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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: August 23, 2020 at 1:22:27 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Diplo]: Polak-Springer on Panagiotidis, 'The > Unchosen Ones: Diaspora, Nation, and Migration in Israel and Germany' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Jannis Panagiotidis. The Unchosen Ones: Diaspora, Nation, and > Migration in Israel and Germany. Indianopolis Indiana University > Press, 2019. xvii + 363 pp. $40.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-04362-7. > > Reviewed by Peter Polak-Springer (Qatar University) > Published on H-Diplo (August, 2020) > Commissioned by Seth Offenbach > > Scholarship on European state patronage of national (ethnic) kin > living abroad, particularly in neighboring contested borderlands, has > seen a flourish in the last decades. In the late 1990s, political > scientist Rogers Brubaker coined a term for it: "external homeland > nationalism." Moreover, he connected it to another one of his > well-known concepts, (national) "unmixing," referring to the movement > of people from the foreign lands in which they are ethnic > "minorities" to their "motherland," where their ethnicity forms the > core group.[1] In recent decades, historians have taken a strong > interest in the _longue dureé_ of Central and Eastern Europe's > unmixing--the era that began with carving up of former monarchical > imperial domains into nation-states in 1918 and culminated in a > whirlwind of violence and ethnic cleansing-driven flight and > expulsions of millions in 1939-50.[2] As a nation with a long history > of ethnic-based political outreach to its minorities in Eastern > Europe, and as a prime target of expulsions at the end of World War > II, Germany has been the center of scholarly focus. Scholarship on > the continuation of this unmixing of presumed Germans, who continued > to live in a region that spanned from East-Central Europe to the > Balkans and the Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1950s and into > the 1980s and 90s is still quite limited.[3] These official > "resettlers" (_Aussiedler_), or "late resettlers" (_Spätaussiedler_) > as they were called in later decades, were allowed to emigrate to the > Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany) to reunite with > family members within the motherland or to escape persecution or > forced assimilation as Germans in their homeland abroad. > > _The Unchosen Ones_ is the main title of a thrilling and insightful > new study by Jannis Panagiotidis that takes an entirely different > approach to studying these issues. His work marks the first extensive > monographic comparison of "resettlement" (_Aussiedlung_) to the FRG > with "ascent" (_Aliyah_), the term denoting the migration of Jews > from around the world to Israel.[4] To Panagiotidis, both these > emigrant nations have looked on their newcomers not just as any other > migrants but as ethnic kin living abroad, whose welfare and ethnic > identity need to be protected by the state and national community of > their motherland. Certainly, Israel has promoted an official mission > of being a safe haven for Jews under persecution. However, Germany's > history of state outreach to German minorities abroad quite blatantly > connects to interwar revanchism and Nazi expansionist politics. > Indeed, one needs only to recall how Adolf Hitler called for the > rights of Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia and the German minority > in Poland as a pretext to annex their homelands. After World War II, > expellee associations and the Federal Ministry Expellees in the FRG > represented a hotbed of border revisionism, political activism by > former Nazis, and denial of Nazi-era crimes against other nations. > Even until today, the expellee (_Vertriebenen_) politics, which > _Aussiedlung_ was always inherently entwined with, raises controversy > as the preoccupation of the right wing.[5] > > Without ignoring them, Panagiotidis's work challenges these political > and historical memory barriers, which for long have stood in the way > of scholarly efforts to de-provincialize this and similar aspects of > twentieth-century German history. He is quite right to stress that > strong similarities and entwinements warrant a comparative and > transnational treatment of the FRG and Israeli experience in that > main topic of his work, co-ethnic migration. Moreover, only such an > approach also allows for the analysis of critical differences between > the two cases, to which he also gives extensive attention. As > Panagiotidis points out, both _Aussiedlung_ and _Aliyah_ are part and > parcel of a Cold War-era history of unmixing. Moreover, these are not > just two separate case studies of a common phenomenon, each with its > own individual historical narrative running parallel to that of the > other, but rather in many respects represent a _histoire croisée > _(entangled history). For one, to some extent both shared roots in > European ethnic nationalism as well as the crimes of Nazism. Jews who > made attempts to migrate to both Israel and the FRG, as well as those > coming to Germany as "Jewish quota" refugees, mark a key subject of > Panagiotidis's discussion. In another aspect of entwinement, both > _Aussiedlung_ and _Aliyah_ drew their co-ethnics from a common > Eastern European geographical sphere that included Poland and Russia. > > Panagiotidis addresses how postwar _Aussiedlung_ has its roots in > interwar, Nazi, and wartime-era German _Volk_ politics > (_Volkstumpolitik_). However, he also stresses that it was something > different from this. It was not based on any Nazi ideas of biology or > race and it was significantly removed from more traditional > nationalist tenets of German national belonging > (_Volkszugehörigkeit_) that stress German blood, soil, and culture > (_Blut, Boden, und Kultur_). According to Panagiotidis, _Aussiedlung_ > "was not simply based on ascriptive criteria of descent or culture" > but rather on a subjective "self-avowal or _Bekenntnis_" to belonging > to the German nation (pp. 318-19). In this regard, he characterizes > it as a "Renanian" process of conceptualizing nationality as a type > of (daily) plebiscite. To further set _Aussiedlung_ apart from prewar > _Volkstumspolitik_, Panagiotidis emphasizes that it was based on an > applicant selection process, or "ethnic screening," that was > flexible, "dynamic and relational" and became particularly inclusive > from the 1960s to the 80s (p. 316). > > As part of one aspect of his two-pronged major argument, Panagiotidis > ascribes this flexibility and dynamism to what he emphasizes was an > interplay of actors involved in the selection process. He refers to > these as "gatekeepers" and "gatekeeping institutions," or in other > words those in charge of defining national belonging and the ethnic > screening process (pp. 4, 316). These "bouncers" of the border gates, > as Panagiotidis refers to them (pp. 7, 314), included state > representatives, experts, and civil society actors. In Israel, rabbis > and doctors, and in the FRG, _Vertriebenen_ associations played a > prominent role. They were part of a multifaceted "migration regime" > that guarded two major "gates" for co-ethnic applicants, an "external > gate" (the "first point of control"), which was usually in their > country of origin, and an internal gate in their place of final > destination (p. 315). By no means were _Aussiedlung/Aliyah_ > applicants passive bystanders; rather, they took an active role in > "performing" the narratives (in the FRG case) or even forging the > documents (in the Israeli one) needed so as to adjust to a shifting > criteria for co-ethnic membership to each of these countries. > Panagiotidis argues that all of this made ethnic selection as well as > notions of who is and is not German/Israeli "not unilateral acts of > definition, but part of a multilevel, transnational politics of > identification" (p. 314). This point situates Panagiotidis in accord > with Brubaker's constructivist notion of ethnicity being a product of > bureaucratic classification.[6] According to Panagiotidis, the > "interplay" of variegated "actors" and active role of migrant > applications that constituted the "migration regimes," coupled with a > dynamic, negotiated, and "never absolute" ethnic screening processes, > made the category of national (co-ethnic or member of the national > community) a relational category (pp. 7, 316). > > The second part of Panagiotidis's argument emphasizes that despite > the above factors, which were common to the two cases, there was a > major ideological difference between them. _Aussiedlung_ remained > tied to the tenets of the lost German homeland of Eastern Europe. > This meant that its mission was "providing welfare and safe-haven" > (p. 20) and even a social setting where the _Aussiedler_ can live "as > Germans among Germans" (p. 252), but not--officially at least--a new > homeland altogether, which would have meant forfeiting Germany's > claims and ties to that in Eastern Europe from which they came. This > was contrary to _Aliya_, which was fundamentally about gathering > global Jewry in Israel. There was also a contrast in the ideal types > of co-ethnics for which each nation searched. According to > Panagiotidis, particularly in the early postwar decades, "the > selective Aliyah regime strove to keep out those deemed a burden on > society, the sick and poor--who often were identified with 'oriental' > Mizrachi and in particular, Moroccan Jewry--and allow entry to those > considered useful" (p. 85). This is because the "traditional Zionist > ideological project of pioneer settlement combined with the creation > of an urban middle class, which was deemed indispensable for a modern > nation-state" (p. 85). By contrast, the FRG made no selection based > on youth, body, fitness, or utility, but rather chose applicants with > a demonstrated "self-avowal" (_Bekenntnis_) to Germandom. Based on > these different policies, Panagiotidis wittingly draws a > juxtaposition of the ideal _Aussielder_ to the ideal _Oleh_ (_Aliyah_ > migrant): "in contrast to the bodiless Aussiedler, the Oleh was very > much a physical being--a 'muscle Jew' and 'pioneer' (_halutz_), as it > were" (p. 130). > > Much of Panagiotidis's work demonstrates that the actual practice of > co-ethnic applicant screening and selection often did not conform to > ideological tenets. While chapter 1 elaborates on the core > ideological difference that remained a constant behind each case's > co-ethnic migration politics, chapter 2 emphasizes the "huge room for > arbitrariness" (p. 84) in the evaluation of _Aussiedlung_/_Aliyah_ > applications. Nevertheless, the 1950s marked a time of subjecting > applicants to particular scrutiny, rigid criteria, and distrust. The > typical criteria for co-ethnic recognition in the FRG included having > relatives in West Germany and knowledge of German. Moreover, as part > of Panagiotidis's wider observation of the impact of the political > Zeitgeist on each country's selection policies, he notes that the > politically conservative 1950s put an applicant from Croatia to the > FRP, who had been a soldier in the _Wehrmacht_, in better standing > than one who fought against the latter in the resistance. In contrast > to these criteria, the new nation-building Israelis erected a > "'medical border' (p. 108)" in search for the fittest, most useful, > and finest (in the cultural/racial sense) _Oleh_. As Panagiotidis > points out, North African Jewish _Aliya_ applicants faced the most > likely rejections due to "cultural imagery representing oriental > immigrants as backward, lazy, and prone to sickness," while Ashkenazy > Jews from Poland were favored as "diligent and productive members of > the middle class" (p. 109). > > Chapter 3 offers more of a bottom-up view of the selection process, > in that it examines how actual cases of applicants were handled. > Panagiotidis focuses on marginal or ambiguous cases in a wider effort > "to spell out border belonging and not belonging" (p. 4). He takes > particular interest in applicants that highlight the transnational > connection between his two case studies, such as German Jews who > applied for _Aussiedlung_ to the FRG after they made _Aliyah_ to > Israel, and who tended to be treated as belonging to Jewish rather > than German nations. With regard to the Israeli case studies, he > looks at a case of Brother Daniel, who applied for _Aliyah_ as a > former Jew and descendant of Jews, but was rejected on grounds of > being a Christian convert. Based on such cases, Panagiotidis argues > that in neither of the two case studies was ethnicity or descent > sufficient for applicant acceptance. In the FRG, cultural elements, > such as language, and German descent were neither enough nor as > important for acceptance as _Bekenntnis_. In the case of Israel, > being a descendant of Jews also did not suffice if the applicant was > not Jewish. > > In chapter 4, Panagiotidis looks at the era from the mid-1960s to > mid-1970s marked by _Ostpolitik_ (in the FRG) and détente, which he > refers to as a "watershed in the history of co-ethnic immigration to > West Germany and Israel" (p. 196). The turning point was the > liberalization of admission policies in both states, whereby both > came to resemble one another more than ever before in this regard. > Both now allowed for descendants of their target group (Germans/Jews > abroad) to be admitted as _Aussiedler/Oleh_, and in this and other > respects became "more inclusive, less selective, and focused on > migrants with conceptually more remote links to each nation," which > Panagiotidis refers to as "derived Germans and Jews" (pp. 196-97). > During this era, both cases also commonly drew from Eastern Europe > and the USSR. In fact, Israel changed the Law of Return, which was at > the crux of its co-ethnic regime, so that descendancy "could be > claimed from any Jew, anytime, anywhere, down to two generations" (p. > 237). In contrast, the FRG restricted its inclusion of descendants to > only the first postwar generation of those of self-avowed Germans > from Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, this bold move turned German > co-ethnics in this region into "'long-distance' citizens" of sorts > and thus gave co-migration to the FRG the "return" character of its > Israeli counterpart (p. 204). > > The fifth and last chapter focuses on the 1980s and the first > post-Cold War decade. In contrast to the preceding era covered in > chapter 4, in this one the two cases became different from one > another. However, Panagiotidis sees this as a continuity rather than > an alternation in the "political, ideological, institutional, and > legal developments in both countries" due to the unique condition > each faced after the "breakdown of the common Cold War framework" (p. > 248). This chapter allots the bulk of its space to official debates > on co-ethnic migration within the (the pre- and post-unification) FRG > and Israel. In the former, migration based on _Aussiedler_ status > became a tenet of the center-Right and expellee associations, while > the Left sought to remove the ethnic basis of migration in general. > Moreover, the FRG made substantial policy changes, which Panagiotidis > characterizes as a greater "ethnicization" of migration requirements > (p. 248). This includes a ruling on the wartime (Nazi) _Volksliste_, > especially category 3 thereof, that excluded it as a basis for > proving national belonging. In that respect, he claims that this > "implied being ethnically more selective than the Nazis: Slavs who > were German enough to be included in the Volksliste and received > conditional citizenship in the Second World War were not German > enough to be recognized as German Volkszugehörige in the late 1980s" > (p. 274). Finally, in the early 1990s, Germans enacted a forthcoming > end to Aussielder migration by making 1992 the birth year cutoff for > anyone eligible to claim this status based on descent. In the Israeli > case, Panagiotidis examines debates between Orthodox, secular > conservatives and liberal factions over issues such as who is a Jew > and whether a Jewish convert should qualify for _Aliyah_. At one > point, he notes that the Israeli-Palestinian demographic struggle > drove secular conservatives to drop their former "puritan practice" > of calling for restriction and embrace loose criteria to acquire "a > better biological stock for the country from Russia in the 1980s" > (pp. 227-8). Unlike in the FRG, no change was made to Israeli policy > from the previous decades, and thus co-ethnic migration was left to > continue indefinitely. However, in practice, Panagiotidis points out > that "due to domestic problems" _Aliyah_ encountered a serious slump > in the 1980s and 90s, unlike _Aussiedlung_ (p. 277). Moreover, Jews > from the former Soviet Union preferred to come to the FRG as "Jewish > quota refugees," a migrant category the German government created as > part "ethnicization" of applicant acceptance (p. 248). > > The conclusion provides an extensive summary of the major comparisons > and contrasts between the two cases, the major arguments, and the > overarching context of ethnic nationalism and unmixing. The chapter > endnotes and bibliography demonstrate the extensive research > Panagiotidis undertook in German and Israeli archives, where he > examined records, which included, but were not limited to, those of > ministries, parliaments, immigration courts. > > Overall, this is work is pathbreaking in its painstaking efforts to > comparatively analyze two case studies, which were quite different on > account of their global location and their internal affairs. > Panagiotidis's major contribution is the offering of a useful > analytical framework for the study of ethnic nationalism, and > particularly, state migration policies based on notions of belonging > to the nation. The terms he coins, for example, gatekeepers > ("bouncers") and external and internal gates, as well as his deep > insight into the multifaceted nature of policymaking and selection > practices will surely be of interest not just to historians but > anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists. The > intensity of the analysis of this study makes it an important > contribution to studies on nationalism, comparative world history, > Europe and the Middle East, Jewish history, European, German, and > Israeli history, in addition to, as Panagiotidis claims, scholarship > on "citizenship, migration control, medical borders and national > building through immigration" (p. 21). Although he does emphasize the > importance of migrant experiences, especially borderline cases, the > vast majority of this book takes a top-down (official policy) focus. > Nevertheless, this extensive transnational treatment of migration to > (West) Germany and Israel is a welcome contribution to a scarce > literature connecting Central Europe with the Middle East. However, > in this regard, its author tends to hold back from any extensive > critical engagement with the Israeli "nation building" he commonly > cites it as a motive for policies marked by racial discrimination > (e.g., preference for white Aliyah applicants from Eastern Europe > over nonwhites from Africa). This notwithstanding, _Unchosen Ones_ is > a masterfully analyzed, well written, and pathbreaking contribution > to global and comparative history of ethnic nationalism and return > migration. > > _Peter Polak-Springer is Associate Professor of Modern History at > Qatar University and works on borderlands, contested spaces, and > forced migration in Central Europe and the Middle East during the > twentieth century. _ > > Notes > > [1]. Rogers Brubaker, "Aftermaths of Empire and the Unmixing of > Peoples," in _Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National > Question in the New Europe_, ed. Rogers Brubaker (Cambridge: > Cambridge University Press, 1996), 148-78. > > [2]. Examples include Omer Bartov and Eric Weitz, eds., _Shatterzone > of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, > Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands_ (Bloomington: Indiana University > Press, 2013); Pieter M. Judson, _The Habsburg Empire: A New History_ > (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018); > Tara Zahra, _Kidnapped Souls: National Indifference and the Battle > for Children in the Bohemian Lands, 1900-1948_ (Ithaca, NY: Cornell > University Press, 2008); Timothy Snyder, _Reconstruction of Nations: > Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569_ (New Haven, CT: Yale > University Press, 1999); Alexander Prusin, _The Lands in Between: > Conflict in the East European Borderlands, 1870-1992_ (Oxford: Oxford > University Press, 2010); Steven Béla Várdy, T. Hunt Tooley, and > Otto von Habsburg, eds., _Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century > Europe_ (Boulder, CO: Social Science Monographs, 2003); Hugo Service, > _Germans to Poles: Communism, Nationalism and Ethnic Cleansing after > the Second World War_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013); > Gregor Thum, _Uprooted: How Breslau Became Wroclaw during the Century > of Expulsions_ (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011); > Eagle Glassheim, _Cleansing the Czechoslovak Borderlands: Migration, > Environment, and Health in the Former Sudetenland_ (Pittsburg: > University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016); and Peter Polak-Springer, > _Recovered Territory: The German-Polish Conflict Over Land and > Culture, 1919-1989_ (New York: Berghahn Books, 2015). > > [3]. See David Rock and Stefan Wolff, eds., _Coming Home to Germany?: > The Integration of Ethnic Germans from Central and Eastern Europe in > the Federal Republic_ (New York: Berghahn, 2002); and Manuel, Borutta > and Jan C. Jansen, _Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar Germany > and France: Comparative Perspectives_ (Basingstoke: Palgrave > Macmillan, 2016). > > [4]. See R. K. Silbereisen, Peter F. Titzmann, and Yossi Shavit, _The > Challenges of Diaspora Migration: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on > Israel and Germany_ (London: Routledge, 2016); and Takeyuki Tsuda, > _Diasporic Homecomings Ethnic Return Migration in Comparative > Perspective_ (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009). > > [5]. See Pertti, Ahonen, _After the Expulsion: West Germany and > Eastern Europe 1945-1990_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010); > and Andrew Demshuk, _The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the > Politics of Memory, 1945-1970_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University > Press, 2014). > > [6]. See Rogers Brubaker, _Ethnicity Without Groups_ (Cambridge, MA: > Harvard University Press, 2006). > > Citation: Peter Polak-Springer. Review of Panagiotidis, Jannis, _The > Unchosen Ones: Diaspora, Nation, and Migration in Israel and > Germany_. H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews. August, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55111 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#785): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/785 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76377366/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES<br />#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.<br />#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.<br />#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
