Deadline: December 20, 2021
The Balkan History Association is preparing a volume dedicated to deportations in the twentieth century with a special emphasis on people deported as a result of totalitarianism. Hiding under the mask of an administrative measure, the authorities found the perfect way to punish civilians. Those persecuted (whether because of their ideas, ethnicity, religion or social standing) had to pay a huge price for not coping with the views of the authorities. Considered to be “dangerous elements”, deportees were forced to leave their homes together with their families, being allowed to take with them only few goods, their houses and possession being confiscated by the State. No matter of gender and age, men, women, children and old people were forced to start a one-way journey, in trains together with animals, towards an uncertain destination. Living under the blue sky for days, the deportees learned to build a new life for themselves. The conditions under which they had to live were harsh, many of those deported dying from starvation or disease. Somehow they found the strength not to give up and lived to tell their memories thus providing a better insight in the depth of this chaos.
Continue reading “CFP: Deportation in East Central Europe in the 20th century – snapshots of invisible incarceration”