Verblondung (Freedom Ascendant)

The term Verblondung (Turning blonde, in English) refers to the immigration, starting from 1961 of large numbers of Scandinavian immigrants into Germany during the period known as the Wirtschaftswunder, when a large number of Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish immigrants came into Germany to fill jobs for which there were not enough skilled Germans to fill the positions. Approximately 525,000 (some estimates range from 500,000 to 750,000) came over from 1961 to 1973, settling across Germany.

These Gastarbeiter (guest workers) settled in a lot of the lighter-populated states, including East and West Prussia, Styria, Tirol, along with Rhineland, Westphalia, and to a lesser extent German Bohemia, Teschen Silesia, Silesia, Saxony, and Thuringia.

Most guest workers came and worked in auto manufacturing, which was expanding rapidly at this time, especially in the south and east of Germany, and the Scandinavian influence made itself known soon. The young men came in and soon brought their wives and girlfriends, and they assimilated quite easily into the German culture, though they brought with them certain foods, sweets, alcoholic beverages, and mannerisms that have affected the German way of life in a number of ways.