Migration 13

By far the best thing to do is to protect the borders in such a way that they cannot come in the first place. Closing the borders, that would be the best solution. You should give those who are rejected a package for the return trip. This would save both sides from violence. (…) So it would be best to get these unfortunate people out of where they came from as soon and as humanely as possible.

Bildzeitung from 30. January 1991, quoted from Ulrich Herbert (2001: 305).

Golo Mann (1909–1994) was a German-Swiss historian, publicist and writer. He was the son of Thomas Mann, the Nobel prize winner for literature, who had had to leave Germany when the Nazis took power in 1933.

Golo Mann's defensive attitude towards migrants represents the practice of German foreigner policy since the end of the guest worker agreement in 1973. At the time the quote was written, the deadly arson attacks on migrants and their houses in East and West Germany began: Rostock, Lichtenhagen, Hoyerswerda, Mölln , Solingen. In all cases, the state in East and West Germany failed to provide adequate protection for the victims or a dignified expression of condolences. In debates, it is argued that one can see from the attacks that the Germans have exceeded their resilience limit and that the right to asylum must therefore be abolished. Finally, the right to asylum was radically curtailed by the CDU, CSU and FDP in 1993 with the consent of the SPD.

*Ulrich Herbert (2001): Geschichte der Ausländerpolitik in Deutschland. München: C.H. Beck. *Politics Today (06.06.2018): What Changed 25 Years After the Solingen Arson Attack.

1991