The project „Post-WWII Migration Flows in the V4 States in the Context of Propaganda Studies” (No. 22030354) coordinated by Dr. Lucia Heldáková (Institute of Social Sciences, Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences) was realized with the support of the International Visegrad Fund. The Centre for Social Sciences Institute for Minority Studies from Budapest was represented in the project by Dr. András Morauszki. In the framework of this project, the research results of our two colleagues, Dr. Ágnes Tóth and Dr. Réka Marchut were published.

The project was carried out with the cross-border cooperation and connection of regional research of Central Europe in the V4 countries, in collaboration with four research institutes and universities from Slovakia, Czechia, Poland and Hungary. The focus was on the migration propaganda mechanism in the post-war migration processes in the respective countries. This regional approach of the issue was hitherto absent in the historiography.

The leaders of the project consider the popularization of science and research results a necessary part of every project, therefore the results were presented not only to the scientific community but to the lay public as well in three different forms during the project period.

On 21 January 2022, an international conference was organized with the participation of the regional experts on forced migration after WWII.

Then in the autumn of this year, an interactive traveling exhibition took place, titled „Migration Flows Propaganda”.  Those interested could visit the exhibition in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland or Czechia. In Hungary, this exhibition was open from 27-28 November at our institute. The participants showed the propaganda mechanism related to mass migration using attractive materials. The exhibition was high quality not only in terms of content, but also technically. Using the QR codes on each banner the visitors were able to hear more details about the issue, watch videos or read online publications.

At the end of the year the volume „Post-WWII Migration in the V4 Countries. Propaganda Analysis of Central European Migration Flows” edited by Lucia Heldáková was published. The volume includes five studies regarding the migration to the Czechoslovak-Polish borderland (Ondřej Kolář), the migration of Slovaks from Hungary to Slovakia (Lucia Heldáková), the framing of post-war migration flow in the Polish propaganda (Katarzyna Andrejuk) and the expulsion of the German minority from Hungary.

Réka Marchut wrote about „The Expulsion of Ethnic Germans from Hungary Considering International Politics”. International politics played a key role not only in the preparation and authorization, but also during the implementation of the expulsion. This problem is related strongly to the question of responsibility for the expulsion.

Ágnes Tóth analyzed „The Impact of the War and Collective Punishment on Ethnic German Families” in her study. The study presents the life situations of German families in the last period of the war and in the following decades in Hungary. It also focuses on various personal and community strategies that had to be applied by those who wanted to survive the hopeless situation.

You can find more details about the project on this webpage: https://postww2migration.com/

Réka Marchut