The Refugees as a Burden a Stimulus, and a Challenge to the West German Economy

66 Pages·1951·1.863 MB·English

by  Dr. Friedrich Edding (auth.)

THE REFUGEES AS A BURDEN, A STIMULUS AND A
CHALLENGE TO THE WEST GERMAN ECONOMY
PUBLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
FOR EUROPEAN MIGRATION PROBLEMS
IV
EXECUTIVE EDITOR:
Dr G. Beijer, I7 Pauwenlaan
The Hague, Netherlands
THE REFUGEES AS A BURDEN
A STIMULUS, AND A CHALLENGE TO
THE WEST GERMAN ECONOMY
BY
Dr. FRIEDRICH EDDING
With a preface by Prof. Edgar Salin
University of Basle
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
Due acknowledgment is made to
MI'. ]ames Finucane Washington l0r the
share he took in the translation
ISBN 978-94-011-8707-7 ISBN 978-94-011-9538-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-9538-6
Copyright © 1951 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
OriginaIly published by Martinus Nijhoff in 1951
All rights reserved, including the right to translate ar to
reproduce this book 01' parts thereol in any lorm
CONTENTS
Page
Pre/ace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. VI
I. THE REFUGEE INFLUX SEEN AGAINST THE BACKGROUND
OF GENERAL POPULATION TRENDS. • •
II. THE REFUGEES AS A BURDEN ON THE WEST GERMAN
ECONOMY .••• 15
III. THE REFUGEES AS A STIMULUS AND A CHALLENGE TO THE
WEST GERMAN ECONOMY . 31
CONCLUSIONS 44
Appendix . . 47
Table I Western Germany's Share in Germany's
National Wealth 1938/39 . . . . . . . .. 49
Table II - Comparative Caloric Value of National Diets and
Human Consumption of Protein and Fats in 1949/50 and
1952/53. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50
Table III - Population and Occupational Structure in
Western Germany, September 1950 . . . . . . . .. 51
Table IV - Population, Total Labor Force, and Un-
employed in Western Germany, September 1950 52
Table V - Public Financial Burdens Imposed by the
Refugees on \Vestern Germany in the Fiscal Years 1950/51
and 1951/52. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 53
Diagram 1 - Annual Rate of Growth on the West German
Population 1925-1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., 54
Diagram 2 - The External Migration of Western Germany,
1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 55
Diagram 3 - Social Shifting of Expellees and Indigenous
Population in Western Germany 1950 compared with
1939. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 56
Diagram 4 - Increase of Population and Industrial Pro-
duction and Increase or Decrease of Industrial Production
per Capita in some West European Countries and USA 57
PREFACE
The study by Dr Friedrich Edding is, as far as I can see,
the first paper to treat the economic side of the Refugee problem
in Western Germany in an impartial form, showing, on the basis
of new figures, its positive as well as its negative aspect and
effect. Anyhow it may be of some use to underline - from the
"bird's-eye view point" of Basle - some of his conceptions
and conclusions and to throw some light on the sociological
background which makes this particular problem the hard core
of the social and political situation of Western Germany - and
probably of Western Europe as well.
Firstly: it must be noted that this scientific analysis supports
neither the optimists nor the pessimists. The optimists are
bound to admit that the stimulus provided by new manpower
and entrepreneurial initiative is more than counterbalanced by
lack of capital and by the need for considerable aid in the form
of housing, clothes and money for millions of refugees who are
old, sick or for other reasons unable to work. The pessimists
are bound to admit that the burden of 9 million immigrants is
an enormously stimulating challenge to Western Germany and
that this burden is partly counterbalanced by the new firms,
methods and techniques which owe their foundation, application
or development respectively to the Refugee entrepreneurs,
cattle-breeders or seed-growers. There can be no doubt that on
the one hand the influx was far too great to be entirely absorbed
by the economy of Western Germany and that on the other
hand the enormous recovery of this economy between 1948 and
1951 would never have happened on such a scale but for this
mass immigration.
Secondly: Dr Edding's carefully considered arguments make
it clear that emigration will not solve the problem. Emigration
may be necessary in Italy, overcrowded as it has been for decades
VIII PREFACE
and deprived of all raw materials; but in Western Germany
there is an effective demand for skilled labour, and the growing
imports of food, metal etc. can only be paid for by the exports
of an expanding industry. As emigration always means the loss
of men and women in first-class physical condition and with
first-class training and experience, Western Germany cannot
stand such a drain on its reserves of manpower.
Thirdly: if one argues on Dr Edding's lines, it becomes
evident that the solution of the German refugee problem depends
more on German policy and legislation than on international aid.
The best aid the free world can give to Western Germany in this
respect consists in further development of international trade
and of international capital movements, as an expanding world
economy will create new markets for a growing German pro
duction, give a fair share to German industry, capital and labour
and thus make it easier to procure useful and permanent work for
more than one million men and women now suffering the
hardships of structural unemployment.
But, even if that can be done, an immense sociological- or
psycho-sociological - problem remains to be solved; and I wish
to stress this point, because neither in nor out of Western
Germany is it generally known that the refugee problem is more
than just a technical or economic or social question. I have
spoken of "New Nomads" 1), with the intention of indicating the
worldwide range of the question and I really· feel that it must
be understood by all nations that we are facing a problem of
which the magnitude and gravity are unparalleled in history
since the first centuries of the Christian era.
This new nomadism has two roots. Its first root lies, as in
ancient times, in the irreversible fact that the population of
the big cities has lost its connection with the soil, and not only
with the soil but also with property in the old sense of the word:
with home comforts and work done by hand, with family tra
ditions in manners and furniture, with all this "old stuff" that
became insupportable in the Victorian age, and was nevertheless
indispensable as a framework for the whole life of families,
1) Cp my contribution to Foreign Affairs, Vol. 28 p. 265 ff: Social Forces in
Germany Today.
PREFACE IX
communities and nations. Look at these new nomads, who
never really feel at home, who prefer two rooms with bath and
kitchenette to a house and estate owned by their ancestors
perhaps for centuries, who spend their evenings at "movies"
and dances and their week-ends abroad, who are proud of their
tramp life and ashamed of all sentiment which recalls the feudal
or bourgeois conception of the "family". This nomadism has
spread all over Europe, with the possible exception of England
and Switzerland, where old-established local communities have
preserved a certain vigour; but even there the change in the
way of living during and after the World War II is in the same
direction.
The second root is of even greater importance, not only for
our particular problem, but for the continuity of modern civili
zation as a whole. As long as nomadism remains an urban
problem, its psychological and political effect is not to be under
rated, but state and society can still rest upon the solid foun
dation of peasants and craftsmen. Now, in most European
countries this century is characterized by a slow nomadization
of these social strata. Urban life has corrupted the old habits
of the rural population, and the process of inflation has under
mined the inherited position of the middle classes, without
giving them a new position in industrial society. While Karl
Marx was convinced that the pauperization of the middle
classes would induce them to join the ranks of the proletariat,
experience has shown that they are not ready to accept their
destruction and make the best of it, but are the prey of every
adventurer who promises to restore their ancient glory. These
nomads are among the followers of every "fascist" movement;
they were the best recruits of the storm-troopers and they will
be the strongest supporters of every kind of neo-fascism.
It is this internal nomadization of Germany (as well as of
many other European countries), which makes the refugee
problem so difficult and so portentous. A homogeneous popu
lation with an unshattered institutional framework, a common
faith and a strong tradition can absorb great masses of immigrants
and transform them - in a fairly short period - into good
citizens of their new country. \Ve need not go as far as America
in order to find specimens to prove this - a glance at Switzer-
x PREFACE
land, where large numbers of foreign immigrants were completely
assimilated at the end of the last and the beginning of the present
century shows the permanent vigour of a healthy society. But
Germany, after two wars and a great inflation, after the expulsion
of the dynasties and the destruction of the tribal communities,
after the decline of the Christian faith and the weakening of
class consciousness had no religious and intellectual ideal, and
not even a political creed strong enough to bind the old and the
new nomads together. It is therefore not surprising that there
was a bitter reaction against the influx of the millions of immi
grants. The whole blame was laid on the Allies and the Potsdam
agreement and the Allies were expected, by changing their
policy and supplying all necessary economic aid, to provide a
solution of the entire problem. It is true that these arguments
are quite erroneous. The Nazis, not the Allies, experimented
first with mass migration, and "home to the Reich" was such
an incessant Nazi slogan that it caused the outside world to
hardly understand why not all the newcomers were welcomed
in the same way.
But a crime against humanity is always a crime, and the fact
that it was started by the Nazi criminals is no excuse. And a
crime that is in itself a political fault of outstanding magnitude,
entails the obligation of doing - in peacetime - all that can be
done to find a remedy. So the German refugee problem, although
the result of Nazi tyranny and of complete defeat in a frivolous
war, is a moral as well as a political problem for ..the whole
Western world. That Western Germany finds a valid and lasting
solution is, therefore, of the greatest importance - and not only
for Germany.
But is there any remedy for nomadism? Is it not the inescapable
fate of an old civilization? The question must be taken very
seriously. For history shows - and the temporary success of
Nazi politics gives a new and frightening proof -: that the
problem can easily be solved by any brand of totalitarianism,
tyranny can shift whole populations from one end of the world
to the other, can uproot them from one area and force them to
settle afresh in another, can start or stop migration by decrees
or by terror. Democracy has a much more difficult task, and a
new democracy lacking in inner consolidation and itself already
PREFACE XI
nomadized faces a situation which can dishearten even the
strongest and most optimistic politician. This is probably the
reason why the integration of the immigrants into Western
Germany has made only the slight progress which Dr Edding
describes, why some of the leading politicians thought it wise
to offer the new nomads the consolation of a possible return to
their former homes and why the great majority of Germans
chose to close their eyes to the importance of the problem and
the misery of their forced compatriots.
From the sociological point of view the answer is, although not
very hopeful, certainly not negative. Not very hopeful, because
the strongest social ties in existence hitherto: those of religion and
tradition, are no longer vigorous enough to unite old and new
nomads in a common faith and a definite pattern. Not negative,
because the strongest forces of our century, nationalism and
socialism, are also operating in the souls and bodies of the deformed
German people, and even at this late hour there may be a
chance that a constructive socialism - and not a self - destroying
nationalism - will eventually emerge as the ideal, the unifying
bond and the structure of a new society.
That nationalism is on the upsurge, especially in those parts
of Western Germany who are overcrowded with refugees, is
seen with indignation or alarm by every observer. But, taken
in connection with the phenomenon of nomadism, it is not at all
surprising that an inane nationalism, and not a sound patriotism,
tends to fill the gap, to unite the masses once more in "song
and march" unto death, and to imbue even its opponents with
the poison of a pseUdo-romantic faith. Nobody who is not the
prey of wishful thinking can deny that such a nihilistic
nationalism might be strong enough to solve the refugee problem
by unifying old and new nomads in a maniac mass of Desperados,
with the inevitable end: war, the certain destruction of Germany,
and probably the destruction of Europe as well.
The road of social or socialistic reform is much more difficult
and stony. It presupposes the abandonment of all restorationist
sympathies still prevailing in great groups of the old and new
inhabitants of Western Germany and of all the futile hopes for
full reparation of damages. Dr Edding has elaborated some
keypoints of a readjustment program which should be generally