Le paradoxe de la fuite

We cannot simply take away fundamental rights from some people and continue to apply them to others. As Maya Angelou, American writer and icon of the civil rights movement, so aptly put it, they are like air: either everyone has them – or no one does.

Fleeing is a contradiction: you want to stay, but you have to leave. Fleeing is traumatic: you seek safety, but to do so you have to put your life in danger. And fleeing (to Europe) is paradoxical: one must break the law, i.e. cross borders ‘illegally’, in order to obtain the right to asylum. Only to face contradictory demands and unachievable integration requirements in the host country.

Judith Kohlenberger, a migration specialist, provides a detailed analysis of how we deal with deportations and displaced persons, traces historical and recent developments – not only since the war in Ukraine – from a legal, social and individual perspective, and shows how we can achieve a humane asylum and integration policy if we assume our moral responsibility and trust in the strength of our institutions, our rule of law and our civil society.

Since 1984, the ‘Bibliothèque allemande’ collection has been publishing works related to Germany. It brings together French publications on Franco-German research topics, reflecting developments in key areas of the humanities and social sciences in Germany. It also publishes French translations of innovative German texts, such as classics (in history, philosophy, sociology, etc.). Through this scientific exchange, the ‘Bibliothèque allemande’ facilitates the transmission of knowledge across borders, thereby strengthening the intercultural ties that are the strength of Europe.