Comparing Migrations? Russian German Jewish Writers on the “Refugee Crisis”

This chapter analyzes the complex migration narratives by contemporary writers of Russian Jewish origin who came to Austria or Germany during the 1970s and 1990s, specifically Julya Rabinowich, Vladimir Vertlib, Olga Grjasnowa, Marina Frenk, and Sasha Marianna Salzmann. These authors share a notable tendency to connect and compare different migratory experiences, and to relate their individual and familial experiences of migration to those of other social groups. In their recent novels, they all reference the European “refugee crisis” of 2015, whether at length or in passing. My analysis of five novels that were published between 2016 and 2020 serves a twofold purpose: (1) To describe the precise ways in which literary texts facilitate comparisons between diverse historical experiences of flight and migration, for example, through the interaction between literary characters, the use of historical references, and the perception and construction of similarities. (2) To discuss what constitutes an effective literary-political response to the refugee crisis. After tracing a thematic shift in recent literature from a concern with narrative empathy to a focus on law and politics, I introduce the concept of postmigration, which suggests that the literature of migration is politically most effective not where it summons legal principles but where it challenges the very demarcation-line between migrants and non-migrants.