Forced Migration and the Effects of an Integration Policy in Post-WWII Germany

After World War II, about 8 million ethnic Germans - so called expellees- were forced to leave their homelands and settle within the new bordersof West Germany. Subsequently, a law (Federal Expellee Law) wasintroduced to foster their labor market integration. We evaluate thislaw by comparing the employment situation between expellees and groupsof West Germans and GDR refugees over time. We define our comparisongroups to uncover even small effects of the law. Still, we find noevidence that the law met its goal to foster the expellees’ labor marketintegration.