"Flight over the sea": the attempt to leave war, hunger and catastrophes behind Books | '
Erik Lindner has been working on this topic for a long time – and there are countless examples. In the mid-nineties, the escape to the Canary Islands was in the headlines. People who took hundreds of nautical miles of fishing boats from the African west coast, many drowned in the Atlantic. Dramas that should be repeated later in the Mediterranean. What to do? The question arises today as it did then. And she has always posed. Because there were fleeing movements on this planet at all times.
Welcome – yes or no?
In his book, Erik Lindner looks back on different regions and times in which people have fled, and he discovers similarities: "There were, for example, the 'boat people' from Vietnam, the GDR refugees, some of them across the Baltic Sea to Schleswig Holstein or Denmark and the Cubans who arrived in Florida are three examples of people who have fled communist states or dictatorships. "
The reason was the East-West conflict: "Anyone who fled Cuba or the GDR or Vietnam before the Communists, showed that the West was superior and that was something that took place for decades: The United States always had one "open door policy" towards the Cuban refugees – as long as it was not hundreds of thousands, so those who came to freedom from bondage were welcome. "
Vietnamese refugees leave Hamburg for "Cap Anamur". Between 1979 and 1986, more than 11,000 people were recovered at sea and taken to safe havens with the converted rescue vessel.
It was different in the Third Reich. "Many states closed at that time, one had to wait years for a visa," says Lindner. Exception was then Shanghai, where you could enter without a visa and stay in exile there. "America was in the midst of the economic crisis and American President Roosevelt could not afford to bring in hundreds of thousands of German emigrants in a short time after 1933. These are things that we know today."
Not to forget is that the entry into another country in 1933 was much more complicated than it is partially the case today. Crossing the border was a lot more difficult, even a flight had to be well prepared. This could not be said of these countries, says the historian Erik Lindner. "It was just common, they wanted to control immigration, and people who were a burden on the welfare system were not wanted." Another parallel that can be drawn to the current situation.
Escape – a topic for millennia
Looking back, Erik Lindner begins with Greek mythology: the story of Aeneas, who escapes from Troy and after a dangerous wandering he manages to start a new life in the West. "It is the first literary transmission from East to West across the Mediterranean – to a new life, and that marks the beginning of Europe's history."
Basically he hopes, Lindner says, that his book can help to widen his gaze and to see that the motives for escape have been the same for millennia. "One flees from war, hardship, hunger, environmental influences – ie catastrophes -, from religious oppression, from dictatorship and bondage – these are actually a handful of valid reasons that exist today and that existed a thousand years ago."
For example, he sees a recurring pattern in the starvation flight: in the middle of the 19th century, there was a great famine in Ireland due to years of crop failures. Almost one in eight Irishmen died then. One million left their homes, most in the US, Canada or Australia. Even when the disaster was over, the exodus did not stop. By 1911, Ireland lost almost half of its population through migration. "This pattern of the Irish could be a model for what is happening in the African crisis countries today, and I see many parallels as historians," says Lindner. Incidentally, among the Irish starvation refugees was Patrick Kennedy, the great-grandfather of later US President John F. Kennedy.
Europe must preserve its humanity
Historian Erik Lindner
The basic message of Erik Lindner's book is basically: Escape movements have always existed everywhere and that will remain so. The question remains how to deal with it in the respective present. There are no easy answers here, but important, according to the historian, is respect for the fleeing people and their motives. Europe must preserve its humanity, because that is the "core of its identity". And the topic of flight certainly will not be smaller.
"I'm a historian and I can not predict the future, but in my opinion, the refugee movements will not be offset by development aid or Frontex or anything like that."
In addition to the book, Lindner has also participated as curator in an exhibition that will be on view at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg from 5 June 2019 to 2 February 2020 – under the title of the same title: "Escape Over the Sea – From Troy to Lampedusa". , You can see – in addition to numerous photos – exhibits that want to bring the visitor closer to the event. Among them, for example, self-built surfboards, with which two young men in November 1986 from the island of Rügen, which then belonged to the GDR, have fled to Denmark – and have actually made it to freedom.
Erik Lindner: "Flight over the Sea – Flight Across the Sea. From Troy to Lampedusa – From Troy to Lampedusa". Bilingual German – English. 288 pages. ISBN 978-3-8132-0987-7
Escape over the sea – the special exhibition. International Maritime Museum Hamburg. June 5, 2019 – February 2, 2020.
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