Politically persecuted persons who applied for asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany have not been the focus of the history of democracy in terms of gender history. However, the ethnically and politically heterogeneous diaspora contributed significantly to the transformation of West German democracy since the 1960s. Transnational politics was the hallmark of these exiles. Especially as a result of coups and military interventions in Turkey, there was an exodus of significant migrant groups, including many politicians, artists, students, intellectuals, and teachers. These refugee groups organized exile structures in West Germany, remained active in political resistance against the political leadership of their home country, supported other migrants in social welfare and labor issues, and some were politically and culturally active in West German social movements and trade unions. Women played an important role in this.

The dissertation project, which has been funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation since November 2022, considers the tension between democracy and gender orders as a transnational and intersectional history of conflict in the Federal Republic of Germany. It examines which practices and semantics of the political migrants transferred from their countries of origin to the Federal Republic, how they intervened in the political public sphere and staged themselves as political subjects in Germany. In what ways did they shape the extra-parliamentary opposition, the women's and queer movements, the transnational cooperation of political organizations, and the city and municipal councils? How did the interplay between the experiences and expectations of migrants on the one hand and West German society on the other influence the transformation of West German political culture? The focus on exiles with insecure residence status offers insight into the conflictual relationship between democracy and gender in the Federal Republic since the 1960s.

This project is a part of the overall project "Democracy and Gender: Conflicts over the Order of German Society in the 20th Century".