The Legacy of Germany’s Guest Worker Program: German-Turkish Footballers
In the years after World War II, Germany faced a drastic labor shortage. The country lacked the manpower to rebuild the country whose destruction had been brought by Adolf Hitler. Germans came up with a solution to this problem and created a guest worker program, which would be pivotal in restoring the country to economic prosperity. The so-called gastarbeiter (German for “guest worker”) program began with 7,000 Turks arriving in 1961 and peaked in 1973, when 2.6 million Turish workers were living in Germany.
Turkish guest workers
The program was designed with the hope that workers would come, provide labor, and then return to their countries of origin (in addition to Turks, Greeks, Portuguese, Italians, and Yugoslavs were brought in as guest workers). But many ended up staying in Germany. The children of these guest workers are raising the numbers and profile of ethnic minorities in Germany. German-born, ethnic Turkish soccer players may be the most visible of this group.
Recently-retired Mehmet Scholl may be the most successful German-Turkish footballer of all time. The Bayern Munich midfielder had a long and illustrious career, including 8 Bundesliga winner’s medals and the 2001 Champions League title. Among prominent German-Turkish footballers, Scholl is unique for two reasons: 1) he was born to a Turkish father and German mother, and 2) he played for the German national team.
Mehmet Scholl (#7), playing for Germany against Romania at Euro 2000
There are many German-Turkish players playing in the Bundesliga today. These include Hertha Berlin’s Yildiray Basturk, the twins Hamit and Halil Altintop of Schalke, and Dortmund’s young defensive midfielder Nuri Sahin. Like Mehmet Scholl, all of these players were born in Germany to Turkish guest workers. Unlike the former Bayern players, they have all pledged their international futures to Turkey.
Schalke’s Hamit Altintop (L) faces Fenerbache’s Stephen Appiah in 2005
It’s not entirely unusual for children to represent the homelands of their parents (or even grandparents) in international soccer (can I get an Owen Hargreaves?). But the fact that these German-Turkish players “all of whom would probably be good enough to get a chance with Germany” have turned their backs on the country where they were born hints at the difficulties ethnic minorities and their families have faced in their adopted homeland.
The estimated 2 million ethnic Turks living in Germany have, for the most part, not had a smooth assimilation into German life. Because they were brought in as guest workers who, it was presumed, would return to Turkey, few programs were set up to assist them in beginning their lives in Germany. Indeed, policies were put in place that explicitly encouraged Turkish guest workers not to settle in their new country, including not giving them or their children German citizenship (this law was changed only in 2000).
Even today, when it is clear that the Turkish population in Germany is a permanent fixture, the remnants of these past policies continue to manifest themselves. Many German-Turks have complained of discrimination. They live in largely segregated neighborhoods and complain of unfair treatment in hiring practices.
Soccer may be one of the areas in which discrimination is least apparent. One only has to have a passing interest in German soccer to notice the increasing number of players with Turkish surnames on Bundesliga clubs. Scholl, Basturk, Sahin, and the Altintops are only the tip of the iceberg. Yet despite their success at club level, no ethnically Turkish player is currently part of the German national team.
It’s not always for lack of trying on the Germans’ part, however. Nuri Sahin was heralded as a future star as soon as he, at age 16, became the youngest player ever to play in the Bundesliga in 2005. The German FA did everything they could to persuade the Ludenscheid-born player to play for the Mannschaft, but to no avail.
Sahin had his heart set on playing for Turkey. He said at the time, “I was actually born in Germany but feel more Turkish. I learnt my football in Germany but as a Turk, I have never thought of playing for Germany.”
Sahin was called up by Turkey just months after making his Bundesliga debut. In his first international game, Sahin was thrown on with a few minutes left and scored the winning goal. And who did he score against? You guessed it: Germany.
Nuri Sahin looks just a wee bit excited after scoring on his international debut
May 25th, 2007 17:37
Great piece. I would like to add that there are similar issues with Moroccan talents in the Netherlands as opposed to the players with roots in Suriname such as Davids, Seedorf, Winter and many others.
In particular two youngsters from PSV Eindhoven stand out. There’s Ismaïl Aissati, a talented yet frail midfielder, who has not yet decided on his international future. The older Ibrahim Afellay has chosen to play for the Dutch squad after long consideration. A
Mbark Boussoufa, currently with Anderlecht but formed by Ajax and Chelsea, has chosen the Moroccan 11 however.
Finally, a rather tragic example would be the Turk UÄŸur Yildirim. Once a promising player known for his free kick taking, his career for the Dutch ended after just 30 minutes as a sub.
May 25th, 2007 18:29
Token Euro - Thanks for your comment.
I am familiar with the Dutch players you mentioned (way too much Football Manager) and actually thought about including them in the post (I ended up just focusing on German Turks because they are so numerous). How do you think the situation of Moroccans in Holland compares with Turks in Germany?
I’m surprised that Yildrim hasn’t played more for the Oranje. I remember seeing some clips of him and he looked fantastic. Does Afellay look likely to be called up to the national team any time soon?
May 26th, 2007 04:21
I don’t feel like I’m in a position to comment on the integration process of Moroccan players or the Moroccan community in Holland. However, browsing a few message boards has dampened any optimism I had. There have also been riots after a recent friendly between the youth teams of both nations, leading to a 5 year boycott by the Dutch.
I can say this about the Afellay case:
- there was formal pressure from his club & the media to join Holland
- a more informal pressure to join Morocco (branded a traitor by many now)
- the main arguments to join Holland were that he grew up there and that Holland has a bigger chance of advancing in big tournaments
- a reason for him not to join Morocco was the perceived mismanagement by their FA
So an interesting mixture of motives (money, nationality, power, feeling) which are worthy of more research.
He is bound to get more call-ups but I doubt if there’s a spot for him in the starting XI right away with Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Seedorf, Landzaat, De Zeeuw, Maduro…maybe after Euro 2008.
Yıldırım appears to have been a fluke. Still only 24 he’s looking to revive his career in Turkey.
June 28th, 2007 15:16
CONCACAF should extend membership to Suriname in order to beef up its tournament, as Guadeloupe’s inclusion surely did. After no longing getting called up for France, Guadeloupean players produced a competitive team that made Mexico have to work harder. Suriname would do the same.
Another note on identity and the international game. Why are Chicanos rooting for Mexico a national problem while Irish folk for Ireland are not?
June 28th, 2007 15:25
Jason - I believe Suriname is a member of CONCACAF. See http://www.concacaf.com/info.asp?id=41. They just haven’t qualified for the Gold Cup yet. One way Suriname has tried to improve their team is by recruiting Dutch players who are from or have family from the island (most of the black players in Holland do). Of course, they can only get the players who don’t play for the Dutch national team.
October 11th, 2007 08:01
Nice blog. I’ve been reading many of your articles the last couple of days. It’s interesting to see the contrast between German footballteams on the one hand, and French and Dutch teams on the other hand. In France and Holland there have been ethnical/cultural tensions for years now, and it has entirely changed the political climate in those countries. Germany on the other hand has been a relatively stable country. I’m Dutch and of a minority and I’ve lived in Germany as well and I know a lot of people from minorities in Holland who consider Germany as some kind of safe haven, a place where they feel less pressured.
The apparant irony is ofcourse that whilst Dutch and French teams, both club and country, have always had that multicultural look. German teams often look..well, German. That’s visible in the media as well. Turn on German television and you won’t see a lot of people of colour, when in France and Holland they are much better represented. An explanation can be found in the respective societies. France and Holland’s cultural elite have embraced multiculturalism in the last couple of decades, and multiculturalism is what has ran into problems lately (or it’s, as some would say, bankrupt. I’m not one of them). Germany is a far more segregated society. When you’re born a minority in Germany, you know you can be a succes or a failure, but you will never be German. The cultural gap is often simply too large. In France and Holland on the other hand, someone from a minority is, on some subconscious level, promised equal chances and smooth integration, when in reality society turns out to be far more segregated. That’s what causes people to feel disappointed and when people don’t know what identity works out best for them, it leaves them confused. And this confusion in turn is what makes more extreme versions of one of those identities attractive. These extreme identities in turn cause more tension in society. That’s the downward spiral. It has been in effect for several years now, and it’s hard to see where it’ll go. Ofcourse this is an overly simplified and exaggerated view of something that’s happening on many other levels, but I think that if you want to interpret what’s happening in the societies mentioned, understanding this downward spiral is the key.
October 11th, 2007 09:08
Jason Burke: “Why are Chicanos rooting for Mexico a national problem while Irish folk for Ireland are not?”
Yeah it’s funny. Ireland is not threatening. The image of Ireland represents rural America and validates oldfashioned American values. Mexico represents the other. Something that can potentially undermine those values.
About Surinamese footballers in Holland. Unlike the new groups of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants, Surinamese people have more or less been succesfully assimilated to Dutch society, just like people of Indonesian heritage. That has everything to do with the shared colonial history. Both groups have added a lot to Dutch football, the Indonesian contribution is often overlooked by the simple fact that they look less coloured, but it has been almost as big as the contribution of the Surinamese (Van Bronckhorst, even Roy Makaay has Indonesian roots).
But even with this succesfully assimilated group there have been problems, as the infamous ‘Kabel’ incident showed. The Dutch team in 1996 got divided along racial lines and their chances at Euro ‘96 were ruined beacuse of it (They got hammered 4-1 by England). The interesting thing is that there were no such troubles with the Surinamese footballers of the generation before (Gullit, Rijkaard), who were seamlessly integrated and felt completely Dutch. The ‘Kabel’ incident was an almost overlooked sign that integration in Holland wasn’t going as well as everyone at the time thought.
With that as a backdrop it’s even more interesting to see how things will turn out with the integration of Turkish and Moroccan footballers in Dutch teams.
November 8th, 2007 16:04
“Why are Chicanos rooting for Mexico a national problem while Irish folk for Ireland are not?”
gee, I dunno, have you looked at a map recently?
Specifically, Los Angeles, California (hint, hint) where the largest community of Mexican’s outside of Mexico City live. It’s only a few hours drive pass San Diego *cough* to get to the Border to tijuana in Baja California.
Are you surprised when recent Scot emigres in London support their national team instead of England?
The bulk of Irish immigration started after the potato famine, which was in the 19th century.
Mexicans have always lived in the US, but them majority have been here 1 or 2 generations.
Or maybe we are overanalyzing it a bit much and it really has to do with the fact that US has a hard time beating anyone other than Mexico and mexico occasionally takes down Brazil, Holland, and other giants.
Plus, The United States and its constitution espouses the idea of a multicultural society even more than Sweden. We’re basically the model for it.
I think a better question is “Chicanos support the Mexican NT and the Poles the Polish team and the Nigerians the screaming eagles and what? You gotta problem with that?”. When the match is over and were all done screaming obscenities in our native languages, we’re all one big happy dysfunctional family.
August 20th, 2008 12:24
it is Fenerbahçe not Fenerbaçhe