Beyond Refuge: Legacies of Forced Migration and Transit in Post-1945 History

Call for Papers

Refuge, transit, and migration never end. They have afterlives that define migrants and their societies. This roundtable at the 49th annual conference of the German Studies Association carries analytical lenses and debates on post-migration (Erol Yildiz) into historical research to discuss new ways of addressing the agency and activities of former refugees in their countries of exile alongside policies of migrant governance of integration and pluralism. Building on methodological concepts like Transit and Migrant Knowledge (Simone Lässig/Swen Steinberg) it asks how former refugees’ and migrants’ stories can be studied as part of longer histories of arrival and migrant memory. Particular emphasis will be on the historical context of the Cold War and post-World War II processes of decolonization which often affected the countries that had served as these refugees’ temporary homes during war-time episodes of flight and displacement. 

Recent research on histories of forced migration and current debates on migration inspire the main questions guiding this panel: How did migrants engage with the stories of their refuge? How did they remember times in transit? How did their refugee journeys direct the ways they lived their lives as former migrants in the societies they had entered or returned to? How did times of refuge and statelessness transform refugees’ ideas of home and homeland? What role did landsmanshaften, family networks or professional circles play in this engagement? What kinds of alliances did former refugees create among minorities or between minoritized communities? What new “languages” of collaboration did these alliances incite? 

Some of these migrants’ narratives, for example, indicate that their time on the road affected the ways they would engage with former countries of transit. Others show that periods of refuge shaped families long after they ended, pointing to the intergenerational aspect of the legacies of forced migration. By foregrounding the ‘afterlives’ as a historical lens and with a distinct focus on the representation of this experience in sources from the 1940s to the 1960s, this roundtable seeks to reframe discussions of displacement beyond the moment of refuge, transit or immediate arrival, highlighting their changing identities as new inhabitants with a migrant past and exploring sources that allow studying their agency during these times. Engaging with histories of home and citizenship in the Cold War era, we invite scholars to reconsider the narratives of migration in the mid-20th century as fluid, interconnected, and transformative processes that continued to influence former refugees until long after their arrival. We approach these questions by means of written, visual and material sources and welcome suggestions touching on the politics, cultural practices and social debates influenced by former refugees. 

Please send a short abstract (up to 150 words) and a brief CV with your idea for a contribution to this roundtable to Rebekka Grossmann (r.m.grossmann@hum.leidenuniv.nl) and Swen Steinberg (Swen.Steinberg@queensu.ca) by February 28, 2025. Participants will be notified by March 4, 2025. The final deadline for proposal submissions to the German Studies Association is March 18, 2025. Please note that all proposed participants must be members of the German Studies Association at the time the proposal is submitted.