Report on the International Workshop "Forced Migration and Refugees in Modern Ukraine: War and Post-War Arenas„
July 15–18, 2025, Regensburg
The Second World War and the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine have led to massive population movements. The workshop "Forced Migration and Refugees in Modern Ukraine: War and Post-War Arenas" explored the issue of forced migration in Ukraine from both historical and contemporary perspectives, with a particular focus on refugees, displaced persons, repatriates, and the development of the Ukrainian diaspora. While primarily addressing the Second World War and its aftermath, the event also examined mass deportations and totalitarian repressions in the Soviet Union, as well as the current wave of Ukrainian migration since 2022.
Initiated by Prof. Dr. Katrin Boeckh (IOS Regensburg / Think Space Ukraine, Germany) and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nataliia Nechaieva-Yuriichuk (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine), the workshop was held in Regensburg from July 15–18, 2025.
The workshop was organized by the Center for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies “Denkraum Ukraine” / “Think Space Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, financed by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA), in cooperation with Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine, and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) Regensburg, Germany.
July 16, 2025
- Halyna Yatseniuk (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine): The First Ukrainian Emigration (18th/19th century) and the Emergence of the Ukrainian Diaspora
- Oleksandr Rusnak (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine): Ukrainian Emigration in Europe after the First and Second World Wars: Experience of Forced Displacement and Integration
- Polina Barvinska (South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University named after K. D. Ushynsky, Odesa/University of Regensburg): Ukrainian Left-Wing Emigration in West Germany after the Second World War: Formation, Political Goals and Forms of Communication
- Tetyana Panchenko (V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Ukraine/Fellow of Think Space Ukraine, Germany): Displaced People as a Human Capital for Ukraine’s Recovery: the Case of Germany
Public Presentation by Martin Aust “The Long History of Polish Ostpolitik and Russia's Current War against Ukraine”
in cooperation with Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Stadt Regensburg
July 17, 2025
- Nataliia Nechaieva-Yuriichuk (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine): Ukraine between Molotov and Ribbentrop: Lessons of History in the Light of the Contemporary War
- Vitaliy Makar (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine): Retrospective Analysis of the Issue of Ukrainian Refugees and Displaced Persons after the Second World War
- Andrii Kohut (State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine): KGB and the Deportations of Ukrainians (online)
- Oleh Turiy (Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine): Greek-Catholic Priests in Prison Camps and in Exile. New Oral History Sources
- Liliia Tsyganenko (Izmail State Humanitarian University, Ukraine): Repatriates and Displaced Persons in the Lower Danube Region after the Second World War. Archive Documents and Oral Testimonies
- Svetlana Suveică (IOS Regensburg, Germany): Coping with Collapse: Structural Constraints and Survival during the 1944 Romanian and German Withdrawal from Transnistria
July 18, 2025
- Intern Session. Presentation by Olga Kröninger (KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg / Concentration Camp Flossenbürg)
