Auf dem Foto sind sechs Mitglieder der lettischen Diaspora an einem Tisch im Atelier des Künstlers Fridrihs Milts im Keller seines Wohnhauses im New Yorker Stadtviertel Hell's Kitchen Anfang der 1960er Jahre zu sehen. Von links: Fridrihs Milts, Gunars Saliņš, Linards Tauns, Teodors Zeltiņš, Mirdza Nāruna-Bogdanoviča, Vitolts Kalniņš.

Photo credit:

Mitglieder der lettischen Diaspora im Atelier des Künstlers Fridrihs Milts im New Yorker Stadtviertel Hell's Kitchen Anfang der 1960er Jahre. RTMM 552518 / Latvijas Nacionālais rakstniecības un mūzikas muzejs. Rechte vorbehalten.

At Home in the Diaspora

Wars and revolutions led to massive migration movements in the 20th century. Millions of people had to leave their home regions forever. Eastern Europe was particularly affected due to the new political conditions that arose there.

At Home in the Diaspora
Editorial
In the 20th century in particular, war, persecution, and forced labor led to complex refugee movements. Many of those affected lived for years as displaced persons with no secure future. Ten authors analyze diasporic living environments—from individual biographies and generational experiences to...
Elke Bauer | Agnese Bergholde-Wolf | Dietmar Popp | Jürgen Warmbrunn
A lost treasure trove of knowledge
The Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Berlin and its Library
Background Article
The Ukrainian Scientific Institute (Ukrainische Wissenschaftliche Institut or UWI) was the central research centre for the Ukrainian émigré community in Germany between 1926 and 1945. At its height, Its library was the largest collection of specialist literature on Ukraine anywhere, but its...
Igor Barinov

Diaspora – The Long Wait

Background Article
“Surrounded by Friends” in the Land of the Perpetrators?
What photos from the lives of Polish Displaced Persons tell us – and what they don’t
What is left of life after the concentration camp? With the help of private photo albums from two Polish survivors, this essay examines the existence of Displaced Persons in postwar Germany and Australia – a story of forced displacement, political pressure and the attempt to leave the past behind...
Sarah Grandke
Background Article
Art in the space between
Estonian artists in exile between homeland, loss and new beginnings
Between everyday life in the camp and artistic awakening: after fleeing their homeland in 1944, Estonian artists sought ways to preserve their culture in Germany – and created art that balanced tradition, trauma and tentative attempts at a new modernism.
Triin Metsla
Background Article
In Search of Home
The Armenian Diaspora: between Belonging and Alienation
Ever since the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire there have been two Armenias: that of the widely scattered diaspora, which formed new memories and identities in exile, and that of those who, at different times, sought refuge in the Republic of Armenia. The story of these two extremes is one...
Arpine Maniero
Background Article
No “Zero hour” after the Shoah
Jewish Displaced Persons and the Long Road to a New Beginning
Immediately after the Second World War, Germany became a place of refuge for nearly 300,000 Jews. They lived like other so-called Displaced Persons (DPs) in Jewish or mixed DP camps and played a significant role in the revitalisation of European Judaism. However, few people are aware of their fate...
Benedikt Putz
Background Article
The Diaspora of Transition
Chess Players in the Meerbeck DP Camp, 1946
In spring 1946 the small village of Meerbeck in the Schaumburger Land was the setting for a special chapter in European postwar history: fourteen top players met in a DP camp for an “international” chess tournament. Their contest reflected the political tensions of the time, the hopes of an...
Bernd-Peter Lange

Diaspora 2.0

Background Article
A Latvian Valiant
A Story of a Resilient Second Generation of Exiles, Told in Rust and Peeling Paint
In 2018, Juris Bļodnieks donated a 1971 Plymouth Valiant to the Latvians Abroad Museum – it was spray-painted, inoperable and had been parked under a tarpaulin for two decades. The car tells the story of Latvian exile culture in North America, of protest, patriotism and the creative...
Marianna Auliciema
Background Article
Between Memory and Belonging
Finding identity in Chicago’s Lithuanian DP Community
Even today, Chicago is considered the most important hub of the Lithuanian diaspora. This has much to do with the migrations that took place as a result of the Second World War. What connects members of the DP Community with their family histories today? And how does their identity shape their...
Lea Garcia
Background Article
Polish Diaspora Goes TikTok
Young Polish Ethno-Comedy between Self-Exoticization and Post-migrant Agency
Ethno-comedy is thriving on TikTok and Instagram. Characters like “Polish Papa” or the overly sensitive Polish mother are going viral. How are clichés of the Polish diaspora being shown and laughed about on TikTok — and what potential does this laughter hold for shaping identity?
Anna Seidel
Background Article
“The diaspora is with us!”
Moldovans abroad, their homeland and the struggle for belonging
It is difficult to speak of a single Moldovan diaspora, since the experiences of Moldavians abroad have been too diverse. Yet the expression plays a central role in Moldavia’s political discourse – both with those happy to be part of it, and those who feel more skeptical. A closer consideration...
Jana Stöxen

Migration (Hi)Stories

To our topic issue "Migration (Hi)Stories"

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