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https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.45.2020.4.97-129
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Beyond Genocide: How Refugee Agency Preserves Knowledge During Violence-Induced Migration
Über den Völkermord hinaus: Wie das Handeln von Flüchtlingen Wissen bewahrt
[journal article]
Abstract Genocide targets lives and also aims to destroy cultures. Hence, refugees do not only save their bare lives, as the common notion of a refugee in need of individual protection assumes; they also engage in various collective practices to safeguard their cultural heritage from destruction. As an expre... view more
Genocide targets lives and also aims to destroy cultures. Hence, refugees do not only save their bare lives, as the common notion of a refugee in need of individual protection assumes; they also engage in various collective practices to safeguard their cultural heritage from destruction. As an expression of self-consciousness against genocidal violence, this process of rescue becomes a part of that very cultural heritage and thus fundamentally alters its meaning. To develop a better understanding of this complex process, this article first develops general thoughts on refugee agency and cultural survival. Secondly, to exemplify the variety of such efforts and their cultural meaning, this article examines how European Jews, and particularly the General Jewish Labor Bund, attempted to save Yiddish culture and material collections on the secular history of European Jews during the 20th century. In conclusion, it argues that in addition to the individualized perception of a refugee, we need to consider collective cultural rescue as an integral part of refugee politics.... view less
Keywords
migration; flight; genocide; persecution of Jews; cultural heritage; reminiscence; collective memory; Jew; Europe; twentieth century
Classification
Migration, Sociology of Migration
Social History, Historical Social Research
Free Keywords
Migration and refugee studies; genocidal violence; Jewish history; Yiddish language; labor history; genocide; memory; General Jewish Labor Bund
Document language
English
Publication Year
2020
Page/Pages
p. 97-129
Journal
Historical Social Research, 45 (2020) 4
Issue topic
Violence Induced Mobility
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed