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The New Germany and Migration in Europe
Many young people were left in a normative vacuum during the
phase of democratization. The old ideals that had been inculcated at
school were no longer valid, and after 40 years of socialist rule, they
could not look back to the stabilizing traditions of a civil society. The
ardently desired economic new start began with job losses and
unemployment. At this difficult time, foreigners and asylum seekers
became scapegoats who were held responsible for the social and economic
malaise. Added to this was a psychological element. Through
their displays of violence and racism, right-wing young people publicly
violated the taboos of the anti-Nazi consensus in the �ederal
Republic of Germany. They found being right-wing ‘cool’ and provocative,
and thus enjoyable. Indeed, most of these young people
did not have a firmly established, radical right-wing view of the
world.
In this tense situation in the early 1990s, German immigration policy
changed as the result of a compromise between the ruling coalition
of Christian parties and Liberals, and the Social Democratic
opposition. The SPD signalled its willingness to support a change in
the right of asylum guaranteed in Article 16 of the Basic Law. This
ensured the two-thirds majority in the Bundestag that is required for
any constitutional change in Germany. In return, the CDU/CSU
were prepared to accept restrictions on the immigration of ethnic
Germans and confirmed that they would consider a comprehensive
review of immigration law. Marshall correctly points out that this
was not a fair agreement which satisfied both political camps, as the
SPD had to make more painful concessions than the two union parties.
�or many Social Democrats, the fundamental right to political
asylum was a ‘symbol of Germany’s continuing commitment to
atonement for the past and to humanitarian values in the treatment
of the persecuted of the day’ (p. 18). It had been accepted in the constitution
in response to the persecution of political opponents during
the Nazi period. A revision of the Basic Law which watered down the
right to asylum seemed to many to be a betrayal of the founding principles
of the �ederal Republic and of those Social Democrats, persecuted
by the Nazis, who had found asylum abroad. The SPD none the
less agreed because of the pressure applied by local politicians from
its own ranks. Given the large numbers of refugees, these had been
forced to turn sports halls and schools into temporary reception centres,
which provoked bitter resistance on the part of the local people.
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