German Law in Context Home and Away: Understanding Europe's Refugee Crisis

The annual German Law in Context seminar this year turns its attention to the refugee crisis in Europe. The largest wave of human migration since World War II has helped populist political forces gain ground in dramatic fashion, upsetting a decades-old political consensus in Denmark and Holland and Poland and Germany and Austria and Hungary and Spain and Italy.  As the United Kingdom's "Brexit" referendum shockingly demonstrated, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the European Union itself - with its freedom of movement and open internal borders and common external frontier - will be the most significant political fatality of the crisis.

The seminar consists of lectures, film screenings and other discussions. Highlights include a keynote address on October 7 by Professor David Miller of Oxford University. A full schedule is below.

Seminar Overview

Calendar of Events

14 September

Skype Lecture, "German and European Refugee and Asylum Law" 
Prof. Jürgen Bast, University of Giessen
4:00-6:00, Center for Global Learning, Room 123

28 September

Lecture, "International Law Dimensionsof Refugee and Asylum Crisis"
Prof. David Baluarte, Washington and Lee University
5:00-7:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom C
Lecture Podcast

7 October

Keynote Address, "The European Migration Crisis:Ethical and Political Issues"
Prof. David Miller, Oxford University
3:00-5:00, Lewis Hall, Millhiser Moot Court Room

12 October

Film Screening and Discussion
Land in Sicht /Landin Sight (2013), Dirs: Judith Keil& Antje Kruska
6:00-8:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom C

19 October

Lecture, "The Refugee Crisis as aCrisis for German Justice"
Judge Franziska Hötte, Düsseldorf Administrative Court
4:00-6:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom B

20 October

Discussion, "Judging Asylum:A Comparative Dialogue"
Judge Franziska Hötte (Düsseldorf Administrative Court) and Senior U.S. Immigration Judge Paul Wikham Schmidt
4:00-6:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom A

26 October

Film Screening and Discussion
"Willkommen aufDeutsch"/"Welcome in German" (2014), Dirs: Hauke Wendler& Carsten Rau
6:00-8:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom C

3 November

Lecture, "Migration to Germany:A Cultural History"
Prof. Priscilla Layne, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
4:00-6:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom C

4-5 November

Institute for Honor Annual Symposium 
Keynote Address, Dr. Peter Wittig
Lecture: Zilincik (Slovakia)
Lecture: Frank Schorkopf (Germany)
Panel Discussion: W&L Faculty
Lee Chapel and Millhiser Moot Court Room

9 November

Lecture, "The Economics ofEurope's Refugee Crisis"
Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst, Cato Institute
4:00-6:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom B

16 November

Lecture, "The Image of the ImmigrantIn German Film"
Prof. Brooke Kreitinger, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
5:00-7:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom C

28 November

German Law Journal Symposium
"Constitutional Dimensions of the Refugee Crisis" 
Prof. Klaus Gärditz (Germany)
Prof. Wolfgang Benedek (Austria)
Prof. Mario Savino (Italy)
Prof. Boldizsar Nagy (Hungary)
Colt Justice '18L (France)
12:00-2:00, Lewis Hall, Classroom A