Beyond Genocide: How Refugee Agency Preserves Knowledge During Violence-Induced Migration

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 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

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• Alternative title: Über den Völkermord hinaus: Wie das Handeln von Flüchtlingen Wissen bewahrt
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Beyond Genocide: How Refugee Agency Preserves Knowledge During Violence-Induced Migration ; volume:45 ; number:4 ; year:2020 ; pages:97-129 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 45, Heft 4 (2020), 97-129

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie ; Geschichte

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Wolff, Frank

Further information

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.45.2020.4.97-129
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022081607040573700598
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.