This handsomely produced volume features mostly expanded papers from many of the presenters at the third thematic part of the international conference “Migrations and Identity in European History: Communities, Connections, Conflicts.” Of the other two thematic sections, only one has recently been published by Editura Mega, appearing in 2021. However, a person would not know that these two volumes were related, coming from the same conference, unless one has read their introductions. This meeting was held in Iaşi, in September 2019, hence the cover features a painting by Teodor Boian of “The Iaşi Fair” (1875–80) that seems a bit odd considering the title and contents of the volume. Furthermore, the subtitle is misleading as the essays overwhelmingly cover the Balkans and not all of east central Europe, while one entry contains material going into the early twenty-first century.
This book begins with a list of contributors who are academics from Germany, Hungary, Romania, Russia, and Turkey; it also includes their main areas of research. The work encompasses fourteen articles in English and German, preceded by an extensive introduction in which the contained works of the authors are described in superlative terms. Three of the entries were authored by people not listed in the official program, while several pieces have different titles than those at the conference. The articles vary in size with the average being around twenty-five pages, with most pieces being divided into subsections with headings making it easier to read. As there is no bibliography, one must consult the extensive footnotes.
The volume is divided into five major subheadings or chapters. Strangely, however, these chapters/subheadings do not appear in the text, while two of them only contain one article each. The essays are multidisciplinary and, at times, seem like case studies. The first chapter, “Towards a New History of Migrations: Reassessing Methods and Research Agendas,” contains this single piece by Alexander Rubel, “Migrationsgeschichte als Weltgeschichte. Ein Plädoyer für neue Akzente in der historischen Migrationsforschung unter Einbeziehung der Vor- und Frühgeschichte.” It very broadly covers migrations from prehistory/ancient times until today.
The next subheading, “The Birth of New Elites: Political and Intellectual Mobility in the Modern Era,” includes essays by Lidia Cotovan, “The Naturalization of Greeks in the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia: Disputed Meanings, Contested Interpretations”; Simon-Alexandru Garviş, “Foreign-Born Bureaucrats in the Principality of Moldavia in the Early 19th Century”; Leonidas Rados, “Forging the Modern Romanian Intellectual Elite: Andrei Vizanti as a Student in Iaşi and Madrid”; Flavius Solomon, “In Search for a New Homeland: Narodnik Émigrés in Romania during the 1870s”; and Andrei Cuşco, “Zamfir C. Ralli Arbore and Constantin Stere Between Anarchism, Populism, and Nationalism: Two Cases of Russian Political Émigrés to Romania in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century.” This chapter flows very well from one essay to the other by discussing Greek and Russian emigrants as well as Romanian elites who studied abroad, focusing primarily on their relationship to Moldavia.
Chapter 3, “Searching for the Lost Homeland: Population Movements in Interwar Europe,” is comprised of articles by Konrad Clewing, “Zwischen allen Stühlen? US-albanische Erfahrungen vom Auswandern und Rückwandern in frühen 20. Jahrhundert”; Tatiana Ilarionova, “Migration as Salvation: Contributions to the History of Germans and Jews in Russia and Southeast Europe between the World Wars”; Gábor Egry, “Magyar Returnees and Political Radicalization in Post-World War I Hungary”; and Mehmet Hacisalihoğlu, “Blurring Borders between Religion and Ethnicity: Turkey's Migration Policies towards the Balkans in the Interwar Period (with Special Reference to Bulgaria).” As compared to the previous grouping, these presentations are case studies that only have in common returning co-nationals with completely different experiences.
The fourth part, “Identity Projects and Population Politics during World War II and its Aftermath,” contains papers by Ottmar Traşcă, “The Impact of the Second Vienna Award on the Demographic Situation in Transylvania. Forced Population Displacements in a Contested Space, 1940–1944”; Philippe Henri Blasen, “‘Vor allem eine Kirche deutscher Menschen’: Die evangelische Landeskirche A.B. in Rumänien und die Taufe der Juden (1940–1944)”; and Dorin Dobrincu, “’A Famine Like No Other:’ The Swedish Rädda Barnen Society and Its Assistance to the Children of Eastern Romania, 1946–1948.” Out of the five major chapters, these pieces connect very well with one another, although the chapter title is a bit strange for the three essays.
Péter Varga, “Jüdisch-deutsche Literatur der dritten Nachkriegsgeneration—eine Migrantenliteratur?” is the sole work in the last chapter, “Migration and Reshaping of Identities in Post-Cold War Europe.” The author only describes Russian Jews who migrated to Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall and have a strong influence on German-Jewish literature. For them, the Holocaust plays little or no role. Rather than victims of the Nazis, they see themselves as victors over them. Here, Varga's piece extends into the twenty-first century when the subtitle of the book notes, “… to the Twentieth Century.”
Although the articles are interesting to read and well researched, the volume has some issues. There appears to be little that connects them all together other than the fact that most were presented at the same meeting. As a result, it suffers the major pitfall of conference proceedings despite the editors’ attempt to cover them all with a broad and lofty title that over steps its purpose; the editors admitted this fact by stating, “This volume with the somewhat ambitious title….” (9). Subsequently, it will remain a seldom consulted volume as it will be difficult for a reader or researcher who has an interest in one or two of the topics to find access to these essays. Finally, no conclusion ties the pieces together with only the introduction and a brief book description on the back cover serving as poor substitutions. Overall, the book, sadly, is a great disappointment.
