The Story of the German Journalist Disguised as a Turkish Worker

Wallraff, who worked differently from his colleagues throughout his career, worked in Germany. Disguised as a Turkish worker By turning his adventure into a book, he added a new one to the extraordinary methods he used throughout his career.

The purpose of Günter Wallraff, who started working under the pseudonym “Ali Levent Sinirlioğlu” in 1983, was to do this: The difficulties and exclusion faced by Turkish workers in Germany was to see.

Wallraff had worked with Turks in many different jobs and experienced their working and living conditions firsthand.

Günter; With this character named Ali, he worked in many different jobs such as dishwasher, cleaner, McDonald’s employee, construction worker. Even in the drug development laboratory He even became a drug test subject!

He made friends with other people there, especially while working as a construction worker. Like this Observing and understanding workers’ experiences more closely He seized the opportunity.

His book, in which he described his experiences, became a work of criticism against German society.

German “Ganz Unten (The Bottom Ones)” In his book, he wrote down all his experiences as a Turkish worker in Germany for 2 years. He experienced everything firsthand with them.

The book is a contribution to German society work of criticism it had become. The discrimination, poor living conditions, occupational safety violations and tax evasion of companies suffered by foreign workers working in the country were revealed firsthand.

Immigrant rights became more recognized thanks to the book.

Of course, the book came to the fore all over the world, especially in Germany, and immigrant rights began to be talked about more. Wallraff, the German people on social justice He was able to raise awareness at least a little bit. Later, a documentary film called “Ganz Unten” was also shot.

Günter Wallraff said the following in his interview with Evrensel Newspaper:

“When Turkish immigrants arrived, there was a lot of suspicion, fear and prejudice at first. There was a lot of rejection. At least there was a distance. From the beginning, an attitude was adopted of ghettoization, of keeping them as far away from us as possible. “If possible, let them stay among themselves.” It was said. The places they stayed were like prisons. They were kept in closed areas and could enter and exit with identification. “Later, this slowly started to change.”

Wallraff describes the experiences of Turkish workers as follows:

“I made my first attempt at the role of Ali in the factory in Hamburg. Asbestos was being produced. According to a neighbor who works there, they were working in asbestos dust without masks or protection. The life of a person whose lungs get asbestos is turned upside down within 10-20 years. Likewise, the situation was similar in the nuclear power plant where Turks were employed. Turks who did not have a job or residence were mainly employed here. They were doing life-threatening cleaning work. Germans were not available for this job because when they worked, they would quit their jobs after a few days because a high level of nuclear material was detected in their blood. Especially the Turks who stayed here illegally and no one cared about them were employed in nuclear power plants. At Thyssen, we were made to work without masks. The health of the Turks was unimportant. Most of the friends I worked with there are dead. Because they inhaled the same dust into their lungs not for months but for years. Even though I trained constantly and prepared myself for the conditions, I could only run for 15 minutes after working out for a few months. “My lungs were damaged.”

And finally, he ends the interview by stating that he stands against all kinds of discrimination:

“Discrimination also exists in Turkey. “Alamanci” are also discriminated against in Turkey. Whether in Turkey or Germany, it is necessary to break traditional impositions and look to the future. The future lies in global citizenship; It is not living in isolation with national identity. Stand up to injustices. “Regardless of who you come from, what your nationality is.”

Full Ganz Unten documentary: