Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History

Michelle Lynn Kahn

doi:10.1017/9781009486682

What happens when migrants are rejected by the host society that first invited them? How do they return to a homeland that considers them outsiders? Foreign in Two Homelands explores the transnational history of Turkish migrants, Germany's largest ethnic minority, who arrived as 'guest-workers' (Gastarbeiter) between 1961 and 1973. By the 1980s, amid rising racism, neo-Nazis and ordinary Germans blamed Turks for unemployment, criticized their Muslim faith, and argued they could never integrate. In 1983, policymakers enacted a controversial law: paying Turks to leave. Thus commenced one of modern Europe's largest and fastest waves of remigration: within one year, 15% of the migrants—250,000 men, women, and children—returned to Turkey. Their homeland, however, ostracized them as culturally estranged 'Germanized Turks' (Almancı). Through archival research and oral history interviews in both countries and languages, Michelle Lynn Kahn highlights migrants' personal stories and reveals how many felt foreign in two homelands. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Finalist, 2025 Prize for the Best Book in History and Social Sciences, German Studies Association

Finalist, 2025 David Barclay Book Prize, German Studies Association

‘A complex interlacing of multiple histories: of West Germany and Turkey; of Cold War Europe and postwar migration; of governments, businesses, and schools. Running through all of these are the stories of individuals and families who left home and were never quite able to return. That Kahn doesn’t lose sight of the people most affected makes her book wonderfully engaging … While her subjects struggled to find belonging in either homeland, Kahn’s book should have no trouble finding its place as a critical contribution to the study of modern European and migration histories.’

Sarah Thomsen Vierra Source: Central European History

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Contents

Foreign in Two Homelands
pp i-i
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Publications of the German Historical Institute - Series page
pp ii-ii
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Foreign in Two Homelands - Title page
pp iii-iii
Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Dedication
pp v-v
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Epigraph
pp vi-viii
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Contents
pp ix-x
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Figures
pp xi-xiv
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Acknowledgments
pp xv-xx
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Abbreviations
pp xxi-xxii
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Introduction
pp 1-48
The Woman with the German House
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Part I - Separation Anxieties
pp 49-174
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1 - Sex, Lies, and Abandoned Families
pp 51-95
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2 - Vacations across Cold War Europe
pp 96-136
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3 - Remittance Machines
pp 137-174
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Part II - Kicking out the Turks
pp 175-318
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4 - Racism in Hitler’s Shadow
pp 177-226
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5 - The Mass Exodus
pp 227-267
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6 - Unhappy in the Homeland
pp 268-304
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Epilogue
pp 305-318
The Final Return?
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Bibliography
pp 319-342
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Index
pp 343-358
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Foreign in Two Homelands

Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History

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Contents

Foreign in Two Homelands
pp i-i

Publications of the German Historical Institute - Series page
pp ii-ii

Foreign in Two Homelands - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-v

Epigraph
pp vi-viii

Contents
pp ix-x

Figures
pp xi-xiv

Acknowledgments
pp xv-xx

Abbreviations
pp xxi-xxii

Introduction
pp 1-48

Part I - Separation Anxieties
pp 49-174

1 - Sex, Lies, and Abandoned Families
pp 51-95

2 - Vacations across Cold War Europe
pp 96-136

3 - Remittance Machines
pp 137-174

Part II - Kicking out the Turks
pp 175-318

4 - Racism in Hitler’s Shadow
pp 177-226

5 - The Mass Exodus
pp 227-267

6 - Unhappy in the Homeland
pp 268-304

Epilogue
pp 305-318

Bibliography
pp 319-342

Index
pp 343-358

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Foreign in Two Homelands

Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History

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