Alevis make up roughly 13% of the Muslim population living in Germany today. Historically concentrated in rural Anatolia, Alevi beliefs and rituals were transmitted largely by word of mouth within village communities. Beginning in the 1950s, large-scale rural-to-urban migration in Turkey and movement to Europe led to the disappearance of many Alevi villages and, with them, much local religious knowledge.
Alevism emerged from the 13th century onward and today represents the second-largest religious community in Turkey after Sunni Islam. Its followers come from diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Turks, Kurds and Zaza. The faith blends elements of Central Asian shamanic tradition, Shiite Islam and Sufi mysticism. Alevis honor the Prophet Muhammad and revere his cousin and son-in-law Ali; Twelver Shiite themes are present, alongside a strong emphasis on ethical and mystical teachings.
Alevi worship takes place in cemevi, communal houses that serve as the center of religious and cultural life. The tradition stresses humanism, equality and tolerance, and much of its teaching is passed on through stories, parables and songs. Ritual practice differs from Sunni norms: the Cem ceremony is open to both men and women, and the Semah involves circle dances accompanied by a long-necked lute. These differences have historically exposed Alevis to discrimination and violence under the Ottoman Empire and in later periods.
Alevis have continued to face suspicion in largely Sunni-dominated Turkey. Followers of the Bektashi order, one of the major Alevi dervish traditions from Anatolia with a strong devotion to Ali, have also been targeted. One of the most brutal episodes was the 1937–38 Dersim massacre, when tens of thousands of Alevis were killed and villages destroyed by the Turkish army.
Violent attacks and pogroms in the late 20th century—most notably the 1993 arson attack in Sivas that killed 35 people—were a turning point for Alevi political and cultural organization. These events spurred a wave of associations and advocacy groups, not only in Turkey but also among the Turkish diaspora in Germany, where many guest workers had settled in cities such as Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin.
Today Germany hosts around 200 Alevi organizations, most of which are affiliated with the Alevi Community Germany (AABF, Almanya Alevi Birlikleri Federasyonu). The Alevi religious community has legal recognition in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, which grants certain institutional rights and responsibilities. In North Rhine-Westphalia the Alevi-Bektashite Cultural Institute operates as an NGO dedicated to cultural preservation and scholarly work; it is chaired by Gülizar Cengiz, a member of the Bektashi order.
Cengiz stresses the importance of knowledge in sustaining tradition, citing the mystic Haji Bektash’s warning that a path without knowledge ends in darkness. She and her colleagues say that centuries of persecution, and the fear of provoking hostility, led many Alevis to destroy or hide handwritten materials such as letters and diaries. To address this loss, the institute—which opened in early 2026—focuses on building an archive of historical manuscripts and on creating audio and video records of rites, ceremonies and community gatherings.
Academic study of Alevism has become especially welcome among Germany’s Alevis. Cem Kara, a professor of Alevi Theology at the University of Hamburg, argues there is a pressing need for reliable, concrete knowledge and that scholars have an important role to play. Kara’s Institute for Alevi Theology, founded in 2024, is among the first academic centers worldwide devoted specifically to this faith. It trains teachers for Hamburg’s interdenominational religious-education program and other religious educators; from 2027 it is also expected to offer training for theology students.
Overall research on Alevism has been limited and often embedded within broader studies of Ottoman and Turkish history. At Leipzig University, Markus Dressler, a professor of modern Turkish studies, leads a long-term ethnohistorical research project launched in 2026 that examines Alevi communities in Anatolia from the 16th to the 20th centuries. The project gathers material from Ottoman registers, Alevi manuscripts, inscriptions on mausoleums and gravestones, and ethnographic recordings of oral history.
Compiling these diverse data into searchable databases helps scholars map historical Alevi settlements, identify social and religious actors, and scrutinize prevailing narratives about persecution and marginalization. Dressler emphasizes that discrimination against Alevis has a long history, but it was neither uniform nor continuous across all groups labeled Alevi; careful attention to specific historical contexts, regions and communities is necessary.
For Alevis in Germany, institutional recognition, cultural centers and growing scholarly attention all contribute to efforts to preserve and transmit traditions that were once in danger of being lost. Archival projects, educational programs and community organization aim to safeguard rites, songs, manuscripts and memories so that future generations can access a fuller record of Alevi history and belief.
This article was translated from German.