German Heimat in the Age of Migration: An Introduction

In present-day Germany, Heimat is a much-debated concept, particularly in connection with controversies over immigration. Taking these contemporary struggles as a starting point, this special issue focuses on their antecedents in the nineteenth century. During much of the era from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the eve of the First World War, Germans were in a position quite the opposite than the one they occupy today. Millions became emigrants, leaving behind an old, mostly rural home in the uncertain hope of finding a new one, either in rapidly expanding cities or overseas. Experiences of migration were arguably central to the rise of Heimat discourses: “home” evolved into an emphatically evoked place because of its increasing precariousness. After delineating recent trends in the interdisciplinary research on the German concept of Heimat, this introduction outlines the aims and the historical framework of the issue, summarizes the subsequent articles and discusses their findings.