The guarded border is where the state considers anyone a suspect. There one must prove one's innocence. There is a difference between residents and non-residents. For however much some boundaries have become invisible, they still mark the point where one law ends and another begins.

For decades, there has been debate about the refugee, who is also called a fortune seeker, illegal or criminal. Meanwhile, new wars produce new emigrants. What is a public debate for one person is destiny for another.

Arnon Grunberg traveled to Georgia, where he spoke with Russian refugees. To Ukraine, to meet refugees who remain in their own country. And to Poland, where he visited a closed detention center. In the Netherlands he accompanied the IND and the Vreemdelingenpolitie to closely study the functioning of the border as a sieve.

Grunberg examines how our borders always produce the drowned and the rescued. He does not forget the history of European borders and refugees. After all, without history, there is no present.

Bookparty