Quota refugees
During the 1990s, more than 200,000 Jews and their families moved from the former Soviet Union to Germany. Officially, however, there has never been a wave of Jewish emigration to Germany. In 1991, […] laws were enacted allowing East European Jews to settle in Germany. The way in which we were treated was set down in the so-called Quota Refugee Act. We were granted asylum and a residence permit; we were accepted “on humanitarian grounds” as if we were quota refugees. (ed. trans.)
Erica Zingher, Kontingentflüchtlinge: Meine Oma arbeitet nicht, sie schuftet, 2019
Quota refugees are refugees who are permitted to immigrate to Germany in set numbers on humanitarian grounds or under international law. After they enter the country, they receive a residence permit without having to undergo the asylum procedure; however, they are assigned a place of residence. In 1979 (and over the years that followed), for example, the Federal Republic of Germany accepted refugees from Vietnam under the terms of this treaty.
When the Soviet Union was dissolved, the number of anti-Semitic attacks increased. Mindful of its historical responsibility after the Shoah, the GDR wanted to offer a place of refuge for the Jewish minority. After reunification, the Federal Republic took up the project and in 1991 created a legal framework which allowed Jewish people from the former Soviet territories to enter the country as quota refugees. However, the term “Jewish quota refugees” is criticised by persons such as journalist Richard Herzinger, who says that “ultimately they are […] migrants who were invited to make their permanent homes in Germany on humanitarian grounds” (in: Wer willkommen heißt, trägt auch Verantwortung, Die Welt, 20 February 2019).
The treaty ended in 2004. By then, more than 200,000 Jews had come to Germany. According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education, at least 90 percent of the Jewish community in 2017 were migrants from the former Soviet Union.
In recent years, quotas have been set for refugees from the civil war in Syria, among others.
Further literature:
Körber, Karen (Hg.): Russisch-jüdische Gegenwart in Deutschland. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf eine Diaspora im Wandel. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht 2015.
Fleckenstein, Jutta und Kleiner, Piritta (Hg.): Juden 45, 90. Von da und dort – Überlebende aus Osteuropa / Von ganz weit weg – Einwanderer aus der ehemaligen Sowjetunion. Ausstellungskatalogs des Jüdischen Museums München. 2 Bände. Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich 2011 und 2012.
Belkin, Dmitrij: Jüdische Kontingentflüchtlinge und Russlanddeutsche. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, erschienen am 13. März 2017auf bpd.de
Belkin, Dmitrij und Gross, Raphael (Hg.): Ausgerechnet Deutschland! Jüdisch-russische Einwanderung in die Bundesrepublik. Begleitpublikation zur Ausstellung im Jüdischen Museum Frankfurt. Berlin: Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung 2010.
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