Reimagining German identity through the politics of history: changing interpretations of German past migrations during the ‘Refugee crisis’, 2015/2016

Abstract

This paper brings memory and migration studies together. It focuses on the way the past was used in the context of the "refugee crisis" in Germany in 2015/2016. The analysis concentrates on how politicians and journalists used the memory of Germans' own migrations to legitimise rhetorically the political decision to open the borders and let more than a million people into the country, as well as to call for a welcoming attitude (Willkommenskultur) towards the refugees. It shows how, by doing so, they have contributed to the reframing of one of the founding identity narratives of the FRG, namely the one about "flight and expulsion", and thus helped to redraw Germany's identity boundaries in a more inclusive way.

Who supports refugees? Diversity assent and pro-refugee engagement in Germany

“…Thus, Karakayali et al (2016: 32-33) mention the importance of cosmopolitan and antiracist attitudes among volunteers: More than 90% of those active in 2015 and surveyed by them agreed that they wanted to learn new things about the world and other cultures through their engagement and that they aimed to set a sign against racism. Kumbruck et al, (2020: 75-79) similarly report that interview partners stressed how much they learned through their engagement, that it was like "travelling the world" (see also Fleischmann, 2020: 238;Perron, 2020). Such citations resemble statements recorded in an earlier large-scale study of diversity experiences in German urban neighbourhoods.…”

Securitization and the Impacts and Perceptions of Migration Post-2015: A Scoping Review of Canada and Germany

“…This reflects the timeframe that a majority of refugees made their way to and throughout Europe. While there was an increase in migration starting around 2010, the refugee crisis was declared in 2015 (Bauder, 2016;Perron, 2021). All sources were limited to scholarly peer-reviewed and fully online only.…”

“…Germany has grappled with its national identity several times in recent decades (Perron, 2021). Reflecting on their past, it was clear to Germany that they had to accept refugees (Perron, 2021). Considered an ethnocultural nation, Germany typically is not seen as a nation built on immigration (Lindstam, Mader, & Schoen, 2021;Bauder, 2016;Schmidtke, 2017).…”

“…Relating the struggles of Germans to the new struggles of Syrians, the country felt they could handle the influx of refugees. When reflecting on the pasts of Germans in their own forced migration and tangled history with immigration, using historical examples of their plight affirmed that Germany would be able to manage an influx of refugees, which they would do with open arms (Perron, 2021).…”

Stability of National‐Identity Content: Level, Predictors, and Implications

“…The reasons for this are themselves contested. One prominent explanation is, for example, that globalization has led to national borders becoming both porous and contested (de Wilde et al, 2019; Kriesi et al, 2008; Norris & Inglehart, 2019), as most recently evidenced by the crystallizing events of the European refugee crisis in 2015 (Kirkwood, 2019; Perron, 2021) and the COVID‐19 pandemic (Mylonas & Whalley, 2022; Woods et al, 2020). This has rekindled interest in how national identity structures political attitudes and behavior, and whether and how political actors can mobilize it for their purposes.…”