MOBILITY AND MIGRATION 453
On the other side of the border, the GDR leadership referred to this
East-West migration as Republikfl ucht (fl eeing the Republic), thereby em-
phasizing the lack of loyalty among these “dissidents” (Abtrünnige).^25 As of
1957, the Republikfl ucht Act made emigration a crime punishable by law.
Furthermore, this exodus to the West was depicted as a targeted attempt
by West German companies to attract workers. Indeed, “human capital”
had become a highly sought-after resource because it was increasingly
considered to be the key factor for boosting the economy. As a dispropor-
tionately high number of younger people (and children) migrated from
the West to the East, the newspaper Neues Deutschland, which was the
organ of the SED, countered in 1956, “Young people are voting with their
feet.”^26 West Germany, in contrast, tried only to paint the migration from
East to West as politically motivated, and it attempted to downplay the
migration from West to East as “normal” internal migration.^27
Many of these German migrants—in both directions—were not at all
or hardly motivated by explicitly political considerations, but rather they
opted for migration because of familial reasons or hopes for a better live-
lihood. About two-thirds to 75 percent of the migrants going from West to
East, for example, were return migrants who had not achieved what they
had hoped to achieve by heading to the West and therefore decided to
return for multiple reasons.^28 An increasing number of unskilled workers
were found among this group because they had not been able to profi t
from the economic upswing in West Germany.^29 In particular, many re-
turn migrants named the secured existence and low cost of living off ered
in the GDR as the reasons behind their decision to come back.^30 However,
there were political motives in a narrower sense, such as the offi cially
proclaimed anti-fascism of the GDR, that incited some people to go over
to the East.^31
As in West Germany, people who wanted to immigrate to the GDR had
to go through special registration offi ces in which they were questioned
about their motives by the secret intelligence services. Although the SED
did increase its eff orts to attract immigration, or rather the return of East
Germans who had emigrated after the exodus in 1952/53, East Germany
had very strict entry regulations that were designed in particular to ex-
clude those who the state determined to be criminal or “asocial” from
being permitted into the country.^32 Leftist artists and intellectuals, on the
other hand, were welcomed by the GDR with open arms.^33
The immigrants who did settle in the GDR were often met with sus-
picion. Due to security concerns, they were often denied work in many
companies. Consequently, they had to take jobs that were below their
qualifi cations in areas such as farming, construction, or mining.^34 Many
of the citizens who migrated from West to East, but also from East to