New Perspectives on Recent Immigration from Eastern Europe to Germany
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‘Go west!’ New Perspectives on Recent Immigration from Eastern Europe to Germany Dietmar Osses Abstract University Bochum2. Individual life Te crisis and breakdown of eastern stories of immigrants from Eastern Eu- European states in the 1980s and 1990s rope formed the basis of the project. A brought an unexpected number of im- set of 30 oral history interviews opened migrants to Western Germany. In these up a broad spectrum of individual and years, nearly 4.5 million people went collective experiences. In the exhibi- to the Federal Republic of Germany as tion, eleven life stories gave insight in political refugees, asylum seekers or re- expectations and experiences of the im- patriates. Tey came mainly from the migrants concerning migration, home, former Soviet Union States, Poland, belonging and identity. Romania and the former States of Yu- goslavia.1 Te history of migration fows be- Go west: Te project tween Germany and these states vary With the project ‘Go west! Immigration greatly. A closer look on the diferences from Eastern Europe to the Ruhr’ the and on the similarities between these Westphalian State Museum of Indus- groups of immigrants and a comparison trial Heritage and Culture focused on of the historical backgrounds and polit- the immigration from diferent coun- ical implications as well as on individual tries of Eastern Europe to the Ruhr decisions of the immigrants can open during the last 30 years. From the end up new perspectives on this period of of the1980s to 2005 about 2.3 million immigration to Germany. immigrants from countries of the for- Tis article presents the results of a mer Soviet Union came to Germany, temporary exhibition at the Westphalian about 2 million people from Poland, State Museum of Industrial Heritage more than 430,000 people from Roma- and Culture – Hannover Colliery in nia, some hundred thousands from the Bochum which was complemented by former States of Yugoslavia and another a co-operation project with the Ruhr 200,000 Jewish immigrants. 82 AEMI JOURNAL 2013 Fig 1 Immigrants Emir and Krisitna exploring the exhibition Go west Te history of this immigration has the museum decided to develop a co-op- not yet been told. In comparison with eration project with two special courses other groups of immigrants and in con- at the university to prepare an exhibi- trast to the high number of nearly 4.5 tion in the museum. Te participants million immigrants from Eastern Eu- of the courses covered the main emigra- rope, they often seem to be invisible in tion countries: the former Soviet Union German society and everyday-life. So States, Poland and the former States of one of the main aims of the project was Yugoslavia. As the Romanian language to tell this story of these immigrants, to is not a Slavic language, the museum give them visibility and a voice. decided just for practical reasons to deal An important impulse for the project with the Romanians in a later project came from the Slavic department of the and concentrated on the Slavic-speaking Ruhr University in Bochum. Over the people for this time. last 10 years the quota of native Slavic Apart from one single person, all of speakers among the students increased the students were native speakers in a from under 5 percent in the late 1990s Slavic language and had personal mi- up to 95 percent nowadays. All of them gration background. So in the end, the have a personal or familiar migration frst step of the courses, research on the experience and most of them are highly history of migration between Germany interested in the history of migration and Eastern Europe’s states, led the stu- from and to Germany. For this reason dents to research and discover their own DIETMAR OSSES 83 history and the history of their families. Russia as the land of the free: Furthermore, due to their own im- Emigration from Germany in the migration experience and their close 18th and 19th century connections with diferent immigrant From the beginning of the 18th century communities, the students could eas- up to the end of the 19th century Ger- ily open access to a broader part of the many was a country of emigration. In communities and to immigrants of all this time, Germany was not a united ages. state but shattered in dozens of king- So in the end the project managed to doms, duchies and counties. Following obtain memories and objects from more the principle ‘cuius regio, eius religio’, than 20 people, which could be shown the religion of the people depended on in the exhibition ‘Go west! Immigration the particular monarch. Freedom of re- from Eastern Europe to the Ruhr’, pre- ligion was seldom granted, personal and sented in the Hannover Colliery - West- economic freedom was strictly limited phalian State Museum of Industrial by landlords, gilds and crafts. Heritage and Culture in Bochum. In 1763, Catherine II, the Tsarina With the personal experience, stories of Russia with German roots, recruited and objects from the immigrants the ex- farmers and craftsmen from German hibition allowed to tell new stories about countries to emigrate to Russia. She immigration to Germany and about liv- promised far-reaching privileges to the ing in Germany as an immigrant from settlers: freedom of religion, release of Eastern Europe. military draft, autonomy and self-ad- As introduction of the exhibition, ministration on local level with use of a giant map of Europe and Asia and a the German language, up to 30 hec- synopsis of the milestones of migration tares of land for free, exemption from history from and towards Germany and taxation for 30 years and fnancial help the Eastern European States gave both for the frst years in Russia. Within fve introduction and historical background years time about 30,000 emigrants fol- information. After insights into the lowed the recruitment and built up 104 collective experiences of immigrants in German communities and cities around Germany, the exhibition followed the the river Volga. way of the immigrants from Poland, A second wave of German immigra- former Yugoslavia, former Soviet Union tion to Russia started in 1787, when states and Jewish immigrant. For each emigrants from Southern Germany and group personal stories were given and at from West Prussia, most of them Men- each topic in the exhibition there was an nonites who sought for religious free- audio station installed where the peo- dom, settled down in the very South of ple told their own story with their own Russia and around the Black Sea. voice. A third wave of immigrants from Germany went to Russia in the 1860s, especially coming from former Polish territories, from East and West Prussia, Pomerania, Posen and from Württem- 84 AEMI JOURNAL 2013 Fig 2 Emma and Elena - Two generations immigrants from Russia berg. In contrast to the settlers before, been expelled and deported to Siberia. they were recruited by landlords as peas- But the period of forming Soviet Re- ants after the abolition of serfdom in publics brought in some parts new free- Russia in 1861. Tese immigrants did dom for the German immigrants and not get any privileges but freedom of led to the building of the Volga German religion which was important for these Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic some 200,000, mostly Lutherans and within the USSR in 1924. Mennonites. During World War II, after the Ger- In the end of the 19th century the pe- man ofensive against the Soviet Union riod of growing nationalism in Europe in 1941, all Germans in the USSR were brought the withdrawal of privileges sent to camps, banished and deported, from German immigrants in Russia. mostly to Kazakhstan, Siberia and other With the beginning of the First World remote areas. Tey had to work and live War, the public use of the Germany lan- in work camps and were conscripted guage, the publishing of German news- into the Soviet labour army. In 1953 papers and selling of German books lifelong banishment was rescinded and were forbidden by the Russian Tsar. from 1956 on Germans were permitted By 1918, about 200,000 Germans had to return to the European parts of the DIETMAR OSSES 85 USSR, but not to their former settle- ish men, mainly poor peasants from the ments nor to Eastern or Western Ger- rural areas, followed the call of money many. Te use of the German language and labour and moved to Western Ger- in public and exercise of religion was for- many to the ‘Ruhrgebiet’, the new, ex- bidden in some areas. In everyday-life, plosively growing industrial area in the German culture was suppressed by the Rhineland and Westphalia along the communist party. In times of discrimi- river Ruhr3. Tey worked in coal mines nation and suppression (Western) Ger- and iron works and satisfed the urgent many appeared for a lot of Germans in need of workers for the growing heavy Russia as the land of desire. But due to industries. Some coal mines and miners the Cold War and Iron Curtain only a ‘colonies’ had a quota of 50 percent up relatively small number of 109.000 Ger- to more than 75 percent Polish workers mans managed emigrate from the USSR and inhabitants. Te Polish immigrants to Germany in the years 1953-1987. built up a closed meshed network of eth- nic associations and organisations. But Partitions, reconstitution and shift for the Prussian-German authorities in of territory: Polish Migration and a state of permanent social struggle this migrating Poland high number of Polish people in West- Te migration history of Poland is one phalia and their self-confdent organisa- of the most extraordinary in Europe.