Migration, Memory, and Diversity: Germany from 1945 to the Present / Edition 1

by Cornelia Wilhelm

Overview

Within Germany, policies and cultural attitudes toward migrants have been profoundly shaped by the difficult legacies of the Second World War and its aftermath. This wide-ranging volume explores the complex history of migration and diversity in Germany from 1945 to today, showing how conceptions of “otherness” developed while memories of the Nazi era were still fresh, and identifying the continuities and transformations they exhibited through the Cold War and reunification. It provides invaluable context for understanding contemporary Germany’s unique role within regional politics at a time when an unprecedented influx of immigrants and refugees present the European community with a significant challenge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785333279
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Series:	Studies in Contemporary European History , #21
Pages:	366
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Cornelia Wilhelm is currently professor of modern history at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich. From 2010 to 2016 she has been DAAD Visiting Professor in the Department of History and the Jewish Studies Program at Emory University in Atlanta and had also held visiting positions at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and Leopold-Franzens-University of Innsbruck, Austria. She is author of Bewegung oder Verein? Nationalsozialistische Volkstumspokitik in den USA (1998); and Deutsche Juden in America: Bürgerliches Selbstbewusstsein und Jüdische Identität in den Orden B'nai B'rith und True Sisters (2007), also published in English translation (2011). She is currently working on an in-depth study on German refugee rabbis in the United States after 1933.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements viii

Preface Konrad H. Jarausch xi

Introduction: Migration, Memory, and Diversity in Germany after 1945 Cornelia Wilhelm 1

Part I Postwar Migrations: History, Memory, and Diversity

Chapter 1 The Commemoration of forced Migrations in Germany Martin Schulze Wessel 15

Chapter 2 A Missing Narrative: Displaced Persons in the History of Postwar West Germany Anna Holian 32

Chapter 3 Inclusion and Exclusion of Immigrants and the Politics of Labeling: Thinking Beyond "Guest Workers," "Ethnic German Resettlers," "Refugees of the European Crisis," and "Poverty Migration" Asiye Kaya 56

Chapter 4 Refugee Reports: Asylum and Mass Media in Divided Germany during the Cold War and Beyond Patrice G. Poutrus 86

Part II Institutional Responses to Migration and Cultural Difference

Chapter 5 History, Memory, and Symbolic Boundaries in the Federal Republic of Germany: Migrants and Migration in School History Textbooks Simone Lässig 111

Chapter 6 Representations of Immigration and Emigration in Germany's Historic Museums Dietmar Osses Katarzyna Nogueira 155

Chapter 7 Archival Collections and the Study of Migration Klaus A. Lankheit 176

Chapter 8 Thinking Difference in Postwar Germany: Some Epistemological Obstacles around "Race" Rita Chin 206

Part III Reconsidering History, Memory, and Identity in the Postunification Period

Chapter 9 Nationalism and Citizenship during the Passage from, the Postwar to the Post-Postwar Dietmar Schirmer 233

Chapter 10 Learning to Live with the Other Germany in the Post-Wall Federal Republic Kathrin Bower 256

Chapter 11 Conflicting Memories, Conflicting Identities: Russian Jewish Immigration and the Image of a New German Jewry Karen Körber 276

Chapter 12 Swept Under the Rug: Home-grown Anti-Semitism and Migrants as "Obstacles" in German Holocaust Remembrance Annette Seidel-Arpaci 297

Afterword: Structures and Larger Context of Political Change in Migration and Integration Policy: Germany between Normalization and Europeanization Holger Kolb 323

Index 337

Editorial Reviews

"All contributions are of a high quality. Moreover, far from being niche studies, none of the 12 essays in the volume loses sight of its broader significance. To the contrary, every author endeavours to tie their research to the big historical picture: the legacy of Nazi racial policy, the mass displacements of peoples in the war and postwar years, the use of migration and refugee policy in the service of Cold War propaganda, the recalibration of notions of 'Germanness' after 1990, and the 'Europeanisation' of migration questions over the past 30 years... While much of its content will already be familiar to scholars in the field, the questions it poses and the research; directions it suggests should prove a very useful starting point for further study into Germany's inter- actions with Europe and the world." - Journal of Contemporary History

"One of the greatest accomplishments of the volume is certainly that it diversifies Germany's migration history while simultaneously putting it into perspective both synchronically and diachronically. In addition, the volume has the merit of including immobility in the exploration of migration. Last but not least, it points out blind spots in the exploration of Germany's migration history and opens perspectives for future research." - German History

"Wilhelm's carefully assembled volume offers impressive and fresh overviews of postwar German history...an overall excellent contribution to the history of migration and diversity in Germany. Surely not only historians will welcome Wilhelm's fine collection." - Contemporary Austrian Studies

"There is a lot to like about this book, which offers a nice mix of American and German scholars who approach their topics from a range of perspectives. It provides useful scholarly material for specialists while offering an effective introduction for students seeking to deepen their understanding of these topics." - Adam R. Seipp, Texas A&M University

From the Publisher