Exercise 3

Step 1

Watch the videos and look for the answers for the following questions:

Why did they decide to move to Germany/Europe?

What were their expectations and which of those have or have not come true by now? Where did they get their idea of Germany before they came to the country? 

Alex: 16:31-20:05



Azzat: 00:52-2:32, 16:46-18:08




Step 2

Look at the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy in form of pyramid describes human most fundamental needs at the bottom and the need for self-actualization and transcendence at the top.


The social-psychological hierarchy of needs of Abraham Maslow (19081970), known as a pyramid of needs thanks to Walter Correll's interpretation/illustration, describes human needs and motivations and places them in a relation to each other that relates to a theory of personality development. Thus, the individual stages are seen as developmental steps starting from the physiological (elementary) needs (food, water, basic and existential needs) (1), safety needs (order, stability, routine, predictability) (2) and social needs (positive relationships with other people, friendship, love, sexuality), to recognition / appreciation (through mental / physical training / strength, professional success, material independence, social image, prestige) (4) and the final self-realization (by exploiting their own potentials). Maslow sees a society as responsible only for the satisfaction of the first four levels of the pyramid, whereas self-realization depends heavily on the individual and is seldom achieved.

The pyramid also shows that only when the needs are satisfied on the lower (respective) levels, can the upper (respective) needs be meaningfully adjusted and put in place.

Excursus: At the end of his life, Maslow supplemented the pyramid with three additional levels (cognitive and aesthetic needs, which stand between the old levels (4) and (5), as well as the last, eighth level, the transcendence). The trainer can keep this in mind if the participants provide arguments on those topics (especially if they want to point at the absence of a religious dimension / salvation), but does not need to address this extension.

 In your opinion on which level speakers classified their central / most important reasons for migration and how they classified their most important motivations to come to the hosting country?

Then consider whether the causes of migration, on the one hand, and hopes / expectations / motivations, on the other hand, refer to the same or different levels of the pyramid, and how this aspect can be interpreted in each case. It is likely that specific reasons for migration are ascribed to the lower two levels of the pyramid, whereas the expectations / hopes tend to target the upper levels.