Young ethnic German late resettlers from Poland – “(quasi)-forced nature of migration” vs. success of integration

(Late) resettlers”, or to put it in simple terms, people of German ancestry who came to Germany from Eastern Europe after World War II, constitute a peculiar case within the spectrum of German migration. On one hand, they are distinct from foreigners, on the other hand, despite having German citizenship, they stand out from the native German population. L. Wilkiewicz refers to this category as “quasi-forced resettlers”. The forced nature of the young resettlers migration may then be seen as doubly strengthened by the fact that they had no impact on their parents decision to leave the country. They were, in a sort of way, uprooted from their original environment and planted into a new, alien one. Having accepted German citizenship and having been attributed the purpose of “living as Germans among Germans”, the resettlers were expected to show a higher degree of integration with local society than “ordinary” migrants. In this study, I shall confine myself to a few selected aspects affecting the success of integration. Presented below are some of the memories that the young resettlers have of the moment of their “(quasi)-forced” migration, of their early days in Germany, of Poland as the country of their childhood, of the reasons for departure as given by their parents, and of the main factors – apart from those personality-related such as intelligence – that contributed to their successful integration.

"(Late) resettlers" 1 , or to put it in simple terms, people of German ancestry who came to Germany from Eastern Europe after World War II, constitute a peculiar case within the spectrum of German migration (Tomaszewska 2006a, p. 189-191;Tomaszewska 2006b, p. 55-58). On the one hand, they are distinct from foreigners, on the other hand, despite having German citizenship, they stand out from the native German population (Graudenz, Römhil 1996, p. 29). L. Wilkiewicz refers to this category as "quasi-forced resettlers" (Wilkiewicz 1989, p. 9). In the case of the late resettlers of the 1980s and 1990s, we are definitely dealing with a forced kind of migration, comparable in this respect to earlier waves of expulsion or exodus (Lüttinger 1989, p. 57). The forced nature of young resettlers migration may then be seen as doubly strengthened by the fact that they had no impact on their parents decision to leave the country. They were, in a sort of way, uprooted from their original environment and planted into a new, alien one (Tomaszewska 2006d, p. 40-45). Having accepted German citizenship and having been attributed the purpose of "living as Germans among Germans" (Meister 1997, p. 32), the resettlers were expected to show a higher degree of integration with local society than "ordinary" migrants (Meister 1997, p. 32). By becoming German citizens they were rapidly incorporated, at least officially, into German society. After a five-year stay in Germany resettlers are deemed to be fully integrated and classified as Germans for statistical purposes. Hence, data concerning resettlers refers mostly to initial periods following their registration in Germany (Kunschner 2000, p. 25-26). The fact is, however, that late resettlers, in particular the younger ones with a strong Polish background, often arrived at their new homeland with no or insufficient knowledge of German. Their starting position was, however, incomparably better than that of other migrant groups, if only by the fact that they were given German passports, unlimited right of residence, transitional flats, access to social welfare, and other benefits such as language and vocational courses, retraining, etc. (Pallaske 2002, p. 54). This privileged position, combined with the commonly shared opinion that late resettlers' motives were strictly economic (Volkswagendeutsche) and their German origin used instrumentally, that they were the cause of the shortage of jobs and housing and a burden to the State social system, raised criticism and the adverse approach of German society 1 Ch. Pallaske suggests the following division: up to 1945 -"Flüchtlinge": fugitives, refugees; later, up to 1949 -"Vertriebene": exiles; since 1950 -"Aussiedler": resettlers; and from 1993 -"Spätaussiedler": late resettlers (Pallaske 2002). In the Polish literature the term "late resettlers" has been adopted as referring to persons who left the country in the 80s and the 90s of the 20th century. Such understanding of this notion has been adopted in this text. (Kunschner 2000, p. 187-188), especially in the period of intensive migration inflow (1980/81-1990) (Pallaske 2002, p. 62). Fully aware of the discrepancy between the official image and the actual state of affairs, organisations and institutions providing assistance to resettlers have emphasised that integration of late resettlers requires in principle the same actions as those taken towards the other groups of migrants (Uilhlein 2002, p. 16). Integration is a bilateral process (Dietz 1997, p. 38) that involves "political, economic, social, cultural, and possibly religious inclusion or incorporation (Eingliederung) [in this case: into the German societynote by M. Tomaszewska] while protecting and preserving values brought by migrants' from their country of origin" (Dietz 1997, p. 55).
The late resettlers that have been interviewed for the purpose of this study using the method of biographical narrative interview (Tomaszewska 2006a, p. 191-193) (10 young people who at the time of their arrival to Germany, that is between 1984 and 1990, were between 5 and 14 years of age) are now high school students, that is to say people who seem to prove by their social status to have been successfully integrated into the German society and recovered from the migration-induced breakthrough. According to B. Dietz, "if young resettlers perceive their double cultural background as a chance, the sense of »not belonging to Germans«, which impedes the process of integration, is more likely to be overcome" (Dietz 1997, p. 79).
In this study, I will confine myself to a few selected aspects affecting the success of integration. Presented below are some of the memories that the young resettlers have of the moment of their "(quasi)-forced" migration, of their early days in Germany, of Poland as the country of their childhood, of the reasons for departure as given by their parents, and of the main factorsapart from those personality-related such as intelligencethat contributed to their successful integration. The study makes no claim to be statistically representative. All the interviews have been transcribed without recourse to "literary technique". The interviewees' parents all had secondary (11) or high education (8), except for one mother with a basic education level. For the sake of anonymity, the interviewees are designated by their main degree course, e.g., Theatrologist, with the age at arrival in Germany given in brackets andfor readers with more profound interest in the subjectthe type of national identity.

Polandthe land of my childhood
The interviewees stress that they do not remember much as they were too young at the time of their departure: "Impressions from Poland… Now, I don't think I have any special impressions. I had not been at Polish school that long, it was like two and a half years, and I think it was just an ordinary childhood. A regular family, like any other in Poland of the eighties. I had many friends, you know, boys and girls" (Theatrologist 2 , Neutral European 3 , B.1, 9 4 ).
While their parents were trying to find a way to leave Poland for good, they "were living a normal life", because "as a child you do not notice many things": "Me, I lived a normal life -I stayed at my grandmother's, I used to go to the cinema a lot, I enjoyed my life down there. OK, there we had no sweets, but that was kind of cool, too -I could live without them, but perhaps it's about the way you see things as a child, you know, kinda more positive than grown-ups do" (Historian,European Mischling,B.4,9).
Basically, the only person to have only dismal memories of Poland is the Male Economist (B.10), whose strongly pro-German parents created an image of Germany by contrasting that of Poland, continually stressing the lower status of the latter. The first thing the Male Economist (B.10) recalls about Poland is a memory of a school Christmas party with Santa Claus giving out sweets to children. When he came back home, his mother made him throw the sweets in the dustbin, saying: "why eat this lousy stuff, you may have better gifts from your grandma in Germany".
The others express opinions based on their own experiences. The Biophysicist (B.3) recalls "stinky car fumes" and queues: "what I recall from Poland, are those cars and the odour they were leaving. When I was a child, I remember standing in queues, sometimes for hours, with my mum, It was like sitting in the sunshine and waiting for ages to buy… I don't know… something to eat or whatever [laughing]" (Biophysicist,Contextual European,B.3,5).

1.
A similar image of Poland is kept by the Historian (B.4). Before coming to stay permanently, he had spent a month with his family in Germany. This gave him yet another plane of comparison. If only for the "gloominess of Silesia" (where he came from), his view was certainly in favour of the "colourful Germany". Even today, standing in a line to get his lunch in a canteen brings back unpleasant past experiences from Polish shops. Poland, in his opinion, was also characterised by a limited flow of information: "I remember, I didn't 2 Field of study.
3 Type of national identification -as described in : Tomaszewska 2006a, p. 193-197;Tomaszewska 2006b, p. 59-61;Tomaszewska 2006c, p. 51-55. 4 Age at immigration. The confrontation with the German environment, which was not always friendly, brought back the positive memories of living in Poland. The first question they were usually asked was: Where are you from? Therefore, even today they are oversensitive and prejudiced to this question: "(…) it was so hard when we moved from one flat to another in Bayreuth. In Poland, we lived in a big housing estatethat was real life. You could see children playing in a sandpit, there were lots of people around. And here in Germany, it's so quiet. I met some kids of my own age, but they always went like: »I see, you're from Poland«.
The first question was always: »Where are you from?«, that's why, I don't like this question so much". (Historian,European Mischling,B.4,9).
"Quasi-forced" nature of migration Most of the interviewees were not aware that they were "leaving for good". They did not even have a chance to say goodbye to their friends and family. It was only in Germany (or on the way) that their parents told them the truth. As they admit, they did not realise then what it really meant, but all of them were actually happy to go. They saw it as an adventure, wanted to experience something new. Moreover, "at that time it was cool to live in Germany". The Theatrologist (B.1) admits that he was proud of it, although in his further comments he's more critical, pointing out his Polish origins and the wrongly understood patriotism: "When I learnt about our going to Germany, and I learnt about it very late, at first I didn't know it was permanent, 'cause our plan was to go and visit our aunty. So, there were no big goodbyes, and only then, when I was here in Germany, did I find out that the plan was actually for a permanent stay. You see, my parents, they had planned it before but told me nothing to keep it secret and so that their parents didn't know 'cause it might have been a real shock for them, The interviewees do not refer to their departure from Poland as a "painful" experience.
Basically, rather than feeling "uprooted", they mention being open to the "new". As a rule, they had no idea of what to expect and they cared more about sweets than the future. Older age at departure might possibly strengthen the sense of being "uprooted", but the shouting out "Poland, I will come back, I love you!". Then, for several years he was sure he would return to Poland when he grew old. But in time he changed his mind, although he is not going to stay in Germany, either: "Then in that bus, when we were leaving for Germany, I was singing a tragic song: »Poland, I will came back, I love you!«, not that I want it any more. They didn't tell me we were leaving forever, but rather for a kind of holiday. They didn't want me to make scenes, you know. Only then, when we were sitting on the bus, I learn that we're staying there permanently and… well, I was a little sad" (Biophysicist, Contextual European, B.3, 5).
All the families had had contacts with Germany beforethe interviewees' grandparents, brothers, sisters or parents had already lived there. Some of the fathers had worked in Germany on a seasonal basis. This caused many families to break up as "some husbands would never return to their wives": "he (my dad) wanted to bring my mum with him, but that was impossible, so he didn't want to go at all. My dad also told me that there were many, so many, who left their wives, I mean, they were able to come, so they did and As for the Theatrologist (B.1), it was him that left first with his father "to prepare everything" and only then, after they arranged for a place to live, they "brought mum and brother". Here is a part of his story: "First, I came to Germany with my dad, then after several months my mum and my brother joined us, when we got our own flat. Before that, we had lived with my dad's sister" (Theatrologist,Neutral European,B.1,9).
The interviewees are not ashamed to admit that their parents' actual reasons for emigration were mostly of an economic nature, although their material status at that time was relatively good. Their aim was to achieve a broadly understood improvement of living conditions and ensure better futures for their children. As most of them had relatives in Germany, they also cited the desire to join their families among reasons for departure as well as making all possible efforts to settle down close to them after arrival. This was one of the reasons behind internal migrations that occurred, for instance, when the newcomers were assigned to a Bundesland different from the one where their German-based relatives lived: "For my parents the goal was to ensure a better life for us, some better alternatives. They simply thought that of the three of us, I mean they had three children, they could somehow help one, but for the other two they had no means, that's why they left. On top of that, my mum missed her sister a lot and wanted to be closer to her. There were also some other reasons that I don't want to talk about, anyway she wanted to move closer and that was the motivation for leaving" (Mathematician, Uncertain European, B.9, 13). The Lawyer (B.8) refers to his mother's desire to be reunited with her parents living in Germany as the main reason for departure. The Lawyer's grandfather fought on the German side during the World War II. After the war he returned to his house which was then on the Polish side of the border. His grandparents had been trying to obtain permission to leave for many years. They identified themselves as Germans living in Poland. They did not approve of their daughter's marriage to a Pole whose parents, as if to make it even worse, had migrated from the region of Lviv. They had a very good knowledge of Polish but never spoke it, even when visited by members of their son-in-law's family, who spoke no German. Never again did they set their foot on Polish soil, having finally moved to Germany: "My grandfather was at war and stayed here after the war -I don't know how it all happened that they stayed in Silesia, I mean, it used to be a German region. He met my grandma in Germany, in a place called Gross Neukirche, she was German, too. They got married and started their life together.
But it was like… my grandparents, they always wanted to… I mean when this territory was taken by Poland and so they became like Germans living in Poland. They'd always wanted to come back to that place they met or move somewhere else in Germany. I mean, all the time they felt as Germans and wanted to live in Germany, and tried hard to leave Poland. The procedure was that you had to write a sort of application… to… I don't know to whom…I don't know about these things…and it was so that they didn't get a permission to go away and leave it all behind. Then after a while they stopped even trying 'cause they saw no chance for leaving for Germany where they'd always lived. And so they almost gave up this idea of The Builder (B.5) is the only case where German roots were both in the mother's and the father's line of the family. With foreign ancestry on one side only, formalities became more complicated: "My mother had to stay here and run from one office to another to get the permission to leave. My father came to Germany in 1987, to Bayreuth, and we joined him in August 1988. He lived in a little room, and the problem was for my mother to get that permanent stay permit, for me it was kind of automatic through my father, but she had to struggle for it and it wasn't that easy 'cause her family didn't have any German documents or anything" (Builder,European Mischling,B.4,9).
All the families under study applied for the resettler status while already in Germany 5 , thus falling into the category of illegal resettlers. This might be the reason why the parents concealed from their children the intention of permanent migration. They did not want to take the chance of being accidentally given away by them. Until the end of 1990s, 90 per cent of late resettlers crossed the Polish border on the basis of tourist visas and only after arrival in Germany applied to be awarded resettler status. Only since 1990, pursuant to Aussiedleraufnahmegesetz, a permission to resettle in German Republic has to be obtained in the country of origin. 5 Until the end of the 90s as many as 90% of the "late resettlers" emigrated with tourist visas and strived for "resettler" status only after having reached their destination. See: W. Grabe (2000), Germany, but at the beginning they were only for deutsche Staatsangehörigheit [German citizenship]. Those courses weren't that long, maybe ten months, which is not very long" (Historian,European Mischling,B.4,9).
Resettlers were supported not only by German state authorities, organisations, or their own families already living in Germany, but also by individual people who simply wanted to help "somebody from Poland": "So, my parents wanted to move here, my father came to Bayreuth in June, but he didn't go to a Heim [transitional flat for resettlers], instead our cousin brought him to some people who offered to take in somebody from Poland and help.
They hosted my father for a couple of months and helped him with all the documents and stuff, you know, running around offices that takes up a lot of time. They helped him with all of that, so he can now settle these things by himself" (Historian,European Mischling,B.4,9).
The Biophysicist (B.3), on the other hand, notes that his family was supported by Arabs: "First we went to West Berlin and we spent like three months there. We stayed in a kind of, I don't know, a building by a hospital. There were some Americans there and other foreigners.
My mother did some interpreting for me. We had no residence permit, but some Arabs gave us a hand. It was hard" (Biophysicist, Contextual European, B.3, 5).
The young resettlers do not recall many signs of discrimination and hostility from Germans, who sometimes even helped them. Their parents seemed to be more affected by this problem: "There, I went to a nursery school for the first time. Well, my German was not that good, actually I spoke like three words. I had little problems because of thatkids laughed at me. They beat me. I beat them, too. And my sister did. But the place we lived was actually cool -people were helping us when we had any problems" (Biophysicist, Contextual European, B.3, 5).
The interviewees' memories from the initial period of their stay in Germany focus mostly around sleeping in overcrowded rooms, "running around offices", document checkups, but also something that made up for all the inconveniences -shopping: "I remember, we were going on a big bus with all the others, and then we stayed in a sort of, they call it Lager [camp], funny name but that's how they called it, and it was where all the documents… and we also slept in those big The interviewees underline the contrast between Poland and Germany of the late 1980s. This made a huge impression upon them, stronger even than parting with friends or the need to learn the language: "It was still a huge contrast then. In the eighties, in 1989, it didn't look good with things like (...), I don't know, Süssigkeiten [sweets] or other stuff. This was a bigger shock than the fact you had to learn the language or that you couldn't see your friends so long, or… you know. But then I didn't think in those terms at all" (Mathematician, Uncertain European, B.9, 13).
In fact, my interlocutors did not feel very strongly about parting with their relatives, playmates or school friends. What mattered most for them at that time was the fact that they were with their parents, brothers and sisters and thus felt safe. Actually, only the Female Economist (B.2) talks about missing her grandmother and her stories about the good old days: "I've always had nice memories of my grandma. It was so that my mother had a tailor shop right next to our house. It was under reconstruction and she always had to work very hard. It was at the time when I was born and later on. She was always home, I could see her -that's important, isn't itbut I spent a lot of time with my grandma. We went walking, I remember, to the forest and further away. That's why, when we left for Germany, well, first when my dad was here I missed him a lot, then when we left I missed my grandma a lot. That's why, I often said I wanted to go to my grandma, you know. She sang songs to me, she told me how it used to be in the past when she had to work in the field, how she met my grandpa, you know.
This was my childhood". (Female Economist,Integral Mischling,B.2,6) The beginnings were also marked by removals. Each of the interviewees changed his or her place of residence at least four times (usually more) before even graduating from secondary school. Exceptional in this pattern were the families of the Male Economist (B.6) and Female Economist (B.7) whose removals were all within the city of Bayreuth. The migrations were often driven by the wish to live closer to a family that had already settled in Germany. This, as already mentioned, was not always possible at first because of the centrally-managed assignment to particular Bundeslands. ." (Theatrologist,Neutral European,B.1,9).
Those who had to stay in transitional flats for resettlers complain about poor living conditions, especially that the housing standards they had had in Poland were generally better (e.g. three-room flat). This transition period was about two years long. Then they had enough savings to buy a flat and some years later, built a house. This pattern corresponds to results of comparative research on "Polish and Russian Germans"conducted by B. Dietz (Dietz 1997) with respect to "Polish Germans": "And then we left, also Generally speaking, coming to Germany was not a traumatic experience for my interviewees. They talk of a relatively easy adaptation to their new living conditions, a smooth transition: "As for switching to a new environment, first thing, you need to learn the language.
Without the language you could do nothing I knew that well enough. I knew, I just had to learn the language. If I didn't... I don't know, for example, all the habits they have here, I didn't need to follow -they're not so different from ours, anyway. But there was no need to, if you didn't want to. What mattered was that I had to learn the language. This was important to me and sure I wanted to speak the language to live here, to communicate with people" (Builder,Uncertain Silesian,B.5,14).
If they had any difficulties, now they appear to be so distant that they can hardly remember them. They stress that being very young helped them to adjust to the new conditions in a fast and effective way: "No, it wasn't. Sure it was difficult, Umstellung [switch-over] was difficult. And the language was of course hard at the beginning, and other subjects, but learning the language was automatic then. If you heard it at school every day and on TV all the time…" (Theatrologist,Neutral European,B.1,9).
In addition, they were too young on their arrival at Germany to realise the consequences: "No! Not at all! I didn't think too much about the future then. Generally, I accept things as they are. And especially at that time I thought more about sweets than any other consequences" (Male Economist,Uncertain European,B.9,13 9).

Conclusion
The students under study were successfully included into German society, they managed to integrate effectively and recovered from the breakthrough that was triggered in their lives by their "quasi-forced" migration.
In the initial period of their stay in Germany, the young resettlers tended to reach a consensus in the "we-they" relationship and in the course of time, with their migration no longer perceived as a critical life experience, rejected an option of returning to their country of origin, their point of departure. Most of the interviewees were immediately sent to German schools attended by a small proportion of foreign students or other resettlers. Being Polish was not an issue there, andas they point outother students did not define themselves as resettlers or Poles (although the latter happened more often, particularly at the beginning when their accent still betrayed them). The language was for them a medium of communication, but very often failed to play a significant role in stabilising their national identity (Meister 1997 Therefore, her conclusions seem to be right only with respect to people who have not lived in Germany for long. Indeed, this category of resettlers tends to feel more akin to other immigrants, who share the same social status and the same kind of problems. This is, as if to say, a substitute contact chosen because of limited knowledge of German and consequent problems in communication. Later on, however, with language skills improving, young people begin to integrate more with the local community and the need to meet representatives of other cultures ceases to have the significance suggested by D.M. Meister.
With nationality not having any relevance on the social or structural level, there was also no impact on the self-identification level. In other words, the social environment is free of any national contexts. This has certainly influenced the resettlers national identification.
For example, X's national identification is manifested by referring to himself as somebody coming from Poland who was then legally incorporated into the system of German society and who feels attached, also socially, to Germans (Meister 1997, p. 219). X lives in the Present (in the sense that he does not think much about the Past), where he perceives himself, and is perceived by his peers, as a student. He places his Future in the frameworks of the German social environment. This form of assimilation does not exhibit features of "rebel reaction" (Meister 1997, p. 219), i.e. a purposeful rejection of the culture of the country of origin, as defined in the marginalisation concept. It is more about distancing oneself from the idea of living in Poland. Poland becomes a holiday destination not considered as a possible place of permanent stay as this would imply abandoning the current life style which cannot be achieved in Poland. Therefore, the young late resettlers that I have interviewed are not oriented towards their country of origin. One possible explanation is that their social environment has been and still is mostly German-speaking and their personal relationships both at school and otherwise (leisure time) are not established by the community of origin (Tomaszewska 2006c, p. 57-58). In practice, the interviewees have had no contacts with any Polish community or resettler support organisations.
The young late resettlers live between and with the two cultures, regarding both of them as their own (Kłoskowska 1996, p. 162). They do not have to prove their loyalty to either of them (Tomaszewska 2006d, p. 42). One might say, they are "liaisons between two worlds" (Mecheril 1997). Polish home and German friends and school, this is the reality they live in. Although they are sometimes unable to differentiate between Polishness and Germanness, between what is typical for both and what is unique, and although they often do not know whether they have been brought up the Polish or the German way, they enjoy their cultural flexibility and do not worry about their selective knowledge or segmental acquisition of either culture. Customs, traditions, religious practices, as originating from home, are mostly taken from the Polish culture. German traditions, even if known, are not followed. The "high culture", however, is built on the German culture, as originating from school. Young resettlers, even though Polish popular culture is more familiar to them than Polish high culture, admit they do not know how their Polish peers' lives appear, what kind of music they listen to, what kind of movies they watch. The culture of every day life, every day functioning (shops, offices), and lifestyle (youth), is also more of German origin. A home with Polish traditions can therefore be figuratively described as a Polish island on a German sea. The best illustration of this is the late resettlers' language. On one hand, Hochdeutsch learnt at German schools, on the other hand, a slang used instead of literary Polish, reflecting their parents' manner of speaking. The favourable experiences related to migration in combination with a general global tendency enhance their open approach towards mobility and other cultures.
It may be noted in conclusion that while the parents, lost between the public and private, declared and manifested identity (Schmidt 2003, p. 99), were often reluctant to reveal the true motives of their emigration, the children are much more comfortable with it. The young late resettlers under study believe that their parents invoked to their actual German roots, simply because there was no other possibility to leave Poland at that time. They do not feel obliged to prove their loyalty either to Germany or Poland. A huge contrast between