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Book Reviews
The period of employing guest workers, which lasted until recruitment
was stopped in 1973, was followed by family reunion programmes
and the entry of large numbers of asylum seekers, which
internationalized immigration. In the 1970s African and Asian
refugees first went to Germany in large numbers. The Länder and the
local authorities, which have responsibility for asylum policy in
Germany, were soon competing to see who could implement the
most restrictive policies—a competition that was not without racist
undertones. It is a special strength of this book that it clearly explains
the significance of the federal structure and the resulting multiplicity
of levels at which decisions on asylum policy are made. The Interior
Minister at the time and later �oreign Minister, Hans Dietrich
Genscher, coined the word ‘Asylmißbrauch’ (abuse of asylum), sparking
off a continuing debate which sees asylum seekers not as individuals
under threat, but as unwanted immigrants who represent an
unconscionable burden for the government and the welfare services.
Germany, however, is not alone in raising the stakes in this debate.
‘�ortress Europe’ is a project pursued jointly by Brussels, Berlin, and
Paris.
The decline of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and
German reunification in the 1990s gave immigration a further boost.
The ending of travel restrictions in the Soviet Union meant that ethnic
migration increased exponentially. In 1990, 397,000 ethnic Germans
emigrated to Germany. The number of asylum seekers and
refugees from civil war zones in former Yugoslavia rose in parallel.
The various waves of immigration created an increasingly aggressive
domestic political climate, which was exacerbated by party political
campaigning, and for which Germany was not prepared. The attempted
murders of asylum seekers and foreign families in Hoyerswerda,
Rostock, Mölln, and Solingen showed a surprised public that
there was a racist mob in Germany that was prepared to use violence.
Groups of drunk skinheads—according to Marshall, 90 per cent are
male and under 25 years old—roamed the streets shouting the Hitler
salute. But there were also other images. In reaction to murder and
hatred, hundreds of thousands of men and women went out on the
street peacefully to demonstrate their solidarity with the victims.
This was the other, the decent, Germany.
There are many factors explaining why a wave of excessive violence
was generated in the eastern parts of a reunited Germany.
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