Bretons from abroad


Even though Brittany is more remote from Germany than other French regions, there are many links. Countless Breton cities and villages have a German twin, like Brest and Kiel since 1964, Nantes and Saarbrücken, Rennes and Erlangen since 1964, Saint Brieuc and Alsdorf, Saint Nazaire and Saarlouis… In spite of the distance, dozens of delegations travel from one place to the other every year.

The Brittany region is also involved in a number of organizations with German regions. Probably all schools and universities of Brittany have exchange programs with German counterparts.

Hundreds of German students come to Brittany each year, and some tracks are specifically Franco-German (like at the faculty of law and the faculty of economics in Rennes). Many of these German students are already familiar with Brittany because they were on vacation there earlier as kids (this is also thanks to a very active targeted communication by the regional tourism board). Some have also read the inspector Dupin books, very famous in Germany, where the action takes place in Brittany.

German is not as common as a second language in Brittany as it can be in the east of France, but it was traditionally considered a selective language (more than Spanish for instance), so many Bretons used to learn it in middle or high school (on top of English) to increase their chances to be selected in the best tracks. This is less common nowadays, however.

Several organizations link Germany and Brittany

There are honorary consuls of Germany in Brest and Rennes.

There are no local Bretons From Germany groups yet.