With regard to intranational migration [1], a great variety of different patterns can be observed in Germany over different time periods:
In Germany interregional migration began to increase considerably about 1850 when industrialization started. A strong emigration from the rural areas towards the cities of the developing industrial cores became the norm. Between 1860 and 1925 some 24 million people moved basically from rural areas towards the industrial centers and the cities, a movement that is known under the term of "Landflucht" (rural exodus). There were pull and push factors working together to stimulate this urbanization process. In rural areas, a great number of labour-force was set free due to new legacies (e.g. Bauernbefreiung = abolition of serfdom) and to new techniques in agriculture. At the same time an enormous demand for labour existed in the rapidly growing industry. Rural-urban migrations consisted mostly of short distance moves but to a remarkable extent also of long distance migrations. Especially the eastern provinces of Germany (e.g. East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Silesia, Pomerania) were important regions of origin from where many migrants moved West towards the rapidly developing industrial regions like Ber-lin, Saxony and the Ruhr Area. The percentage of immigrated Germans from the East added up to some 30 % of the inhabitants of the cities in the Ruhr Area. The demographic and social impacts were considerable. What can be observed though was a certain concentration in clusters by the immigrants according to their region of origin, their confession or other socio-economic parameters. Lutheran entrepreneurs (like Kirdorf, Grillo) had a tendency to recruit their workers from the protestant East Prussia, whereas Catholic entrepreneurs (like Thyssen, Klöckner) preferred to hire their workers from the catholic provinces of Posen or West Prussia.
Urban-rural migration can be observed for the first time during World War II, when people moved out of the bombed cities into the less affected rural areas. In Cologne, for instance, there were only about 100,000 people living in the city by the end of the war compared to more than 600,000 at the beginning. Rural areas were also the destination for the flows of refugees [2] and expellees from East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia because the cities were widely destroyed. The Länder of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bavaria had the greatest intake of these people from the East. Again, in many cases spatial concentrations [3] of people of the same origin occurred in order to create new neighbourhoods and communities by staying together as much as possible in this new environment. But this was a more temporary situation. It changed as early as the mid 1950s, when the so-called Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) began. Many of the former refugees now moved on from their temporary domiciles in rural areas towards the cities and the big industrial agglomerations (e.g. locations along the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers) in search of better jobs and living conditions.
The political situation of Germany as a divided nation from 1949 until 1990 and as a reunified state after 1990 has caused specific long distance migration patterns. About 3.5 Mio. citizens from East Germany (becoming the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949) had fled westwards into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) between the end of the war until the building of the Berlin wall (August 13, 1961). This number continued to grow at a slower pace until 1990 and added up to a total of 4 million. During the same time period only about 400,000 people moved in the opposite direction. Political but also economic motivation were the main reasons for the decision of such an "absconding from the GDR" (Republikflucht). In particular citizens of the working age left the GDR and were integrated into the West German labour market almost immediately. However, these massive losses of labour-force had extremely negative impacts on the economic development of East Germany. As a consequence the GDR government saw no other solution in 1961 than to stop the exodus by building the Berlin Wall. Since than the only possibility for East Germans to depart into the West was officially applying for a permit. However, this implied considerable risks for the applicant and his family. For West Germany the decrease in the labour-force emigrating from the East caused considerable shortages. As a consequence, the government signed treaties with several Mediterranean countries in order to allow people from these to enter Germany as migrant workers. They became an important component of the West-German society after the early 1960s.
Another form of interregional migration started to play an increasing role in West Germany after the early 1970s. It can be described as a north to south-shift. What it means is that a growing number of moves took place from the northern states with their declining old industrialized regions towards the southern Länder like Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. Here, the so-called growth-industries (Wachstumsindustrien) like machinery, automobile production, electrical engineering and electronics were particularly and increasingly prosperous. In addition to many Germans moving from north to south following the rustbelt-sunbelt shift of its industry, many of the incoming migrant workers also settled in the southern portion of the country. As a consequence, it is here that we have the highest population density in Germany today.
The intensity of interregional migration has been considerably less in the GDR in comparison to West Germany. In the traditional economic pattern an economically highly developed South was opposed to the agricultural North, but this did not cause an interregional migration flow of any importance, the reason being that the political system of the socialist state did not allow the free choice of domicile. A tidal flow of emigration, however, was one of the immediate consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of the borders in November 1989, caused by the remarkable gap in the standard of living and the income level between the East and the West. After a peak of out-migration during the first month after this political event, the number of people leaving the former GDR started to diminish steadily, especially after the first free elections in the new Länder on March, 18, 1990. Parallel to this, an increasing number of in-migrants from West to East Germany can be recorded. The recovery of East Germany generated new jobs and increased the demand for highly qualified labour. However, in absolute numbers, the former East Germany is still losing population [4] and will certainly continue to do so for another couple of years, but the intensity of interregional migration flows will diminish as a consequence of the recovery of the economic situation in the East.
Short distance migrations are another form of spatial population shifts that can be observed and their importance is by no means less than that of interregional migrations over longer distances. Most of the West German cities had reached or even exceeded the pre-war population level by the end of the 1950s. But since the early 1960s, many of the city cores lost of their population due to suburbanization processes [5]. In other words: many of the smaller municipalities neighbouring the bigger cities had an extraordinary gain in population. Such a "mass movement" was only possible because of increasing family incomes, improving transportation systems and the public incentive programs to encourage individual housing. Furthermore, decreasing prices for automobiles due to mass production increased tremendously the number of commuters from the suburban communities towards the city centers. A first boom of an intensified suburbanization [6] can be observed in the 1970s, followed by a second one at the end of the 1980s. Increasing population densities and the further extension of the suburban fringe are the two results that can be observed from this new push towards suburbia. The example of the small city of Hennef [7] at the edge of the urban agglomeration of Cologne-Bonn demonstrates this trend clearly.
As a general observation it can be said that population losses due to migration show a decreasing tendency in West German bigger cities [8] since the 1980s. Even slight gains may occur, caused by reurbanization processes that started as early as the 1970s. But this process is less intense than suburbanization and affects social strata. Young singles and couples, well educated and with high income (yuppies and dinkies) tend to rent or buy apartments in the refurbished city centres and in the 19th century residential quarters and thus contribute to gentrification [9]. On the other hand, also in small and medium sized cities [10] population growth continues. But the question remains unanswered whether this "decentralized concentration" with higher gains in municipalities of smaller size can be viewed as a result of the process of counterurbanization [11] similar to what can be observed in the USA, Canada, Australia or Scandinavia. The high population density in all parts of Germany, for instance, is different from the situation in these countries and results in different trends and dynamics.
Coming back to the situation in the former GDR, migration forms such as sub-, counter- or reurbanization did not exist. The much lower degree of motorization in East Germany is certainly one of the reasons. Even more important was the specific pattern of the socialist city with its huge prefabricated appartment blocks (Plattenbauweise) within the cities. In addition, the "socialist" way of life with its limiting norms and pressures hindered to a large extent the realization of an individual lifestyle. The construction of individual private housing was just not taking place because it was not one of the objectives of the socialist regime. A strong tendency towards suburbanization [12] only evolved after reunification which most likely will develop its own patterns and dynamics rather than imitating processes [13] that have taken place in West Germany at an earlier stage.
In conclusion it can be said that intra-urban migration contributes considerably to the general importance of migration patterns in Germany as suburbanization [14] and interregional migrations do. In many cities residential relocations take place particularly within clearly defined sections or districts, as can be observed in Cologne. Homogeneous structures and a specific image (e.g. blue collar district, high-standard residential area, high-rise residential districts) - partly historically determined - are considered as major causes for these particularities of the suburbanization process. On the other hand, the renovated old city cores and inner city districts are the destination of intra-urban movers with higher social status, a situation which might intensify gentrification processes in the future.
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