Historical Perspectives on Refuge and Hospitality

Historical Perspectives on Refuge and Hospitality

  • Refuge and Hospitality

    • In ancient Greece, asylum seekers could enter a foreign city and go to a designated house or refuge, typically a temple or sanctuary.

    • To signal their need for protection, they would twist an olive branch around their arm.

    • Reference: Lauren Markham, A Map of Future Ruins. On Borders and Belonging, 2024, p. 39.

    • Refuge as an ancient practice:

    • Supported by Hebrew, Greek, Roman, and Islamic texts.

    • The term asylum is derived from the Ancient Greek asulia, indicating protection by the gods.

Refugees in a Historical Perspective

  • Historical context following the end of the feudal system involved unification processes in countries such as France and Spain.

  • Notable events include mass expulsions, such as that of Spain in 1492.

  • Protection was often a private action undertaken by various entities:

    • The crown

    • The church

    • Municipalities

    • Private houses

    • This reflects the concept of refuge and hospitality for those in need.

  • The formation of the European nation-state system was influenced by:

    • The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)

    • The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, ending brutal religious conflicts and providing protection for religious minorities.

Key Historical Events

  • Saint-Barthélémy:

    • Date: August 25, 1572

  • Revocation of Édit de Nantes:

    • Date: 1685

    • Liberty of religion was initially established in 1598.

    • The revocation resulted in the flight of approximately 200,000 Huguenots from France.

    • The term “refugee” was used for the first time during this period.

  • Édit de Nantes:

    • A declaration from the king on July 1, 1686, intensified previous measures:

    • Punishment for providing asylum to a Protestant minister included galley slavery.

    • Women assisting were subjected to shaving and imprisonment.

    • Attending assemblies could result in the death penalty.

    • Rewards were offered for the capture of ministers.

Refugees in Europe from the 17th to the 19th Century

  • Persecution of Protestant groups within 17th-century Europe.

  • The French Revolution of 1789 gave rise to political exiles and refugees.

  • The 19th century saw:

    • Persecution of Jews in Russia, exemplified by pogroms.

    • European colonization's impact in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, marked by forced slavery and the indentured workforce.

  • World War I led to displacement of millions:

    • Atrocities and collapse of multinational empires (Habsburg, Romanov, Ottoman) occurred.

    • Significant instances include the Armenian genocide and the population exchanges between Greeks and Turks.

    • The Soviet Union also faced issues with minorities and perceived internal enemies.

    • Rising antisemitism in the 1930s in Western Europe (Germany, France, Italy).

The Modern International Refugee System

  • Major transformations occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to:

    • Causes of forced displacement including wars, destruction, famine, and starvation.

    • Evolving warfare reflected in writings like Junger’s Storm of Steel (1920).

    • Following the collapse of multi-national states, new ones formed post-imperial states.

    • Nation-states were created in the Balkans, Baltics, and Central Europe, leading to demographic homogeneity and instances of ethnic cleansing.

    • The disintegration of Tsarist Russia leading to revolutions and civil conflict further exacerbated displacements.

Events in the Ottoman Empire

  • The Balkan War ended in 1912 leading to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, ultimately transitioning to the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1922.

  • Between 1912 and 1922, substantial minority displacements occurred:

    • Armenians: approximately 8.5%

    • Greeks: around 9.3%

    • Muslims represented about 80% of the population.

  • Significant outcome was the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

Armenian Genocide (1915-1916)

  • The genocide led to the deaths of between 664,000 and as many as 1.2 million Armenians, primarily through:

    • Deportation

    • Starvation

    • Mass killings

    • Resulted in a widespread Armenian diaspora.

Fridtjof Nansen

  • Notable figures include Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), who was:

    • A famed Norwegian explorer and the first High Commissioner for Refugees.

    • He established the Nansen passport, an innovative legal instrument for international refugee protection.

    • Nansen was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

The German-Jewish Refugee Crisis (1933-1939)

  • In January 1933, approximately 523,000 Jews in Germany constituted less than 1% of the overall population.

  • The rise of Nazism led to the denationalization of German Jews, formalized by laws such as the Nuremberg Laws in 1935.

  • The Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) occurred in 1938 as a violent reaction against Jewish communities, prefiguring the Final Solution of 1942.

  • The situation exemplified a refugee crisis in Europe where German-Jewish refugees were persecuted at home and often unwelcome abroad.

  • The narrative includes the voyage of the St. Louis:

    • Set sail from Hamburg to Havana on May 13, 1939, with 937 passengers, most of whom were Jewish refugees.

    • Cuba denied entry, and the ship was subsequently rejected by the USA and Canada, resulting in its return to Europe where 254 passengers perished in the Holocaust.

Hannah Arendt's Perspective

  • In her 1943 essay “We Refugees,” Arendt reflects on:

    • The political atmosphere in Germany from 1919-1933, encompassing political and economic instability and the ascent of Nazism.

    • She critiques the condition of statelessness as a dire human situation, illustrated by the tragic case of Walter Benjamin.

Arendt and Agamben

  • The work from Arendt prompts a reconsideration of political institutions:

    • In the context of contemporary challenges posed by millions fleeing war, persecution, extreme poverty, and climate change.

    • Reference: Mikkel Flohr (2024), "Beyond the Nation State: Rereading Hannah Arendt’s 'We Refugees' Eighty Years Later," New Political Science, 46:1, 6-20.

Statelessness

  • Arendt states that statelessness represents a "newest mass phenomenon in contemporary history.”

    • She emphasized that the increase in stateless individuals signifies a critical concern for current global politics.

    • Reference: Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951, p. 277.

The Just among Nations

  • A tribute to those who bravely resisted anti-Semitic abuse in France during WWII.

    • These individuals, termed