Scandinavian Children “Out-of-Place”? Historical Perspectives on Contested Repatriations of Scandinavian Children Born of War
(2024) In Scandia- Abstract
- Children born to enemy soldiers, so-called “children born of war,” are vulnerable to displacement. The contested repatriations of the children of Scandinavian mothers and foreign fighters from Syria in the wake of the fall of the “Islamic state” in March 2019 are point in case. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden at first delayed and then only hesitantly or selectively supported their return – as Norway and Denmark had done with displaced Scandinavian children born to German soldiers after World War II. The contexts differ, but the echoes in the controversies around the respective children’s right to return ask us to look at the histories of Scandinavian German children’s displacement in Allied-occupied Germany in new ways and to broaden our... (More)
- Children born to enemy soldiers, so-called “children born of war,” are vulnerable to displacement. The contested repatriations of the children of Scandinavian mothers and foreign fighters from Syria in the wake of the fall of the “Islamic state” in March 2019 are point in case. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden at first delayed and then only hesitantly or selectively supported their return – as Norway and Denmark had done with displaced Scandinavian children born to German soldiers after World War II. The contexts differ, but the echoes in the controversies around the respective children’s right to return ask us to look at the histories of Scandinavian German children’s displacement in Allied-occupied Germany in new ways and to broaden our understanding of Scandinavian children ‘out of place’ today beyond security paradigms.
The main focus of this paper rests on the post-1945 Danish and, to a lesser degree, Norwegian cases of children’s displacement and repatriation from Germany. Through an analysis of the International Refugee Organization’s meeting protocols, case files, correspondence and the documentation of two Danish repatriation family histories in the late 1940s, I trace how the specific perceptions of these children as “children born of war” informed their national and familial affiliation, their access to IRO support as well as their final placement. Building on the existing scholarship on the contested repatriations of displaced Norwegian children from Germany after 1945, my analysis adds 1) new archival research on Danish cases of displacement and 2) a transnational perspective on how parental enemy stigma shaped the negotiations around the children’s repatriations between IRO staff and family members in the absence of state interest in their return. These insights shed new light on the root causes behind the controversies around the national and familial belonging of Scandinavian children “out-of-place” that apply to the post-45 generation, but also affect the region’s children of “Islamic State” foreign fighters as “children born of war.” The results thus open new lines of research for future comparative scholarship on the rights and inclusion of different groups and generations of displaced Scandinavian children. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/56423401-7eb1-4f35-827b-64d793008895
- author
- Koegeler-Abdi, Martina LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- in press
- subject
- keywords
- Children of Enemy Soldiers, Displacement, World War II, IRO, Repatriation
- in
- Scandia
- publisher
- Stiftelsen Scandia
- ISSN
- 0036-5483
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 56423401-7eb1-4f35-827b-64d793008895
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-09 06:26:27
- date last changed
- 2024-11-13 14:18:30
@article{56423401-7eb1-4f35-827b-64d793008895,
abstract = {{Children born to enemy soldiers, so-called “children born of war,” are vulnerable to displacement. The contested repatriations of the children of Scandinavian mothers and foreign fighters from Syria in the wake of the fall of the “Islamic state” in March 2019 are point in case. Norway, Denmark, and Sweden at first delayed and then only hesitantly or selectively supported their return – as Norway and Denmark had done with displaced Scandinavian children born to German soldiers after World War II. The contexts differ, but the echoes in the controversies around the respective children’s right to return ask us to look at the histories of Scandinavian German children’s displacement in Allied-occupied Germany in new ways and to broaden our understanding of Scandinavian children ‘out of place’ today beyond security paradigms. <br/><br/>The main focus of this paper rests on the post-1945 Danish and, to a lesser degree, Norwegian cases of children’s displacement and repatriation from Germany. Through an analysis of the International Refugee Organization’s meeting protocols, case files, correspondence and the documentation of two Danish repatriation family histories in the late 1940s, I trace how the specific perceptions of these children as “children born of war” informed their national and familial affiliation, their access to IRO support as well as their final placement. Building on the existing scholarship on the contested repatriations of displaced Norwegian children from Germany after 1945, my analysis adds 1) new archival research on Danish cases of displacement and 2) a transnational perspective on how parental enemy stigma shaped the negotiations around the children’s repatriations between IRO staff and family members in the absence of state interest in their return. These insights shed new light on the root causes behind the controversies around the national and familial belonging of Scandinavian children “out-of-place” that apply to the post-45 generation, but also affect the region’s children of “Islamic State” foreign fighters as “children born of war.” The results thus open new lines of research for future comparative scholarship on the rights and inclusion of different groups and generations of displaced Scandinavian children.}},
author = {{Koegeler-Abdi, Martina}},
issn = {{0036-5483}},
keywords = {{Children of Enemy Soldiers; Displacement; World War II; IRO; Repatriation}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Stiftelsen Scandia}},
series = {{Scandia}},
title = {{Scandinavian Children “Out-of-Place”? Historical Perspectives on Contested Repatriations of Scandinavian Children Born of War}},
year = {{2024}},
}