How the Federal Republic Became an Immigration Country: Norms, Politics and the Failure of West Germany's Guest Worker System

With the passage of a new citizenship law in 1999 and the so-called Zuwanderungsgesetz (Migration Law) of 2004, contemporary Germany has gone a long way toward acknowledging its status as an immigration country (Einwanderungsland). Yet, Germany is still regarded by many as a “reluctant” land of immigration, different than traditional immigration countries such as Canada, the United States, and Australia. It owes this image to the fact that many of today’s “immigrants” were in fact “guests,” invited to work in the Federal Republic in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and expected to leave when they were no longer needed. Migration was meant to be a temporary measure, to stoke the engine of the Economic Miracle but not fundamentally alter German society. The question, then, is how did these “guest workers” become immigrants? Why did the Federal Republic become an immigration country?