https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastarbeiter
Howiya,
I’ve been reading up on the history of the Gastarbeiters in Germany in the 50s through to the 80s recently and came across an image in that wiki link of the Irish ambassador to Germany signing some agreement for Irish guest workers to Germany in 61.
However, it appears that Irish migration to Germany never really took off whatsoever. Does anyone know any good resources on the reasons behind it? I appreciate language was probably an issue but I doubt of any of the workers Germany recruited from Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia and Turkey spoke much more than pidgin German in the vast majority of cases so why was Ireland a special case?
Was it just seen as easier to integrate into the existing Irish communities in the UK and North America rather than ‘forge a new path’ in Germany or were wages in Germany simply poor compared to other destinations?
Just curious and interested as obviously the Irish government felt there would be interest at the time.
5 comments
The Catholic Church took a dim view of gastarbation.
It was as simple as not having to learn a new language when there were plenty of English-speaking alternatives.
To anyone laughing: that’s not how it’s pronounced.
My father spent a few years working in Germany in the 70s on the building.
It probably comes down to being able to speak the local language and having pre-existing, established Irish communities in the anglosphere countries.