Germany in the 50s: The Miracle Built by Foreign Workers

Germany, 1950s: The Economic Miracle Built on Foreign Labor

Post-war Germany was not a picture of prosperity. It was a work in pogre amidst rubble. The country emerged from World War II with cities in ruins—Hamburg among the hardest hit by bombings—and a desperate need for labor. The Wirtschaftswunder, the German economic miracle, turned this urgency into state policy. Today, Hamburg is associated, according to estimates circulating in discussions, with the 1,500 millionaires counted, who stroll through Blankenese among mansions and expensive cars.

What was the Gastarbeiterprogramm and Who Did It Bring to Germany?

Italians arrived in Wolfsburg to work at Volkswagen. Turks too. And Spaniards, those of the «Vente a Alemania, Pepe» ('Come to Germany, Pepe'), the film that fairly accurately portrayed the life of Spanish emigrants on the assembly line. The Gastarbeiterprogramm, the guest worker program, started in those years and, according to one participant's calculation, lasted until the 70s. The pattern was almost always the same: a few years of contract, savings, and return home. Money for two countries.

Hamburg: Mansion and Occupied Block on the Same Shore

The war destroyed a large part of the city. Among the points mentioned are the old commercial port and the Alster area; the zone near the central train station is best avoided, according to the same account. Blankenese displayed its wealth while on the promenade, near St. Pauli, entire buildings were occupied.

Did Germans Treat These Guest Workers Well?

Here, the narrative splits in two and cannot be reconciled. One current holds that German society never truly integrated those Gastarbeiter: they were wanted only for their labor and little more, and the treatment of foreigners was cold or outright hostile. In contrast, another set of testimonies defends the exact opposite with personal experience: years living there, invitations, friendships that remain strong more than a decade later. Both accounts describe the same Germany. Neither is entirely false.

The German miracle is well measured in economic prosperity. What is not equally measured is the treatment received by those who came to sustain it. With the available information, the answer still depends on whom you ask.