German Refugees

on the World Today

OF the 11 million refugees throughout Germany, 7 million are in the three Western zones. Actually, most of these are in the British and American zones; the French originally refused to admit refugees, on the ground that they had not been party to the Potsdam Agreement, which decreed the expulsion.

These people are composed of two distinct groups, The majority were expelled from the East German provinces, East and West Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia. The others came from the Sudetenland and various enclaves in Rumania, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. These latter have not been German nationals except for a few years after Hitler’s conquest, and most of them do not wish to be. Their ancestors were settled by the Hapsburgs in the various parts of their empire in order to develop local industry, much as the Volga Germans were settled by the Tsars. The fact that they do not feel themselves to be “Germans" greatly complicates their assimilation.

More than three quarters of these penniless refugees are concentrated in three of the West German states: 20 per cent in Bavaria, 24.5 per cent in Lower Saxony, and 33 percent in SchleswigHolstein, where they constitute about a third of the population. In many communities the refugee population nearly equals the native population.

The extensive destruction of homes and apartment buildings has created extreme overcrowding in most urban areas. On the basis of about two persons per room, it has been estimated that at the most favorable rate of capital accumulation through savings and foreign aid, the units needed will require twenty years to build.

The more immediate problem is how these people are to be fed. The imbalance in food production in West Germany is one of the serious economic aspects of post-war Europe. With a population roughly equal to that of Britain (about 48 million), West Germany has about the same amount of agricultural land (exclusive of pasture land, of which Britain has much more) — namely, 7.8 million hectares; and her grain production is about the same, 6 million tons. This figure means that Germany, like Britain, must import 40 to 50 per cent ol her food in order to maintain the calorie minimum for an industrial population (about 2600 calories). The total dollar cost of such imports is approximately 1.2 billions.

West Germany has been obliged to seek a balancing of the burdens which these refugees impose so unevenly. Not only are several hundred thousand being moved to the French zone, but a fiscal balancing through an over-all sharing of expenditures is being worked out. The per capita cost, when so distributed, would amount to about 1200 DM per year ($300), whereas it has run to more than twice that for the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

There is no doubt lhat the refugees have an important place in the West German economy; indeed, without them it would be seriously crippled. They have proved themselves energetic and enterprising in many plants and offices, and have also filled many posts in government administration.

An interesting study carried on in a small community in the vicinity of Heidelberg to determine just what was happening in the process of assimilation showed that individuals from the business and professional classes were the most successful in achieving a new, though lowered, position in the community; least successful are the peasants and workers in the small handicrafts. Some individuals starling literally from nothing have, with incredible ingenuity, developed thriving small shops which are making a real contribution to the local economy.

There were also four ingenious persons in the town who developed the new “profession” of being tax advisers. Their business is reported very good; no wonder, considering theeomplexity of the tax burden.

More women than men

As a result of the war there is an abnormal disproportion between women and men. The normal situation in Western countries shows about 105 women to 100 men, but the ratio in West Germany and Berlin is about 125 women to 100 men. And unfortunately, even these figures obscure the extent of the tragedy, because they include the children. for the age group 2040—the people who would normally be marrying and having families— the average ratio runs well above 150 women to 100 men, and in Berlin it is as high as 228 to 100.

Masses of destitute women and children have been dumped into villages all over West Germany, especially Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, and Bavaria. The pittances they receive add up to a heavy burden for local and state budgets. The children are nowhere adequately cared for: in many areas their intellectual and moral condition is deplorable.

Many of the women used to eke out a meager existence in their former communities by helping in homes or working in laundries or cleaning offices. But the few jobs to be found in German villages and towns are preempted by local women, who have the further advantage of knowing local customs in kitchen and store.

The local women would be nearly as destitute as the refugee women if they were crowded out of their jobs. Hence, most of those who come to the social welfare offices cannot be helped except by individual effort. What has been done by American, Swiss, Dutch, British, and Scandinavian churches and trade-unions is inspiring when one considers the effort, but it is merely a drop upon a hot stone when compared with the need.

In one small Bavarian community of about 8000 inhabitants, of whom 3000 are Protestants, the refugees, who are mostly Protestant, have all been helped in cash or goods during the past year. Much of this aid has been collected by devoted church workers who go from door to door or stand at street corners gathering contributions of as little as 10 Pfennig (2 cents). Women in their seventies have stood at street corners on wintry days collecting a total of 5 DM ($1.25) over an eight-hour span to help these destitute people.

Town, city, and state budgets are loaded down with official aid. The city of If Bremen, confronted with a vast task of reconstruction for its own population, has had to take on about 52,000 refugees so far, with about 500 more coming every year.

Bremen spends 2.5 million DM (about one million dollars) for these refugees. Since they arrive penniless from the East, it has set up a first-aid station where they receive minimum equipment, such as bedding, and are sent to requisitioned rooms or to barracks that the city is building for them. The total budgetary outlay for this purpose in West Germany approximates 2 billion DM.

A trouble breeder

Such a situation is bound to be explosive. The local inhabitants, crowded in their homes, threatened in their jobs, pushed by competition, urged to part with their small extra funds, resent the refugees as unwelcome intruders. The refugees in their turn bitterly complain over the fact that the local population who have kept their homes, their families, their jobs, are unfriendly and fail to appreciate the refugees’ plight.

All competent observers close to the people agree that the refugees constitute the greatest danger to the feeble beginnings of German democracy; it is in these desperate, unassimiluted masses that the radicalism of national and social ferment is boiling. The energetic Minister for Refugee Affairs of Lower Saxony, a former clergyman named Albers, feels that the situation is more explosive than that which led to Hitler.

How the refugees vote

At one time it was generally expected that the refugees would swell the ranks of the Communist Party or at least increase its voting strength. Thus far these predictions have proved erroneous. Detailed interviews among many refugee voters — and they have all, over German protests, been given the vote by decree of the Allied authorities — have shown that the typical refugee is desperately anxious to achieve normalcy. He hates the Communists as the allies of the Russians, who are held primarily responsible for the actions which made the refugees lose their homes.

There is also a feeling of deep resentment against Hitler, who precipitated the catastrophe in which they became engulfed. Hence, their attitude could be summed up in the cry: “A plague on all your houses.” But they end up by giving support to the moderate parties, often in the hope of receiving some small help.

In Schleswig-Holstein they recently formed a party of their own, the “Party of the Home-expelled and Outlawed” (PHE). This party won a remarkable success in the election on July 9 when it captured 16 out of 70 seats, mostly from the Socialists, while in the process the Communists were obliterated. As a result, the new party has announced its determination to put forward candidates throughout the country.

What hope for the refugee?

West Germany cannot assimilate its 7 million refugees without a considerable amount of new economic development and industrialization. The pastoral economy of Bavaria and of Schleswig-Holstein has to be transformed. In desperation Schleswig-Holstein has started numerous projects by offering government credit on rather shaky foundations.

On paper, each properly qualified refugee can get a credit or a guarantee against loss up to 10,000 DM, but inquiry discloses that few actually receive them. Yet the total amount so spent to date is over 500 million DM. In any case, capital expansion of existing plants is essential to provide employment for large numbers of people.

One leading industrialist in a rapidly growing industry says that, for each new employee, he needs only 5000 DM of new capital half the 10,000 DM available to individuals from the government. Because of the high taxes, a business enterprise would have to earn 15,000 DM in order to add 5000. Hence the government might hasten such capital expansion by suspending all these taxes and it might still save money, because the total cost of supporting the refugees on relief is so high.

It is clear that additional foreign capital is also needed in large amounts. Many of the raw materials required for plant expansion have to be imported, especially from America. If the millions of able-bodied refugees can be put to work in industries financed by domestic and foreign credit, they will support themselves and will also provide new markets for consumers’ goods.

The able and experienced Lord Mayor of Bremen, Herr Kaisen, oldtime trade-union leader and Social Democrat, thinks that besides such industrial expansion, two other means are available for alleviating the situation: emigration and “internal colonization.”

This view is shared by many others, including Americans in Germany. The difficulty with both, but more especially with internal colonization, is the high capital inquired for these operations and the relatively small numbers that would be benefited, unless American aid can be mobilized.

There is no question that homesteads with small agricultural enterprises attached could be developed in main areas. Kaisen points out that approximately 15,000 DM would be required per family, purchasing power $3750. Since one could assume five in each family, this would mean 3000 DM or $750 per head. It must, however, be remembered that a considerable part of these funds would How back into the economy in the form of wages.

In other words, 750 million dollars would settle about one million refugees. The same amount would perhaps take 3 million refugees overseas; but apart from the question of where they would go, such emigrants might soon become paupers, unless capital were provided in one form or another at their arrival in the new country.

The sum of three-quarters to one billion dollars, the equivalent of the contribution the United States made to Germany in 1949, would all but solve the immediate refugee problem

provided internal colonization and emigration were skillfully combined into an over-all program which could be integrated with economic reconstruction.

The funds required might well be contributed by the United States as a loan without interest for a substantial number of years, on a “25-year amortization basis. Such a generous action would constitute a key contribution to European reconstruction, would rectify the results of an unfortunate decision at Potsdam, would tremendously reinforce the growing conviction of democratic Germans that the United States is acting in genuine good faith in their efforts at democratizalion. In short, such money would be as well spent as any money the American taxpayer has been asked to provide for security and peace.