Refugees: Then and Now (Online course) Event

Course overview

Auschwitz survivor Rabbi Hugo Gryn called the twentieth century ‘the century of the refugee’. In these four sessions, all largely with a British focus but within an international context, Professor Tony Kushner will explore how refugees were treated, how they were defined in law, and how they created their identities in places of asylum.

The course will cover three distinct time frames. The first session will provide a wider context, exploring how attempts have been made to define refugees in national and international law, including the first to do so – the 1905 Aliens Act in the UK. From this foundation, the second session will focus on the turn of the twentieth century and the movement of hundreds of thousands of East European Jews to the west. The third will consider the Nazi era and the desperate attempt of Jews to escape persecution. The fourth will take the story up to date and explore how we approach asylum seekers and refugees today.

In the sessions we will draw on a range of primary source materials, including governmental and legal documents, newspapers and refugee memoirs. Participants will be given materials in advance to enrich their understanding of the topics, and questions and discussion will be encouraged.

Date/time

TBC September start

Cost

£60 for the course (we are unable to take bookings for individual sessions)