DU Interview: Ukrainian Migration to Germany after 2022 and German Experiences of Expulsion after 1945

Jana Osterkamp (JO): The bigger question of our discussion is what and who helps when you are forced to leave your home. Let’s begin with “what”. Are there any similarities between material things that German expellees and Ukrainian refugees took with them when they left? What are people trying to save by keeping these objects?

Katrin Boeckh (KB): German expellees from Eastern Europe were forced into urgent migration and had little time to prepare. They usually took only the most necessary items such as clothes, food, and documents. At the same time, many tried to carry objects of symbolic or emotional value, including family photographs, religious items, or certificates.

Their journey to Germany was long and difficult, and many lost their possessions along the way, also through theft or confiscation. The few items that remained later became treasured family belongings. This is also reflected today in so-called “Heimatstuben,” rooms in private homes where such family artifacts are preserved and displayed.

The experience of expulsion gave the German expellees the feeling that people can lose almost everything, including their dignity. As a result, immaterial aspects such as education, personal values, and religious faith often became even more important than material possessions that the expellees carried with them. 

Tanja Hoggan-Kloubert (THK): We can draw some parallels between the experiences of German expellees and Ukrainian migrants. At the same time, reflecting on the Ukrainian case is more challenging, as it is an ongoing process and many outcomes are still uncertain. Overall, these experiences can be summarized in a striking way: losing everything, yet still trying to keep something.

We explored this idea in our project “Stories of Flight and Arrival” in Augsburg. We asked Ukrainian female refugees a simple but revealing question: What was in your suitcase when you left Ukraine? In total, 40 interviews were conducted with women, both inside and outside Ukraine.

A key concept that emerged is the Ukrainian term “тривожна валізка” -- literally a “suitcase of worry.” In the three months leading up to the war, many women repeatedly packed and unpacked such a suitcase in preparation for a possible escape. However, when the war actually began, the contents often changed in unexpected ways. 

One Ukrainian refugee, however, who endured a difficult journey through Russian filtration camps, took her student record book with her. For her, it was a way to prove in a new country that she had an education and a past -- and, in her own words, to preserve her dignity.

JO: Which social networks and organizations could German expellees and Ukrainian refugees rely on? 

KB: Social networks were crucial for German expellees. After the Second World War, they had no real country to return to: Germany was devastated, and its government barely functioned. At that time, the only organizations that remained functioning were churches. For example, the Evangelic Church and Caritas managed to keep their structures and helped millions of displaced persons (DPs). 

By the late 1940s, expellees formed regional compatriot groups representing their Eastern European homelands, creating local organizations that united communities from regions like Silesia, the Baltics, and the Sudetenland. Although the Federal Ministry of Displaced Persons was established in 1949 in Germany, it offered limited support. So these were mostly the local networks that filled the social and emotional gap, providing flexible and empathetic assistance.

THK:  Refugees need more than basic support -- they need empathy and solidarity. Luckily, we have experienced a big wave of solidarity in Augsburg since 2022. The Ukrainian diaspora organized demonstrations and activist initiatives.

The city of Augsburg admitted it could not manage the situation alone. Local civil society stepped in, helping to register around 5.000 people within six months, supported by strong engagement from the local population.

Importantly, refugees themselves wanted to contribute. They always expressed gratitude but also a strong need to give back. Being able to help others restores a sense of dignity and purpose. This was supported by the fact that Ukrainian civil society is highly active, shaped by experiences like the Revolution of Dignity 2013-2014, which many refugees brought with them to Germany. This way, now you can find many Ukrainian organizations in Germany, founded by Ukrainians. 

JO: Has it become more difficult to talk about the war in Ukraine after four years of the full-scale Russian invasion?

THK: In Augsburg, we are seeing a growing fatigue with the war and a certain decline in willingness to support Ukraine. At the same time, many refugees are becoming more selective in sharing their stories, as they do not want to burden others with their traumatic experiences.

In response, we have been exploring a “new language” of storytelling. This led to our project “What is in the package?”, inspired by the regular parcels exchanged between Ukraine and Germany. By looking at their contents, we found that objects like Ukrainian honey or Carpathian tea create a sense of home in Germany for Ukrainians, while sending practical items -- such as high-quality German tools -- to family in Ukraine expresses care and connection.

JO: It took German expellees a lot of time to be able talk about their experiences. How did they address the unspeakable and traumatic experiences of expulsion? 

KB: The experience of German expellees was quite different from Ukrainian migration after 2022. They rarely spoke about many parts of their suffering -- like sexual violence – and it usually stayed within the family. Those family talks provided psychological support for the victims.

Over time, the second generation grew somewhat tired of hearing the same tragic stories of expulsion repeatedly.

In public, expellees built their own spaces to remember and reconnect, for example through annual Sudeten German gatherings. Their history also became more visible in politics, where commemorations often highlighted how expellees helped rebuild Germany’s economy, which was destroyed after the Second World War. 

For many of them, finding work was crucial because it gave them a sense of dignity and purpose. At the same time, they were not always welcomed by local Germans, even though the expellees were eager to contribute.

JO: Which places are important for migrants and refugees? What does it say about their culture of remembrance?

THK: Symbolic signs of belonging are important, especially when they connect people to their past. 

In Augsburg, there are initiatives that highlight Ukrainian roots in the city. One project organizes guided walks to trace earlier generations of Ukrainians, including figures like the Ukrainian writer Yurii Klen, who is buried there. 

There are also active local initiatives -- such as appeals to Augsburg politicians to officially recognize Holodomor -- which show that Ukrainian culture of remembrance continues to be actively shaped.

KB: The monument tradition of German expellees began in the 1950s, when memorials were erected in places of resettlement as symbols of belonging. In the 1960s, however, this practice declined, alongside growing critical debates about the Nazi occupation in Eastern Europe.

After the end of communism, many expellees were able to return to their former homes, often as tourists. Still, it is important to emphasize that these monuments cannot replace a critical engagement with the German past and the history of Nazi rule.

JO: What communication channels were used by German expellees and are now used by Ukrainian migrants? How has the way people narrate flight experiences changed with the rise of social media?

KB: German expellees communicated mainly through letters, which were private and material, preserving personal handwriting. In contrast, social media is public and widely accessible. Today, many Germans -- especially second and third generations of expellees -- use platforms like Facebook groups to trace their roots.

THK: In the case of Ukrainian refugees, we witness a very different situation. Ukrainians actively use social media, also for communicating their flight experience, the issues of integration into a foreign environment. A colleague of mine – who fled Ukraine because of the war – writes a sort of Facebook diary, describing her personal experiences in Germany: children adapting to school or visiting doctors. She receives many reposts as others can easily relate to the story. At the same time, this everyday life unfolds alongside an overwhelming flow of tragic news coming from Ukraine.

This discussion was part of the Winter School 2026 “Ukrainian Migration in Europe and Globally in the 20th and 21st Century” in Munich, organized by “Denkraum Ukraine” / “Think Space Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, financed by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) through the funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Ukrainian Free University (UFU, Munich), the Bukovina Institute at the University of Augsburg, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Slavic Department) and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) Regensburg.