Sanctuary Germany. The Immigration Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1955-1973

Globalization raises many questions for politicians in the XXth and XXIst centuries, in particular, related to migration processes. The relevance of this study is due to the fact that the study of immigration processes in the countries of the European Union, including Germany, is today one of the most important political, economic and social topics. This paper is focused on the period 1955-1973, which is the time frame for the implementation of the recruitment system of foreign workers from the first agreement with Italy to the termination of employment. In order to give a comprehensive answer about the nature and effectiveness of this policy, the mechanisms, goals and results of the policy are compared in the study, much attention is paid to the international and domestic political context. The paper examines the immigration policy of West Germany in the context of global structural changes in the postwar period, taking into account practices regarding migration and citizenship during the whole XXth century. Using sources such as agreements between the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries, laws, as well as statistical quantitative data (for instance, the number of foreign workers), an analysis of guest worker recruitment in 1955-1973 as a part of the immigration policy of West Germany was carried out. During the work with sources, an interdisciplinary approach was used, which makes possible to analyze political decisions, as well as evaluate various factors influencing it (domestic and foreign policy, economy, international context).