Labor administration in the Federal Republic of Germany in the early 1950s: coming to terms with the Nazi past and its consequences on foreign labor policies

This paper examines continuities and discontinuities in the Federal Republic of Germany's foreign labor policies in the early 1950s. The aim is to establish the consequences that facing the Nazi past had for policy formulation in West German labor administration. To that end, this paper focuses particularly on the 1933 foreign worker's ordinance (Verordnung über ausländische Arbeitnehmer vom 23.1.1933, VOüAA) and post-1945 debates surrounding its reinstatement. VOüAA formed the foundation of Nazi-era foreign labor policy, but it was brought back into force in the early 1950s without careful consideration of the significance of this fact. The backdrop for this re-enactment was the post-war alignment of the interests of the military government and German labor administrators. The other contributing factor was the stature of Friedrich Syrup, who enacted VOüAA. Despite his involvement in the Nazi regime as president of its labor administration, Syrup was held in high regard even after his death in 1945. This was due to his former subordinates lauding his administrative achievements as a way of self-justification. The reinstatement of VOüAA can thus be considered a result of these post1945 labor administrators finding a way to reconcile with the past.