Immigration waves
Hungary in the 80s
In Hungary since 1956 there had been dictatorship. János Kádár was the leader of the country. The people tolerated the monocracy for decades, but a survey (which was taken in 1986), showed that citizens weren’t satisfied with the government. In 1989 there was a reform of the government system. On 2nd of May the breakdown of the border closers started between Hungary and Austria. And it finished on 19th of August. On that day the foreign ministers of both countries cut the chain-link fence between Hungary and Austria and many people celebrated this important historical event.
The border opening caused the emigration of many Hungarian people. The target countries were the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and so on.
Hungarian and Austrian citizens celebrated together
Main reasons for moving abroad
- Economic migrants: Many people went abroad because they wanted better living standards. They didn’t have a job, money and a place to live. Historians say internal migration in the 1990s followed the trend of the 1980s, a period without unemployment. So they were economic migrants. Their target countries were West-European countries and the USA. The difference in migration is strongly connected with schooling: less educated people have a smaller chance of finding a good job. They also suffered from ethnic discrimination.
- Refugees: They ran away from socialism before 1989. Most of them were well-educated people who protested against the monocracy. If they hadn’t run away, they would have been imprisoned.
Immigration into Hungary
Those people who left their home countries often came home because they hadn’t found a job or they missed their home. The diagram shows how many people came back to Hungary after moving to an other country.
KÉP
And there were foreign people who came to Hungary. Most of them came from neighbouring countries. Romanian refugees ran away from Ceausescu’s dictatorship.
Sources: http://index.hu/belfold/tegnapiujsag/2008/09/10/1989_kiengedjuk_a_keletnemeteket_ausztriaba/ Date of download: 13/03/2017
http://sites-test.uclouvain.be/aiece/publications/regular/medium/hungarian_emigr_10_2001.pdf
Luca Lenner, Lili Horváth, Marlene Solazzo
