Jews, Turks, and Other Strangers: Roots of Prejudice in Modern Germany

3. The Question of Economic Threat and Anti-Foreign Sentiment: The Early Years of Unification

3 The Question of Economic Threat and Anti-Foreign Sentiment The Early Years of Unification Introduction In this chapter I examine the issue of German attitudes toward refugees , guest workers, and “foreigners” in general. In particular, a major item of inquiry is whether prejudicial attitudes around the time of unification were due to economic fears, as is commonly supposed, or whether the anti-foreign attitudes can be better understood in terms of a traditional racism, or possibly other factors. The chapter begins with a description of German citizens’ attitudes toward two questions: which minorities they would support for political refugee status and whether foreign workers should be allowed to work for only a few months a year and then be returned to their homelands. After this description, two complex multivariate models are developed that seek to explain antiforeign sentiment. The first is a general attitudinal model of anti-foreign prejudice whereas the second measures citizen attitudes in relation to policies that may benefit refugees and workers. In both instances, the economic explanation of anti-foreign sentiment is far weaker than competing explanations. 56 Economic Threat and Anti-Foreign Sentiment 57 Basic Attitudes toward Guest Workers and Refugees A review of chapter 2 makes it apparent that the issue of “foreigners” is a multidimensional topic in contemporary Germany. German citizens are confronted with the problem of dealing with both refugees and guest workers. An additional important group is the ethnic Germans who are not foreign in a legal sense but who must also go through a process of adaptation after moving to the nation. Although we do not have surveys from early in the 1990s that measure the attitude of German citizens toward the Aussiedler, data are available on both guest workers and refugees. There is evidence to suggest that Germans have less than enthusiastic attitudes toward both the political refugees and the foreign workers. For example, during fall 1991 a survey by the EMNID Institute in Bielefeld asked a number of questions of respondents in both eastern and western Germany regarding their opinions of policies toward both refugees and foreign workers.1 Regarding refugees, respondents were asked whether the following groups should be recognized as refugees after “ ‘proof’ ” of their cases: Croats from Yugoslavia, Kurds from Turkey, Albanians from Albania, Gypsies from Romania, and Serbs from Yugoslavia . Respondents were free to “accept” or “reject” each group. Results are presented in table 3.1, which reveals that most Germans do not favor the granting of asylum to foreign groups, although the level of support varies depending upon the particular ethnic group analyzed. Table 3.1 German Attitudes toward Refugee Policy Western Eastern Germany Germany Percentage of Germans who support political refugee status for: Gypsies 23.3% 24.8% Albanians 30.1% 34.5% Serbs 31.2% 36.4% Kurds 49.0% 54.0% Croats 61.0% 54.1% N 1861 944 Source: EMNID Survey, 1991 58 Economic Threat and Anti-Foreign Sentiment There is also some variation depending upon whether respondents are from eastern or western Germany. Not surprisingly, the Gypsies are the least favored with regard to granting refugee status. The case can be made that throughout Europe, they are the most unpopular minority group. In nations such as Hungary and the Czech Republic, democratization does not appear to have changed their lot, and this group is similarly perceived negatively in Germany. Although Albanian refugees have been identified as a problem to a greater extent in Italy, this group does not trail far behind the Gypsies in popularity in Germany. Kurds are perceived much more favorably. Events in Germany during the 1990s may have caused the Albanians to drop further in popularity, particularly because of the large influx of refugees from the war in Yugoslavia. Although the Kurds are a minority group within the Turkish community, the public may tend to view them more positively than others because they have lived in Germany for so long. The non-Kurdish Turks themselves may hold prejudices against this group, but it is possible that Germans make less of a distinction (Blaschke 1991; Leggewie and Winston 1996). Again, serious political problems between Germans and Kurds occurred later in the 1990s, well before the EMNID poll was taken. The Kurds also evoked sympathy in the United States and Europe because of their oppression by the Iraqi regime before and after the Persian Gulf War. The remaining groups in table 3.1, Serbs...