a very old generation of German politicians

Submitted by myth (Germany), Nov 5, 2016 at 06:39

Mike, the economic boom years propelling Germany through the sixties required those works much longer than 2 years.

More important, this was an already very old generation of German politicians who made those decisions. The proper generation were of course all Nazis. The chancellor at the time was conservative Adenauer who lived from 1876-1967 and was in office 1949-1963. This generation at the end of their life time faced the burden of recovering Germany from both dictatorship and war. The immigration question was both beyond their live-time's horizon and their priorities.

By the time Germany faced structural unemployment in the seventies both that generation of politicians was gone and the political direction changed. Brandt became chancellor in 1969 leading the first Social Democrat government. At the time, the Cold War and the left-wing terrorism of the RAF emerged as prominent problems. The Eastern block as well as terrorism were the bigger perceived threat to West-German civilization.

15 years later German reunification trumped the immigration question. Today, one million refugees overshadow all troubles Germany could possibly have with Turks.

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