The current EU migration and asylum policy crisis has been perceived to constitute one of the most serious challenges for European security. The attitude of fear and reluctance towards admission of cultural others (including: refugees, asylum seekers and the immigrants) has been particularly visible in the V4 countries. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine the grounds of such a position with reference to general European tendencies as well as specific features of attitudes of Poland and Slovakia as the representatives of V4 countries in the light of their particular economic and social situation. Due to volume limitations the author will focus mainly on the two presented States. The decision regarding choice of Poland arises from the fact that as the only V4 State it has voted in favour of the mandatory quota of relocation of 120.000 refugees. Instead Slovakia constitutes the most vivid example pro-European parties changing rhetoric for more national which is quite transparent for the V4 countries. The whole analysis has been conducted in the specific context of relocation of the symbolic division of Europe an replacement of ideological Iron Curtain with cultural Velvet Curtain which leads to the phenomenon of culturalisation. 

Solidarity as one of the main values of the European Union is also recognizedamong the guiding principles of the EU asylum policy. In the period of the migrationcrisis, this principle was the most important for the EU Member Statesand very difficult to implement. The purpose of this article is to analyze the concept of solidarity, as enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty, as well as in the positions of the Member States and EU institutions. The article highlights the current debate, initiated by the Visegrad group under the Slovakian Presidency in the Council, around the proposed “flexible” or “effective solidarity” in asylum policy. Thus, the author contributes to understanding the ways, problems and prospects of refugees’ relocation, as well as the upcoming reform of the Dublin system. Based on the study of the summits conclusions, Council meetings in its various formats, the EU leaders’ statements, the author considers that divergence not only of the Member States positions, but also those of the EU institutions on the specific forms of participation in managing migration and asylum could entail more fragmentation and differentiation within the Union. At the same time, the author reveals the contradiction in the Visegrad countries’ position: while dreaming about re-nationalization of asylum and engaging in confrontation with the Commission the CEE countries by no means intend to introduce and maintain border control within the Schengen area.

The migrant crisis in Europe, which reached its zenith in 2015, made EU politicians realize the urgent need for a more effective migration policy that would rely more on supranational cooperation. Absence of this policy triggers migrant influx to Europe, in particular of unqualified labour force, and enhances illegal migration from which organized criminal groups profit enormously. Moreover, uncontrolled migration processes give rise to a number of social, economic, political and cultural problems all across the EU, and thus nurture the Eurosceptic mood. This leads to societal negation of the European integration project and provides fertile soil to the spread of radicalism and xenophobia. The aim of the study is to capture the position of European Parliament on recent migrant crisis. The Parliament, a democratically legitimate body, which claims the right to represent European societies, advocates adoption of systemic EU approach to migration which should be based on the respect of human rights and creation of legal migration pathways for refugees and workers needed by Europe. The solution of the present migrant crisis is sought by the EP in moving towards a common, comprehensive European immigration policy and enhanced solidarity of EU member states in response to increased influx of refugees from conflict zones.

The JDC is an American Jewish organization that assists overseas Jewish communities in distress. It is responsible to “American Jewry” and those organizations that fund it. Bauer (1974, 19) argued that the JDC has been guided by its founding “pledge of impartiality – it steers clear of political involvements” and takes pride in being “probably the only really non-partisan organization in Jewish life.” This paper examines the role of the JDC in caring for Soviet émigrés who left on visas for Israel but chose to resettle elsewhere. They were known as “dropouts” (Noshrim in Hebrew). It also deals with the JDC policy toward recently settled Russian Jews who left Israel to resettle elsewhere. In its work with Soviet Jewish emigres did the JDC serve the interests of the Israeli government, its donors and or the emigres? Did the JDC abide by its pledge of impartiality? Did the JDC try to force them to resettle in Israel against their wishes? The paper focuses on the spring of 1976 when the number of dropouts outnumbered those resettling in Israel. This led to a joint committee of Israelis and American Jews to coordinate a response. The ‘freedom of choice’ debate ensued; should Soviet Jews resettle in Israel or have the freedom to choose where to resettle? The findings here are based on archival records in the JDC, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the CJF (Jewish federations) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC). The author also conducted interviews and reviewed secondary sources. The paper should contribute to a better understanding of the JDC and its past ties to Israel and the American Jewish community.

My essay discusses a new attempt in young Israeli novels to break out of the suffocation and stagnation of the dominant literary protagonist. The discussion revolves around Ilai Rowner’s recent novel, Deserter (2015), which suggests ‘desertion’ as an option of to overcome nationalized structures of the self and of break new ground for its existence. The protagonist’s escape and a quest for a non-national position are destined to failure, however, reflecting the current state of political consciousness among young Israeli authors, and, I argue, the unthinkability of political exile in contemporary Israeli novels. The discussion presented here follows the renewed interest in Hanna Arendt’s exemplary essay “We Refugees” (1943) in light of the current refugees’ crisis in Europe among scholars such as Giorgio Agamben, Amal Jamal and Itamar Mann. While Agamben develops a phenomenology of being-a-refugee, severing the bond between nation and territory, his work lacks an experiential account of being a refugee. In light of this absence, I argue that Rowner’s protagonist remains blind to the particular identities he encounters, actively erasing the profound differences between deserters and refugees, persecutors and persecuted. While he recognizes the haunted element in him, Rowners’ protagonist’s obliviousness to the specific experiential trappings of his own story effectively sterilizes the novel’s political acuity through the effort to adopt an all-human perspective.

The perception of Europe and Europeans by refugees from Dahuk. A report from research conducted in a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan

This article presents the analysis from a research project carried out by the author in Dahuk, a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan in July 2016. The research project concerned the perception of Europe and Europeans by Arabs and Yazidis, who stayed in the refugee camp. Based on unstructured observations and in-depth interviews, the following images of Europe and Europeans were prominent in refugees’ narratives: a belief in the possibility of quick enrichment in Europe, relaxed relationships between family and friends in Europe, relaxed relations between women and men in Europe and the liberal lifestyle of European women. Based on the gathered data, the author analyses chances of respondents’ integration in Europe. The author focuses on factors conducive to integration and factors that impede integration. This subject has gained particular importance during the recent migration crisis. The arrival of big number of refugees from the Middle East to Europe once again sparked public debates about the possibility for their integration in Europe.

Analyzing Poland’s current activity regarding the influx of refugees and the formulated attitude towards action in the field of restriction and control of the influx undertaken by European and international institutions, one should notice increasing reluctance to accept immigrants. What is more, there is a growing trend in the public debate in Poland to identify (to correlate) the influx of refugees with the problem of security. Although Poland is neither located on the main transit routes nor a destination for immigrants (including refugees), there is a process of systematically including this issue in the public discourse and analyzing the consequences of the potential increase in the influx of immigrants in the context of state security. Relationships that arise at the interface between migration and security point to the process of securitization of immigration, which involves integrating migration issues into a catalogue of state security threats and considering them through the lens of possible threats to the receiving societies.

Since 2015, the University College of Teacher Education in Styria (Austria) has been contributing to the integration of people who had had to leave their countries as refugees. This way, pupils from vocational schools, students training to become teachers as well as teachers get an insight into the situation and challenges of refugees. The initiative Connect2Learn focuses on encounters and mutual learning. Cultural differences are perceived as an opportunity for reflection, learning and professional development. Through encounters and reflections, barriers and mutual fear of contact are to be dismantled. In this article, three activities of Connect2Learn are described as examples: encounters of (future) teachers and refugees in heterogeneous discussion groups in the sett ing of a World-Café, a three-week joint course for refugees and Austrian pupils at a vocational school and autonomous implementation of voluntary instruction to refugees in computer skills.

Characteristics of Polish Migration Policy in the Context of the European Refugee Crisis

Migration policy, which until recently was absent in public space, has found its place in public debate and scientific research in recent years. Undoubtedly, the migration policy gained in popularity in 2015, when migrants began to migrate to Europe on a massive scale and the situation of their uncontrolled influx was described as a migration crisis. Although migration is a common phenomenon and has been known for years, increased migratory movements require countries to pursue a well-considered and consistent policy in this area. The situation in Europe has prompted reflection on Polish policy towards foreigners, which at that time, was different from European standards.

Migration as a weapon sounds like a policy statement by resurgent nationalistic parties (and governments) in the West. However, politics and the human cost aside, what if an adversary (both state and non-state actor) does exploit the current global crisis of mass migration due to globalization, war, and political unrest? This article will look at the ongoing mass migration to the European Union within the wider security context of the so-called hybrid threats and/or ‘grey zone’ tactics. It looks at the various legal categories of migration as how the law can be weaponized as so-called ‘lawfare’ to undermine the existing legal frameworks distinguishing between legal and illegal migration. The authors recognize the possibility that this article will be used as an argument by the political actors involved for their nationalistic and anti-migration politics and policies. Yet, we believe that the potential of abusing the current vacuum for political gains along ideological party lines makes it necessary to provide a wider legal-security focused perspective on mass migration.

Migration policy of Poland towards European migration crisis

The state policy is a derivative of many factors, both internal and external. It is implemented through appropriate activities in various fields of its functioning. From 2015, there has been a revival of the debate over migration issues that are the result of the humanitarian crisis that Europe has been struggling with. According to data from the International Organization for Migration, the number of people seeking a refuge or a better life in Europe has increased fourfold in one year. This situation has forced action by the European Union and individual states aimed at limiting the scale of illegal immigration. The aim of the article is to analyze Poland’s migration policy in the context of actions taken by EU institutions. The first part of the work contains theoretical considerations regarding migration policy. In the second one, the author presented attempts to solve the migration crisis by the European Union together with the attitudes of Polish governments towards immigrants and the issue of their relocation. The article presents the changes that have been made in the Polish legal and institutional system. The undertaken analysis indicates that in the migration policy, which is largely reactionary in nature, the chief value is safety.

Situation of immigrants and refugees in Ukraine from 1991 to 2013

The author shows the history of the immigration system and refugees in Ukraine. The discussed period of 1991–2013 is not accidental and is quite important in the process of shaping the rights of immigrants and refugees.

Refugees of the 21st Century. Area of threats – Area of challenges

Current migratory movements have been mostly connected with the refugee crisis initiated in 2015, the deliberate actions of the government of Belarus in 2021 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It should be assumed that the pursuit of people towards the area of security is associated with multiple threats and challenges both for themselves and for their surroundings. The problems concern countries of departure, transit and destination. In each of these “stages” there are multiple threats affecting not only the refugees themselves. The main problem is the identification and analysis of threats, which would allow to define the conditions for strengthening the area of security related to migration. Threats concern both the life and health of people on the move (death in transit, loss of health, exposure to criminal and extreme political circles, involvement in criminal activities, economic exploitation, ethnic and religious animosities and conflicts) and for the institutions of states (social assistance, internal security). Global events indicate that threats, problems and challenges will continue to exist. It is therefore necessary to adapt the forms of institutional actions towards the problem in order to neutralize the indicated threats.

Organizations and institutions in Munich for refugees – selected aspects

Russia’s war in Ukraine has been ongoing since 2014, but initially Russian actions took the form of a hybrid war. Ukraine was in peaceful relations with the rest of the world when Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea without a declaration of war and waged war in Donbass. Its full-scale scope, launched on February 24, 2022, was unprecedented in post-war Europe and caused several million people living in the invaded country to leave Ukrainian territory. The purpose of this article is to show how organizations and institutions in Munich are addressing the influx of refugees into the city, including refugees from Ukraine. As a research hypothesis, it was assumed that in Germany, including Munich, the German experience of 2015 and subsequent years in accepting newcomers from the Middle East played a huge role in solving the problems of refugees from Ukraine after February 24, 2022. The basic research problems are contained in questions such as: what changes in asylum law have been made in Germany by the federal government; who in the city of Munich is entitled to assistance and what benefits does it cover?; what is the assistance to refugees provided by the Office for Housing and Migration in Munich?; what does the Office for the Prevention of Homelessness do?; what are the tasks of the Local Mediation Office?; what are the competencies of the so-called Social Service for the Deaf?; what is the scope of activities of the Office of Return Assistance?; what are the return offices in Bavaria?; what are the activities of the Office for Intercultural Work?; what is the scope of activities of the Foreign Qualification Development Service Center? The leading research method used in the research conducted is institutionallegal analysis.

Migrations as a challenge for pedagogy and intercultural education

The aim of the article is to show the issue of migration, its specificity and scale, and to indicate the challenges that this 21st century phenomenon poses to pedagogy and intercultural education. The multi-million crowd of migrants coming from a different cultural circle poses new challenges for the communities. Their essence is the need to overcome a reducing vision of the world. The research problem here is the understanding of the complexity of the international migration movement, and the introduction of the notion of taming strangeness and the category of the Other as a response of intercultural pedagogy to the challenges posed by migrations in the socio-educational space. The study used the method of desk research and critical analysis of sources, meta-analysis of concepts and categories constituting the research problem comprised in the title. As a way to understand the specificity of migration, there is a suggestion to analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of interdisciplinary sources and selected international documents. Theoretical analyses of the indicated categories lead to pedagogical and educational implications in the context of shaping the meeting space, an attitude of openness, developing a dialogical attitude, creative understanding of differences and acceptance of the Other in intercultural education.

Currently, Türkiye is a country with the largest number of refugees in the world. Over 3.7 million of them come from Syria. At the beginning of the migration crisis which affected European Union member states, Türkiye as a transit destination provided refugees with a place at Temporary Accommodation Centers (TACs). After signing the agreement with the European Union (on March, 21 2016) and with the increasing number of refugees in Türkiye, it became impossible to place all of them in refugee camps. Syrians began to migrate not only to border cities and towns, but also to Istanbul and other Turkish metropolises. This article aims to show the impact of refugees on the situation of Istanbul and other Turkish cities. The analysis is intended to answer the following questions: how did refugees change the structure of Turkish cities? How did the migrations of the Syrian community affect the border cities of Türkiye and the metropolises in the western and central part of the country? Which socio-economic problems did the increase in the number of refugees generate in Türkiye? What kind of social problems arose in Turkish cities with the arrival of Syrian refugees?

In the context of the military conflict in Ukraine, since February 24, 2022, the Polish government has decided to include refugee children in the continuation and implementation of education in the Polish education system at various stages and levels of education. Educational institutions in Poland have faced the great challenge of accepting refugee children into the Polish education system. Due to the war situation, both children with a refugee background and their guardians (mothers), as well as teachers, were confronted with the reality that showed many aspects of education and the implementation of the didactic process in a situation hitherto unknown and unexpected. The article aims to provide a preliminary diagnosis of the education process of children with a refugee background from the perspective of teachers and institutional support. In addition, the analysis also attempted to assess the health and mental well-being of children with experience of war trauma. Critical reflection on the education process of refugee children in Poland is based on available reports and studies of quantitative and qualitative research carried out primarily by public institutions (Polish Ministry of Education and Science, UNHCR, Integrated Educational Platform) and the private sector (Centre for Citizenship Education 2022–2023).

The article considers the issue of the migration crisis of Ukrainian refugees to EU member states caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. An elucidation was made as to the quantity of Ukrainian refugees taken in by European states since the Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine commenced. An analysis of forms of protection for individuals in the European Union is conducted, including refugee status and temporary protection. The legislation of refugee status in the EU is represented through the prism of the analysis of the Council Directive 2001/55/EC on temporary protection. The key difference between temporary protection and refugee status is defined. The key problems faced by European countries are highlighted; concurrently, the obstacles experienced by Ukrainian refugees are presented, namely, obtaining housing and employment. Special attention was paid to the issue of “fatigue” and exhaustion of social systems and ordinary citizens in EU countries. The authors present the results of the study on the mechanisms of providing protection and asylum to Ukrainian refugees in the EU. Furthermore, the 10-point strategy suggested by the European Commission to the European Council and the Justice and Home Affairs Council in order to support EU countries in their endeavor of admitting Ukrainian refugees has been duly given attention. The core research objectives revolve around the effectiveness of protection mechanisms for Ukrainian refugees in the EU, and any consequences said system may bring about for both the EU and Ukraine.

The full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which was accompanied by the violation of humanitarian law and the demolition of civilian infrastructure, has led to the emergence of forced migration. Millions of people left the country within a short period. On March 4, the EU Temporary Protection Directive was reactivated in response to the unprecedented flow of migrants from Ukraine. EU countries have opened their borders to migrants from Ukraine, providing them with shelter and assistance. Poland and its neighbouring states, such as Romania, Moldova, Hungary, as well as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, received the highest quantity of migrants. The wave of migration has had a noticeable influence on the functioning of labour markets and employment, even in those regions of Ukraine which have not been exposed to military activity. Comprehensive studies show that external migration, among other factors, will significantly affect the demographic situation in Ukraine due to the increase in the number of people who do not plan to return from abroad. A key factor in the crisis is the fact that the majority of these people is youth of employable age and children. Besides, educational migration from Ukraine to EU countries has also increased significantly. The influx of immigrants who have established themselves in the nations of the European Union have significantly impacted the labour markets of these countries, putting a considerable strain on the public funds of the host countries. The question of Ukrainian immigrants’ ability to engage in activities such as schooling (including access to educational opportunities for children), employment, residence, and healthcare in both the immediate and long-term future is coming to the fore. Ukrainian and international scholars alike have done numerous studies on external migration from Ukraine; nonetheless, the forced migration resulting from the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine has yet to be adequately examined. Subsequently, the article is intended to examine the displacement circumstances in Ukraine and the EU and to evaluate the consequence of compulsory external migration in Ukraine and the EU.

In Poland, the region where the phenomenon of multiculturalism is most strongly represented is Upper Silesia. Upper Silesia, its historical hosts, have been confronted with German, Polish and Czech nationalism since the mid-21st century. Initially, they were forced to determine their ethnic affiliation, then, due to the change of borders, they were forced to move to one or the other side of the newly established Polish-German border in 1922. After 1945, they were subjected to strong repression, deportation to forced labor camps, forced displacement, degrading verification of nationality, and then they were confronted with the Polish population who came to Upper Silesia. Most often, the Poles who arrived were hostile to the Upper Silesians. The aim of this article is to answer the question whether the experiences of integration of the indigenous population of Upper Silesia into the social, cultural, economic and political structures of the Polish state after World War II can be related to a similar process that will take place after the end of hostilities in the eastern regions of the Ukrainian state. . The starting point is the thesis that the Upper Silesian experience of the rehabilitation and citizenship verification procedures should serve as a warning against the mistakes made in Upper Silesia rather than as a useful reference point.