Who, us?!

Translation of a German-language tirade on the immigration/migration debate that I've been harassing German newspapers with as of late. Clear sign of reaching peak middle-aged dad.

People like to talk about us and do so often. Us, you know? Migrants. Sometimes one of “us” is even allowed to join in, maybe on a talk show or in an interview, to share our exotic insights into life in Germany. Oh, wow, super interesting! So that’s how you guys see it? That’s cute. But most of the time, we watch, dead-eyed, from the sidelines. We wearily follow the decades-old discussion about why we’re here, how we’re shaping up in life among the Germans, and how things are going to turn out for us in the future (this tends always to have a somewhat pessimistic slant). But who are we, really? We have been here in this form for as long as Germany, as a Federal Republic, has existed, and actually much, much longer. We come from everywhere and have helped shape this country from day one. The much more interesting question to ask is, who are you, you Germans? But let’s not digress. We, sure, we lucky few. I’ll tell you a little bit about our history and yours so you can better understand who you’re always getting so worked up about.

So, let’s stick with everything from 1945 onwards for now. Recent German history. While the West of the country received millions of dollars in aid, the East was rebuilt with the help of the Soviet Union. Every state and region of the country was occupied, and although these were not migrants per se, they had a lasting impact on the country’s culture. Not to mention all the German-French, German-British, German-Russian, and German-American children who would constitute a growing percentage of the German population from 1945 onwards, not to mention those children born during the war to non-German parents. From the very beginning, Germany was carried out of the self-made ruins of war with a great deal of effort and money from so-called “Ausländer.”

The era of guest workers began with the first Recruitment Agreement with Italy in 1955, 70 years ago. Similar agreements followed with Spain, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, and Yugoslavia. Overall, this phase lasted 18 years until a “recruitment freeze” was imposed in 1973. For almost 20 years, in addition to the occupying powers (including my Mexican-American father, who arrived in Bremerhaven in 1964 as a soldier drafted for the Vietnam War), new groups of migrants contributed to sustaining and growing Germany’s economy. In addition, there were international students (such as my mother, also American, arriving in 1966) who helped shape and influence both West and East Germany. And how did Germans deal with immigration during this time? Well, they did what they do best – lots of talk and even more complaining. Take your pick: will the treatment of immigrants be the sign of decaying national values and tradition, loss of self, or will it be proof of the corrupt, racist nature of the German capitalist soul? They’re both just as thrilling. But talk to us directly? No thanks. We’re better suited as targets, criminals, or virtuous weapons and martyrs.

We’ve been woven into the fabric of this society for 80 years. That’s longer than the German Kaiser Reich, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich combined. So, which is the real Germany? What is German, truly German, and not just a regional peculiarity of Bavaria or Saxony? What constitutes German culture? Back in the day, Germanic people spent 300-400 years integrating or assimilating into the other European, Asian, and African populations they encountered during the Migration Period, and vice versa. Why else would we have Etzel, the Hunnic King, appear in the Nibelungenlied, worthy enough to marry Siegfried’s widow Kriemhild? In the actual battles of that time, Huns and Germanic tribes almost always stood together in alliances on both sides. When the Germanic tribes arrived in North Africa after a few centuries and settled there, were they Aryan warriors or the result of the eternal migration and mixing of peoples that has shaped Europe for thousands of years? The people who have settled in what is now Germany over the millennia have always enjoyed migrating throughout Europe and the world after having called Germany their home for 6-7 centuries. That is why Europeans are all related, even though they see themselves as all being utterly unique.

Speaking of emigration and relatives, why was it that Germany was able to establish economic ties abroad so quickly after the war, especially in places like South America? Well, because millions of Germans have settled everywhere from Alaska to Patagonia for almost 200 years. To this day, Germans represent the largest heritage group in the US (including parts of my family), and countries such as Brazil and Chile are not much different. Germany’s economic rise after the war would never have been possible without the preceding mass emigration of its poorest. Companies such as Volkswagen would never have been able to build factories in South America or promote other business relationships despite historical war crimes had it not been for their generations of immigrants.

So, who are we, today’s migrants, in the eyes of Germany’s own historically migrant population? And by “we,” I mean all of us, even if that’s not how it’s meant on the other side of all these conversations. Why all of us? Because we all feel this debate and discourse personally. No matter how often the media chooses to depict a brown or black hand holding a German passport when discussing the topic. The fact is that there are millions of us from all over the world, and we all feel equally addressed whenever the dreaded topic of migration comes up. We come from all over Africa or Asia, North and South America, as likely to be from Australia as India, Poland or Mexico, Bulgaria, and England. Especially now that there are so many generations of us. We are now in the generation of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We are simply here, we are Germans, we have been for a long time, we help keep the whole system running, and we repeatedly do the work that others don’t want to do.

You end up having to ask yourself who people are actually talking about. Us? You mean, your doctors? Your bakers? Your teachers? Who, us? Your athletes? Your nurses? Us? Your professors? Your garbage collectors? Your CEOs? Your waiters? Your politicians? Who, us? Your soldiers? Your educators? Your police officers? Your musicians? Us? Your actors? Your paramedics? Your lawyers? Your judges? We are here and always have been. We shape your society because your actions brought us here. We want to participate in this society and do so gladly. Migration has been part of German history since its beginnings and is a fundamental building block of the history of the Federal Republic. If you want to talk about migrants and migration, then talk to us. We will tell you what Germany is, can be, and will be.