Unlikely refuge? Refugees and citizens in East-Central Europe in the 20th century

Project Information

UnRef

Grant agreement ID: 819461

DOI

10.3030/819461

Project closed

EC signature date 30 January 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 995 950,00

EU contribution

€ 1 995 950,00

Coordinated by

MASARYKUV USTAV A ARCHIV AV CR VVI
Czechia

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - UnRef (Unlikely refuge? Refugees and citizens in East-Central Europe in the 20th century)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Unlikely Refuge? project (UnRef) aims to write refugees back into the history of East-Central Europe in the 20th century. In this “age of refugees”, the region became a destination of large refugee migrations, forcing civil societies and governments to negotiate difficult decisions about protection for those fleeing the war and persecution. Yet, at the same time, East-Central Europe does not enjoy the reputation as a welcoming place for people persecuted for political persuasion, their “racial” and ethnic identity or any other reason. Due to its histories of ethnic conflict and violence, political oppression and economic underdevelopment, the region has often been perceived as a place to leave rather than search for a safe harbour.

Comparative research spanning a longer period and a wider territory promises not only major insights about the “East” as a refuge, but also a significant contribution to the emerging field of global refugee history. In this project, an international research team led by the PI will, using comparative historical research combined with multidisciplinary approaches, probe the multifaceted entanglements with refugees in countries created in 1918 on the ruins of the Habsburg Monarchy (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia) over the 20th century. By doing so, it wishes to return the discussion of the protection of refugees into the region’s history and to contribute – from a scholarly perspective – to the cultivation of current and future public debate about this divisive subject.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

UnRef research team systematically examined refugee history in Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia from the First World War to the postcommunist transformation. The project organized workshops on humanitarianism, petitioning, place and space in refugee history, refugees from the former Russian empire or postcommunist refugee policies. Its final conference titled Refugee Protection in the Plural (June 2025) positioned the work of the UnRef team against a broad, global comparison and argued for conceptualizing the plurality of refugee regimes rather than essentializing the “Western” forms of refugee protection. A workshop with OSCE ODIHR (July 2025) brought together UnRef historians and human rights defenders. The project resulted in a number of articles published in peer-reviewed journals, presentations at conferences and has a clear impact on the research field.

In a series of state-of-the-art studies, we have assessed the master narratives and patterns of writing about refugees in these countries and indicated the need for writing refugees into national histories. History of humanitarianism in a space which is commonly viewed just as a recipient of Western aid was one of the main research themes. Apart from individual articles, this research resulted in a volume edited by Doina Anca Cretu and Michal Frankl titled Humanitarian mobilisation in Central and Eastern Europe which is in press and scheduled to be published on November 18, 2025 by the Manchester University Press.

The joint volume of the project team highlights common themes of the project, including humanitarianism, citizenship and space, and makes case for new approaches to regions not considered typical places of refuge. The chapters by individual team members analyse the development and concepts of the “refugee” across political regimes from inter-war nation states to state-socialist and post-communist countries. They pay attention to humanitarianism across the whole 20th century and to spatialities and temporalities of refuge. The PI prefaced the volume with a substantial introduction weaving the chapters together in a comparative and transnational way, highlighting the plurality of refugee regimes. The volume was accepted for publication by the CEU Press (now part of Amsterdam UP) and is scheduled for publication in 2026.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Examining the region as a place where refugee protection was negotiated by state and civil society actors, as well as refugees, the project brought a new theme and emphasis to the history of East-Central Europe as a whole as well as to national histories. It contributes to writing its history from a transnational perspective and to include the sources and “voices” of marginalised groups. UnRef research also helps to rethink the construction of citizenship in East-Central Europe (and beyond) and shows the impact of refugees on constructing the bounded national communities as well as the grey zone in which formal belonging and statelessness were negotiated.

At the same time, UnRef expanded the boundaries of the field of historical refugee studies by writing refugee history from a perceived periphery and examining reception and protection in a refugee-producing region. The emphasis on the plurality of refugee regimes and the need to expand beyond the “Western” model of protection as the only option is a significant contribution. The UnRef research brought attention to local forms of humanitarianism, construction of different (national, political, etc.) solidarities, integration through work and the making of spaces through refugees. Both the research on Cold War refugee policies and humanitarianisms (in the plural) and the integration of refugee history in the field studying the postcommunist transformation open new research directions which should be developed beyond the UnRef project.

team meeting

team meeting

1990s oral history meeting

UnRef final conference

"Petitioning on the Move" workshop

team meeting

“Remaking the World in the Shadow of the Cold War" workshop

Workshop "Making space"