Between 1870 and 1914 several million Eastern Europeans –Jews, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, ethnic Germans, Hungarians and others – migrated West, overwhelmingly to the United States, and to a lesser degree to Western, Northern and Central Europe as well as other destinations such as Argentina, Palestine, and South Africa. While much is known about their immigration experience, notably in the United States, the paths of mass migration across "green borders", through European railway stations and ports have been little studied. The dimensions of the transmigration were impressive. It is estimated that several million migrants crossed Germany from East to West between 1880 and 1914; the numbers for Britain and Scandinavia were also high. The First World War interrupted the transatlantic migration almost completely. In its aftermath migration across Europe and beyond was severely restricted. The impact of the migration restrictions especially in the United States on the transit countries has not been sufficiently studied.

This conference will focus on Jewish transmigrants – without ignoring others. Most of the two million Jews who left Eastern Europe for the West before the First World War crossed through Germany; probably around a million through Britain. In the West, Jews from the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia, and Romania were perceived as the most prominent group, not only numerically but also in terms of "visibility". Negative images of Jews were at the forefront of the perception of and public debates about the mass migration of "strangers" from the "East" in Britain, Imperial Germany and the United States. The Jewish mass migration was also distinctive as it concerned and involved established Jewish communities in the countries of transmigration and destination. And Jews from Eastern Europe in particular were affected by the post-1918 migration restrictions. Many were displaced by violent persecution in the aftermath of the war. Migration restrictions and statelessness literally deprived many of mobility.

The conference will bring together established and younger scholars whose work covers aspects of Jewish transmigration between 1860 and 1929. The organizers have drawn up a preliminary program and several specialist scholars have already committed to the conference. We do however welcome proposals from scholars currently researching the following topics:

- causes of the Jewish mass migration
- infrastructure of the migration (paths, mode of transport, steamship lines)
- hygiene and health
- the perspective of individual migrants
- return migration
- state policies and (trans-) migration
- Jewish organizations (migrants and/or established Jews in the West)
- public perception of transmigrants

Proposals (500 Words + short CV) are welcome: tb4 [a t] soton.ac.uk

Deadline: 15 June 2007

Authors whose proposals are being considered will be contacted by 30 September 2007.

A publication of the conference papers is planned. The conference language is English.