Lesung mit Klaus Neumann: 'Blumen und Brandsätze'

In the organizer's words:

Reading with Klaus Neumann

The author deals with reactions to German and non-German refugees over a period of 34 years: from dealing with migrants from the GDR to the admission of Ukrainians in 2022 and 2023: Since the 1980s at the latest, hardly anything has excited the public as much as the question of how many and which people "we did not call" Germany should take in. Klaus Neumann looks at the answers to this question: from calls to amend Article 16 of the Basic Law in the early 1990s to the so-called welcome culture in 2015 and the new version of the claim that the boat is full following the arrival of refugees from Ukraine in 2022.

The historian examines the different motivations for granting protection or rejecting those seeking protection. His examination focuses on local and local political disputes: in the west of Hamburg and in south-eastern Saxony. He illustrates the extent to which negotiation processes surrounding the local reception of GDR resettlers and asylum seekers, ethnic German repatriates and war refugees were intertwined with debates about racism and right-wing extremism, democratic participation and West and East German identities.

His book thus provides new insights into three and a half decades of German history. At the same time, it is a plea for a comprehensive and well-informed debate on the question of why Germany should take in people seeking protection. (Verlag Hamburger Edition)

Klaus Neumann is a historian and cultural scientist. He has conducted research on issues such as historical justice and the politics of memory. He is the author of several award-winning books on asylum and refugee policy. He has been working for the Hamburg Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Culture since 2018.

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