(Im)perfect control: The history of the German foreigners' registry

Badenhoop, Elisabeth

doi:10.1017/9781009410199.005

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(Im)perfect control: The history of the German foreigners' registry

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Badenhoop, Elisabeth
Ethics, Law and Politics, MPI for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Max Planck Society;

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https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/states-of-ignorance/imperfect-control/873CD0A09095B80131D0156D4AB1E66F
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Citation

Badenhoop, E. (2023). (Im)perfect control: The history of the German foreigners' registry. In C. Boswell, & E. Chabal (Eds.), States of ignorance: governing irregular migrants in Western Europe (pp. 117-139). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009410199.005.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-63A6-7

Abstract

The German state is often presented as an archetypal example of a bureaucratised system of migration surveillance and control. The Central Foreigners Register, introduced in West Germany in 1953 and digitised in 1967, is a central pillar of this infrastructure, and one of the most comprehensive tools of migration control in any liberal democratic state. Through analysis of federal and state records, this chapter reconstructs the challenges of coordination and resources that impeded the effective operation of the register in the post-war years. Nevertheless, despite its operational deficiencies, it has played an important symbolic role in bolstering the self-image of Germany as a modern state with a high capacity to control its population.