European remembrance of migration

Since television screens were filled with images of streams of refugees in the former Yugoslavia, the memory of expulsion and flight has receded further into the background in Germany. Forced migration was clearly one of the most definitive experiences of the European 20th century, affecting entire peoples and population groups and reaching ist most brutal and extreme in WWII.

There is new relevance to the way in which the abandoned places and  migrations are remembered because many European societies are only gradually re-examining their self-image and reflecting on the changes brought about by the post-WWII migrations. Essentially this is a question of how the history of the incomers is admitted into the history of the majority. This question applies to the victims of forced displacement, as well as to the descendents of so-called ‚guest workers’ and other migrants.