My father was working in Germany from 1983 to 1996, we were holding British Nationality at the time of work and he informed me he had to have a work permit which was renewed every 5yrs.
I couldn't find anything online back to that date so my question is when was the EEA established? And did my father require a work permit to work in Germany while holding a British passport?

What applied before doesn't necessarily apply today... laws and requirements change all the time.

Or is this more a question just out of curiousity?