Citizenship and economic boom eased postwar expellee integration in West Germany

Evidence

In West Germany the task of accommodating German refugees and expellees had been enormous, but the bestowal of citizenship, the public recognition of their plight, and a booming economy eased their integration. Although less successful than the FRG, the GDR’s version of citizenship sought to unite residents and newcomers. Yet others who populated the occupation zones after the defeat of the Third Reich, the German–Jewish remnant, Jewish displaced persons from Eastern Europe, and Allied soldiers, posed greater difficulties. Although Jews personified Nazism’s greatest crime and received offers of citizenship (or the restoration of it for German Jews) for that reason, pervasive anti-Semitism encouraged most to emigrate. — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 196

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Expellee organizations sustained West German revanchism by reinforcing refusal to accept the postwar border — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 190; West Germany’s redistributive integration policy followed from its pluralism and Cold-War politics — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 73; West Germany preserved expellee cultural identity where East Germany and France sought swift assimilation — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 72 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• West Germany’s redistributive integration policy followed from its pluralism and Cold-War politics #expands (0.80) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 73
• West Germany preserved expellee cultural identity where East Germany and France sought swift assimilation #qualifies (0.75) — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 72