the history of filipinos in germany goes back to the 19th century; national hero josé rizal lived in germany for some time and finished writing his famous novel "noli me tangere" while living there, and published it with the assistance of professor ferdinand blumentritt; the house where rizal lived in berlin sports a commemorative plaque, and efforts are underway to purchase the building from its owner. mass migration from the philippines to germany began in the late 1960s, with large numbers of filipina nurses taking up employment in german hospitals; however, with the onset of the 1973 oil crisis, german recruitment of "gastarbeiter" largely came to a halt. immigration through marriage began in the 1980s, with roughly 1,000 women a year applying at the philippine embassy for a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage up until 1990.