Description
After the National Socialist takeover in 1933, political opponents in Germany, and soon in Austria and Czechoslovakia, were forced to flee. A few thousand of these central European political refugees came to Sweden. Several stayed after 1945 and their children have become fully integrated into Swedish society. At the same time, the historical experiences of the parents have shaped the second generation to varying degrees. In this project, we are interested in how the successful integration process is related to the children's cultural affiliations and postmemories. We use the concept of “postmemories” to understand how a generation that has not directly experienced persecution, flight and exile can still identify with these experiences and create new hybrid forms of cultural belonging in Sweden. These cultural affiliations may include, for example, identification with Swedish, Nordic, German, Austrian, Czechm and Jewish culture as with different political views.
The aim of the project is thus to shed light on the cultural affiliations of the second generation by analyzing their post-memories of persecution, flight and exile in the light of the group's successful integration. The project combines perspectives from migration studies and memory studies to highlight the conditions for a successful integration process. The results are expected to contribute to a better understanding of integration processes in modern migration societies. The project also contributes with specific knowledge about refugees from the Nazi regime and the life stories of their children in Sweden. Furthermore, the project will provide insights into how memories are transferred between generations and highlight the emergence of hybrid cultural affiliations.
The project is based on interviews with second-generation Central European political refugees from the Nazi regime.
In collaboration with the Labour Movement Archive and Library, Flemingsberg, the interview material will be made available for future research.
Financiers
