Vietnamese Community in Germany 1990 - 1995

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the 70`s adopted and successfully integrated the boat people, who fled from war in Vietnam. On the contrary, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) had adopted in the 80`s tens of thousands of factory workers from several socialist countries, including Vietnam. Hence this, the fall of the Berlin Wall deepened the differences in the integration of these two groups. While the former "boat people" lived a decent life, their "East German" compatriots waited years for the allocation of permits to stay and faced the attacks of right-wing extremists. However, the era after the German reunification had also brought many opportunities to start a business freely and independently, even to start a family. This thesis clearly describes the different developments within the Vietnamese community in Germany between the years of 1990-1995, which stemmed precisely from the different conditions of emigration from Vietnam. The first part focuses mainly on the characterization of the Vietnamese workers in the GDR and the boat people. This allows comparing the different integration of both groups in other chapters. In contrast, the other ones deal with the specific issues that affected the Vietnamese community in years 1990-1995. Especially, the political struggle for the status of former..