Nicht unter Fremden?

How does religion affect people integrating into a new country? Markus Stadtrecher answers this highly topical question by examining the consequences people experienced after escaping from or being driven out of their home countries during the Second World War. This study concentrates on Catholics who came to live in the diocese of Augsburg.
With the help of network-theory approaches, the author analyses the integration of priests, members of religious orders, devout religious believers and ordinary members of the church in specific terms. In doing so, he focuses on the relationship between identity and Catholicism.
Stadtrecher points out where and how integration was facilitated or hampered and what changes were caused by the new members of the community. Church property, for example cemeteries, also played a large role in this respect, even if they were located in the places the refugees and the displaced had originally come from. To conclude, the study examines the subject of conciliation between the old and new inhabitants of these areas.