Turkish Guestworkers in Germany
This is a notable case in the history of labour, as it links to multiple key issues in social and global studies, including but not limited to migration, identity, culture, integration, racism, and policy ramifications.
Germany: Key Facts
• Capital & largest city: Berlin (4.7 million, urban area)• Population: 83.5 million (2024, Q3 estimate)
• Largest minority: Turks (3.4%)
• GDP per capita: ~$71K per capita (ppp)
• GDP rank: 6th in the world (ppp, 2014)
Case Background
In the years following the Second World War, several economies in Western and Northern Europe faced labour shortages. Their domestic workforces could not keep up with the demands of rapidly expanding industries. Germany was among these countries, and to address the shortage, it signed bilateral agreements with several nations to recruit foreign labourers.
In October 1961, Germany and Turkey signed a bilateral recruitment agreement, officially starting the story of Turkish guestworkers in Germany. Between 1961 and 1973, approximately 2.7 million Turks applied for these positions, with over 700,000 successfully securing work.
Yet what was initially planned as a temporary guestworker program unexpectedly led to permanent realities. Six decades later, we have around 4.3 million people in Germany with Turkish roots, making them the largest ethnic minority in the country. Of these, approximately 2.8 million hold German passports. The below sections explain how things turned out unexpectedly different in Germany.
1961
In 1961, Turkish workers embraced the opportunity because Turkey's economy was experiencing high unemployment at the time. For many, the chance to work in Germany was a major opportunity. Most were young or middle-aged men, though a significant number were women. Many were single, but some were married, leaving behind spouses and children who depended on the money they would send home. Few were highly educated, and almost none spoke German. They came from all over Turkey, often from small towns or rural areas with modest backgrounds. For some, moving to a major German city like Berlin, Hamburg, or Munich was their first experience in an urban center, let alone a foreign country.
The application process was rigorous. The German government set up liaison offices in Turkey to interview candidates and conduct medical examinations - sometimes in humiliating ways. Those who passed boarded trains bound for Germany, believing they would return home in a year or two. That was the expectation, but the reality unfolded differently.
The German government initially referred to them as "foreign workers," but the term carried heavy historical baggage. During the Second World War, the Nazi regime had forcibly employed over 7 million foreign civilians and prisoners of war under the same label. To avoid these negative associations, the government later adopted the term "guestworkers" (Gastarbeiters).
The Initial Guestworker Experience (1961-1973)
Upon arrival, Turkish guestworkers received some quick training and were quickly put to work, mostly in heavy industry, factories, or mining. Some had been promised factory jobs but instead spent years working in grueling conditions deep underground in mines, particularly in cities like Essen. The labour was demanding, often harsh, but both men and women worked persistently for years.
These guestworkers typically lived in dormitories (Heim) located near their workplaces, often enduring poor conditions. Some of these buildings lacked basic amenities such as bathrooms. The dormitories were also isolated from the broader German community, reinforcing segregation and further alienating the guestworkers.
Initially, the guestworkers planned to endure these hardships briefly, saving as much as possible before returning to Turkey. Their wages matched those of German workers, yet the money held significantly greater purchasing power in Turkey. Consequently, they lived frugally, prioritizing sending money back home rather than spending it in Germany. Their work permits usually lasted one or two years, after which they anticipated being replaced by new workers.
However, this arrangement soon evolved. Employers realized that constantly retraining and reorienting new workers was costly, inefficient, and time-consuming, especially in the presence of trained and oriented workers already on the job. Consequently, in 1964, the recruitment agreement was revised to remove time restrictions, effectively ending worker rotation.
Working in Germany, Thinking about Turkey
The initial period between 1961 and 1973 was emotionally challenging for Turkish guestworkers. Physically present in Germany, many remained emotionally and mentally connected to Turkey. The question of returning home was a matter of timing rather than possibility, creating constant inner conflict.
Their decision was often agonizing. Life in Germany was tough, characterized by demanding jobs, isolation, and language barriers. Workers frequently longed for their families, hometowns, and former lives in Turkey. Conversely, their stable incomes significantly benefited families back home. These opposing pressures kept them perpetually conflicted.
At Munich's main train station in southeastern Germany—the first point of arrival for many guest workers—the terminal became a gathering place, a symbolic gateway between their new lives in Germany and their distant homes in Turkey. In an era without the internet or smartphones, they would smoke, stare at the tracks, and dream of return. To German bystanders, including police, their lingering seemed puzzling—until the Turkish embassy clarified that these quiet vigils were acts of profound homesickness.
After reflective moments at the station, workers might write letters, send postcards, or record their voice on cassette tapes, particularly valuable for family members in rural Anatolia unable to read. Communication was slow and difficult, hindered by unreliable landlines that operated via operators, and the absence of the internet.
The Oil Crisis of 1973
Germany first experienced a brief economic recession between 1966 and 1967, during which some Germans lost their jobs. Politicians, scholars, and commentators began criticizing foreign labour recruitment programs, and xenophobia towards migrant workers emerged, though no major incidents occurred until 1973.
The system operated without significant disruption until 1973 when the oil crisis severely impacted Germany and other Western nations. By this time, Germany hosted four million non-citizens, many of whom lost their jobs due to the economic downturn. German authorities expected guestworkers to return to their home countries, but few immediately chose to do so. Many Turkish guestworkers had already established lives in Germany over more than a decade, despite continuously missing and contemplating a return to Turkey. A recent job loss did not lead many to an immediate decision to return.
This reluctance surprised German policymakers, leading the government to suspend new migrant worker recruitment and tighten immigration policies. However, due to the crucial 1964 revision of the recruitment agreement - which lifted time restrictions and ended worker rotation - deporting existing guestworkers was not possible. This seemingly minor change had monumental implications in 1973, affecting Germany's future social fabric profoundly.
Family Reunifications
Workers faced significant risks if they chose to leave Germany and later wished to return legally. Thus, many decided to stay, sponsoring their families to join them due to fears of future immigration restrictions. Even those considering an eventual return preferred keeping their families close, prepared for any unforeseen circumstances that might prolong their stay in Germany.
Family reunifications became widespread throughout the mid and late 1970s, and the 1980s. Although the German government opposed allowing guestworkers to bring their families, it could not legally prevent it. Family reunification is a protected human right under several international conventions. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both emphasize the state's duty to protect family integrity. Additionally, a specific UN convention safeguards the rights of migrant workers and their families.
As a result, Germany could neither expel the guestworkers nor stop them from continuing to work or reuniting with their families. This legal reality led to an unexpected development: migrant workers had the right to remain, to seek new employment, and to bring their spouses and children to join them. Over the next two decades, women and children arrived steadily.
Long-separated families were reunited in Germany. Single guestworkers, fearing future restrictions, married and sponsored their wives. Most of these women and children had never lived in Germany and spoke no German. Their arrival dramatically transformed the social environment of the guestworkers, turning fragmented male dormitories into the foundation of growing communities.
Key Transition in the 1980s: From Workers to Communities
Before reunification, Turkish guestworkers were overwhelmingly male, often living in crowded dormitories with little connection to German society. The arrival of women and children changed that dynamic completely. Many resumed ordinary family life - something they hadn't experienced in more than a decade - but not in Turkey as originally planned. That life resumed in Germany.
As more guestworkers married and had children, Turkish neighborhoods began to form across Germany. These communities increasingly resembled life in Turkey. At first, religious Turks prayed in makeshift mosques - sometimes in converted warehouses. But as the communities grew and solidified, Turks began requesting permits to construct purpose-built mosques, complete with domes and minarets modeled after those back home.
Local authorities were initially resistant, arguing that such structures didn't fit Germany's social and architectural landscape. Nevertheless, one by one, purpose-built mosques began to appear in Turkish neighborhoods across the country.
Return Migration
Estimates suggest that half of the 700,000 guestworkers who arrived in Germany between 1961 and 1973 eventually returned to Turkey. The other half remained in Germany.
Return migration, like family reunification, occurred gradually over many years. Those who returned in the 1970s typically did so after only a few years in Germany. They had never intended to settle permanently and did not change their minds after experiencing life there. Most gained some skills, earned money - though often less than expected - and ultimately benefited from the program.
Returnees in the 1980s had typically spent much longer in Germany, sometimes up to two decades. They generally saved more money and had always planned to return home. Many invested in property in Turkey rather than in Germany. Even those who reunited with their families in Germany often chose to return, motivated by a desire to ensure their children grew up with a strong Turkish - or in some cases, Kurdish - identity.
In the 1980s, there was a notable surge in returns after the 1983 cash incentive announcement by the German government. Each adult who returned to Turkey was offered 10,500 german marks - plus an additional 1,500 marks per child. By the first half of 1984, 250,000 Turks had taken up this offer.
Later returnees in the 1990s and beyond, differed notably from earlier groups. By this stage, most had lived in Germany for over 30 years. They were older, more fluent in German, and more socially integrated. Many had children who were born in Germany. These guestworkers often returned to Turkey shortly after retirement, while their children typically remained in Germany. This arrangement did not pose significant problems: most of these older returnees became semi-returnees, spending part of the year in Turkey while maintaining enough time in Germany to retain residency and access social security benefits.
1989
This story has many notable phases, with countless migrant stories associated with each. One of the sad chapters is the phase that began in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. Workers from East Germany began moving west, and racist violence increased, as the Nazi ideology had remained active in certain areas of the former East Germany. Neo-Nazi activity became more visible, and attacks on immigrants escalated after German reunification.
One of the most severe incidents occurred in 1993, when five members of a Turkish family were killed in an arson attack in Solingen. The case became widely known and remains a central reference point in discussions of anti-immigrant violence in Germany. Other arson attacks occurred in Mölln (1992) and near Duisburg.
Between 2000 and 2006, a neo-Nazi terrorist group known as the National Socialist Underground (NSU) carried out a series of killings, murdering nine people of Turkish, Kurdish, and Greek descent. For years, authorities failed to recognize the pattern or the political motivations behind the crimes. The group's existence and the extent of its activities were only publicly acknowledged in 2011.
In February 2020, a gunman with far-right views carried out a mass shooting in Hanau, targeting two shisha bars and other nearby locations. He killed nine people, most of whom were of immigrant background, including individuals of Turkish, Kurdish, Bosnian, Afghan, and Bulgarian descent. After the attack, the shooter killed his mother and then himself. The perpetrator had previously published a manifesto expressing racist conspiracy theories, particularly about immigrants and ethnic minorities. The Hanau attack exposed ongoing failures in identifying and monitoring far-right extremism. It also raised renewed questions about how state institutions handle threats directed at migrant communities.
Hybrid Identities, and Other Emerging Realities
The Turkish community has a strong presence in Germany today, and there are many notable success stories. More than 80,000 businesses in Germany are owned by people of Turkish origin, employing an estimated 400,000 workers. At the same time, a Turkish minority underclass persists - unsurprising given their origin as the largest guestworker group and the historical barriers they faced in housing, education, and employment.
Descendants of guestworkers have risen to become prominent politicians, filmmakers, actors, and professional athletes. A widely recognized example includes the co-developers of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, both of Turkish descent.
Culturally, new forms of expression have emerged. German rap is now often performed by the descendants of Turkish and other migrant backgrounds, shaping a distinctive urban subculture. Dialects like Kiezdeutsch, Kanak Sprak, and Türkendeutsch have developed - blending German with elements of Turkish, Arabic, and other languages - reflecting the lived realities of multilingual, multicultural neighborhoods in Germany.
Music Video
The music video of the song Der Gastarbeiter (The Guestworker) by Eko Fresh, a third-generation German rapper with Turkish background.
The song is in German, and YouTube auto-translate is not perfect, but it will give you some idea about one of many migrant stories associated with the above case.
Last updated: Spring 2025