Historian Leo Lucassen (NIAS Fellow in 2002/03) took a look at what the past can teach us about the current European 'refugee crisis' in this year's Uhlenbeck Lecture.
Lucassen: “In the current polarized debate it can often can be heard that Europe threatens to succumb on the arrival of asylum seekers and our prosperity and security are in danger and refugees cannot be housed. Is that true? To find out it is useful to look in the past.”
See the slideshow of Leo Lucassen’s presentation at the NFA Day (27 May 2016)
Read more about this topic in Lucassen’s Comeniusspeech 2016
Leo Lucassen
Leo Lucassen is Research Director of the International Institute for Social History and Professor of Global Labour and Migration History at Leiden University. As a NIAS Fellow in 2002/03, he wrote “The Immigrant Threat“. His forthcoming book “Voorbij Fort Europa” will be published this summer. He twitters @Leolucassen.