Cities arise and constantly change through immigration. Urbanization, industrialization and migration were intimately connected in Europe. Since the early sixties, the industrial enterprises achieved the recruitment of foreign workers to balance the lack of work force that resulted from the construction of the Wall. At the end of the year 1960, before the construction of the Wall, there were 22,000 foreign Berlin citizens – they represented just one percent of the population. Whereas in 1974, there lived already 190,000 foreign people in Berlin. The Turkish migrants were the biggest group with 88,000 people followed by the Yugoslavs with 31,000 and the Greeks with 10,000 people. Within the years, all migrants from this period got a residence title or became German citizens. The foreign workers became immigrants. With the ban of recruitment in 1973 caused by the decreasing labor demand, the moving in of foreign workers stopped. But most of the accepted migrants decided to stay and bring their families, so the foreign population increased again and in 1982, the number reached 245,000 people. In addition, there came many refugees from Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Vietnam and Poland in the eighties. While most of the Iranians, Poles and Vietnamese got a right of residence, many Palestinian and Lebanese refugees got just a temporary residence permit status: Their residence delayed just as long as a return in their country of origin wasn’t possible. This uncertain status had fatal effects on the chances of integration of the Arabian migrants. In the 1990s, the provenances of migration to Berlin changed. Most of the migrants came from the Soviet Union and their successor states then. The war of secession in former Yugoslavia chased many refugees to Berlin. But as the Arabian migrants, the Yugoslavs didn’t get a permanent residence permit status. Besides, Germany contracted with most of the eastern states for the employment of contract workers, most of them come from Poland; with 12,500 people, they rank fourth in immigration.
The city of Berlin reacted to these streams of migration for example through the installation of institution for the children of the migrants. This is an important part in the process of integration in order to get connection to the locals and get to know other children in the neighborhood. As an example, I mention two institutions in Berlin. First, the “Spielhaus Schillerstraße” in Berlin- Charlottenburg, and second, the “Kinderclubhaus Dammweg” in Berlin- Neukölln.
The Spielhaus Schillerstraße is a pedagogical assisted playground for children that are between six and twelve years old. Almost all of the children have a migrant background, most of them come from the Lebanon, Iran, Jordan or Morocco. For them, the “Spielhaus Schillerstraße” is a place to go to right after school because they can meet their friends and it’s never getting boring. For the employees, it’s a place to keep them safe and away from the streets. This work has begun on a former waste land. It served as an adventurous playing area for the children and occasionally, the parents made specific offers. Finally, there came employees from the youth welfare service with a play-mobile and a recurring offer with pedagogical supervision was established. Since 3rd of October 1983, the area is used as an open offer for children as an institution of the youth welfare service and already in 1984, the first parents’ initiative was founded, the future “Förderverein Spielhaus e.V.”. In the following years, the institution changed its face several times in the course of corporate and social transformation: The “just” supervised playground became an important instance of socialization for two generations of children in Charlottenburg by now.
To see the differences between a district according to clichés known as rich and one where mostly immigrants live, I present the “Kinderclubhaus Dammweg” in Berlin- Neukölln. It is conspicuous that the children have mostly an African or Arabian background. The KCH is part of the district and neighborhood management “Weiße Siedlung”. District and neighborhood managements were established in 1999 by the senate administration in consultation with the districts for regions with special development needs. By now, there are 34 district and neighborhood managements, 11 of them based in Neukölln. The district and neighborhood management of the “Weiße Siedlung” exists since 2005. What is aimed with these managements is to improve the circumstances for the inhabitants of the neighborhood by developing the social infrastructure, strengthening the neighborly cooperation and creating a more attractive and safer living environment. The “Weiße Siedlung” is part of the planning areas of Neukölln with the highest amount (over 70%) of people with a migrant background.
We can see immigration as a chance if it’s handled well. So I want to end with a quote from the American politician Lyndon B. Johnson: “The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources – because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples”.