EUROPE IN THE GLOBAL 1970s
Post-World War II Immigration
Guest Workers and the EEC
Twelve years after the end of World War II, Belgium, West Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Rome creating the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC and the systematic migration of guest workers from Turkey, Portugal, Italy and elsewhere helped drive a period of post-war economic growth in western Europe.
Eastern European Refugees
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European immigration was not just a product of one's own volition following World War II. In fact, with the redefinition of post-war borders, many Europeans, particularly in the East, became refugees. Whether they were ethnic Germans forcibly removed from Poland and Czechoslovakia, eastern Europeans fleeing Soviet occupied nations or Jews who had survived concentration camps, millions of displaced people were looking for new homes — with western Europe absorbing the brunt of it (Wasserstein).
Economic Growth
Spurred on by post-war productivity, an influx of guest workers and closer trade ties, western European economies flourished through the 1950s and 60s. Just to illustrate, industrial production "increased by 30% between 1953 and 1958" (Van Mol & de Vak, 32) and German GDP per capita increased by 202% from 1950 to 1970 (Our World in Data). With western Europe enjoying unbridled economic growth and low unemployment, the widespread immigration it experienced was largely viewed positively.
Guest Workers and the EEC
Despite the economic and societal burden western Europe experienced during World War II, in the years after the end of the war, GDP was on the rise. Aided by advances in automation, lower commodities pricing and a complete gutting of outdated forms of industry, European productivity enjoyed an upswing in the war's immediate aftermath (Van Mol & de Valk, 32). As a result, western Europeans could now achieve new levels of social mobility and education. As large swaths of the population ascended to higher paying jobs, blue collar, industrial jobs needed to be filled. As Christof Van Mol and Helga de Valk (32) write, "unhealthy and poorly paid jobs in agriculture, cleaning, construction, and mining" needed to be filled. Guest workers helped filled that void. During the 1950s and 60s, millions of guest workers from less-industrially developed countries flocked to the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland in search of work (Werner, et al). Many of these migrant workers originated from agriculturally reliant regions of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece as well as Turkey, Morocco and elsewhere (Van Mol & de Valk, 33-4). What was thought to be their short-term emigration was received positively by both sides of the exchange as industrial jobs were filled and production was booming on one end and the burden of low wages and unemployment was lessened on the other (Van Mol & de Valk, 33). As a result, the GDP of western European countries skyrocketed.
Simultaneously, the 1957 Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC) — a precursor to the European Union. The EEC laid down the groundwork for unified economic growth throughout Europe by instituting a custom union with a common external tariff and standardized industrial policies (1957 Treaty of Rome). Integrating Europe economically was another important step in increasing migration.
Eastern European Refugees
Though it would take two more months for the Japanese to officially surrender, by the time U.S. President Harry Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in Potsdam, Germany in July, 1945 to discuss Europe's fate, the continent and its people had already experienced massive reorganization. The Soviet army had already occupied eastern European countries, razing cities and ravaging populations along the way (Wasserstein). Communist governments were installed shortly after occupation as the Soviets developed their so-called "sphere of influence" (Wasserstein). Political opponents of these propped up regimes were brutally repressed. By 1949, "Stalinist" regimes had been instituted in all eastern European countries except for Yugoslavia, which created its own Socialist state under Josip Tito (Wasserstein). In order to avoid living under Soviet influence, many eastern Europeans fled from their homeland as refugees.
Eastern Europeans fleeing the Red Army were not the only ones forced into flight following World War II though. At the Potsdam Conference of 1945, Allied leaders agreed to forcibly dispel all ethnic Germans from newly-independent Poland and regions of Czechoslovakia and Hungary (Wyman, 19). As Andrew Demshuk (52-3) notes, "it has been exceedingly difficult to verify how many Germans fled or were expelled from the East, as well as how many perished along the way" but the most widely accepted figure is about 12 million. In Romania and Yugoslavia, ethnic Germans were also faced with a similar dilemma — leave for western Europe or face expulsion to Soviet labor camps. Just three years after the end of WWII, "the pre-war German population of 780,000 [in Romania] had been reduced by more than half" (Wasserstein).
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As if eastern Europeans fleeing newly-formed Communist governments and ethnic Germans being expelled from Poland, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere weren't enough, Jews who had survived the war also contributed to the refugee population. Unable to return to their former homes, Jews continued to face persecution throughout Poland and eastern Europe (Wasserstein). They too were forced to seek asylum in western Europe and elsewhere. In response to this crisis, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, formed in 1943, established refugee camps to temporarily provide these populations with a place to live. It would take until 1960 to empty all displaced persons camps in Europe (Wasserstein). A large number of refugees flocked to the United States and other countries outside Europe, but western Europe was the most common landing spot. Germany alone absorbed most, if not all of the 12 million ethnic German expellees (Wyman, 167). Resettlement took its toll on these populations. As Bernard Wasserstein notes, "millions of Germans from the east suddenly found themselves in a fatherland that most of them had never seen before."
Economic Growth
Leading up to the 1970's, there were multiple reasons for western Europe's post-war economic growth. The creation of the EEC was an important factor as the six founding members — Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Belgium and Luxembourg — established specific trading conditions including "a 10% reduction in custom duties and relaxation of up to 20% for global import quotas" (1957 Treaty of Rome). Tariff reductions such as these, which were enjoyed by member nations, allowed for increased productivity. As mentioned previously, immigration, specifically of migrant guest workers, also factored into the equation. They were able to fill unwanted industrial jobs in northwestern Europe while securing enough wages to stimulate their native economies upon their return (Van Mol & de Valk (32-3). For example, according to Van Mol and de Valk (33), "in Turkey, the monetary returns of migrants became a vital element of the economy: the country even experienced economic destabilization when labour migration to Germany ended in 1974." Europe was also becoming increasingly dependent on oil, which was abundant and cheap at the time — in the United Kingdom especially, the conventional fuel of coal was replaced with oil to heat homes and provide energy (Van Mol & de Valk, 35). Updated forms of industrial infrastructure and room to "catch-up" to the likes of the United States, allowed western Europe to significantly increase its productive capabilities (Van Mol & de Valk, 31-3). Widespread immigration coincided with this growth and in some cases, helped stimulate it.
Let's take a look at some data! Below are two graphs — the first depicts GDP per capita of western European countries from 1950 to 1970 while the one on the right displays the population growth rate of western European countries with and without migration over the same period of time. If the growth rate with migration (as shown in red) is greater than the growth rate without migration (in blue) it means that the region was experiencing more immigration than emigration. It's important to note that correlation does not automatically equate to causation, but we do see a gradual increase in GDP per capita across the board — even when adjusted for inflation — as European immigration also increases throughout these two decades.
(Our World in Data)
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