AEMI

AEMI ANNUAL MEETING 2014, RIGA, LATVIA
Thursday, 25 September 2014
After an informal gathering at the University
of Latvia Wednesday evening,
conference members met Thursday
morning in the Mazā Aula at the university.
Welcome speeches by Maija
Hinkle, chairperson of the board of the
Latvians Abroad Museum and Research
Centre, the primary host organization,
Inta Brikše, University of Latvia, Dean
of Faculty of Social Sciences, and AEMI
chairman Hans Storhaug, marked the
official opening of the annual conference.
In his keynote speech Pēteris Kārlis
Elferts, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ambassador-at-Large for the Diaspora
addressed the complexity of Latvian
diaspora, representing both a problem
for the economy as the country is losing
people and taxpayers, but also a huge
resource and great potential, since Latvians
abroad gained valuable education
and work experience that the country
will benefit from in the future.
The rest of the day was devoted to papers
and discussions related to the theme
Migration and Refugees - Now and Then.’
• Session 1 Refugees 1 was chaired by
Maija Hinkle, Latvians Abroad – Museum
and Research Centre. Speakers:
Dietmar Osses, Director of the LWL
Industrial Museum Hannover Colliery
in Bochum, Germany: Longing for
Home: Polish Displaced Persons in Germany
Maija Krūmiņa, Institute of Philosophy
and Sociology, University of Latvia,
Latvia: The New ‘Home’: Latvian Refugee’s
First Steps in Their Host Countries
Jacek Barski, Porta Polonica - Documentation
Centre for the Culture and
11
History of Poles in Germany, Bochum,
Germany: Remembrance Places on Polish
Slave Laborer, Displaced Persons and the
Polish Enclave on the New Internet Site
Porta Polonica
Maria Beatriz Rocha -Trindade, Universidade
Aberta, Portugal: Portugal:
Foreseeing the Refuge: Movements and
Personalities or Refugee/s?
• Session 2 Refugees 2 was chaired by
Baiba Bela, University of Latvia.
Speakers:
Susana Sabin Fernandez, University
of Southampton, UK: UK and US
Haven to Little Basque Refugees
Drago Župarić-Iljić, Simona Kuti,
Snježana Gregurović, Margareta Gregurović,
Dubravka Mlinarić, Mario
Bara, Institute for Migration and Ethnic
Studies, Zagreb: Old Wounds, New Displacements?
The Last 25 Years of Forced
Migrations in Croatia
Ieva Garda-Rozenberga, Institute of
Philosophy and Sociology, University of
Latvia: Latvians in Sweden: crossing the
real, imagined and storied borders
• Session 3 Scandinavian Migration was
chaired by Mathias Nilsson, The Swedish
Migration Center. Speakers:
Knut Djupedal, Museum of Migration,
Norway: Some Thoughts on Norwegian
Emigration for Religious Reasons in
the 16th Century
Maria Jarlsdotter Enckell, Åland
Islands Emigrant Institute, Finland:
1798-1867: Russian America and Its Latvians
Ann-Kristin Högman, Department
of Political, Historical, Religious and
Cultural Studies, Karlstad University:
Old and Alone? The Impact of the Great