Officials who deal with the problems of foreigners say racist sentiment in Germany has declined sharply in recent months.
Their conclusion is supported by new statistics showing that attacks on foreigners are now far less frequent than they were last year.
“A year ago, even six months ago, it seemed that our society was paralyzed by violence,” said Cornelia Schmalz-Jacobsen, the federal government’s chief adviser on matters relating to foreigners, at a news conference Wednesday in Weimar. “That has clearly changed. Our society and our political leaders have shown that this violence is something we do not want in our country. We can’t say the problem is behind us, but we can breathe a sigh of relief.”
Schmalz-Jacobsen attributed the change in attitude partly to the candlelight vigils held in many German cities in November, December and January, and partly to “countless smaller initiatives by individuals and social groups.”
Last year German police recorded 2,285 acts of rightist violence, most of them attacks on foreigners or their homes. Police attributed the killings of 17 people, including seven foreigners, to far-right radicals.
In the first 10 weeks of 1993, rightists committed 141 violent acts-a drop of nearly 50 percent from the comparable period last year, according to Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters.
This week, 130 officials from cities and towns across Germany met in Weimar to discuss the problems foreigners face. The contrast between this conference and their last one, in October, was sharp. Concern about rising violence dominated the discussion in October; this time it was hardly mentioned.
“For a while it seemed that our only job was to fight against things, against violence and hatred,” said Gunter Apel, who works with foreigners in Hamburg. “Now that phase is ending, and we have the chance to be in favor of things.”
The conferees agreed to propose new anti-discrimination laws to assure foreigners equal access to housing and insurance coverage. They also supported proposals that would allow foreign residents to vote in some German elections and make it easier for them to become German citizens.
There are 6.3 million foreigners living in Germany, alongside about 78 million Germans. Nearly half of the foreigners came to West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s as contract laborers from Turkey, Yugoslavia, Italy and Greece. In recent years hundreds of thousands have arrived from Eastern Europe, especially Romania and Bulgaria.
German citizenship laws are among the most restrictive in the world. Foreigners who have lived in Germany for decades aren’t normally entitled to citizenship, nor are their children, even if they are born in Germany and have never seen their parents’ homeland.
Schmalz-Jacobsen said she would press for a new law under which foreigners who have lived in Germany for at least eight years could apply for citizenship.
That proposal faces an uncertain future in Bonn, but another proposal, under which war refugees would be granted special immigration status, appears likely to win parliamentary approval.
Officials urged that the 20,000 Vietnamese, Mozambican and Cuban citizens who live in eastern Germany be given residence permits. They were brought as contract laborers by the former Communist government, and are now threatened with deportation.
“These people are living in great uncertainty,” said Michael Hugo, an adviser to the Weimar city government. “They are not allowed to work, which means that German taxpayers are supporting them even though they want to work and there are jobs for them.”
According to official figures, foreigners generate nearly one-tenth of Germany’s gross national product. One of every four workers in the steel industry is foreign-born, as are 20 percent of hotel workers.
