Changing Categories and the Bumpy Road to Recognition in Germany

Abstract

The vocabulary used to refer to the newcomers to post-World War II German society was very specific and showed up changes over time. The terms used by the majority, in public discourse and in official statistics ranged from aliens (Fremde), guest-workers (Gastarbeiter), foreigners (Ausländer), migrants (Migranten), immigrants (Einwanderer), to-migrants (Zuwanderer), foreign co-citizens (ausländische Mitbürger), resettlers (Aussiedler), persons with migration background (Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund) or persons with migration history (Menschen mit Migrationsgeschichte). Each of these terms locates the newcomers in German society in a particular way and opens venues and terms for distinguishing ‘we’ and ‘the others’, for determining rights and access to resources, for making claims in the name of a special social group, for building alliances with other groups and even for the narration of history. In short, the shifting predominant terms used to address migration phenomena reveal the shifting landscape of inclusions and exclusions, of boundaries and arenas of public discourses and the relations among the ‘established’, the ‘newcomers’ and/or the ‘minorities’. The categories used for newcomers mainly tell us something about the society in which they arrived.