arts in exile

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  Reichstag fire trial with the accused Marinus van der Lubbe (1933)

  Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R94582, photographer: not stated

  15 December 1980

  Conviction against Marinus van der Lubbe is lifted
  Marinus van der Lubbe was sentenced to death in 1933 as the alleged perpetrator of the Reichstag fire. He was executed in 1934.
• 9 September 1981

  The Federal Government issues regulations which restrict the labour opportunities of asylum seekers in West Germany.
  Up to that point, asylum seekers had received a work permit after one year of residency. This was then changed to a mandatory two-year waiting period.
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  Poster against the People's Socialist Movement Germany

  Bundesarchiv, Plak 006-027-002, graphic designer: not stated

  27 January 1982

  The People's Socialist Movement of Germany is banned due to its increasing militancy and affinity with the Nazi Party.
• 4 February 1982

  Bundestag debates policy relating to foreigners
  The debate involves the ruling government parties, the SPD and FDP, making calls for foreign integration, while the CDU/CSU opposition requests that immigrants be sent back to their home countries.
• 24 June 1982

  In Nuremberg, right wing extremist Helmut Oxner shoots three foreigners dead before killing himself.
• 1 August 1982

  The "Asylum Procedure Law" comes into effect.
  The law standardises and simplifies application and appeals processes through the relevant authorities for the recognition of foreign refugees' rights to asylum, while also making an abuse of these processes a prosecutable offence. For the ruling political parties, the significant increase in the numbers of asylum seekers from the 1970s onwards made these changes to the existing legislation a necessity.
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  The Republicans' party chairman Franz Schönhuber stands as a candidate for the Bavarian State Parliament

  Bundesarchiv, Plak 007-014-009, graphic designer: not stated

  26 November 1983

  Establishment of Die Republikaner party. Anti-democratic and nationalistic, the party downplays the crimes of the Nazi era.
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  "Law to Advance the Willingness to Return Home"

  Bundesgesetzblatt, issue from 30 November 1983, Bundesanzeiger Verlag, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

  29 November 1983

  The West German government passes the "Assistance Act for Returning Foreigners".
  Using financial incentives, the law aims to encourage migrants to return to their home countries.
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  Press release on the prohibition of the "National Socialist Action Front/National Activists"

  Bundesarchiv, B 141/83648

  6 December 1983

  The National Socialist Action Front/National Activists, the largest neo-Nazi group in West Germany, is banned.
• 25 April 1984

  Establishment of the Society for Exile Research in Marburg
  The association is initially created as the German branch of the official Society for Exile Studies, Inc. (today: North American Society for Exile Studies), which had been founded one year previously in the USA.