Migrant Work beyond Categorization: Migrants and Refugees at Work in the 20th-Century East Central Europe

Migrant Work beyond Categorization: Migrants and Refugees at Work in the 20th-Century East Central Europe
Prague, 19–20 November 2025

Venue: Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Gabčíkova 2362/10, 182 00 Prague (Conference Room B -110)

If you would like to attend the workshop, please register via e-mail tohma@mua.cas.cz

The workshop is organized by the project “Migration and Us: Mobility, Refugeedom and Border from the Humanities Perspective (MyGRACE)“, registration number CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008741, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within the Jan Amos Komenský Operational Programme (OP JAK), and co-financed by the European Union.

Day 1 (19 November)

14:00–14:15    Opening
Workshop opening by Nikola Tohma (Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences)
Welcome by Michal Frankl (Institute for Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences / Leibniz GWZO Prague) with the introduction of the MyGRACE project

14:15–16:00    Migrants and Refugees as Fluid Categories in Regional, National and International Labor-Related Contexts
Chair: Michal Frankl (Institute for Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences / Leibniz GWZO Prague)
Neja Blaj Hribar and Oliver Pejić (Institute of Contemporary History; Ljubljana): Between State-Imposed Solidarity and Popular Resentment: Refugees and Forced Migrants in the Social Hierarchy of Interwar-Yugoslav Slovenia (1918–1941)
Kaja Kumer-Haukanõmm and Hanna-Riin Karu (Tartu University): The Significance of Categorising and Defining People during World War II, Illustrated by the Example of Estonian Refugees in Europe
Benedetta Fabrucci (Independent Researcher): Crossing Borders and Shifting Labels. Refugees and Asylum Seekers between Italy and Yugoslavia in the Early
Decades of the Cold War as a Case Study on the Reception Practices and the Categorisation Process

16:00–16:30    Coffee Break

16:30–18:00    Institutionalized Labor Migration in (Post)Imperial Contexts: Between Voluntariness and Coercion
Chair: Andrea Pokludová (University of Ostrava)
Bohuslav Rejzl (Prague City Museum): Beyond the Categorization of Galician Seasonal Labour Migrants in Late Austria-Hungary
Pavel Kladiwa (University of Ostrava): Between Economic Ties and their Political Instrumentalisation: The Case of Optants, Seasonal Workers and Commuters from the Hlučín Region in Interwar Germany
Jakub Štofaník (Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences): State Institutions and Labour Migration between Czechoslovakia and France in Interwar Period

Day 2 (20 November)

9:30–11:00    Labor Migrants at Flight and Refugees at Work: From Early to Late Cold War Perspectives
Chair: Jakub Štofaník (Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences)
Sarah Knoll (University of Vienna): Political Refugee or Economic Migrant? Refugees in Austria between Cold War Politics and Labor Demands, 1950s – 1980s
Tom Drechsel (University of Jena): Does the Source Decide about Racism and Exploitation in the Past? Oral History Interviews with the GDR`s Mozambican Labour Migrants

11:00–11:30    Coffee Break

11:30–12:30    Socialist Labor Integration of International and Co-Ethnic Refugees
Chair: Ekaterina Shashlova (Faculty of Humanities, Charles University / Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences)
Nikola Tohma (Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences): The Ability of Those Disabled: Social Rights and Labor Integration of War Invalids, Chronically Ill Patients and Retirees among Greek Civil War Refugees in Socialist Czechoslovakia
Veronika Kaszás (Masaryk Institute and Archives, Czech Academy of Sciences): Romanian Refugees and Their Labor Integration in Late Socialist Hungary: Between State Policy and Informal Practices

12:30–12:45    Concluding remarks