British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Reconstituting a Traumatized Community:
The German-Speaking Refugees of the 1930s and their Legacy to Britain
Tuesday 24 June 2008
An afternoon workshop and evening discussion convened by Professor Edward Timms, OBE, FBA, University of Sussex
and organised in partnership with the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, University of Sussex
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
About these Events
Please note our registration and seating policy for these events:
Afternoon workshop: registration is required for this workshop. Please complete our online booking form
Evening panel discussion: only workshop registrants are required to register in advance. For non-workshop attendees Registration is not required and seating will be allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Attendance is free.
Afternoon workshop: 1.30pm - 6pm
This workshop provides an opportunity to reassess the legacy of the refugees of the 1930s, taking account of the newly created database, ‘British Archival Resources Relating to German-Speaking Refugees, 1933-1950’ (BARGE). The database, which covers both public and private collections, was compiled by researchers at the University of Sussex Centre for German-Jewish Studies, funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council.
The workshop will begin with short presentations by the researchers involved, including an online demonstration of the functions of the database. This provides access to a remarkable range of archival testimony, recording both liberation and frustration. The immigrants, although assisted by voluntary refugee committees, also encountered hostility and resistance, culminating in the trauma of internment.
The aim is to promote further research about the involvement of the refugees in all aspects of public life. Their achievements have in some respects proved exceptional, especially in the fields of natural science, medicine and the arts. But in construing the process as a success story, there is a danger that the stresses of resettlement may be obscured. A balanced picture will require further rigorous research, combining archival evidence with oral testimony.
The workshop will conclude with a buffet supper, and participants are also invited to attend the evening Public Discussion on ‘Immigration, Diversity and Integration: Past Experience and Present Trends’, which starts at 7 pm. The aim of the discussion is to consider whether past experiences of immigration can shed light on the highly topical issues of cultural diversity and social cohesion in multi-ethnic Britain today.
The BARGE database can be accessed on http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/cgjs/barge
Workshop speakers
- Dr Marion Berghahn (publisher, New York and Oxford), author of the recently republished study Continental Britons: German-Jewish Refugees from Nazi Germany
- Professor Gustav Born FRS (King’s College, London), author of The Born Family in Göttingen and Beyond
- Dr Andrea Hammel (University of Sussex), Research Fellow for the BARGE project, author of Everyday Life as Alternative Space in Exile Writing
- Ms Samira Teuteberg (University of Sussex), Resource Officer for the online database of Archival Resources Relating to German-Speaking Refugees 1933-1950
- Professor Edward Timms OBE, FBA (University of Sussex), Principal Investigator of the BARGE project, author of Remembering Refugees Lost at Sea
- Professor Paul Weindling (Oxford Brookes University), author of Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials and authority on Medical Refugees in Britain, 1930-1955
Evening panel discussion: 7.00pm - 8.30pm, followed by a drinks reception
Immigration, Diversity and Integration: past experience and present trends
Chair: Professor Christian Wiese, University of Sussex, author of The Life and Thought of Hans Jonas
This discussion, which builds on the findings of research about the German-speaking refugees of the 1930s, will consider whether the study of past experiences of immigration and integration can illuminate the very topical issues of cultural diversity and social cohesion in Britain today.
Since the early modern period, Britain has been the scene of successive waves of immigration by both political refugees and economic migrants. The process has sometimes proved traumatic for both new arrivals and the settled population, especially at moments of crisis, such as the invasion scare of May 1940 or the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of July 2005. However, immigration has often proved beneficial in the longer term by providing valuable professional skills and human resources, from Dutch engineers and Huguenot weavers to the Pakistani nurses and Polish plumbers of today.
By far the best documented instance of large-scale migration is the arrival during the late 1930s of an estimated 90,000 refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe. The wealth of testimony from that period, which has been electronically catalogued by researchers at the University of Sussex, records both liberation and frustration. For the immigrants, assisted though they were by voluntary refugee committees, also encountered hostility and resistance, culminating in the trauma of indefinite internment without trial.
The question is whether a clear understanding of past migrations, now regarded as success stories, may create a more enlightened climate for the understanding of the current position of economic migrants and political asylum-seekers in multi-cultural Britain. Is large-scale immigration really a threat to social stability? May not ethnic diversity bring long-term benefits?
This discussion, initiated by the University of Sussex Centre for German-Jewish Studies, brings together leading academics in the field of migration studies with policy makers and representatives of official bodies.
Speakers
Speakers will include:
- Professor Tony Kushner, Parkes Centre, University of Southampton, author of Remembering Refugees: Then and Now
- Professor Stephen Castles, International Migration Institute, University of Oxford, author of The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World
- Ayse Bircan (MA in Human Rights, University of East London; advisor at the Refugee Women’s Association)