Patterns of Integration of Jewish Migrants from the Former Soviet Union in Germany
Unlike the migrant communities in Germany that are familiar and have been thoroughly described in the past, Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union are generally vocationally qualified when they arrive and possess considerable awareness of the dema
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Unlike the migrant communities in Germany that are familiar and have been thoroughly described in the past, Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union are generally vocationally qualified when they arrive and possess considerable awareness of the demands of industrialized societies. While these migrants may associate settling in the Federal Republic above all with the hope of earning a secure living – in terms of social recognition and money they are having a crucial influence on the future of existing, unstable Jewish communities. What is unusual about them is their highly secular, modernized identity, which owes little to religion and culture, making it difficult for them to fit into the model of identity developed by the Jewish communities in Germany, and hence with what is expected of Jewish immigrants. The existing Jewish communities welcome and support immigration, since this should help to make them more stable. Furthermore, an increase in numbers should lend legitimacy to Jewish life in Germany, both within the country and in the international context. However, these communities are interested not merely in quantitative expansion; rather they expect immigration to lead to a considerable strengthening of the community in a religious and cultural sense.
Theoretical Framework for Migration Immigration to Germany by Jews from the former USSR accords at first sight exactly with the developments thoroughly described and analysed in studies of migration theory. These argue that migratory movements became larger in both quantitative and qualitative terms in the wake of industrialization, the spread of E. Aslan, M. Hermansen (eds.), Islam and Citizenship Education, Wiener Beiträge zur Islamforschung, DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-08603-9_10, © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2015
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Doron Kiesel
technology and urbanization, and the creation of nation-states (Treibel, 1999; Joppke, 1999; Kymlica, 2001; Heckmann, 1992). Migration in all its forms, whether forced or voluntary, was and is therefore a structural feature of modernization and of its economic and social implications. The modern regions and societies where goods and services are produced by a constantly growing proportion of the population, that is literate and increasingly trained in science and technology, are therefore also the targets of current migratory flows. Hence, integrating immigrants means fitting them into a modern society that is mobile, both geographically and socially, in which the importance of family ties is diminishing, public life is highly bureaucratized, and government and politics have a high capacity for control. The opposite pole, which is the starting point for migration, is therefore an under industrialized, traditional and comparatively closed society. Migration theories assume that migration has a number of causes. Some migrants seek to improve their socio-occupational status, and act according to the principle of economic rationalism, based on a knowledge of finance and demography (Langenheder, 1968; Esser, 1980; Feithen, 1985).
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