Germany Rises - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 127

most, citizenship is defined by parentage and place of birth. In and among the total popula-
tion is a sizeable Turkish population, mostly children of guest workers who came for jobs
in the post-war period. Mostly Muslim, they have sought to acquire citizenship, which has
been a thorny political issue.
Figure 8.8. Section of the Berlin Wall
(Author James E. Harf and daughter Marie, Berlin, August 1991)
E CONOMY
Germany's economic strength is reflected in its manufactured products: trucks and auto-
mobiles (including some of the world's fastest and most luxurious cars), electronics, steel,
machine tools, and ships. In the post-war years, the pace of economic growth, spurred by
the Marshall Plan, earned the admiring title Wirtshaftswunder . Under the guidance of the
Social Democrats, Germany created an extensive network of benefits for workers and the
unemployed. Two measures of Germany's economic achievement are membership in the
G8 (an association of the world's leading economic powers) and life expectancy, which is
one of the world's highest at almost eighty years.