The Changing Face of German Immigration
Sanctuary in Exchange for Skills
The Edict of Potsdam passed by Frederick William, the Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, in 1685 triggered a wave of immigration from France. It gave a host of rights and privileges to the Hugenots, who faced religious persecution at home. As well as offering sanctuary to fellow Protestants, the underdeveloped and sparsely populated region was keen to benefit from their specialist skills. This tradition was also continued by the enlightened absolutist monarch Frederick the Great. In the 18th century, Protestant Czechs arrived from Bohemia. Most of these religious refugees were farmers or worked in the new manufacturing industries.
End to "Guest Worker" Program
In West Germany, the oil crisis marked a turnabout in immigration policy. In 1973, Chancellor Willy Brandt's government decided that labor recruitment from countries outside the European Economic Community (EEC) should cease. Spouses and close relatives could continue to join guest workers residing in Germany. Within the EEC, freedom of movement of workers was guaranteed. In the same year, communist East Germany turned to Vietnam to help solve its labor shortages, signing an agreement that would allow workers to stay for a maximum of five years. In the late 1960s, it had already signed a number of recruitment agreements with numerous communist bloc countries.
Foreign Labor Feeds German Growth
Under Germany's first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, the newly unified country underwent explosive growth. In 1871, mine owners in the Ruhr Valley started organizing recruitment campaigns for migrant workers from Polish territories that had been carved up between Germany, Russia and Austro-Hungary. Thousands also worked in factories in the cities and as seasonal farmhands. Eastern European Jews, many fleeing pogroms, also began settling in the 1880s. In Germany, too, they faced discrimination. There were waves of forced deportations, but their numbers continued to grow. Italian migrants began arriving shortly before 1900.
Emphasis on Integration
Germany's first immigration law went into effect in 2005. It was amended in 2007 to include, among other things, obligatory integration courses and new rules for spouses from non-EU countries. Some Turkish-German groups have protested.
Wave of Ethnic Germans and Asylum Seekers
Perestroika and the fall of the Iron Curtain led to a dramatic rise in the number of ethnic Germans arriving from Poland, Romania and the former Soviet Union. Many faced severe integration problems due to language difficulties. In 1992, the number of asylum seekers also reached a peak. Only 4.2 percent of their applications were deemed genuine. A series of neo-Nazi attacks upon asylum seekers' homes led to a number of deaths. In 1993, the government agreed to tighten up asylum policies. Anyone entering via other EU states or safe third countries was no longer eligible to apply for asylum in Germany.
Deportations and Forced Migration
During the Nazi era, a mass migration of a shockingly different type took place. Millions of Jews and other minorities classed as "alien" by the regime were deported to their deaths or used as slave labor. Millions of others, euphemistically known as Fremdarbeiter or foreign workers, were transported to Germany from parts of Europe under Nazi occupation, and forced to work in factories and on the land. With millions of German men at the front, the regime needed to keep the war machine running. Most of the forced laborers came from eastern Europe and were kept segregated to avoid "contamination" of the German population. Many did not survive.
Ethnic Germans Come En Masse
After the war millions of ethnic Germans arrived from territories no longer under German control. In 1949, the West Germany's new Basic Law decisively shaped the future course of immigration. Article 16a guaranteed asylum to "persons persecuted on political grounds," forming the basis of one of the world's most liberal asylum policies at the time. Another key aspect of the law was Article 116. It guaranteed citizenship to people of ethnic German origins who had crossed the 1937 borders of the German Reich as refugees or expellees as well as their spouses and descendants. It also pledged to restore citizenship to anyone deprived of this on political, racial or religious grounds.
Recruitment Drive Abroad
With the West German economic miracle well underway, Italian migrants were the first "guest workers" to come to the country after Bonn and Rome signed an agreement in 1955. The West German government, which also faced the sudden drying up of East German refugees with the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, made additional agreements with Spain, Greece, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Yugoslavia and Turkey. Recruitment hit its peak in 1970 with the arrival of just under one million workers. These mainly low-skilled laborers were only expected to remain temporarily, but far fewer numbers returned to their home country than envisaged.
A New Dawn for German Immigration?
The first year of the new millennium saw the introduction of a US-style Green Card scheme for computer specialists from abroad. It was phased out four years later after only attracting around 17,000 people. On Jan. 1, 2000 citizenship laws in Germany underwent a radical paradigm shift. The principle of defining citizenship by blood ties was supplemented by that of defining it by place of birth. Children born in Germany to foreign parents could now acquire citizenship at birth if at least one parent had lived legally in the country for at least eight years. These children are able to hold dual citizenship up to the age of 23, but then must choose one or the other.