As the countries of Europe recovered from World War II, they again became attractive destinations for potential migrants and opened their doors to immigrants to help rebuild their economies. Furthermore, during the post-war period, technological improvements in land and air travel decreased the cost of migration. Emigration from developing countries to Western countries expanded rapidly as incomes in the developing world rose enough to make emigration feasible, but not enough to make it moot.

Most noticeable were immigrants to Germany from Turkey, who were brought into the country as “Gastarbeiter” or “guest workers” in the 1950s and 1960s as the country’s post-war “economic miracle” demanded labor. They were never intended to stay permanently, however, and the German government never granted them citizenship or tried to integrate them into German society, creating social conflict that has lasted until today.

Approximately 23 percent of Turkish citizens living in Germany do not possess German nationality despite being born there.² In 2000, legislation was passed, which now grants German-born children of foreigners, German citizenship

Likewise, many workers from former colonies of European powers migrated to Europe in search of work, facilitated by still-existing ties between the colonial home countries and their colonies, such as Indians, Pakistanis, and West Indians who moved to England, and Vietnamese, Cambodians, Algerians, Tunisians, Moroccans, and other Africans who moved to France.

Thus, the previous pattern of migration was reversed. This stirred major social changes in European countries that were not used to multicultural societies. At the same time, immigration to the United States, opened up after the restrictive policies prior to World War II, came not from Europe but primarily from Latin America and Asia.

2 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7057/is_1_12/ai_n53201122/

* Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreyscott/161840112/

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