Foreigners’ right to family migration in West Germany was grounded on the idea that said migratio... more Foreigners’ right to family migration in West Germany was grounded on the idea that said migration could unburden the welfare state. The state actively recruited both foreign men and women as guest workers, often as married couples, creating the problem of providing childcare within a welfare state that assumed that families could provide their own childcare. Some migrant workers responded to these expectations by bringing extended family members, such as the family that brought a ‘Spanish grandmother’ and subsequently fought for her residence permit in court. When the Federal Administrative Court heard her case in 1973, it concluded that extended family members had a right to migrate if they made the family more ‘functional’, which the grandmother in question did by caring for her grandchildren. The conservative welfare state incorporated foreigners according to a logic of ‘market conformity’ that guided its migration policy and shaped its approach to social welfare.
This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced mi... more This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced migration to Germany has often been understood as an unprecedented crisis, but, far from being an aberration, such migration has been a necessary component of the classic legitimating narratives of the Federal Republic and a crucial support for its postwar “economic miracle.” The official reception of forced migrants has been structured by a categorical distinction between genuine refugees and ersatz “economic refugees.” The former are lauded for their economic contributions to Germany, whereas those alleged to have migrated mainly for economic reasons are condemned as fraudulent opportunists. These categories have been continually transposed onto new groups of forced migrants, whose arrival is invariably grasped as a crisis. The unfolding of refugee “crises” and their resolutions have continually shown the artificiality of the distinction between genuine and economic refugees—while simult...
Since the mid-1970s, so-called family migration has been the predominant legal pathway for migrat... more Since the mid-1970s, so-called family migration has been the predominant legal pathway for migration into Europe and North America. But what has it meant for millions of people to be defined primarily through their role as “family migrants,” whether at the immigration office, in the courtroom, in the workplace, or in the family itself? Fear of the Family addresses these questions by investigating the history of guest worker migration to the Federal Republic of Germany. Ironically, West German employers initially turned to foreign “guest workers” to avoid the complications of families. Foreigners were meant to work in Germany in the prime of their productive years while raising their children and growing old elsewhere, with another country bearing the costs of their education, retirement, and medical care. But guest workers refused to offshore their family life, pressuring the state first to tolerate and later to open an official legal pathway for family reunification. The state’s pe...
Although the University's contributions to the academic study of sexuality have been document... more Although the University's contributions to the academic study of sexuality have been documented, we knew very little about the experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning individuals and communities that have passed through the quadrangles. In order to make these visible, students affiliated with Closeted/Out in the Quadrangles: A LGBTQ History of the University of Chicago have been researching the University's queer past since 2012.
This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in ... more This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in West Germany. As part of a wider reform, West Germany implemented a two-tiered system of child allowances whereby migrant parents received more money for children who lived in the European Economic Community (EEC) than for children who lived outside the EEC. Migrants protested the reform and with it the assumptions of the guest worker programme. However, these parents had to contend with a popular narrative whereby foreign parents who brought their children to West Germany after the reform were in fact irresponsible ‘welfare migrants’ who placed their desire for financial gain over their children's need for a stable environment. The idea that this specific welfare reform had been the trigger for large-scale family migration not only discouraged further investigation of the causes of family migration but was also used to support new restrictions on that migration.
This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in ... more This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in West Germany. As part of a wider reform, West Germany implemented a two-tiered system of child allowances whereby migrant parents received more money for children who lived in the European Economic Community (EEC) than for children who lived outside the EEC. Migrants protested the reform and with it the assumptions of the guest worker programme. However, these parents had to contend with a popular narrative whereby foreign parents who brought their children to West Germany after the reform were in fact irresponsible 'welfare migrants' who placed their desire for financial gain over their children's need for a stable environment. The idea that this specific welfare reform had been the trigger for large-scale family migration not only discouraged further investigation of the causes of family migration but was also used to support new restrictions on that migration.
This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced migrat... more This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced migration to Germany has often been understood as an unprecedented crisis, but, far from being an aberration, such migration has been a necessary component of the classic legiti-mating narratives of the Federal Republic and a crucial support for its postwar "economic miracle." The official reception of forced migrants has been structured by a categorical distinction between genuine refugees and ersatz "economic refugees." The former are lauded for their economic contributions to Germany, whereas those alleged to have migrated mainly for economic reasons are condemned as fraudulent opportunists. These categories have been continually transposed onto new groups of forced migrants, whose arrival is invariably grasped as a crisis. The unfolding of refugee "crises" and their resolutions have continually shown the artificiality of the distinction between genuine and economic refugees-while simultaneously redrawing it. Dieser Aufsatz rückt Zwangsmigration ins Zentrum der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Zwar wurde Zwangsmigration nach Deutschland oft als eine beispiellose Krise wahrgenommen, doch letztlich war solche Migration keine Abweichung, sondern eine notwen-dige Komponente des klassischen Legitimitätsnarrativ der Bundesrepublik, die gleichzeitig einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum "Wirtschaftswunder" der Nachkriegszeit leistete. In der offiziellen Rezeption wurden Zwangsmigranten kategorisch in ‚echte' Flüchtlinge und ‚Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge' unterteilt. Während man die erstgenannte Gruppe oft für ihre wirtschaft-lichen Beiträge lobte, wurden diejenigen, die angeblich nur aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen immi-griert sind, als betrügerische Opportunisten verurteilt. Diese Kategorien wurden kontinuierlich auf neue Gruppen von Zwangsmigranten übertragen, deren Ankunft ausnahmslos als Krise begriffen wurde. Die Entfaltung von Flüchtlings-"Krisen" und deren Lösungen zeigen wie künstlich diese Unterscheidung zwischen ‚echten' Flüchtlingen und ‚Wirtschaftsflüchtlingen' ist-eine Unterscheidung, die dadurch gleichzeitig auch neu getroffen wird.
Foreigners’ right to family migration in West Germany was grounded on the idea that said migratio... more Foreigners’ right to family migration in West Germany was grounded on the idea that said migration could unburden the welfare state. The state actively recruited both foreign men and women as guest workers, often as married couples, creating the problem of providing childcare within a welfare state that assumed that families could provide their own childcare. Some migrant workers responded to these expectations by bringing extended family members, such as the family that brought a ‘Spanish grandmother’ and subsequently fought for her residence permit in court. When the Federal Administrative Court heard her case in 1973, it concluded that extended family members had a right to migrate if they made the family more ‘functional’, which the grandmother in question did by caring for her grandchildren. The conservative welfare state incorporated foreigners according to a logic of ‘market conformity’ that guided its migration policy and shaped its approach to social welfare.
This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced mi... more This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced migration to Germany has often been understood as an unprecedented crisis, but, far from being an aberration, such migration has been a necessary component of the classic legitimating narratives of the Federal Republic and a crucial support for its postwar “economic miracle.” The official reception of forced migrants has been structured by a categorical distinction between genuine refugees and ersatz “economic refugees.” The former are lauded for their economic contributions to Germany, whereas those alleged to have migrated mainly for economic reasons are condemned as fraudulent opportunists. These categories have been continually transposed onto new groups of forced migrants, whose arrival is invariably grasped as a crisis. The unfolding of refugee “crises” and their resolutions have continually shown the artificiality of the distinction between genuine and economic refugees—while simult...
Since the mid-1970s, so-called family migration has been the predominant legal pathway for migrat... more Since the mid-1970s, so-called family migration has been the predominant legal pathway for migration into Europe and North America. But what has it meant for millions of people to be defined primarily through their role as “family migrants,” whether at the immigration office, in the courtroom, in the workplace, or in the family itself? Fear of the Family addresses these questions by investigating the history of guest worker migration to the Federal Republic of Germany. Ironically, West German employers initially turned to foreign “guest workers” to avoid the complications of families. Foreigners were meant to work in Germany in the prime of their productive years while raising their children and growing old elsewhere, with another country bearing the costs of their education, retirement, and medical care. But guest workers refused to offshore their family life, pressuring the state first to tolerate and later to open an official legal pathway for family reunification. The state’s pe...
Although the University's contributions to the academic study of sexuality have been document... more Although the University's contributions to the academic study of sexuality have been documented, we knew very little about the experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning individuals and communities that have passed through the quadrangles. In order to make these visible, students affiliated with Closeted/Out in the Quadrangles: A LGBTQ History of the University of Chicago have been researching the University's queer past since 2012.
This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in ... more This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in West Germany. As part of a wider reform, West Germany implemented a two-tiered system of child allowances whereby migrant parents received more money for children who lived in the European Economic Community (EEC) than for children who lived outside the EEC. Migrants protested the reform and with it the assumptions of the guest worker programme. However, these parents had to contend with a popular narrative whereby foreign parents who brought their children to West Germany after the reform were in fact irresponsible ‘welfare migrants’ who placed their desire for financial gain over their children's need for a stable environment. The idea that this specific welfare reform had been the trigger for large-scale family migration not only discouraged further investigation of the causes of family migration but was also used to support new restrictions on that migration.
This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in ... more This article examines the effects of the 1974 child allowance reform on guest worker families in West Germany. As part of a wider reform, West Germany implemented a two-tiered system of child allowances whereby migrant parents received more money for children who lived in the European Economic Community (EEC) than for children who lived outside the EEC. Migrants protested the reform and with it the assumptions of the guest worker programme. However, these parents had to contend with a popular narrative whereby foreign parents who brought their children to West Germany after the reform were in fact irresponsible 'welfare migrants' who placed their desire for financial gain over their children's need for a stable environment. The idea that this specific welfare reform had been the trigger for large-scale family migration not only discouraged further investigation of the causes of family migration but was also used to support new restrictions on that migration.
This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced migrat... more This article puts forced migration at the center of the Federal Republic's history. Forced migration to Germany has often been understood as an unprecedented crisis, but, far from being an aberration, such migration has been a necessary component of the classic legiti-mating narratives of the Federal Republic and a crucial support for its postwar "economic miracle." The official reception of forced migrants has been structured by a categorical distinction between genuine refugees and ersatz "economic refugees." The former are lauded for their economic contributions to Germany, whereas those alleged to have migrated mainly for economic reasons are condemned as fraudulent opportunists. These categories have been continually transposed onto new groups of forced migrants, whose arrival is invariably grasped as a crisis. The unfolding of refugee "crises" and their resolutions have continually shown the artificiality of the distinction between genuine and economic refugees-while simultaneously redrawing it. Dieser Aufsatz rückt Zwangsmigration ins Zentrum der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Zwar wurde Zwangsmigration nach Deutschland oft als eine beispiellose Krise wahrgenommen, doch letztlich war solche Migration keine Abweichung, sondern eine notwen-dige Komponente des klassischen Legitimitätsnarrativ der Bundesrepublik, die gleichzeitig einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum "Wirtschaftswunder" der Nachkriegszeit leistete. In der offiziellen Rezeption wurden Zwangsmigranten kategorisch in ‚echte' Flüchtlinge und ‚Wirtschaftsflüchtlinge' unterteilt. Während man die erstgenannte Gruppe oft für ihre wirtschaft-lichen Beiträge lobte, wurden diejenigen, die angeblich nur aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen immi-griert sind, als betrügerische Opportunisten verurteilt. Diese Kategorien wurden kontinuierlich auf neue Gruppen von Zwangsmigranten übertragen, deren Ankunft ausnahmslos als Krise begriffen wurde. Die Entfaltung von Flüchtlings-"Krisen" und deren Lösungen zeigen wie künstlich diese Unterscheidung zwischen ‚echten' Flüchtlingen und ‚Wirtschaftsflüchtlingen' ist-eine Unterscheidung, die dadurch gleichzeitig auch neu getroffen wird.
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