Skip to main content

More of a Right to Education for German Citizens (1976–1985)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Teaching Migrant Children in West Germany and Europe, 1949–1992

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood ((PSHC))

  • 132 Accesses

Abstract

The end of the economic miracle as well as changes to the geopolitical climate contributed to an explosion of xenophobia across West Germany in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Painting all foreign citizens as newly arrived migrants, some Germans citizens claimed that foreign residents—particularly Turkish citizens—could never be German and therefore should leave. Continuing to tie citizenship to ethnonationality, the state killed attempts to open up citizenship. That legal exclusion and assumption of ethnic incompatibility directly influenced education for non-Germans as the Länder privileged their citizens, explicitly arguing that Germans had more of right to education and access to resources. Attempts to push foreigners out, however, became convoluted as the relevant foreign states involved also had their own goals for multiculturalism and integration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    “Hier stinkt es nach Türken,” Der Spiegel, November 15, 1982; “Wir können nicht mal sagen, was wir fühlen,” Der Spiegel, November 15, 1982.

  2. 2.

    Switch to grade from age in original text. “Hier stinkt es nach Türken.”

  3. 3.

    Richard Alba, “Bright Vs. Blurred Boundaries: Second-Generation Assimilation and Exclusion in France, Germany, and the United States,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28, no. 1 (2005): 20–49; Anastasia Christou and Russell King, “Imagining ‘Home’: Diasporic Landscapes of the Greek-German Second Generation,” Geoforum 41, no. 4 (2010): 638–646; Jens Schneider et al., “Identities: Urban Belonging and Intercultural Relations,” in The European Second Generation Compared: Does the Integration Context Matter?, ed. Maurice Crul, Jens Schneider, and Frans Lelie (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012), 332.

  4. 4.

    Will Kymlicka, ed., The Rights of Minority Cultures (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 2; Alison Brysk, Mellichamp Professor of Global Governance Alison Brysk, and Gershon Shafir, eds., People Out of Place: Globalization, Human Rights and the Citizenship Gap (New York: Routledge, 2004); Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann and Margaret Walton-Roberts, eds., The Human Right to Citizenship: A Slippery Concept (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015).

  5. 5.

    Yasemin Nuhoğlu Soysal, “Changing Citizenship in Europe: Remarks on Postnational Membership and the National State,” in Citizenship, Nationality and Migration in Europe, ed. David Cesarani and Mary Fulbrook (New York: Routledge, 2002), 25; Paul Grosse, “Conceptualizing Citizenship as a Biopolitical Category from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Centuries,” in Citizenship and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Germany, ed. Geoff Eley and Jan Palmowski (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008), 181.

  6. 6.

    Patricia Ehrkamp and Helga Leitner, “Beyond National Citizenship: Turkish Immigrants and the (Re)Construction of Citizenship in Germany,” Urban Geography 24, no. 2 (2003): 127–46; Jorge A. Bustamante, “Immigrants’ Vulnerability as Subjects of Human Rights,” International Migration Review 36, no. 2 (2002): 333–54; Peter J. Spiro, At Home in Two Countries: The Past and Future of Dual Citizenship (New York: New York University Press, 2016), 123.

  7. 7.

    Kultusministerkonferenz (Germany), Ausländische Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1970 bis 1983, Statistische Veröffentlichungen der Kultusministerkonferenz (Bonn: Sekretariat der Kultusministerkonferenz, 1984), 4.

  8. 8.

    Italian Ambassador, “Schulpolitische Vorstellung der italienischen Seite für ihre Landsleute in der Bundes Republik Deutschland,” Eröffnungsrede (Würzburg, July 9, 1982), B 304/6253, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  9. 9.

    Jeffrey Peck, “Turks and Jews: Comparing Minorities in Germany after the Holocaust,” in German Cultures, Foreign Cultures: The Politics of Belonging, ed. Jeffrey Peck (Washington D.C.: American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, 1997), 13.

  10. 10.

    And more than 700,000 school age 6–15. Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany, Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1984), 52, 68. For a discussion of continued migration to and from Turkey (Ibid., 156–158). It should also be noted that in 1983, of the 32,044 children born in West Germany who had at least one parent with Turkish citizenship, 2113 had one parent with German citizenship and consequently could choose their national affiliation. See Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1986), 74.

  11. 11.

    Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany, Statistisches Jahrbuch 1984, 74.

  12. 12.

    As Walter Benjamin’s oft-used example for cultural contact, for hundreds of thousands of these children Brot (bread) was Brot and not pane or ekmek. Homi K. Bhabha, “How Newness Enters the World: Postmodern Space, Postcolonial Times and the Trials of Cultural Translation,” in Writing Black Britain 1948–1998: An Interdisciplinary Anthology, ed. James Procter (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), 300; Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1968), 74.

  13. 13.

    Thomas Faist, “Shapeshifting Citizenship in Germany: Expansion, Erosion, and Extension,” in The Human Right to Citizenship: A Slippery Concept, ed. Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann and Margaret Walton-Roberts (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), 193–208.

  14. 14.

    Douglas B. Klusmeyer, “Aliens, Immigrants, and Citizens: The Politics of Inclusion in the Federal Republic of Germany,” Daedalus 122, no. 3 (Summer 1993): 91.

  15. 15.

    Una M. Röhr-Sendlmeier and Jenny Yun, “Familienvorstellungen im Kulturkontakt: Ein Vergleich italienischer, türkischer, koreanischer und deutscher junger Erwachsener in Deutschland,” Journal of Family Research 18, no. 1 (2006): 99–110; Anne Juhasz and Eva Mey, Die zweite Generation: Etablierte oder Außenseiter?: Biographien von Jugendlichen ausländischer Herkunft (Wiesbaden: Springer, 2013); Sonja Haug, “Interethnische freundschaftsbeziehungen und soziale integration,” Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 55, no. 4 (2003): 716–736.

  16. 16.

    Richard Alba and Nancy Foner, Strangers No More: Immigration and the Challenges of Integration in North America and Western Europe (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), 86, 183; G. Liebscher and J. Dailey-O’Cain, Language, Space and Identity in Migration (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 255–69.

  17. 17.

    Abdelmalek Sayad, The Suffering of the Immigrant, trans. David Macey (Malden, MA: Polity, 2004).

  18. 18.

    Walter Fröhder, “Vom Gastarbeiter zum Mitbürger auf Zeit: Die Gewerkschaften wollen die Rechte der Ausländer erweitert sehen,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 31, 1972; “Ausländische Arbeitnehmer in der BRD; hier: Integration oder ‘Bürger auf Zeit’?,” Aufzeichnung (Bonn, March 22, 1972), B 93., Bd. ZA_1 Nr. 746, PA AA. For a discussion of party stance on immigration, see Klaudia Tietze, Einwanderung und die deutschen Parteien: Akzeptanz und Abwehr von Migranten im Widerstreit in der Programmatik von SPD, FDP, den Grünen und CDU/CSU (Berlin: LIT, 2008).

  19. 19.

    Klusmeyer, “Aliens, Immigrants, and Citizens,” 88–89; Douglas B. Klusmeyer and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Immigration Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany: Negotiating Membership and Remaking the Nation (New York: Berghahn Books, 2009).

  20. 20.

    Folker Schreiber and Karl Furmaniak, “Eine Umfrage der Bundesanstalt für Arbeit hat überraschende Ergebnisse zu Tage gefördert: Mehr als 80 Prozent der Gastarbeiter in der Bundesrepublik bleiben im Lande. Vor allem die jüngeren unter ihnen holen ihre Frauen und Kinder nach. 20 Prozent der Italiener und 7 Prozent der Türken haben eine deutsche Frau geheiratet: Aus Gastarbeitern werden Einwanderer,” Die Zeit, July 16, 1971. http://www.zeit.de/1971/29/Aus-Gastarbeitern-werden-Einwanderer

  21. 21.

    Carole Pateman, “Equality, Difference, Subordination: The Politics of Motherhood and Women’s Citizenship,” in Beyond Equality and Difference: Citizenship, Feminist Politics and Female Subjectivity, ed. Gisela Bock and Susan James (New York: Routledge, 1992), 17–31; Nira Yuval-Davis, “Gender and Nation,” in Women, Ethnicity and Nationalism: The Politics of Transition, ed. Robert E. Miller and Rick Wilford (New York: Routledge, 1998), 21–31.

  22. 22.

    “Zweites Geesetz zur Änderung des Reichs- und Staatsangehoerigkeitsgesetzes,” Drs. 7/1880 (Bonn: Bundestag, March 26, 1974); Washington Post Foreign Service, “W. Germany Alters Law on Citizenship,” The Washington Post, December 6, 1974. For a discussion of gender and equality in citizenship law, see Eli Nathans, The Politics of Citizenship in Germany: Ethnicity, Utility and Nationalism (Oxford: Berg, 2004), 238–39. The Council of Europe also advocated these changes, leading to new Resolutions (including (77) 2) to “ensure the equality of conditions for both spouses” and permit children to hold the citizenship of the father as well as the mother. National legislation then promoted these changes (Council of Europe, “Second Protocol Amending the Convention on the Reduction of Cases of Multiple Nationality and Military Obligations in Cases of Multiple Nationality,” Explanatory Report 149 (Strasbourg, February 2, 1993)).

  23. 23.

    Italian Ambassador, “Schulpolitische Vorstellung der italienischen Seite für ihre Landsleute in der Bundes Republik Deutschland.”

  24. 24.

    Çigdem Nas and Yonca Özer, Turkey and EU Integration: Achievements and Obstacles (New York: Routledge, 2017), 146–49.

  25. 25.

    Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany, Statistisches Jahrbuch 1984, 68; Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1976), 65.

  26. 26.

    Suzan Ilcan, Longing in Belonging: The Cultural Politics of Settlement (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002), 55–61; Jennifer A. Miller, Turkish Guest Workers in Germany: Hidden Lives and Contested Borders, 1960s to 1980s (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), 151.

  27. 27.

    Heinz Kühn (SPD), previously the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, was appointed as Länder for Ausländerbeauftragter by under Chancellor Schmidt in 1978 and retained the position until 1980. For more information on Kühn’s service, see Bernd Geiß and Bundesrepublik Beauftragter für die Integration der ausländischen Arbeitnehmer und ihrer Familienangehörigen, “Das Amt der Ausländerbeauftragten: Tätigkeitsbericht 1983 bis 1986” (Bonn: Das Amt der Ausländerbeauftragten, November 1986), 3.

  28. 28.

    Geiß and Bundesrepublik Beauftragter für die Integration der ausländischen Arbeitnehmer und ihrer Familienangehörigen, 10.

  29. 29.

    For more on the KMK and its dual goals, see Ray C. Rist, Guestworkers in Germany: The Prospects for Pluralism (New York: Praeger, 1978), 179–204.

  30. 30.

    Heinz Kühn, “Stand und Weiterentwicklung der Integration der ausländischen Arbeitnehmer und ihrer Familien in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Memorandum des Beauftragten der Bundesregierung” (Bonn: Das Amt der Ausländerbeauftragten, September 1979), 3–4, NW 670-70, Landesarchiv NRW.

  31. 31.

    Kühn, 3–4, 20. For a brief description of the Kühn Memorandum, see Ulrich Herbert, Geschichte der Ausländerpolitik in Deutschland: Saisonarbeiter, Zwangsarbeiter, Gastarbeiter, Flüchtlinge (Munich: Beck, 2001), 245–46. Whether or not Kühn’s general indictment of both West German government and society caused his promotion, he was not long in his position as Advocate. In 1980 Liselotte Funcke, member of the FDP and longtime advocate for women’s rights, replaced him (Liselotte Funcke, “Notiz zum Gespräch mit dem türkischen Erziehungsminister am 07. 09, 11.30 Uhr,” September 7, 1981, B 304/6178, Bundesarchiv Koblenz).

  32. 32.

    “Protokolle des Deutschen Bundestags, 83. Sitzung. Bonn, Donnerstag, den 4. Februar 1982” (1982), 4889. For a discussion of the proposal, see Klusmeyer, “Aliens, Immigrants, and Citizens,” 93; Horst Staufer, “Die Hauptschule wird zur Ausländerschule: Deutsche Kinder sind bald in der Minderheit,” Schwäbische Donau-Zeitung, December 17, 1977.

  33. 33.

    Roman Herzog (born 1934) was a German lawyer and CDU politician who served as President of Germany between 1994 and 1999. He began his political career in Rheinland-Pfalz under Helmut Kohl. He then served in the Government in Baden-Württemberg in the Ministry of Education under Lothar Späth (1978–1980) before becoming a Member of Bundestag and serving in the Office of the Ministry of the Interior (1980–1983). Ernst Benda then named him Vice-president and Chair of the First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, where he became President upon Benda’s retirement in 1987 (until 1994). Protokolle des Deutschen Bundestags, 83. Sitzung. Bonn, Donnerstag, den 4. Februar 1982, 4945.

  34. 34.

    Protokolle des Deutschen Bundestags, 83. Sitzung. Bonn, Donnerstag, den 4. Februar 1982, 4889.

  35. 35.

    Böck and Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Unterricht und Kultus to Regierungen and Staatliche Schulämter, “Unterricht für ausländischer Arbeitnehmer,” III A 2 – 4/67011, May 24, 1971, StK 17606, Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv.

  36. 36.

    Egbert Jahn, “Integration or Assimilation of Ethnic Minorities: On the Future of Danish, Sorbian, Italian, Turkish and Other Germans in the Federal Republic of Germany,” in German Domestic and Foreign Policy (Berlin: Springer, 2015), 91–105.

  37. 37.

    Feeling that this position could not be maintained, Herzog advocated easing naturalization. Claiming that the children were overwhelmed by too much instruction and feeling that the children could not expect in their “tender” youth to learn to straddle two cultures, he argued that the families should be asked to choose between integration and cultural maintenance when they first enrolled their child in school. Herzog also asked, “what about those who declined West German citizenship. Should they still be allowed in or to stay in the country?” Protokolle des Deutschen Bundestags, 83. Sitzung. Bonn, Donnerstag, den 4. Februar 1982, 4945.

  38. 38.

    Protokolle des Deutschen Bundestags, 83. Sitzung. Bonn, Donnerstag, den 4. Februar 1982, 4905. The SPD/FDP had a bill to provide for the facilitation of the naturalization of that group of foreigners, which was to be discussed in the Bundesrat on 12 February.

  39. 39.

    Frank Asbrock, “Stereotypes of Social Groups in Germany in Terms of Warmth and Competence,” Social Psychology 41, no. 2 (January 1, 2010): 76–81.

  40. 40.

    Sarah Thomsen Vierra, Turkish Immigrants in the Federal Republic of Germany: Immigration, Space, and Belonging, 1961–1990 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018), forthcoming.

  41. 41.

    Shaswati Mazumdar, “The Jew, the Turk, and the Indian: Figurations of the Oriental in the German Speaking World,” in Deploying Orientalism in Culture and History: From Germany to Central and Eastern Europe, ed. James R. Hodkinson, John Walker, and Johannes Feichtinger (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2013), 99–116.

  42. 42.

    Kirsten Hoesch, Migration und Integration: Eine Einführung (Münster: Springer, 2017), 236–40.

  43. 43.

    Ute Knight and Wolfgang Kowalsky, Deutschland nur den Deutschen?: Die Ausländerfrage in Deutschland, Frankreich und den USA (Erlangen: Straube, 1991); Herbert, Geschichte der Ausländerpolitik in Deutschland, 249–62.

  44. 44.

    Rita Chin, The Guest Worker Question in Postwar Germany (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 142–54. See also Helmut Kohl, “Koalition der Mitte: Für eine Politik der Erneuerung,” in Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl: Reden 1982–1984 (Cologne: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung, 1984), 143–44. Translation from Deniz Göktürk, David Gramling, and Anton Kaes, eds., Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration, 1955–2005 (Berkley: University of California Press, 2007), 45–46. Irina Ludat, “Gastarbeiter: Eine Frage der größeren Angst,” Die Zeit, October 18, 1985; Klaus J. Bade and Michael Bommes, “Migration und politische Kultur im ‘Nicht-Einwanderungsland,’” in Sozialhistorische Migrationsforschung, ed. Michael Bommes and Jochen Oltmer (Göttingen: V & R Unipress, 2004), 449–55.

  45. 45.

    Jan Motte, “Nicht Ausländer-, sondern Strukturpolitik: Die bundesdeutsche Praxis der Rückkehrförderung in den 80er Jahren,” in Einwanderung im Spiegel sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung (Wiesbaden: Springer, 2000), 55–72.

  46. 46.

    Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Sozialordnung, “Ausländerpolitik,” Antwort Bundesregierung Drs. 9/1629 (Bonn: Bundestag, May 5, 1982). France, for example, required a foreign citizen to live in the country for five years before becoming eligible to apply for citizenship. For a discussion of German identity and citizenship, see also Brett Klopp, German Multiculturalism: Immigrant Integration and the Transformation of Citizenship (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002), 40–44.

  47. 47.

    Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, founded in 1964, was an ultra-right wing party that many in Germany and abroad view as a neo-Nazi party. See Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Sozialordnung, “Ausländerpolitik,” 4919; “Brief von Mietern an Ihre Wohnungsbaugesellschaft ‘Neue Heimat,’” Der Tagesspiegel, October 10, 1979.

  48. 48.

    Howard-Hassmann and Walton-Roberts, The Human Right to Citizenship; Gonçalo Matias, Citizenship as a Human Right: The Fundamental Right to a Specific Citizenship (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016); David Owen, “Citizenship and Human Rights,” in The Oxford Handbook of Citizenship, ed. Ayelet Shachar et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).

  49. 49.

    Manuel Castells, “Immigrant Workers and Class Struggles in Advanced Capitalism: The Western European Experience,” Politics & Society 5, no. 1 (1975): 33–66; O. Soyombo, “Xenophobia in Contemporary Society: A Sociological Analysis,” IFE PsychologIA 16, no. 2 (January 1, 2008): 85–104.

  50. 50.

    Stephen Castles, “Racism and Politics in West Germany,” Race & Class 25, no. 3 (1984): 37–51; Trutz Von Trotha, “Political Culture, Xenophobia and the Development of the Violence of the Radical Right in the Federal Republic of Germany,” Crime, Law and Social Change 24, no. 1 (March 1, 1995): 37–47; Klaus A. Lankheit, “Archival Collections and the Study of Migration,” in Migration, Memory, and Diversity: Germany from 1945 to the Present, ed. Cornelia Wilhelm (New York: Berghahn Books, 2016), 184–85; James R. Dow, “Germany,” in Handbook of Language & Ethnic Identity, ed. Joshua A. Fishman and Ofelia García, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 233–34.

  51. 51.

    Ruth Lingenberg, “Bei Ausländerkindern ‘tickt eine Zeitbombe’: Von der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit sind sie besonders bedroht,” Kölnische Rundschau, April 15, 1976; L. Adelson, The Turkish Turn in Contemporary German Literature: Towards a New Critical Grammar of Migration (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

  52. 52.

    Peck, “Turks and Jews.”

  53. 53.

    For a brief description of “special schools,” see Sieglind Ellger-Rüttgart, “Entwicklung des Sonderschulwesens,” in Handbuch der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte: 1945 bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Christa Berg, Christoph Führ, and Carl-Ludwig Furck, vol. 6 (München: C.H. Beck, 1998), 356–77.

  54. 54.

    In 1972, Recommendations 302–315 guided the development of the special school system. They have since been superseded by a series of Recommendations from 6 May 1994 (Christoph Führ, The German Education System Since 1945, trans. Iván Tapia (Bonn: Inter Nationes, 1997), 164–166). The practice of developing special schools for the physically and learning disabled began before the Second World War, stemming from church initiatives. They were, however, restructured in the post-war period, in part because of problems with teaching and material shortages and poor treatment of those with supposed disabilities during the Third Reich.

  55. 55.

    Teachers made referrals based on a battery of tests, usually by the fourth grade (before schoolchildren started middle school or entered the secondary school system). Tests included a variety of intelligence as well as visual and aural recognition examinations, which the test administrator could select from based on personal preference. Referrals for transfer were explicitly not to be made solely on IQ, but rather based on what the school administrator thought would best meet the child’s individual needs. Oberschulamt Freiburg, “Arbeitsgruppe im Oberschulamt Freiburg zur Überprüfung des Überweisungsverfahrens auf Sonderschulen für Kinder ital. Nationalität,” 440.65-5a, March 21, 1979, 3–4, EA 3/609 Bü 94, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart.

  56. 56.

    “1. Tagung der Gemischten deutsch-italienischen Kommission für den Unterricht italienischer Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 23. bis 24. Mai 1978 in Bonn,” Protokoll (Bonn, May 24, 1978), 9, B 93, Bd. 859, PA AA.

  57. 57.

    Ambasciata d’Italia, “Memorandum” (Bonn-Bad Godesberg, July 13, 1977), B 93, Bd. 859, PA AA; Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Rom, “Schulunterricht für italienische Gastarbeiterkinder,” Sachstandsbericht (Rome: Auswärtige Amt, March 31, 1977), B 93, Bd. 859, PA AA.

  58. 58.

    For an article on the social acceptance of children attending schools for the learning disabled in Italy, see M. Manetti, B. H. Schneider, and G. Siperstein, “Social Acceptance of Children with Mental Retardation: Testing the Contact Hypothesis with an Italian Sample,” International Journal of Behavioral Development 25, no. 3 (2001): 279–86.

  59. 59.

    This problem is not limited to Germany. For a recent discussion of the over-enrollment of Hispanic and Africa-American schoolchildren in US schools, see Beth Harry and Janette K. Klingner, Why Are so Many Minority Students in Special Education?: Understanding Race and Disability in Schools, 2nd ed. (New York: Teachers College Press, 2014).

  60. 60.

    The participants in the federally funded German-Italian Workshop of Special Education Specialists in November 1979 in Stuttgart came to the conclusion that West German teachers were responding to the students’ affects. Dr. Poggio from the University of Tübingen presented the results of a year-long research project performed by local and Italian experts as well as a representative from the Regional School Administration in Tübingen. “2. Tagung der Gemischten deutsch-italienischen Kommission für den Unterricht italienischer Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 23. bis 24. Mai 1978 in Bonn,” Protokoll (Rome, February 8, 1980), 12, B 93, Bd. 1151, PA AA.

  61. 61.

    “2. Tagung,” 12.

  62. 62.

    The 1979 workshop also acknowledged additional causes and influences, including working-class background and rural-urban migration concerns. Kultusministerkonferenz, “Schulsituation italienischer Kinder in der Bundes Republik Deutschland,” IIc 3 – 24327/8, June 14, 1983, B 304/6253, Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Hermann, “Deutsch-italienisches Kulturabkommen; hier: Deutsch-italienische Arbeitstagung von Sonderschulfachleuten am 7 – 9. 11. 1979 in Stuttgart,” Kurzbericht, December 11, 1979, B 93, Bd. 859, PA AA.

  63. 63.

    Arguably, this demonstrates Pierre Bourdieu’s claim that any school system perpetuates symbolic violence as the system judges schoolchildren based on arbitrary values designed to validate the upper classes. The schools, and teachers in them, are unable or unwilling to move beyond their ingrained assumptions and devalue other cultural capital, usually unconsciously. See Pierre Bourdieu, Reproduction in Education, Society, and Culture, trans. Jean-Claude Passeron, 2nd ed. (London: Sage Publications, 1990), 54–57; Ulrike Popp, “Die sozialen Funktionen schulischer Bildung,” in Handbuch der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte: 1945 bis zur Gegenwart, ed. Christa Berg, Christoph Führ, and Carl-Ludwig Furck, vol. 6 (Munich: C.H. Beck, 1998), 265–76; Umut Erel, “Migrating Cultural Capital: Bourdieu in Migration Studies,” Sociology 44, no. 4 (2010): 642–60.

  64. 64.

    To try and address the issue, the KMK recommended that, as a rule, the referral process involve Italian pedagogues. Kultusministerkonferenz, “Schulsituation italienischer Kinder in der Bundes Republik Deutschland”; Schürmann, “Ausländische Kinder an Sonderschulen für Lernbehinderte,” Kleine Anfrage (Berlin: Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin, June 15, 1987); “Kommuniqué über die 11. Tagung der gemischten deutsch-türkischen Expertenkommission für den Unterricht türkischer Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland am 21.-23. März 1990 in Berlin,” Kommuniqué (Berlin, March 23, 1990), 18, B 304/7794, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  65. 65.

    Horst Staufer, “Nach Bewältigung des ‘Schülerbergs’: Wird die Hauptschule zur Ausländerschule? Ein neues Problem kommt auf uns zu: Deutsche Kinder in der Minderheit,” Badische Zeitung, December 17, 1977, EA 8/203 Bü 394, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart; Konrad Adam, “Hauptschule: Ghetto für Ausländerkinder?: Jeder siebte Schüler scheitert—In der Gesamtschule überfordert,” Stuttgarter Nachrichten, April 26, 1979, EA 8/203 Bü 397, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart.

  66. 66.

    “Warum sie versagen: Ausländer in der Schule: Lehrer und Eltern – ratlos und überfordert,” Frankfurter Rundschau, February 10, 1978.

  67. 67.

    That the majority of “foreigners” lived in working-class neighborhoods underlined that decision as those “German” children in particular needed extra support to ensure their equality of opportunity. “20 Prozent der ABC-Schützen sind Ausländer,” Morgen Post, August 10, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv; Dirk Cornelsen, “Deutsche Kinder dürfen nicht Minderheit in Schulen werden: CDU-Politikerin Laurien widerspricht katholischer Kirche: ‘Keine türkischen Kinder über sechs Jahre nachholen,’” Frankfurter Rundschau, August 13, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv. For a brief discussion of the Berlin laws as of 2001, including the 1982 law, see Christine Langenfeld, Integration und kulturelle Identität zugewanderter Minderheiten: Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel des allgemeinbildenden Schulwesens in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001), 102–11.

  68. 68.

    Hanna-Renate Laurien (1928–2010) was a CDU politician and converted to Catholicism (from Lutheranism at age 24). She served as Senator for School, Youth and Sports in Berlin from 1981 to 1989, when she had to resign. Laurien was elected President of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin in 1991 (the first female to be so elected), in which capacity she served until 1995. She also served from 1967 to 2000 as the main committee member of the Central Committee of German Catholics (Zentralkomitees der deutschen Katholiken).

  69. 69.

    For example, Cornelsen, “Deutsche Kinder dürfen nicht Minderheit in Schulen werden: CDU-Politikerin Laurien widerspricht katholischer Kirche: ‘Keine türkischen Kinder über sechs Jahre nachholen’”; “Begrenzung des Anteils ausländischer Kinder in Schulklassen? Gesetzentwurf in Berlin/Frau Laurien für einen frühzeitigen Nachzug/Kongresse, Initiativen, Pläne,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 13, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv; “Deutsche Kinder dürfen nicht zur Minderheiter werden: Senatorin Laurien für reine Ausländerklassen,” Morgen Post, August 13, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv; “Gemeinsamer Unterricht: Ja! Aber deutsche Schüler dürfen nicht zur Minderheit werden,” Berliner Zeitung, August 13, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv. Other than citizenship status, the background of the parents is unclear in the press reports.

  70. 70.

    One example is the Fritzlar-Homberg-Grundschule in Tiergarten: After bringing their children to the first few days of class, some parents removed their children and insisted instead on a common “deutsche Erstkläßler” (German first grade). The new rules actually raised the limits from 15 percent to 30–50 percent, depending on language competency. For the Fritzlar-Homberg-Grundschule, there were 24 “German” and 33 “foreign” schoolchildren registered. Given the rules, the school had created two classes, one with 24 German and 5 foreigners since the German children could not be separated and still maintain the legal limits. “Eltern schickten ihre Kinder nicht in Ausländerklasse,” Tagesspeigel, August 14, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv.

  71. 71.

    “Zahl der Asylbewerber sank um 55 Prozent: Seit Jahresbeginn nur noch knapp 4000 Anträge,” Tagesspeigel, September 3, 1982, B Rep 002 16864, Berlin Landesarchiv; Sabine Reuter, “Kälte, welche die Seele krank macht: Das Beispiel der Familie Yesiltepe zeigt den Zwiespalt auf, in dem sich Gastarbeiter angesichts der Ausländerfeindlichkeit befinden,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 17, 1982, Rep. B 4.7, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

  72. 72.

    Howard J. Ross, Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), 54.

  73. 73.

    Ralf Dahrendorf, “The Crisis in German Education,” Journal of Contemporary History 2, no. 3 (July 1967): 139–47; Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron, Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, trans. Richard Nice (London: Sage Publications, 1977).

  74. 74.

    Ayse S. Cağlar, “German Turks in Berlin: Social Exclusion and Strategies for Social Mobility,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 21, no. 3 (July 1, 1995): 309–23; Regina Bendix and Barbro Klein, “Introduction: Foreigners and Foreignness in Europe,” Journal of Folklore Research 30, no. 1 (1993): 1; Bican Sahin and Nezahat Altuntas, “Between Enlightened Exclusion and Conscientious Inclusion: Tolerating the Muslims in Germany,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 29, no. 1 (March 1, 2009): 27–41.

  75. 75.

    “Schulbesuch und Schulerfolg ausländischer Schüler,” Statistische Monatsberichte (Bremen) 4/78 (1978): 99–104; “Bildungsverhalten und Schulerfolg der ausländischen Kinder in Baden-Württemberg: 2. Bericht zum Projekt ‘Untersuchung von Schulbesuch und Schulverlauf ausländischer Schüler in Baden-Württemberg’; Tabellen,” Materialien zur Förderung ausländischer Kinder und Jugendlicher an allgemeinbildenden und beruflichen Schulen : Reihe C; 6 (Stuttgart: Ministerium für Kultus und Sport Baden-Württemberg, 1983), http://www.statistik.baden-wuerttemberg.de

  76. 76.

    Statistisches Bundesamt, Germany, Statistisches Jahrbuch 1984, 68.

  77. 77.

    Instead, these groups often put down roots, becoming permanent residents (and often citizens) in their countries of residence, although they frequently faced continued xenophobia and othering. Nermin Abadan-Unat, Turks in Europe: From Guest Worker to Transnational Citizen (New York: Berghahn Books, 2011), 183–92; Ute Frevert, “How to Become a Good European Citizen,” in The Making of Citizens in Europe: New Perspectives on Citizenship Education, ed. Viola B Georgi (Bonn: Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 2008), 39; Eva Østergaard-Nielsen, Transnational Politics: The Case of Turks and Kurds in Germany (New York: Routledge, 2003), 38–39. See also Stephen Castles, Heather Booth, and Tina Wallace, Here for Good: Western Europe’s New Ethnic Minorities (London: Pluto Press, 1984); Panikos Panayi, Outsiders: History of European Minorities (London: Hambledon, 1999), 117–60.

  78. 78.

    European Parliament, “The Teaching of Immigrants in the European Union,” Working Document, Education and Culture (Luxembourg: European Parliament, November 1997), 43. See also Commission of the European Communities, “Report on the Implementation in the Member States of Directive 77/486/EEC on the Education of the Children of Migrant Workers” (Brussels, January 3, 1989); Sekretariat and Hermann, “39. Sitzung des Unterausschusses für ausländische Schüler am 18. Mai 1989 in Stuttgart,” Ergebnisniederschrift (Bonn: Kultusministerkonferenz, June 15, 1989), B 304/7775, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  79. 79.

    Kevin Kenny, Diaspora: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).

  80. 80.

    Parliament, “EDUC 100 EN,” 43; Gisella Gori, Towards an EU Right to Education (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2001), fn on 215. There were some flurries of attempts to update or change 486/77/EEC, but each of these was frustrated. West Germany declined to support the re-drafting the agenda. The sense of obsoletion meant less emphasis, which in turn led to less funding particularly as new EC projects focused on integration fell away in favor of other initiatives.

  81. 81.

    Commission of the European Communities, “Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education: Ad Hoc Conference on the Education of Migrants (Strasbourg, 5–8 November 1974): The Education of Children of Migrant Workers in the European Community,” Communication from the Commission of the European Communities, November 8, 1974, 2, BAC 144/1987 53, Commission of the European Union. The Associated Action Plan came into force before the Directive (Council of the European Communities, “Council Resolution of 21 January 1974 Concerning a Social Action Programme,” Official Journal of the European Communities, no. C 13 (February 12, 1974): 1–4).

  82. 82.

    By 1988, the Commission assembling the report laid out the unequal implementation across the Community. Because of the phrasing of the Directive, there was little that the Community could actually do regarding punitive measures against those avoiding implementation. Nonetheless, the ongoing use of the directive both in West Germany and by countries of citizenship continued to underline its impact as rhetorical tool, even if its weight as a legal device was limited. Council of the European Communities, “Council Directive 77/486/EEC of 25 July 1977 on the Education of the Children of Migrant Workers,” Official Journal L, no. 199 (August 6, 1977): 0032–0033; Council of the European Communities and John Morris, “451st Meeting of the Council – Social Affairs – Luxembourg, 28 June 1977,” Press Release (Luxembourg: Commission of the European Communities, June 28, 1977), BAC 14/1989 44, Commission of the European Union. Both sets of measures are supposed to be implemented within four years.

  83. 83.

    Wilhelm Hilpert, “76 000 Italiener an deutschen Schulen: Kinder zwischen Eingliederung und nationaler Identität/Botschafter empfiehlt Zweisprachigkeit,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 12, 1982, B 138/38640, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  84. 84.

    “Entwicklung von Lehr- und Lernmittel für den muttersprachlichen Unterricht mit italienischen Schülern in deutschsprachigen Ländern; hier: Arbeitstagung mit Vertretern der EG, des UAauslS, verschiedener italienischer Behörde und Mitarbeitern des Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana am 28. und 19. 10. 1985 in Rome,” Anlage (Bonn: Kultusministerkonferenz, February 12, 1985), B 304/7788, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  85. 85.

    Euan Reid and Hans H. Reich, eds., Breaking the Boundaries: Migrant Workers’ Children in the EC (Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1991), 38–43.

  86. 86.

    Some new bilingual schools were set up in North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, and Bavaria (as well as in some other locations).

  87. 87.

    The European Community funded (money associated with the 1976 Action Programme and 1977 Directive) the development of a schoolbook for the children of Italian citizens. Because the majority of schoolchildren with Italian citizenship were third generation (some second, some fourth), the Italian government argued that the older materials available were no long applicable. Instead , they wanted materials available that could be used for children with Italian citizenship who spoke no Italian as well as those who possessed some knowledge as heritage speakers. See “Entwicklung von Lehr- und Lernmittel für den muttersprachlichen Unterricht mit italienischen Schülern in deutschsprachigen Ländern; hier: Arbeitstagung mit Vertretern der EG, des UAauslS, verschiedener italienischer Behörde und Mitarbeitern des Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana am 28 und 19 10. 1985 in Rome”; Reid and Reich, Breaking the Boundaries; Reid and Reich, 38–40.

  88. 88.

    Hermann, “Ergebnisniederschrift über die 10. Sitzung des Unterausschusses für ausländische Schüler am 7 September 1983 in Bonn,” Ergebnisniederschrift (Bonn: Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepulik Deutschland, September 7, 1983), 16, B 304/7771, Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Hermann, “Ergebnisniederschrift über die 28. Sitzung des Unterausschusses für ausländische Schüler am 15./17. März 1987 in Berlin,” Ergebnisniederschrift (Bonn: Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepulik Deutschland, March 20, 1987), 16–18, B 304/7772, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  89. 89.

    Commission of the European Communities, “Report from the Commission to the Council on the Implementation of Directive 77/486/EEC on the Education of the Children on Migrant Workers” (Brussels: European Community, February 10, 1984); Antonio Perotti, “The Impact of the Council of Europe’s Recommendations on Intercultural Education in European School Systems,” European Journal of Intercultural Studies 5, no. 1 (January 1, 1994): 9–17.

  90. 90.

    Part of the reason for that increase was because many children tracked into lower-secondary school returned to Greece to finish their education. See “Protokoll über die 5. Tagung der gemischten deutsch-griechischen Expertenkommission für den Unterricht griechischen Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 3. – 5. 12. 1985 in München,” Protokoll (Bonn, December 5, 1985), 7–9, B 304/6120, Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Seifert and Ministerium für Kultus und Sport Baden-Württemberg to Oberschulämter, “Allgemeine Hinweise und Empfehlungen zum Schulversuch; hier: Hauptschulen für griechsiche Schüler,” IV-2-2111/713, January 14, 1987, EA 3/609 Bü 90/2, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart. The Greek state worked closely with both Social Democratic and Christian Democratic Parties (in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, as well as Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, respectively).

  91. 91.

    “Hier stinkt es nach Türken.”

  92. 92.

    Abadan-Unat argues in the 2011 book that “by the 1980s, Turks were the most visible and numerous of Germany’s ethnic groups, making them a primary target of xenophobia” (Turks in Europe, 186). See also Stephan Lanz, “The German Sonderweg: Multiculturalism as ‘Racism with a Distance,’” in European Multiculturalism Revisited, ed. Alessandro Silj (London: Zed Books, 2010), 105–46.

  93. 93.

    Zeynep Kılıç, “Second-Generation Turkish Immigrants in the United States and Germany: Dilemmas of Cultural Identity,” in Crossing Over: Comparing Recent Migration in the United States and Europe, ed. Holger Henke (Lanham, M.D.: Lexington Books, 2005), 169. For a discussion of the situation regarding immigrant identity in the 2000s, see Yıldız Köremezli, “Immigrants’ Struggle for Recognition: Religion and Politics,” in Religion, Identity and Politics: Germany and Turkey in Interaction, ed. Haldun Gülalp and Günter Seufert (New York: Routledge, 2013), 60–71.

  94. 94.

    “Kommuniqué über die 8. Tagung der Gemischten deutsch-türkischen Expertenkommission für den Unterricht türkischer Schüler in der BRD vom 10. – 12. June 1985 in Izmir,” Kommuniqué (Bonn, June 12, 1985), 4–7, B 304/7794, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  95. 95.

    “Kommuniqué über das dritte Tagung der Gemischten deutsch-türkische Kommission für den Unterricht türkischer Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland vom 10. – 12. 10. 1979 in Bonn,” Kommuniqué (Bonn, October 12, 1979), 1–2, B 93, Bd. 861, PA AA.

  96. 96.

    Sekretariat and Hermann, “3. Sitzung des Unterausschusses für ausländische Schüler am 17./18. October 1978 in Wiesbaden,” Ergebnisniederschrift (Bonn: Kultusministerkonferenz, October 18, 1978), 6, B 304/7771, Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Hermann, “8. Sitzung des Arbeitsgruppe ‘Unterricht für ausländsiche Schüler’ am 19/20. 11. 1979,” Ergebnisniederschrift (Bonn: Sekretariat der Kultusministerkonferenz, November 20, 1979), NW 388-43, Landesarchiv NRW. See also AL Kantemir, “Modellversuch Türkisch anstelle der 1. Fremdsprache,” KA 9/879 (Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin, April 5, 1982).

  97. 97.

    “Kommuniqué über die 10. Tagung der gemischten deutsch-türkischen Expertenkommission für den Unterricht türkischer Schüler in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland am 28. September – 01. Oktober 1987 in Antalya,” Kommuniqué (Berlin, October 1, 1987), 4–5, B 304/7794, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  98. 98.

    Privatschule der Deutschen botschaft Ankara to Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, “Türkisch als 2. Fremdsprache an deutschen Schulen,” October 7, 1981, B 304/6178, Bundesarchiv Koblenz; Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland and Hermann to Privatschule der Deutschen botschaft Ankara, “Türkisch als 2. Fremdsprache an deutschen Schulen,” IA – Tgb. Nr. 20.295/81, November 13, 1981, B 304/6178, Bundesarchiv Koblenz.

  99. 99.

    “Hier stinkt es nach Türken.”

  100. 100.

    Reimut Jochimsen, BMBW, and Pressereferat, “Statement des Staatssekretärs des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Wissenschaft, Professor Dr. Reimut Jochimsen, bei der Pressekonferenz des Stifterverbandes am 22. Juni 1977 im Wissenschaftszentrum in Bonn” (Bonn, June 22, 1977), B 93, Bd. 857, PA AA.

  101. 101.

    Council 16/11/1971 on cooperation in the field of education. Commission of the European Communities and Henri Jane, “For a Community Policy on Education,” Bulletin of the European Communities Supplement 10/73 (1973), http://aei.pitt.edu/5588. The European Community avoided programs directly overlapping with the Council of Europe’s programs (i.e. modern language instruction). For a list of programs in place as of 1974, see Etienne Grosjean, Forty Years of Cultural Co-Operation at the Council of Europe 1954–94 (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 1997).

  102. 102.

    “2215 die Verwaltungskommission für die soziale Sicherheit der Wanderarbeitnehmer,” EG-Bulletin, October 1973.

  103. 103.

    “Hier stinkt es nach Türken”; Mustafa Tekinez, “Sind wir nicht alle Menschen?,” in Deutsches Heim – Glück allein: Wie Türken Deutsche sehen, ed. Dursun Akçam, trans. Helmut Oberdiek (Bornheim-Merten: Lamuv, 1982), 206–14.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lehman, B. (2019). More of a Right to Education for German Citizens (1976–1985). In: Teaching Migrant Children in West Germany and Europe, 1949–1992. Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97728-7_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97728-7_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97727-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97728-7

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics