Franziska Lamp: "Women in Transit. The Experiences and Resettlement Practices of Displaced Women Migrating through Post-War Austria (1945-1960)"

In my presentation I will talk about the gendered displacement and resettlement experiences of refugee women who were “in transit” through post-war Austria and who wanted to emigrate to countries like the United States, the UK, Australia or Canada. My dissertation project analyzes the gender-specific eligibility criteria of job placement programs for refugee women and the intersectional factors that influenced their migration, like their family status, professional skills, nationality or religion. Due to economic considerations, resettlement countries considered women with dependents as less favorable candidates for immigration. Pregnant women were either not accepted at all or sent back after their health status was discovered during the medical examinations prior to resettlement. However, at the same time young and employable displaced women were highly sought-after foreign workers. While there has been significant research on post-war migration regimes in Europe, the intersection between gender dynamics and resettlement programs for displaced women has not been thoroughly analyzed. This project aims to address this gap by examining both the negotiation of resettlement programs at the international level as well as biographical case studies and strategies of displaced women.

Monthly Meeting: "Where is the Global?" of the FSP Global History 
Held every third Monday, 4.45 pm - 6.15 pm 


Franziska Lamp is PhD-researcher and part of the DACH project on "Norms, Regulation and Refugee Agency: Negotiating the Migration Regimes" at the Department of Contemporary History, Uni Wien.