Armando Rodrigues de Sá

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Armando Rodrigues de Sá (born January 4, 1926 in Vale de Madeiros , Portugal ; † June 5, 1979 ibid) was chosen in September 1964 as the millionth guest worker in the Federal Republic of Germany .

He came to Germany at the age of 38. An official delegation greeted him at Cologne-Deutz train station and welcomed him with a bouquet of carnations, a certificate of honor and a two-seater Zündapp Sport Combinette - Mokick .

Life

Rodrigues's parents were among the poorer people in the area. Rodrigues learned the trade of a carpenter from his uncle and then worked for a few years in the neighboring ore mines. In 1945 he married Maria Emilia Pais. This marriage resulted in two children. Son João was born in 1949 and daughter Maria Rosa in 1953. For marriage, 14-year-old Maria Emilia had to rely on her father's consent. That year Rodrigues took a job as a carpenter in the "Companhia Nacional de Fornos Electricos". The factory located in the neighboring town of Canas de Senhorim , the largest employer in the area, processes limestone and quartz into silicon and artificial fertilizers . Rodrigues rode his bike to this place of work for eleven years.

emigration

Due to the lack of workers on the German labor market, the Federal Republic of Germany specifically recruited workers abroad. In 1964 an agreement on the recruitment and placement of Portuguese workers in Germany was concluded after recruitment agreements had already been concluded with Greece and Spain (1960), Turkey (1961) and Morocco (1963). Agreements with Tunisia (1965) and Yugoslavia (1968) followed.

With the hope of economic improvement, Rodrigues followed this call against the will of his wife and officially applied to the Portuguese authorities. He then presented himself to the German Liaison Office in Lisbon , where, after successfully completing medical examinations, he was offered an employment contract as a carpenter and signed it. On September 7, 1964, his journey began as a guest worker at the train station in Canas de Senhorim , the neighboring village. At this point the children were 11 and 16 years old. The three-day trip led first to Lisbon and then, after a body search, to Cologne-Deutz .

Dozens of journalists from the print media, radio and television were waiting for him at Cologne-Deutz station. According to calculations by the Federal Association of German Employers' Associations (BDA), Rodrigues was the one millionth guest worker in the FRG. The then chairman of the employers' association of the metal industry in the administrative district of Cologne , Manfred Dunkel, welcomed him with a bouquet of carnations, a certificate of honor and a two-seater Mokick, a Zündapp Sport Combinette (exhibited today in the House of History ).

Rodrigues continued his journey to Stuttgart a few hours after his arrival in Cologne-Deutz , and from there to Blaubeuren . Rodrigues worked as a carpenter in Blaubeuren and later in Sindelfingen . He wrote letters home two or three times a week. In his letters he reported on life in Germany. Due to the season, Rodrigues did not work in the winter months, so that he could visit the family in Portugal several times a year . In 1970 he extended his winter stay by another month, which meant he lost his job at the Stuttgart construction company Gustav Epple . Rodrigues then found work in Wiesbaden-Biebrich at Kalle AG . Here he signed a contract for a year.

death

Due to the lack of evidence of marriage, Rodrigues was not granted any tax benefits. Half a year after being hired at Kalle AG, he traveled to his home country to obtain the relevant documents. When he got home, he suffered from stomach ache. On the advice of his doctor, Rodrigues stayed in Portugal. Since then he has lived in Portugal and no longer has a regular job. Over the years his condition worsened and more doctors were called in. On the basis of earlier x - rays , the doctors diagnosed a tumor that was probably in its early stages when he returned to Portugal, but which had gone undetected. The further course of the illness forced the family to have Rodrigues' pension paid out. Medicines had to be procured from Spain at great expense and hospital stays followed. As a cure no longer seemed possible, was morphine administered to the pain to ease. He was also artificially fed. Armando Rodrigues de Sá died of cancer in 1979 in Vale de Madeiros and was buried in the Canas de Senhorim cemetery.

Others

Armando Rodrigues de Sá is described by his friends and family as extremely friendly and courteous, as a cultivated and humble man. He liked to play cards, hardly drank alcohol, and was not prone to disagreement. He was happy to advise his son: "How you dress, that's how you will be treated!" Armando apparently followed this advice himself, as can be seen from the press reports on welcoming the millionth guest worker. He was extremely economical. Most of the money he earned in Germany was transferred to Portugal. His family was able to buy the second half of the inherited house from his brother-in-law. The rest of the money and the pension contributions paid out were mainly used for medical expenses in the years after his return.

He is honored on a plaque at the station forecourt in Cologne-Deutz .

Adaptations

A scientific conference held on September 8th and 9th, 2004 in Cologne-Deutz was called “Armando Rodrigues de Sá - The millionth guest worker, the moped and the German immigration society”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The millionth guest worker, the moped and the German immigration society . ( Memento from January 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Labor migration
  3. ↑ Website from the House of History, Bonn, accessed on September 10, 2014
  4. ↑ stern.de
  5. ↑ http://www.domid.org/de/veranstaltung/50-jahre-ankunft-des-millionsten-%E2%80%9Egastarbeiters%E2%80%9C-ein-r%C3%BCckblick
  6. ↑ domid.org ( Memento of January 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
personal data
SURNAME Rodrigues de Sá, Armando
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese guest worker
DATE OF BIRTH January 4, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Vale de Madeiros
DATE OF DEATH 5th June 1979
Place of death Vale de Madeiros