Seminar: 'Refugee relief during the First World War: Belgian refugees in Birmingham’ - Jolien De Vuyst

Gateways Event

Thursday 07 November 2019, 18:00 - 20:00

Jolien De Vuyst (Ghent University)

During the First World War, 1.5 million Belgians or one fifth of the total population fled the country. 250.000 were welcomed in England, which still accounts for the largest refugee movement in British history. In her PhD, Jolien researched the local refugee relief in Birmingham. In this city, the War Refugees Committee Birmingham and District (WRCB) was founded to receive and to take care of approximately 5.000 Belgians for the wole duration of the war. The Belgian refugee community in Birmingham is studied from different angles. The WRCB is scrutinized: Who organised the refugee relief? What did this refugee relief entail? For whom was the help intended? To which rights were Belgian refugees entitled? What difficulties did they experience in retrieving their rights? Descendants of Belgian refugees were also interviewed to recover some personal testimonies, as well as to question what the refugee story of their ancestors still means for them today.

Venue: University of Kent, Darwin Lecture Theatre 2, Canterbury CT2 7NS

This event is part of the Seminar Series organised by In Flanders Fields Museum and School of History/Gateways to the First World War, University of Kent. All seminars are free and open to all. The full seminar programme is published here.

www.inflandersfields.be

www.gatewaysfww.org.uk

meer informatie / more information:

kenniscentrum@ieper.be

gateways@kent.ac.uk