Moral Problems of the Family Abroad in West Germany

Abstract

The author deals with moral threats to the families which come from Poland to West Germany. The general number of Poles in that country is estimated at 200-300 thousand people (we do not have exact data). The paper deals exclusively with that group of immigrants who settled in West Germany after 1980. The author distinguishes among them full families, separated families (a) the wife or the husband is in Poland; b) the children are in the homeland; c) the wife and the children are in the homeland) and the family which is broken up in which case both sides do not keep contacts each other. The author points to the mediate and immediate reasons of the moral threats to the family abroad. According to him, among the letter one has to mention the passport policy of the Polish government (till the end of the 80s it did not favour family reunion, in case side was abroad), uprootedness and frustration caused by unfulfilled expectations, financial, uncertainty, anonymity, isolation the new setting, and still other causes. One cannot omit also such causes of moral threats and breaking up of marriages as difficulties in telephone communication, correspondence delay, gossips concerning the behaviour of a partner etc. The secularization of customs and practical materialism have an unfavourable influence on the families'life.

Moreover, the immigrant family sooner or later faces a difficult problem of national identity which problem causes deep tensions in the children and young people.

There is an urgent need for a moral help for the Polish family abroad in West Germany. First of all, it is the Pastoral care establishements which have to deal with this need.