{"id":1098,"date":"2025-11-03T14:10:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T14:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/who-cared.com\/?page_id=1098"},"modified":"2026-04-30T11:42:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:42:48","slug":"background","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/who-cared.com\/en\/background\/","title":{"rendered":"Background"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div>

The care crisis is highly topical \u2013 and not new. Just like care migration.<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>

Even in the 1950s to 1970s, the Federal Republic of Germany was projected to face a shortage of up to 250,000 people in the care sector<\/strong>. The search in neighbouring European countries failed because they were themselves affected or the working conditions were not attractive enough. <\/span>Germany also began to look towards Asia.<\/p>\n

WHO CARED tells this mostly invisible story.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

<\/div>
\"\"<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
Care crisis and rescue from Asia<\/h6>\n<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>

Recruitment came from private, religious, and state institutions. Nurses primarily came from three Asian countries:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n

    South Korea<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Philippines<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    India<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    In all three cases, it was mostly Young women<\/strong>.Having just finished school, leaving home for the first time with a few clothes in their suitcase, the hope for a good education and the opportunity to financially support their family with it.They embarked on a journey that would permanently change their lives \u2013 and the German healthcare system.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

    <\/div>
    German migration policy<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>

    There are no reliable figures how many healthcare workers took this route to migrate from India. <\/span>Most, however, as far as it is documented, came from <\/span>of South Indian state of Kerala State<\/strong>, home to India\u2019s largest Christian population. Recruitment was carried out mainly by denominational hospitals and institutions, which provided for their training and accommodation.<\/p>\n

    Many women entered the country on fixed-term contracts. In the early 70s, the labour market became tighter again, and the Migration policy<\/strong> in West Germany became restrictive<\/strong>. In 1977, some nurses received a notice that their work and residence permits would expire in one year.<\/p>\n

    For many, this was a shock. They had built a life for themselves in Germany, married, brought their husbands to Germany, had children. Their families in India were counting on the so-called Remittances<\/strong> They rely on their salaries. Furthermore, the West German training for nurses was not recognised in India.<\/p>\n

    Some of the women resisted \u2013 with petitions and open letters,<\/strong> partly supported by their employers and colleagues \u2013 and were able to stay. Others emigrated permanently or later returned to Europe on individual contracts.<\/p>\n

    Whether they stayed, moved on, or returned: their stories mark the The launch of WHO CARED.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

    <\/div>
    \"\"<\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>
    \u201eBrown Angels\u201c and the origins of WHO CARED<\/b><\/h6>\n<\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>

    The cultural anthropologist Urmila Goel is among the few scientists who have been researching the migration of nurses from Kerala to Germany since the late 1990s. Her research has significantly contributed to making this previously overlooked history visible and also forms an important foundation for WHO CARED.<\/p>\n

    In 2013, Keralite filmmaker Shiny Jacob Benjamin released the documentary film Translated Lives \u2013 A Migration Revisited<\/em>. The film tells the story of young women who left their homeland at the age of 15 or 16 \u2013 at a time when such a step was hardly imaginable for women. Although the film is set in Germany, it was originally aimed at an Indian audience. Benjamin describes the particular dimension of this migration with the words:
    \n
    \u201cAt a time when girls were not allowed to even set foot beyond their school or home, these girls were sent off to a foreign land. I believe it is also the first women's migration ever to have occurred in the history of migration.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

    <\/div>