Barbara Sonnenberger

Guest Workers or Immigrants? Processes of Immigration in the 1950s and 1960s – the Example of Southern Hesse

"Guest workers" and "immigration" are customarily treated in the historical literature on immigration as two periods which follow each other; a "guest worker" phase is followed by an "immigration" phase. However, the case study of different immigration groups in southern Hesse shows that the years 1955 to 1967 can hardly be characterised simply as a period of "guest workers". Already with the seasonal workers from Italy in the second half of the 1950s one can demonstrate that there were different experiences of migration and different reactions to working conditions – for example, that there were forms of protests against bad working conditions. With the transition to long-term industrial employment there arose a broad spectrum of different patterns of immigration. Alongside the typical guest workers one can identify immigrants who came for a short period or potential immigrants, whose settling down can be demonstrated by the arrival of the rest of the family and the formation of ethnic institutions. The homogeneous image of the "guest worker," as well as the pair of opposites of "guest workers" and "immigrants" does not do justice to this diversity. At the same time, the pattern of interpretation associated with "guest workers" has proven itself to be a useful heuristic device, if one keeps in mind its conditions of origin and its different varieties.