R/Emigration verhindern. ,Heimat‘ im Kontext der Auswanderung von 1816/17

This article explores how the term Heimat was used in legal and literary responses to one of Germany’s first large-scale emigrations in 1816/17 and the management of returning migrants. It shows how r/emigration challenged Southwest German governments to define responsibilities of Heimat, especially in the light of people considered homeless. In response to the inconsistent and restrictive ways the governments handled the 1816/17 emigration, Heimat also became a recurrent term in political theory, reformist writing, and literary fiction. These texts examined not only why and how people r/emigrated, but also how Germans should be dealing with r/emigrants. Reading literary approaches alongside non-literary discourses about r/emigration in the writings of Hans von Gagern, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Ludwig Gall, M. Oesterlin, Friedrich Rückert and Adolph von Schaden, this article discusses how Heimat was used to beckon readers to denounce emigration and to propagate values of Heimat related to land, family ties, and community

Emigration · German · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · Ecology, Conservation, and Geographical Studies · European history and politics · German Literature and Culture Studies · History · Law