FRG - Minorities

Question 1

Who were the ethnic minorities in the FRG

Answer 1

• By 1955, the FRG started to look overseas to recruit people to recruit (mainly unskilled) people to work in Germany’s industrial sector on a temporary basis
• The FRG signed recruitment agreements
• The people were called ‘guest workers’

Question 2

Which countries did Germany sign labour recruitment treaties with?

Answer 2

• Italy (1955)
• Spain and Greece (1960)
• Turkey (1961)
• Morocco (1963)
• Tunisia (1965)

Question 3

Explain a key reason why the FRG recruited foreign workers
-‘economic miracle’

Answer 3

• 1950s - “economic miracle” —>
• 4 million prisoners of war, 4.7 million refugees and the 1.8 million migrants from East Germany ensured a constantly expanding worforce supply —>
• August 1961 - labour shortage made worse by Berlin Wall —>
• this reduced the large-scale flow of East German immigration virtually to zero overnight —>
• 1960 to the stop on recruitment in 1973 - n. of foreign workers grew from 280,000 to 2.6 million

Question 4

Explain a key reason why the FRG recruited foreign workers
-aid

Answer 4

• The Federal Republic saw guest workers as a form of developmental aid
• It was they’d learn useful skills in Germany,
• which could help them build their own countries after returning home

Question 5

Evidence of tolerance - 1950s & 60s

The government guaranteed non-German workers ………… wages

Answer 5

the same

Question 6

Evidence of tolerance - 1950s & 60s

The ………………….. was set up in Nuremberg to run offices in the countries which ………………….

Answer 6

• Federal Office for Labour Recruitment
• West Germany had labour recruitment treaties

Question 7

Evidence of tolerance - 1950s & 60s

….% of workers in Germany in 1964 had been living in the FRG for at least three years

Answer 7

25%

Question 8

Evidence of tolerance - 1950s & 60s

What did Theodore Blank make a speech about in 1964?

Answer 8

• Occasion of millionth guest worker arriving in the FRG
• He said that guest workers had been the foundation of Germany’s success
• & as their labour pool was likely to continue shrinking
• (only 22% of the German population were under 15 years of age)
• guest workers would continue to be important

Question 9

Evidence of tolerance - 1950s & 60s

What organisations did guest workers have support from?

Answer 9

• The unions (less helpful about long-term assimilation)
• church organisations, such as the Catholic organisation called Caritas
• & the Protestant organisation Diakonisches Wek

Question 10

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

What was the unions stance on recruiting workers from abroad

Answer 10

• unions disliked the idea of recruiting workers from abroad
• concerns that foreign workers would drive wages down, accept less favourable working conditions &, therefore, undercut existing workers

Question 11

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

The government agreed to give ……… workers preference when hiring

Answer 11

German

Question 12

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

What did employers provide for workers

Answer 12

• Employers provided basic accommodation for migrant workers
• often in dormitories near factories and outside towns
• which cut them off from the local community

Question 13

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

What sort of jobs did Guest Workers do

Answer 13

• Usually heavy manual labour - Rather than taking work from Germans, foreign workers were given jobs that Germans were happy to leave for other work . E.g. 1961-1973: approx. 3 million German workers switched from industrial or agricultural work to white-collar jobs. Approx. 870,000 Germans left jobs in mining and 1.1 million guest workers took these jobs.

Question 14

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

• 1961-1973 - approx. ……. million German workers switched from industrial or agricultural work to white-collar jobs.
• Approx. …………….. Germans left jobs in mining and ………. million guest workers took these jobs

Answer 14

• 1961-1973: approx. 3 million German workers switched from industrial or agricultural work to white-collar jobs
• Approx. 870,000 Germans left jobs in mining and 1.1 million guest workers took these jobs.

Question 15

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

Foreign workers became known as ‘………. workers,’ which underlined the German attitude of the time – they were guests, so their stay would be …………

Answer 15

• Guest workers
• temporary

Question 16

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

How did the rights of ‘Guest workers’ differ from a German worker

Answer 16

• Foreign workers did not have the same rights as German citizens
• Even if their contracts were renewed, it was on a year-by-year basis

Question 17

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

What economic issue caused a lot of hostility towards guest workers in the 60s

Answer 17

• The temporary recession of 1966 produced a significant amount of hostility to foreign workers, especially those who did not speak much German or try to integrate. At this time, many landlords refused to take guest workers as tenants, which helped to confine them to living amongst other guest workers in the poorest areas.

Question 18

Evidence of intolerance - 1950s & 60s

What sort of hostility did the temporary reccession of 1966 subject guest workers to

Answer 18

• those who did not speak much German or try to integrate
• had landlords refuse to take guest workers as tenants,
• which helped to confine them to living amongst other guest workers in the poorest areas, as a result of economic necessity

Question 19

Evidence of tolerance - 1970s & 80s

What car company offered good contracts to workers

Answer 19

• In 1974, Ford car works in Cologne offered guest workers ‘voluntary severance packages’ (
• paid to employees on the early termination of a contract)
• based on their time working in the factory

Question 20

Evidence of tolerance - 1970s & 80s

What welfare provided by the govt showed equality with ‘guest workers’

Answer 20

• 1975 - the govt gave guest workers’ children the same benefits as other children due to the rise in unemployed guest workers

Question 21

Evidence of tolerance - 1970s & 80s

What ban was lifted in 1977

Answer 21

• the ban on accepting foreign workers in Germany

Question 22

Evidence of tolerance - 1970s & 80s

What position was created in 1978 to help the integration of Guest Workers?

Answer 22

• 1978 - the first Federal Commissioner for Foreigners’ Affairs was appointed by Schmidt
• to work for the rights of foreign workers and to promote their integration
• a clear set of rules for applying for unrestricted residence (but not citizenship) was laid down

Question 23

Evidence of tolerance - 1970s & 80s

The number of foreign children in schools rose from ….,000 in 1976 to almost ….,000 in 1963.

Answer 23

165,000 in 1976 to almost 200,000 in 1963

Question 24

Evidence of tolerance - 1970s & 80s

How did the govt try to ensure equality in education

Answer 24

• The govt policy, as laid down in the Basic Law, was to provide ‘democratic education’
• The govt tried to persuade the Länder to provide mixed-culture learning groups with classes of Germans and the children of guest workers

Question 25

Evidence of intolerance - 1970s & 80s

Which crisis led the government to stop hiring Guest Workers?

Answer 25

• During the 1970s, with the oil crisis and sudden rise in unemployment, guest workers were again under pressure to leave jobs and Germany
• In November 1973, the government put a stop on hiring foreign workers and banned permits for families of workers already in the country.
• The number of guest workers fell to just under 2 million

Question 26

Evidence of intolerance - 1970s & 80s

What was the consequence of the oil crisis for guest workers

Answer 26

• Nov 1973 - the govt put a stop on hiring foreign workers and banned permits for families of workers already in the country
• The number of guest workers fell to just under 2 million

Question 27

Evidence of intolerance - 1970s & 80s

How were muslim children not inetgrated properly into the school system

Answer 27

• 60% of foreign children in schools in 1983 were Muslim
• Most Muslim guest workers’ children started school at the age of six, with no preschool education and language help
• Preschool education was largely run by Christian schools
• Quran schools, in particular, attracted a lot of hostility

Question 28

Evidence of intolerance - 1970s & 80s

What evidence is there that Guest Workers’ children were not always integrated in schools

Answer 28

• There were significant problems with educational provision
• Many groups of ethnic minorities set up their own national schools because their children were not learning in state schools
• This did not help the integration of minority groups

Question 29

Evidence of intolerance - 1970s & 80s

Why was intergration seemingly improbable

Answer 29

• While politicians and people generally continued to view guest workers as temporary residents
• there was little incentive for either minority groups of West Germans themselves to work for assimilation

Question 30

Guest workers often belonged to ‘…………………..’, groups of people who came from the same country as guest workers.

Answer 30

Ethnic Associations

Question 31

How were West Germans were divided over Ethnic Associations

Answer 31

• Some felt that it helped the newcomers to settle in, helping them to learn the language and understand cultural differences
• Others felt that these associations slowed, or even stopped, the newcomers from integrating in West German life