How Germany Transformed from a Land of Emigrants to One of Immigrants

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, once complained bitterly about German immigrants in 18th-century America — accusing them of refusing to assimilate, speaking only their own language, and outnumbering locals to the point of threatening governance. Today, strikingly similar language appears in debates about immigrants arriving in Germany. The irony could not be sharper: Germany, now a major destination for migrants, was itself one of history's greatest sources of emigrants.

Millions Left Germany in Search of a Better Life

Before 1820, only around 150,000 Germans had made their way to America. But in the following decades, that number swelled dramatically as poverty, political repression, and lack of opportunity drove waves of Germans across the Atlantic. Migration historian Jochen Oltmer of the University of Osnabrück points out that migration is no modern phenomenon: since early humans left Africa between 100,000 and 120,000 years ago, it has been an intrinsic part of human history.

A Dangerous and Costly Journey

The crossing was neither cheap nor safe. A passage on a sailing ship cost roughly the equivalent of a full year's wages for a craftsman, forcing emigrant families to sell everything they owned. Those who could not afford the full price were sometimes recruited by agents — the historical equivalent of modern traffickers — who promised prosperity but earned a bounty per person they delivered. Aboard the ships, emigrants were packed below deck in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions, tormented by vermin and surviving on hardtack and salted meat.

From Emigrants to Immigrants

Germany has since completed a remarkable transformation. The very debates it now holds about foreign newcomers — whether they will integrate, whether they will change the country's character — echo those once held about Germans themselves in the countries where they settled. Recognizing this history does not resolve today's policy questions, but it does place them in a context that many participants in the debate prefer to overlook.