by
David M. Edwards, Class of 2008
For the last several weeks, the German IV/V class has been studying the history of Turkish immigration in Germany , the subsequent social difficulties post WWII, race relations, and the recent effects of right-wing extremism on the populace. Along with studying these subjects, the German students have been reading a book entitled “Yildiz heißt Stern,” which details the life of a fictional Turkish-German teenage girl as she struggles against the difficulties posed by being Turkish in Germany and integrating into and being accepted by society.
On October 24th the German students welcomed Haskar Zenker-Timurdas, a Turkish native of Germany, who came to lecture on the topics of immigration in Germany, the importance of the "Gastarbeiter" (guest worker), and the resultant modern political issues. She grew up in Germany and eventually became a German citizen, yet she still feels like a foreigner.
After WWII, a destroyed Germany, lacking a significant portion of its male population, required a large workforce to help rebuild its razed infrastructure. People from all over Europe including Italy, Greece, and Turkey flooded into the country looking for work. The government expected these people to come for a short period, work, and return home (zurückkehren). However, many of these guest workers did not leave, but rather started families in the reborn country and became immigrants.
These groups of immigrants soon began integrating into society and putting
a strain on the economy and the social hierarchy. Groups that practiced Christianity
such as the Italians and the Greeks had little problem integrating and much
of the contempt for the developing problems in Germany was aimed at other,
non-Christian minorities, namely the Turks. As the job market became competitive,
some native Germans began to blame and spurn the foreign population in Germany.
Attacks on foreigners and contempt for the Turkish minority by right-wing
extremist groups continued into the 1980's. The government, having thought
the immigrant groups of the 1950's would leave, was not in a position to settle
the conflict between social classes, nor did it provide the immigrants (Ausländer)
a means to successfully integrate into society. For instance, even though
Mrs. Zenker-Timurdas spent more than thirty years in Germany, she only decided
to become a citizen in the last ten years.
Mrs. Zenker-Timurdas' lecture, conducted completely in German, quickly became a discussion about the possible modern political solutions to Germany's immigration issue. Senior Emily Harmon asked a very probing question: “How do the leaders in Germany expect to fix this problem?” However, it seems there is no clear answer to this question and it is one hotly debated still in the Bundesrepublik.
Mrs. Zenker-Timurdas' visit was a fantastic opportunity for the German IV/V students to practice their linguistic skill with a native speaker and learn something about which she has terrific insight. Senior Trevor Scheid said, “We read books and articles about things like this, but it hasn't felt very real. Haskar's visit has helped me realize that these are real issues and they actually impact real people.”
Senior Jay Parepally also said, “Our news stations in America report stories from the Middle East and from the US and that is about it. We Americans are rarely exposed to the current events from around the world.” Senior Samuel Heuck added to that thought saying, “It is refreshing to hear that there are countries out there that have problems other than the United States.”
The German students and Frau Burgbacher were very excited to have Mrs. Zenker-Timurdas come to speak and to share her wisdom. “I hope Haskar comes back every year so that all the German IV/V classes can hear her speak. That was a pretty sweet lecture,” said Senior JR Fisher as the German students left at the end of the period.
