. There are maps of Germany showing the differences: wages are lower, education levels are lower, cities are smaller, religion is more wide-spread, and so on. One famous map of Germany is that of incandescent light bulb usage. Western Germany had moved on to LEDs and Eastern Germany was still buying up incandescent stock.
Eastern Europe still is behind Western Europe on many, many things. Human rights, expenditure, press freedom, democratic values, types of corruption (Western countries are corrupt af, it’s just called lobbying and not a visible to the common folk), environmental protection, air quality, expendable income, separation of church and state, alcohol consumption, etc. Videos of anti-queer protests, anti-abortion protests, pro-Russia protests and so on, do no help the image. Migration also still mostly happens from East to West, not the other way around.
I remember talking to Polish people and they were making jokes of Ukrainians. “Did you know that Ukrainian men live 10 years less on average than Ukrainian women? Do you know why? One word, vodka.” Poles aren’t shy about their drinking habits, but they were tipping their hats to Ukrainians.
So, Western Europeans, especially those who have never been to Eastern Europe have prejudices. I’m not saying they’re right to have them, just giving an explanation of why. We are all human and I’ve met some wonderful Ukrainians, some wonderful Russians, and I’ve met some asshole Ukrainians and some asshole Russians.
I wish you good luck in Germany.
Regarding progressive ideas, I strongly disagree with the claim that everyone back home is unprogressive. People who were born and raised in large cities are very progressive. You can also look at the demographic map and see that we have a large number of cities. In addition, a significant part of the population from eastern Ukraine is generally atheist. Those who identify as Orthodox are, in practice, not really religious, and many people there do not even celebrate Christmas. Overall, the country is secular on all sides.
There are also historical and social facts that are often ignored. Women in Ukraine gained access to higher education relatively early compared to many European societies, and women’s participation in education, science, and the workforce has long been normalized. Urban society was shaped by industrialization, strong scientific institutions, and a tradition of secular education. Even today, attitudes toward gender roles, education, and personal freedoms in major cities are closer to what is usually called “progressive” than people from outside often assume.
I’m not saying it’s “everybody”, but look at LGBT rights in Europe - Poland even has “LGBT free zones”. Look at how women are treated in the Ukrainian army despite the nation desperately looking for soldiers. Climate change denial has been a problem in many countries, but in 2020 Eastern Europe had more denialism than Western Europe.
If I recall correctly, there are, percentage-wise, more highly educated women in Eastern Europe than Western Europe.
And cities tend to be more progressive wherever you are, but statistically, Eastern Europe as a whole is less progressive, more religious, less highly educated, and poorer than Western Europe.
But just because things are that way, doesn’t mean that it’s right to pre-judge or treat Eastern Europeans worse. Everyone should be judged by their character, their actions and words, not by their age, ethnicity, sex, gender, or appearance. And even then, we need more empathy to try and understand others.
I believe it’s because fear of the unknown is a strong human instinct. Also, it doesn’t help that people clawing for power knows the oldest trick in the book for gathering support is to exploit it by blaming something (or someone) less known for any prominent problem
I’m sorry this is happening to you
Very well described.
I think the fear of the unknown is a very big problem.
If you only go on holiday in the 5 star ressorts and never get in touch with the real people who live there, they will always be strangers to you. But if you travel the countries and speak with them, get to know them, a lot of the sentiment will disappear.
As many Europeans couldn’t travel the eastern block for a long time, we had our prejudice against the east.
And in the last few years right wing politicians are fuelling them again.