€1.5 Million ERC Starting Grant for Project about Intergenerational Transmission of Memories by Félix Krawatzek

ZOiS researcher Félix Krawatzek has won an European Research Council (ERC) starting grant for his research proposal “Moving Russia(ns): Intergenerational Transmission of Memories Abroad and at Home” (MoveMeRU).

MoveMeRU compares the historical memories of migrants and non-migrants across two generations. The project studies the Russian migrant population in a favourable, hostile and neutral reception context, looking at Germany, Estonia and Canada. Like many other autocracies, Russia uses historical memories to appeal to the emotions of citizens at home and abroad and strengthen their sense of belonging to Russia. Children of migrants are exposed to two national histories: those told in their country of residence and those relating to their family’s homeland.

The project will make major academic contributions in three areas: 1) understanding the historical identification of young adults in migrant and non-migrant families with their parents’ country of origin; 2) identifying when the memories of migrant and non-migrant families converge or diverge across generations; 3) determining what historical memories contribute to solidarity and pluralistic political attitudes.

The project will run over the period of 5 years and will be carried out by a research team, including additional post-doctoral researchers, one PhD candidate, and one project assistant.

The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the leading European funding organisation for outstanding research. As part of the Horizon Europe programme, it funds innovative projects by researchers based in Europe.