West Germany Got 200,000 German Refugees in ’88
More than 200,000 ethnic German refugees from Eastern Europe came to West Germany last year, the highest number since the formation of the country in 1949, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.
A total of the 202,673 ethnic refugees were handled by transit camps and granted German citizenship. The majority of 140,226 were from Poland, with 47,572 from the Soviet Union, said Horst Waffenschmidt, parliamentary state secretary at the Foreign Ministry.
A total of 39,832 East Germans legally left their Communist homeland to settle in West Germany, compared to only 18,958 in 1987.
The number of ethnic refugees coming to West Germany this year is likely to be even greater, said Waffenschmidt. He added that Bonn has set aside some $1.1 billion for their integration.
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