Max Weber Foundation Institutes Launch Transregional Conference Series on the History of Flight and Migration
February 5, 2018
Against the backdrop of ongoing current debates about global migration and its effects, the German Historical Institutes of Washington DC and London, together with the Max Weber Foundations newly created regional offices in Beijing, Berkeley, and Delhi have organized a conference series on historical research on flight and migration.
The first conference, entitled In Global Transit, will take place in India February 14–18, 2018. It will take up new viewpoints on the experiences of the Jews who fled Europe during the Nazi era. Reach on this subject has hitherto focused overwhelmingly on the places where European Jews eventually settled: The United States, Palestine, and South America. Many reached those destinations, however, only after months or even years in transit. India, one of the way stations for Jews fleeing persecution, is a fitting location for a conference to explore the largely overlooked havens in Asia and Africa where they found temporary refuge. In Global Transit promises to open new geographic, chronological, and conceptual perspectives on the refugees’ experiences of flight and belonging as well as on the scope of anti-Semitism and racism at a time of war and colonialism.
With this conference series, the Max Weber Foundation aims to enrich public debate by bringing a historical perspective to the issues of migration and refugee aid. Its new offices in Beijing, Berkeley, and Delhi will play a decisive role in this effort as centers for exchange and cooperation among researchers from Germany, the host countries, and the rest of the world. The conference series will also enhance collaboration between the new office and the Max Weber Foundation’s long-established institutes in Beirut, London, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Washington, DC. Follow-up conferences are planned for Berkeley (2019) and Beijing (2020)
For more information on the conference series please contact
Dr. Sarah Beringer
Head of Research Strategy & Communications
German Historical Institute Washington DC
1607 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009
Phone +1 202 387-3355
beringer@ghi-dc.org
Contact information on the MWS Branch Office in India
Dr. Indra Sengupta
Director India Branch Office - Max Weber Stiftung/
Head of India Research Programme of the MWS at
German Historical Institute London
London WC1A 2NJ, UK
Phone +44 2073092034/ +91 1141500335
isengupta@ghil.ac.uk