Christoph Pallaske

Immigrants from Poland to the Federal Republic of German in the 1980s and 1990s

In the 1980s and 1990s a distinct system of immigration between Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany was developed. Between 1980, the year in which Poland began its liberalisation, and the beginning of the 1990s about one million immigrants from Poland came to the Federal Republic of Germany. Approximately 800,000 of these were so-called "Aussiedler". In the 1990s, as a result of a political decision which made it very difficult to settle down in Germany permanently, only those who were willing to travel between German and Poland were allowed in – approximately 1/4 million seasonal and contract workers. There were also a large number of irregularly employed, who entered Germany with a tourist visa. The first part of this essay recounts the history of the immigration, the most important types of immigrants as well as the basic characteristics motivating immigrants and their strategies.

In spite of the fact that about 90% of the so-called "Aussiedler" from Poland must be considered to have been socialised as "Polish," and thus there were large numbers of immigrants who had to have been perceived as "Polish", West German society in the 1990s scarcely took note of the Polish immigrants. Still, the immigrants had to undergo a very difficult process of integration. In the second part of the essay the author discusses the various aspects and problems of integration from an individual perspective, and discusses as well the development of the characteristics of a Polish ethnic immigrant community. Because these characteristics are still weakly developed one can only assume that over the long term the acculturation of the Polish immigrants into the Federal Republic of Germany will be successful.