Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that Germany needed to learn from its mistakes in dealing with "Gastarbeiter" or guest workers in the post-war period to integrate refugees and asylum seekers from the moment they arrive in the country. In the decades after World War Two, the then-West Germany encouraged immigration as a way of dealing with labour shortages, but it described those who came from countries like Turkey, Italy and Greece as "Gastarbeiter", as if they would return to their home countries once the work was done. Merkel said Germany needed to adopt a different attitude now as it expects a record 800,000 new arrivals this year, attracted by its relatively liberal asylum laws and generous benefits.
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