The Creation of Illegal Migration in the German Confederation, 1815–1866

ABSTRACT

This article puts the control, regulation and management of migration into the historical context of Germany’s nascent statehood in the 19^th century. Underlying the discussion is the basic premise that regimes of illegal migration are characterized by the interrelation between migration movements and the way the state administration deals with them: “Illegal migration” crystallizes around the ideological and political principles of migration and sedentariness which exist at a given time, and those authorities and tools which are used for its administration. In the German states, migration and migrants were gradually illegalized in the first half of the 19^th century and became a driving force in the formation of the German state. “Individuals without legitimation” and “homeless people” were to be tracked down, expelled and, wherever possible, accepted back by their “home states.” The search for “domestic security” and “welfare” was one of the core motivational factors for the German states, expressed in the three patterns of argumentation regarding the demarcation of borders: economy, cultural identity, and political danger. As a result, the ensuing criteria for illegalization consolidated ideas of desired and undesired populations and gave rise to a regime of illegal migration, the structure of which was essentially characterized by inter-governmental “cartel conventions” on expulsions, culminating in the Gotha Treaty in 1851. This article provides the first systematic evidence for the utilitarian mechanisms which led to the illegalization of migration and migrants during the process of state formation and analyses the related discourse on “desired persons,” “tolerated persons” and “troublesome persons.”

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 However, apart from the topic of “security” which can be proven here, the reports from the provinces which were demanded every two months are a poor source of information when it comes to questions of migration policy and control, and can therefore be set aside.

2 Ehmer explicitly points out this development from “population optimism” at the end of the 18^th century to the “fear of overpopulation” in the 19^th century (Ehmer 2013, 63–4).

3 In the Early Modern Age the “walls of the city” were relatively permeable, so that frequent—sometimes repeated—re-migrations of expellees resulted in them being frequently and repeatedly expelled by one and the same administration. Those being expelled were by no means only foreigners but also included natives who, in the context of penal law, were banished from the city for a given period or for good (Schwerhoff 2006, 63–7).

4 Concerning the Early Modern Age, Schwerhoff speaks of a “perpetuum mobile of vagrant poverty” created by the practice of expulsion (Schwerhoff 2006, 70).

5 The laws on the reception of immigrants and on the obligation to provide poor relief were completed by the “Law on the Acquisition and Loss of the Quality of Prussian Subject” (Sachße, Tennstedt, and Roeder 2000, 916–928).

6 Without openly admitting it, the ministries and the King were thereby acting in accordance with the Prussian citizenship law (GStAPK HA Rep. 77 Tit. 1176, No. 68, Vol. 1, Sh. 3-9).

7 Also to be found in this file is a prominent contemporary study on the topic of the “Jewish gangs” (Stuhlmüller 1823).

8 Fahrmeir interprets the system of poor relief and the cartel conventions culminating in the Gotha Convention as being conducive for the negotiation of citizenship (Fahrmeir 2000, 21–39).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG): [Grant Number SCHU 1527/2-1].