But many were either baptized or eventually returned to their homelands, according to the German Islam Conference (DIK). Between 1735 and 1739, more Muslim prisoners of war ended up in Germany during the Russo-Turkish War. The number of practitioners of Islam in Germany remained relatively negligible after that until the 1960s, when a guest worker programme with Turkey brought in large numbers of labourers. A poll around the same time by Ipsos research group found that Germans tend to overestimate the size of the country’s Muslim population. Germany ranks fifth in EU for relative Muslim population sizeWhile Germany has the largest population of Muslims in the European Union in total, its community of Islam followers is not the biggest per capita.

Source: The Local May 12, 2017 12:56 UTC