The Damage to Germany after World War Two and its Reconstruction

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The Damage to Germany after World War Two and its Reconstruction

Every time there is a war at least one country has to deal with the consequences left behind. After World War II numerous countries had to face reconstruction because they were damaged economically as well as physically. One of these countries was Germany. During the reconstruction of the country a large number of foreign laborers, also known as “Gastarbeiter”, came to Germany due to the shortage of a native workforce. After the economy stabilized Germany kept importing labor rather than taking industry, capital and jobs offshore in search of lower labor costs. Workers, especially from Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, Italy and Greece came with their families to seek work. The “Gastarbeiter” were expected to return to their countries after the economy recovered, but that never happened. Instead all workers stayed and even more came to find a job in one of Europe’s better developing countries. Soon the initially welcomed foreign workforce soon began to bother the German people and it turned out to be the source of several problems especially concerning the economy in Germany.

Today Germany has a population of 82.163.500 people with 7.363.600 people representing the foreign part (German Facts). The largest problem that is related to the “Auslander” (foreigner) is unemployment. Some German people say that the “Auslander” is the cause of why the unemployment rate in Germany is extremely high. The “Spiegel” reports that in July of 2000 there were 4.027.200 unemployed people in Germany, which is 10.3 % of the population. It is very easy for people from outside the country to enter into Germany and be eligible to work. Whenever a foreigner comes to Germany to seek work h...

... middle of paper ...

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The Economist 2000. “The trouble with foreigners.” July1st, p. 33

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