FEMALE MIGRATION FROM POLAND TO GERMANY FROM 1980
Coletta Maria Franzke
Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk
Scientific Supervisor Olga Matveeva PhD, TPU
Migration between Poland and Germany is not a development of the last two decades.
(Blaschke 2001: p. 6-7) Especially many Polish migrant labourers already immigrated in the
1920th to Germany for temporary, seasonal work harvesting cash crops. (Becker 2010: p. 58)
Over the period of existence of Eastern Bloc, migration between Poland and Germany was
restricted. (Kaczmarczyk 2007: p. 99-100) However, many Polish emigrants reached Western
Germany in the 1980s. Most of them were ethical and political refugees. (Becker 2010: p. 86)
There is no exact data about the number of polish immigrants who came to Germany during
the 1980s. Official sources indicate very different numbers of immigrants. (Iglicka 2000: p. 5)
It is, however, known that a lot of Polish emigrants had a high level of education. A large part
of Polish emigration in the 1980s can be called the brain drain. During the 1980s, an average
of 6.5% of the Polish population had a secondary education. In the same decade, 13% of all
Polish emigrants had a university degree and 46% of all emigrants had a secondary education.
Scientific institutions in Poland lost over 25% of their staff during the 1980s, and 52% of
these were women. (Becker 2010: p. 61)
After the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, emigration from Poland became legal and
therefore also easier. However, from 1989 onwards, Polish immigration to Germany was
limited by German migration policy. (Kaczmarczyk 2007: p. 99-100) German migration
policy tried to regulate immigrants to accommodate for the labour demand of the german
employment market. (Birsel 2004: p. 40) Due to the lack of low qualified, temporary
labourers, the German migration policy had a selective interest in those labour immigrants.
So, a bilateral agreement between Germany and Poland became operative in 1990, which
regularized the emigration of temporary seasonal polish labours to Germany. (Kaczmarczyk
2007: p. 103) Furthermore, basic regulations were made for special branches of the economy.
To those commercial sectors belonged agriculture, building industry, the hotel business and
the catering trade. (Honekopp 2007: p. 48) Even though the free movement of labours was
restricted, Germany was the main aim for polish immigration in the beginning of the 1990s.
(Iglicka 2000: p. 9)
Most notably, the proportion of temporary seasonal labourers working for agricultural
holdings became very high in the 1990s. This represented a steady trend, and can still said to
be true in contemporary Germany. More than 90% of all seasonal work in Germany is done
by Polish seasonal labourers working in the field of agricultural. (Kaczmarczyk 2007: p.103)
Though harvesting is physical exhausting work, women are favoured labourers on many
agricultural holdings. An example of this is a farm next to Rostock which grows strawberries.
That agricultural holding employs more female than male seasonal labourers. In an interview,
the proprietor of that agricultural holding says that women handle the crops more carefully
than men. This means women have a bigger share in a high quality of the cash crops than
men. For this reason, the sex of immigrants can be a contributing factor for the selection of
seasonal labours. (Becker 2010: p. 129)
The contributing factor of gender is important for many other fields of work. For many
jobs, women are favoured. Especially in Germany, East-European women are favoured for
such jobs. Aside from agricultural seasonal work, many female Polish immigrants in
Germany work as cleaners or for cleaning companies, (Treibel 2000: p. 84) in geriatric care,
home care and domestic work (Cyrus 2001: p. 71) and gastronomy. (Cyrus 2001: p. 68) Also,
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many Polish women work as prostitutes. However, those immigrants are working illegally in
most cases or are even forced by networks of human trafficking to be sex workers. (Blaschke
2001: p. 28-29)
Typical characteristics for most of the employments of East-European female
immigrants in Germany are low wages, overtime and overworking. (Treibel 2000: p. 83)
Exceptions are working areas in which female immigrants are experts and have high
qualifications. (Treibel 2000: p. 77-78) However, most of the jobs of Polish female
immigrants belong to the service sector. (Treibel 2000: p. 83-84) A main problem for the
majority of female immigrants is the loss of their status through immigration. Many of them
get socially degraded, meaning their social position in the target country is lower than in their
country of origin. (Treibel 2000: p. 84)
Even though usually (many) female polish immigrants suffer from working in the lowpay sector and declining of their status in Germany, most of them benefit from this. (Treibel
2000: p. 85) Due to the wage difference between Poland and Germany, Polish workers could
and can, even though their German wages are low, afford more in Poland than with a Polish
income. (Borst; Krätke 2004: p. 134) If Polish emigrants use their earnings from Germany in
Poland for purchasing, usually it causes an upgrade of their status. (Treibel 2000: p. 85)
The impact of selecting the Polish immigrants who were coming to Germany by a
constrictive migration policy can be seen in a changing trend of the levels of school
graduations of immigrants. Whereas Polish emigrants had higher levels of educational
attainment in the 1980s on average, their level of educational achievements in the 1990s was
lower. (Becker 2010: p. 66-67) From 1988 to 1998, the percentage of Polish emigrations who
had a university degree decreased from 6.2% to 1.5%. (Becker 2010: p. 67-68) In contrast, the
percentage of Polish emigrants who had a primary school education increased from 30.0% to
53.5%. (Becker 2010: p. 68)
On 1st May 2004, Poland became an EU member state in the course of EU expansion
to the East. (Nowicka 2007: p. 7) Many of the old EU Member States had doubts about the
possible effects caused by an open labour market, which is actually constitutionally
determined by the law of the EU. A strong labour migration from the new Member States in
East-Central Europe to the old Member States in Western Europe, which displaces native
employees, was feared. (Blanco Sío López 2008: p. 374-375) For this reason, the old Member
State decided to pass a law in Goteborg in 2001. According to that law, every old EU Member
State had the right to choose the beginning for the unrestricted free movement of labourers for
the citizens of the new Member States. Unrestricted free movement of labourers could be
given after 2, 5 or 7 years after the 1st May 2004. (Honekopp 2007: p. 48) Germany chose to
give an unrestricted free movement of labourers for Polish citizens after 7 years, (Nowicka
2007 : p . 8) mainly because it feared negative effects for German employees caused by
cheaply paid Polish labours (Nowicka 2007: p. 7) and for the german social system. (Nowicka
2007: p. 11)
Therefore, Polish labour migrants have been able to use the unrestricted free
movement of labourers since the 1st May 2011. (Honekopp 2007: p. 49) After that date, the
level of Polish migration to Germany remained constant. One reason for this is that the
importance of the destination Germany was reduced. This becomes apparent in the number of
Polish emigrants who are immigrating to other European states compared to Germany. A
main reason for this trend was the German decision to limit the free movement of labourers
till 2011. After the EU enlargement to the East, many other old EU Member States made the
free movement of labours unrestricted earlier than Germany. On account of this, many young
and also highly educated Polish emigrants immigrated to those states. (Kaczmarczyk 2007: p.
101) However, in the beginning of the 2010s Polish emigrants are the biggest national group
immigrating to Germany. (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge 2013: p. 197)
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The structures of Polish labour migration to Germany remained almost the same. Also,
in the 2010s many Polish labour migrants immigrate to Germany for temporary seasonal
labour and low-paid labour. (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge 2013: p. 197)
There has been, however, progress. A new perspective is, due to the development of the EU,
the constantly growing of European institutional, political and economic dynamics and
networks. (Verwiebe 2004: p. 40) Transnational mobility in the EU is becoming easier
because of supranational law of the EU. (Verwiebe 2004: p. 43) The EU Membership of
Poland, the geographical proximity to Germany and the long-time history of migration
between Poland and Germany represents a unique chance for a new process of mobility and
migration. (Nowicka 2007: p. 13)
In addition to this new development, the increasing numbers of Polish students who
are studying in Germany can be seen. (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge 2012: p. 50)
It is remarkable that most of the Polish students in Germany are female in the beginning to the
2010s. (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge 2013: p. 206-207) With this evidence, we
can see that new possibilities of immigrating to Germany, aside from just labour migration,
have developed – especially for the young and Polish. Furthermore, Poles who graduated at
German universities have a better chance to be employed for well-paid and qualified work in
Germany. A future perspective could be that more and more high qualified young Polish
immigrants are employed in Germany. Given that more female Polish students are studying in
Germany than male, this future perspective could apply specifically for female Polish
immigrants.
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