Klassen-Grenzen: Migrationskontrolle im 19. Jahrhundert

Abstract

On the basis of an analysis of the legislation passed to control migration, passport formats and the practice of frontier controls, this paper argues that social rank – often directly tied to class of travel – remained a crucial category for migration control even in the liberal, bourgeois nineteenth century. It could rival nationality, ethnicity, or religion as a basis of inclusion or exclusion at borders. Even the First World War did not lead to a complete triumph of nationality or race over rank as a focus of migration control policies; some traditions established before 1914 continued into the twentieth century.