Medical selection during of the recruitment of foreign workers ("Gastarbeiter"): Practice and function of health examinations in the context of economic and political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1955-1973

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Volker Roelcke
• Subject Area: History of Science
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 190975203

The project aims at the reconstruction of the practice and function of health examinations in the context of the recruitment, placement and assingment of foreign workers in the German labour market. In the context of bilateral contracts in the 1950s and 60s between the Federal Republic of Germany on the one side, and European as well as non-European conutries on the other side, some million individuals from e.g. Italy, Greece, Spain, Yugoslawia and Turkey were medically evaluated. The procedures were carried through by German medical commissions, and frequently perceived as humiliating by those examined. An immaculate health condition as well as suitability for specific work contexts were seen as preconditions for an entry clearance and placement to German industry. The aim is to reconstruct and analyse the concrete practice of the health examinations, differentiated according to type of recruitment procedure, country of recruitment, and in consideration of the economic and political changes between 1955 and 1973. On a second level, the central motives of the selection processes (parameters of occupational medicine, public health concerns of German political instances, interests in the context of economic policies, local conditions of the examinations) will be identifiedand analysed in their specific hierarchies to each other.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants