Germany

West Germany took boat people from 1979, many arriving on the rescue ship Cap Anamur. East Germany, at the same time, brought in tens of thousands of contract workers from a fellow socialist state, housed them in hostels and sent much of their pay home. Reunification left the second group with no legal status and no jobs, and the fight for the right to stay ran through the 1990s. The two communities have different politics, different accents and, increasingly, shared grandchildren.

The migrations that built it

1. 01 1979–1980s: Cap Anamur rescues into West Germany
2. 02 1980–1989: contract workers in the GDR
3. 03 1990s: the struggle for residence rights after reunification