Refugees past and present: Olga Grjasnowa's Gott ist nicht schüchtern and Sascha Marianna Salzmann's Außer sich

This article focuses on two 2017 novels touching on themes of flight, migration and displacement written by former Kontingentflüchtlinge (quota refugees) from the Soviet Union: Sasha Marianna Salzmann’s Außer Sich and Olga Grjasnowa’s Gott ist nicht schüchtern. While the former novel intertwines a narrative of gender transition in Istanbul with the protagonist Ali’s experience as a quota refugee and his family history, the latter focuses on two Syrian refugees who flee to Germany. Drawing on both Michael Rothberg’s notion of multidirectional memory and Judith Butler’s concepts of “grievable” and “ungrievable” lives, this article explores how these two novels draw parallels between present suffering and discrimination and German-Jewish and Soviet-Jewish history, and simultaneously attempt to evoke empathy for those marginalized in the present day.