They were supposed to return to Morocco; six decades later, their families are still in the Netherlands
They had gone to work in the Netherlands, intending to return to Morocco. On October 30, an exhibition in The Hague will look back at the history of these workers and their families. Sixty people will recount, through photographs and personal testimonies, six decades of labor immigration.
Located on Lange Voorhout avenue, the exhibition “60 Years of Labor Immigration to the Netherlands” will be inaugurated by The Hague mayor, Jan van Zanen, reports Dagblad070.
After the war, Dutch companies lacked workers. They first recruited in Southern Europe, then notably in Turkey and Morocco, for work in ports, factories, the metalworking industry and shipbuilding.
The Netherlands signed a recruitment agreement with Morocco in 1969. Moroccans had arrived before then, however, and others would come without going through this official procedure, notes the Nationaal Archief.
The return to Morocco recedes, while families draw closer
These men were then called “gastarbeiders,” or guest workers: their presence was presumed to be temporary. Many nevertheless extended their stay. After recruitment was halted following the economic crisis of the 1970s, their wives and children joined them in the Netherlands.
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For subsequent generations, the village where their grandparents came from no longer necessarily holds the same place.
The exhibition will bring together portraits of thirty former immigrant workers from six countries, including Morocco. Thirty Dutch people who encountered them — colleagues, employers, teachers or volunteers — will provide the other half of the testimonies.
