Transnational Humanitarianism und Refugee Policy in the Age of World Wars.A Relational History of Political Actors and Humanitarian Activists

该项目聚焦于世界大战时代跨国人道主义援助和难民政策的主角。专题地理重点放在意大利、南欧和地中海，这些地区最近进入了相关史学的中心。有关行为者涉及与国际联盟和联合国难民事务高级专员有联系的政治家、外交官和律师，以及从事人道主义组织的活动家和学者。该项目最重要的来源材料是迄今为止基本上未被探索的自我文件，特别是未发表的信件、日记、自传体文本和相关人员的回忆录。基于他们的传记、政治思想、文化接触和社会政治倡议，这部作品从长远的角度审视了这些参与者之间的关系、汇合和矛盾，范围从第一次世界大战结束到冷战初期。源头批评的方法强调了以演员为中心的视角的创新潜力。对自我文件的关注还强调了最近在人道主义历史上崭露头角的性别历史问题。特别关注人道主义参与的意识形态和宗教动机，这些动机受到越来越多的质疑，以及跨国网络和认识社区的形成。人们认为，对私人文件的分析可以打开关于暴力经历、意识形态和宗教自我定位以及国家行为者和人道主义活动家之间在世界大战时代的政治争议和冲突的新的和不同的视角。该项目旨在为跨国历史、新的人道主义历史和移民史做出贡献。所取得的成果将以专著形式发表。

The project focuses on protagonists of transnational humanitarian aid and refugee policy in the era of world wars. The thematic-geographical emphasis lies on Italy, Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, which has recently moved into the centre of relevant historiography. The actors in question regard politicians, diplomats, and lawyers linked to the League of Nations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as well as activists and scholars engaged in humanitarian organizations. The most important source material of the project are hitherto largely unexplored ego-documents, in particular unpublished letters, diaries, autobiographical texts, and memoirs of the persons involved. Based on their biographies, political ideas, cultural encounters, and socio-political initiatives, the work examines the relationships, convergences and contradictions between these actors from a long-term perspective, ranging from the end of the First World War to the early period of the Cold War. The source-critical approach accentuates the innovative potential of an actor-centered perspective. The focus on ego-documents also emphasizes gender-historical questions that have lately come to the fore in humanitarian history. Particular interest is given to the ideological and religious motives of humanitarian engagement, which have been increasingly questioned, and to the formation of transnational networks and epistemic communities. It is assumed that the analysis of private documents can open up new and different perspectives on experiences of violence, ideological and religious self-positioning, but also political controversies and conflicts between state actors and humanitarian activists in the age of world wars. The project is designed as a contribution to transnational history, to the new history of humanitarianism, and to the history of migration. The results achieved will be published in a monograph.