A Transnational History of Forced Migrants in Europe: Unwilling Nomads in the Age of the Two World Wars

Description

This book is a vital exploration of the harrowing stories of mass displacement that took place in the first half of the 20th century from the perspective of forced migrants themselves. The volume brings together 15 interrelated case studies which show how the deportation, evacuation and flight of millions of people as a result of the First World War intensified rather than alleviated ethnic conflicts which culminated in population transfers on an even larger scale during and immediately after the Second World War. While each chapter focuses on a different group of refugees and displaced persons, the text as a whole looks at the experience of forced migration as a complex set of evolving relationships with the receiving society, the homeland, the broader diaspora and other migrant communities living within the same host country. This innovative, four-dimensional model provides an overarching conceptual framework that binds the chapters together within the longer arc of European history. By going beyond the conventional narratives of national victimhood and (un)successful assimilation of refugees, A Transnational History of Forced Migrants in Europe reveals that identities of forced migrants in the first half of the 20th century were individualised, hybrid and constantly reconstructed in response to socioeconomic forces and political pressures. The case studies collected in this volume further suggest that age, gender, social class, educational level and the personal experiences of ‘unwilling nomads’ are more important to the understanding of forced migration history than ethnoreligious identities of victims and perpetrators. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Figures Maps Contributors Foreword Notes Acknowledgements Introduction: Unwilling nomads: A four-dimensional model of diaspora Transnational history and the four-dimensional model of diaspora The aims of the volume Notes Part I: Internees and evacuees during the First World War Chapter 1: Population movement, evacuation and internment in Habsburg Galicia during the First World War: Considering the four-dimensional model of diaspora Galicia before the First World War The Austrian resettlement activities during the First World War The Russian occupation of Galicia and its population management techniques The emergence of diasporas and their existence after the First World War Conclusion Notes Chapter 2: Humiliated and insulted: The multiple categories of Austro-Hungarian civilian internees, 1914–17 Historical background Defining the ‘suspicious’: Growing nationalisms and imperial politics The role of profession Humanity and economy Trade and the necessity to work Conclusion Notes Chapter 3: Between suffering and displacement: The case of the Istrian Evakuirci Introduction Pula – from obscurity to military port The war and the evacuation Life as evacuees Help and support The camps Diseases and famine Homecoming Conclusion Notes  Part II: Political emigrants in the interwar era Chapter 4: Salvaging the ‘unredeemed’ in Italy: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the Julian March émigrés Introduction Between the young and the old: Emigrant associations and the Julian March issue till the royal dictatorship The old in power: Seeking King Aleksandar’s support for the Julian March The shift in Italo-Yugoslav relations and the decline of diaspora engagement in Yugoslavia Conclusion Notes Chapter 5: Ukrainian emigration in the Weimar Republic and its role in German foreign policy From revolution to exile Constructing Ukrainian identity German views on the émigrés Ukrainian activities in Berlin Tension between Ukrainian and Russian diasporas Legacy for National Socialist Germany Notes Chapter 6: Protecting the national identity of Russian emigrants and their children in interwar Eastern Europe Russian Culture Day The Day of the Russian Child Conclusion Notes Part III: People on the move in fascist Europe Chapter 7: Stefi Kiesler: A librarian as ‘Intellectual Refugee Service’ Biographical outline A librarian as language and cultural mediator Host society: The library as meeting ground and school Homeland: The library as repository of language and culture Diaspora: The library as village fountain and café Other diasporas: The library as multicultural microcosm Conclusion Notes Chapter 8: The catalysts of 1938: European child evacuations as humanitarian innovation The catalysts of 1938 Children as an innovative solution: The Kindertransport War, neutrality and child evacuations: Sweden and Switzerland Conclusion Notes Chapter 9: ‘And Without a Hat!’: Refugee women in the transit country Portugal after 1933 Introduction Refugees in Portugal Portugal in the late 1930s and early 1940s Women in Portugal Refugees’ perceptions The use of public space The locals’ attitude At odds with the law due to morality issues Fashion The swimsuit issue Food, outdoors, sports and the body Conclusion: Influences and changes Notes Chapter 10: Many journeys of exile: Spanish Republican refugees in France, 1939–46 Notes Chapter 11: Reclaimed for the Volk: Forced migration and assimilation in the wartime Third Reich Purging the borderlands A new homeland A peculiar diaspora? Notes Part IV: Refugees and displaced persons and the Second World War Chapter 12: The surviving remnant: Subjectification and self-organization in the Jewish DP camp Bergen-Belsen, 1945–8 British DP policy Life in the Jewish DP camp Bergen-Belsen The self-perception of the She’erit Hapletah The struggle for self-determination The ‘paradoxical relationship’ to the liberators Conclusion Notes Chapter 13: Resettling, repatriating and ‘rehabilitating’ Polish displaced persons in British-occupied Germany, 1945–51 Introduction From Ruhrpolen to displaced persons Into the camps: Polish DPs in British-occupied Germany Competing diasporas in Germany Conclusion Notes Chapter 14: Ethnopolitical humanitarianism: The post-war resettlement of 2,446 Danube Swabians to Brazil Introduction Danube Swabians in between diasporic conditions A Volk in search of land or a diaspora in search of a host state Schweizer Europahilfe as ‘patron’ of Danube Swabians Conclusion Notes Chapter 15: Anti-communists, communists and migrants in France, 1917–53 ‘Bad’ migrants: ‘Communist’ refugees ‘Good’ migrants: Anti-communist political refugees Forced migrants or not? The ambivalent position of economic migrants Migrants twice over: The French diaspora in Russia Conclusion Notes Conclusion: Polish refugees and East Prussian expellees: Applying the four-dimensional model Introduction Polish refugees in Great Britain Background Host society Homeland Diaspora Other diasporas East Prussian expellees in post-war Germany Background Host society Homeland Diaspora Other diasporas Conclusion Notes Concluding remarks Notes Further reading Index