The Collective Memory of Trauma: How The Experience of Ethnic Minorities in Post WW2-Europe affected European Integration

This thesis looks at the collective memory of trauma and its affect on European integration. It does so by analysing two migrant groups from the first decade after WW2, ethnic minorities surviving the Holocaust, and displaced German migrants reintegrating into West Germany, and how their experience influenced European integration. I discuss trauma theory, with reference to these two cases, to show its significance in relation to the integration of migrants into European multicultural society, providing further scope for analysis in academia. After a section on global perspectives of migration and multiculturalism, this thesis argues that trauma is a fundamental part of the migrant identity, which influences their integration into their new society. As European multiculturalism began to be rethought in Germany after WW2, trauma and memory of the war was the main cultural similarity between these two cases of migrants and local Germans, which began to reform integration perspective....Show moreThis thesis looks at the collective memory of trauma and its affect on European integration. It does so by analysing two migrant groups from the first decade after WW2, ethnic minorities surviving the Holocaust, and displaced German migrants reintegrating into West Germany, and how their experience influenced European integration. I discuss trauma theory, with reference to these two cases, to show its significance in relation to the integration of migrants into European multicultural society, providing further scope for analysis in academia. After a section on global perspectives of migration and multiculturalism, this thesis argues that trauma is a fundamental part of the migrant identity, which influences their integration into their new society. As European multiculturalism began to be rethought in Germany after WW2, trauma and memory of the war was the main cultural similarity between these two cases of migrants and local Germans, which began to reform integration perspective. This perspective of collective trauma and the socio-economic gains migrants brought to the economy would mark these reforms in European integration. This research can offer a niche in the debate on modern day political issues, for example populism and anti-globalisation rhetoric, as European states share different experiences on migrant trauma, and contrasting views on integration as a result of their multicultural perspective.Show less

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The Collective Memory of Trauma: How The Experience of Ethnic Minorities in Post WW2-Europe affected European Integration