★The winner of the Austrian "Science Book 2023" project, for the category humanitary, social and cultural sciences.

The concept of forced migration contains a contradiction: you would like to stay, but you have to leave. Forced migration is a traumatic event: you are searching for safety, but you have to put your life at risk. And escaping (to Europe) also contains a paradox: you have to break the law, by "illegally" crossing borders, in order to gain your right to asylum.

The forced migration researcher Judith Kohlenberger provides a detailed analysis of how we deal with displacement and displaced people and shows how we can achieve a humane asylum and integration policy if we assume our moral responsibility. In short: if we trust in the strength of our institutions, our rule of law, and our civil society.