Abstract:
The wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s resulted in the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the end of World War II. Of those who made it to Western Europe (or the European Union) by far the largest numbers headed for Germany. Indeed, Germany became the epicentre (outside the immediate conflict zone and neighbouring countries) for refugees from the former Yugoslavia and played a major humanitarian role providing shelter to hundreds of thousands of people. There are a range of reasons why these refugees ended up in Germany but the most obvious are because Germany let them enter (the vast majority on a temporary basis) and a large number had strong connections with residents in Germany (guest workers) so it became a natural decision to head there. German-Yugoslav relations have not always been cordial - indeed, Germany was responsible (to a greater or lesser degree) for four mass movements of population in the territories of the former Yugoslavia as a result of its actions in World War I and World War II, the guest worker programme in the post-war era and, more recently, it might be argued, by fuelling conflict via the recognition of the break-away former Yugoslav republics of (initially) Croatia and Slovenia. On the latter point, the history of the region, while revealing strong German interest, has long been complicated by competing national interests of the peoples that made up the former Yugoslavia. The legacy of Germany’s interest and connection with the region was important in many ways in the conflicts that engulfed the region in the 1990s and resulting refugee flows.
The refugees arrived in Germany at a time when it was itself undergoing massive change as a result of reunification - and it might be argued nowhere was this more evident than in Berlin, which itself sheltered a significant number of refugees from the former Yugoslavia - living up to its reputation (outside the Third Reich era) of being a metropolis that was tolerant of refugees. Reunification came with a number of challenges including significant cost to taxpayers and high unemployment in the former East German states and the resulting social challenges. One of the more highlighted challenges faced was the increase of far-right political activity and violence - although one is careful to note that this phenomenon existed in Germany (and a number of other countries) before the fall of the Berlin Wall; it was, however, the subject of greater attention in the immediate post-Cold war era. Indeed, the challenges of reunification - in particular, high social costs and unemployment - put the spotlight on ‘foreigners’ who came to be viewed by some as the reason (or part of the reason) for Germany’s ills. It is against this backdrop that the arrival of Yugoslav refugees into Germany and their status within the German legal framework for refugees are considered, before looking at what impact the refugees had on the immigration/refugee debate in Germany and how policy changed through the course of the debate in Germany in the final years of the twentieth century.