Vertragsarbeiter

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File:Erfurt DDR 1985 Gastarbeiter.jpg, 1985]]

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-0121-002, Weißenfels, Auszubildener aus Namibia.jpg trainee from Namibia at a clothing factory,. 1985]]

Vetragsarbeiter (Contract workers) were foreign workers and trainees who worked in East Germany. They were living in the country long-term, without the intention of being integrated as guest workers.{{Cite web|last=Rabenschlag|first=Ann-Judith|title=Arbeiten im Bruderland. Arbeitsmigranten in der DDR und ihr Zusammenleben mit der deutschen Bevölkerung {{!}} bpb|url=https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/zeitgeschichte/deutschlandarchiv/233678/arbeitsmigranten-in-der-ddr|access-date=2021-12-26|website=bpb.de|language=de}} However, this did not include employees of foreign companies, foreign students, members of the Soviet armed forces and their families, refugees or foreign trainees. Most of the workers were from Mozambique and Vietnam.{{Cite book |last=Hoyer |first=Katja |title=Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany |publisher=Basic Books |year=2023 |isbn=978-1541602571 |publication-date=September 5, 2023 |language=English}} Contract workers also worked in economically more advanced Comecon countries such as Czechoslovakia and the People's Republic of Hungary.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

Contract workers were brought in to reinforce understaffed areas of work, such as light industry or the consumer goods industry. The respective conditions, length of stay, rights and number of contract workers were negotiated individually with the respective government (by a so-called state contract). The duration of the residence permit varied between two and six years depending on the origin. A permanent stay, however, was not provided for by contract or by law.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/webdoku-ueber-migranten-in-der-ddr-dauernder-aufenthalt.1013.de.html?dram:article_id=450999|title = Webdoku über Migranten in der DDR - Dauernder Aufenthalt unerwünscht}}

The moving of family members was excluded. At the end of the contractual period, contract workers usually had to leave and return to their home country. In East Germany, contract workers lived in separate dormitories during their stay, mostly set up by East German businesses and clearly separated from the local population.{{Cite web|url=https://ze.tt/vertragsarbeiterinnen-in-der-ddr-heute-koennen-sie-keine-kinder-mehr-kriegen-weil-sie-kaputt-sind/|title = Vertragsarbeiter*innen in der DDR: "Heute können sie keine Kinder mehr kriegen, weil sie kaputt sind"}}

In addition, contact between guest workers and East German citizens was extremely limited; {{lang|de|Gastarbeiter}} were usually restricted to their dormitory or an area of the city which Germans were not allowed to enter — furthermore sexual relations with a German led to deportation.Stepahn Lanz: "Berlin aufgemischt - abendländisch - multikulturell - kosmopolitisch? Die politische Konstruktion einer Einwanderungsstadt". 2007. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag; p. 113{{cite news |author=taz, die tageszeitung |url=http://www.taz.de/1/leben/alltag/artikel/1/unauffaellig-an-die-spitze/ |title=Vietnamesen in Deutschland: Unauffällig an die Spitze |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |publisher=taz.de |date=25 January 2010 |access-date=13 October 2010}}{{citation |url=http://www.stern.de/politik/panorama/:Vietnamesen-Deutschland-Phuongs-Traum-/637993.html|title=Vietnamesen in Deutschland: Phuongs Traum |periodical=Stern |date=1 October 2008 |access-date=18 October 2008 |last=Pfohl |first=Manuela}} Female {{lang|de|Vertragsarbeiter}} were not allowed to become pregnant during their stay. If they did, they were forced to have an abortionKarin Weiss: "Die Einbindung ehemaliger vietnamesischer Vertragsarbeiterinnen und Vertragsarbeiter in Strukturen der Selbstorganisation", In: Almut Zwengel: "Die Gastarbeiter der DDR - politischer Kontext und Lebenswelt". Studien zur DDR Gesellschaft; p. 264{{citation|url=http://www.stern.de/politik/panorama/:Vietnamesen-Deutschland-Phuongs-Traum-/637993.html|title=Vietnamesen in Deutschland: Phuongs Traum|periodical=Stern|date=2008-10-01|access-date=2008-10-18|last=Pfohl|first=Manuela}}

or faced deportation.