65 years of recruitment agreement: came to work, found a home

65 years of recruitment agreement Came to work, found a home As of: October 24, 2026 • 6:19 p.m

When Germany and Turkey signed the recruitment agreement in 1961, no one expected that hundreds of thousands of people would find a permanent home here. For many, a hard-earned success.

“Markthalle Tosun” is written on the facade of the store in Cologne Ehrenfeld. Inside behind the deli counter, Atila Tosun is arranging the lamb chops. “Merhaba, minced meat mixed as always, please,” a customer says to him. Atila Tosun has owned the butcher shop since 1991 and has now become an institution for many people in Ehrenfeld. But the road there was rocky for the now 60-year-old.

In 1965 his father came to Germany from Turkey as a so-called guest worker. He first worked in the Ford factory and later in an assembly company. Arriving here was difficult for his father, says Atila Tosun. "They had no language skills, it was a different culture, a different world."

Starting a new life far from home: men from Turkey shortly after their arrival at Düsseldorf Airport in 1961.

There were no integration or German courses for the 870,000 Turkish workers who were recruited between 1961 and 1973. They often lived in workers' barracks isolated from other residential areas. The idea of ​​the federal government at the time was that they would leave Germany again after a few years of work. But hundreds of thousands of Turkish men stayed and gradually brought their families to Germany.

Atila Tosun was already 13 years old when he came to Cologne with his siblings in 1979. He only knows his new home through stories from his parents. He goes to a German school. But because there are now so many guest worker children, the lessons in the special needs class are held in Turkish. He doesn't have the time for additional German courses. “I realized that the family needed my support and so I worked after school and on weekends,” he says.

Nevertheless, he manages to get a degree, start training and find his place in German society.

A typical biography of the second generation, says Yunus Ulusoy. At the Center for Turkish Studies in Essen he works on the integration of so-called guest workers and their descendants in Germany. "These success stories arose through people's own efforts, not through government support or offers. That didn't exist," says Ulusoy.

It was private human connections that made the integration of Turkish families possible at that time. Dedicated teachers or neighbors who cared. This is also how the Tosun family experienced it. “We got to know a lot of older people in our area. We were helpful and then they gave us help and advice,” remembers Atila Tosun.

He says he never had any problems coming into contact with Germans. He was well received by German society. But not everyone has this experience. For a long time, the new fellow citizens from Turkey have been seen as strangers. "Nothing that defines them had any value in German society back then. Not the language, not the history, not the religion," says integration researcher Yunus Ulusoy.

Now, 65 years after the signing of the recruitment agreement between Germany and Turkey, people have become a part of German society and are also actively shaping it. “As cultural workers, as politicians, as artists – people are an integral part of Germany today,” said Ulusoy.

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Nevertheless, the structural disadvantages of the early years continue to have an impact. According to the Federal Government's Integration Commissioner, Natalie Pawlik (SPD), the descendants of so-called guest workers from Turkey have even worse educational opportunities today. They are also still affected by discrimination and prejudice on the job market or when looking for accommodation.

Nevertheless, Germany is not only home, but has actually become home for many. Also for Atila Tosun, who has run the butcher shop here for more than 30 years and started a family. His children and grandchildren no longer question whether they are German.

"Our generation can no longer imagine living in Turkey. We only know the country from vacation," says his daughter Yasemin Celik. She also teaches her two little sons the Turkish language. "They should know where we come from and what our culture is. And they should understand what the first generation and our parents have built here." She says she feels great gratitude and respect for this.

This topic in the program: The First | daily news | Oct 20, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. Das Erste | daily topics | Oct 20, 2026 | 10:15 p.m