Subversion am Rande.: Fluchthilfe und Menschenschmuggel im Mitteleuropa des 20. Jahrhunderts und die Bedeutung der grenzregionalen Bevölkerung

Abstract

This article compares three historical periods of crossing German borders and the corresponding types of migration: illegal migration from Poland to Germany between 1890 and 1933, escape aid from Germany and the occupied territories during National Socialism, and human smuggling and migration aid to Germany between 1989 and 2004. Through these comparisons, continuities of migration and policy patterns can be discovered. Borders and cross-border migration are both symbolic and practically relevant for the production of social homogeneity. The possibility of successfully crossing the border depends to a high degree on the attitudes of the local population towards migrants. During German history these attitudes have been shifting from indifference to hostility, which results in hardening the borders.