Online paper: Julia Reinke (Masaryk Institute and Archive of the CAS), Comrade Refugee. Refugees from the Greek Civil War in the German Democratic Republic
In cooperation with the ERC-funded project Unlikely refuge? Refugees and citizens in East-Central Europe in the 20th century
Online conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83570230216?pwd=UE91TURYMUVpWnV2eTYxUG9DVWl0UT09
Just when the new socialist German state was coming into existence, still dealing with the aftermath of the Second World War, it received about 1,200 refugees from the Greek Civil War – primarily children of communists who had fought in the ranks of the partisans. In giving shelter to them, the GDR joined a concerted action by the ‘Eastern Bloc’ of showing ‘proletarian internationalist solidarity’. Yet, how did this balancing act of humanitarian assistance to refugees and the ideologically driven solidarity play out in practice? Especially regional and local sources shed light on actors, practices and tensions, and reveal elements of inclusion and exclusion. Applying an integrated perspective with a strong focus on the receiving country, this ongoing PhD-project aims at a deepened analysis of what this ‘socialist’ refugee relief actually meant.