Timelines

In 1976, Vietnam is reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Fearing reprisals by the new communist government and economic hardship, almost 1.3 million people flee Vietnam, most of them across the South China Sea. According to estimates, up to 500,000 people died during the escape. By 1982, a total of around 1.2 million Vietnamese had been accepted in more than 16 countries thanks to the Geneva Convention on Refugees. Many of them were rescued by journalist Rupert Neudeck's aid ship, the Cap Anamur. By the mid-1990s, around 46,000 of these so-called “boat people,” along with relatives who had joined them through family reunification, had been accepted in West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany: with immediate entitlement to permanent residence, work permits, and all integration assistance such as language support, social counseling, and care.