Auslandsdeutsche

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Auslandsdeutsche ("abroad Germans"; adj. auslandsdeutsch) is a concept that denotes German citizens living abroad, or alternatively ethnic Germans entering Germany from abroad.

Today, in legal context of post-Nazi Germany, this means citizen of Germany living more or less permanently in another country (including long-term academic exchange lecturers and the like), who are allowed to vote in the Republic's elections, but who usually do not pay taxes to Germany.

In a more loose but still valid sense, and in general discourse, the word is frequently used in lieu of the ideologically tainted term Volksdeutsche, denoting persons living abroad without German citizenship but defining themselves as Germans (culturally or ethnically speaking).

For the difference and shift of meaning between the various terms and juxtapositions, see the article on Imperial Germans.