Biblical Hebrew Forum

[markus.springer AT t-online.de (Markus Springer)]

If I may add my two cents as a german student: Just recently the new left 
wing government has reformed the german citizenship law which before dated 
from the year 1913. It defined citizenship primarily by descent: A child of 
german parents is german no matter where it has been born.
Since the end of world war II, especially with the millions of italian, 
turkish, greek, yugoslavian and many other nations' *Gastarbeiter* coming to 
Germany during the boom years, this society has deeply changed from a rather 
homogenous towards a more multi-cultural.

I think the *guest worker* thing is a myth: Most of them came here to stay. 
And so the term *Gastarbeiter* is basically no longer used in Germany for it 
sounds a little sixties-like. While it is true that many of the first 
generation migrants go or went back to the countries where they were born 
after they retired, most of the second (and even third) generation are not 
thinking of ever going *back*, because they were born, raised and formed in 
this country. Two of my friends are *Turks*, both of them came as kids 
together with their parents and are now studying medicine. According to what 
they say they are speaking german better than turkish (but gey still get 
along with an Istanbul cab driver). Even if they got german citizenship under 
the old law, the new law has now territorial aspects (similar to France or 
the US) which make it easier to get into german citizenship: Who is born in 
Germany and whos parents are not german can claim for citizenship after some 
years of living permanently in Germany.
So history went over the concept of foreigeners coming to this country doing 
the hard and dirty work and after that leave. German society has been changed 
by the presence of *Auslaender* more drastically than one would have imagined 
in the sixties. The society had to face the fact that they are part of the 
society.

Still: I don't know about other countries but for Germany I must say that 
there is a difference between a now more liberal citizenship law 
theoretically granting full rights and every day racism in public offices as 
well as on the streets. I think a German of african descendance still faces 
some problems. Darker skin and black hair don't seem to fit into the pattern 
of how a "German" should look like. So there is a difference between 
legislation and constitution (according to Art. 3,3 nobody must be 
discriminated because of his or her descendance, language or origin) and the 
reality of how people deal with the *foreign*. Or if I may put it this way: 
If discrimination wasn't a fact in human life there would be no legislation 
necessary that deals with it.
For me the identification of ger with *Auslaender* in this context - though 
not perfectly matching the situation in ancient Israel - is hermeneutically 
helpful.

Markus Springer
(Markus.Springer AT evtheol.uni-muenchen.de)
  

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von:    Lewis Reich [SMTP:lbr AT sprynet.com]
Gesendet am:    Freitag, 9. Juli 1999 04:13
An:     Biblical Hebrew
Betreff:        Re: Re[2]: Meaning of ger

On 8 Jul 99, at 22:37, Peter JKirk wrote:

> I would think that the nearest modern equivalent may well be
> migrant workers such as the Turks in Germany. Or can anyone suggest
> any better analogies? 

Sounds like a good analogy as to situation, except that the Turkish 
workers in Germany, to the best of my knowledge,  aren't migrants -  
they're settled for the long term but barred from full rights of 
citizenship.  I think the term used is *gastarbeiter* - guest worker.

Even so, the analogy is imperfect, as the gastarbeiter is specifically 
barred from full rights of citizenship, whereas the Torah's legislation 
regarding the ger emphasizes granting a fuller array of rights than 
might normally be expected.

Lewis Reich
lbr AT sprynet.com

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