Forced Migrations in Europe

Forced Migrations in Europe: On the History of a Contemporary Problem Panel Discussion

After 1945, forced migration, displacement and expulsion of ethnically and nationally defined groups seemed to have disappeared from European history. The continent presented itself in a different, more peaceful light: growing prosperity and the balance of power (the nuclear stalemate) in the East-West conflict meant that state borders were moved by force in many regions of the world, but no longer in Europe. The suffering of the populations directly affected seemed far away. It was not until the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s that awareness was reawakened that political and social orders are reversible. Currently, the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and the accompanying largest flight movement since World War II are fundamentally questioning the European self-image. Prof. Dr. Catherine Gousseff (Paris) and Prof. Dr. Norman Naimark (Stanford), historians of Eastern Europe and Russia, will discuss the topic of violence, displacement and expulsion in European history. In conversation, they trace the (hidden) continuities of these phenomena and ask about their significance for the formation of European states and societies from the 20th century until today.

Welcome Dr. Gundula Bavendamm, Director Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, Berlin

Dr. Jakob Vogel, Director Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin

Introductory impulses Prof. Dr. Norman Naimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of Eastern European Studies at Stanford University

Prof. Dr. Catherine Gousseff, Research Director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris

Podium Prof. Dr. Norman Naimark Prof. Catherine Gousseff

Moderation Dr. Gundula Bavendamm Prof. Dr. Béatrice von Hirschhausen, Researcher at the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin

Free admission

Simultaneous translation from French and English into German. An event in cooperation with the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin

The event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung!