"Politicians today should not overestimate Europe's capacity to show empathy for the suffering of others." This was stated by Constantin Parvulescu, researcher of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) and author of the book Orphans of the East (in relation to the current migration crisis in Europe. In his recently published work, Parvulescu analyzes the status in the east of the continent after World War II through the cinematographic figure of the orphan.

According to Parvulescu, the orphan becomes a cinematic metaphor that embodies the struggle to recover from the war and serves to question the lines of socialism itself.

Constantin Parvulescu is doing research at the ICS' project 'Emotional culture and identity' of the ICS, which finances Zurich Insurance.

What are the main conclusions of Orphans of the East?

There is nothing like the socialism that was experienced in Eastern Europe, a "home-made" socialism, the fruit of exploited and underdeveloped countries trapped between the great powers.

This experience has produced very interesting films that carry interesting testimonies about the dreams, passions, successes and failures of the twentieth century (socialist or not). These films functioned as alternative public spheres where they discussed how the development of a region could contribute to the liberation of the consciousness of its inhabitants.

Which status policy is reflected in the book?

The book reminds readers that socialism was, above all, a production of subjects and that it placed the liberation of consciousness at the center of its interests. Everything else, from the planned Economics to propaganda, was at the service of that goal. However, little by little the main goal of socialism was blurred, it became something different, and that is how the oppressive and elitist aspects of socialist regimes appeared.

Do you think that cinema is a good opportunity to show the post-war status that took place in Eastern Europe?

Yes, in fact, few people see these films in any other way than as a testimony of that time (which is not to say that they are not wonderfully produced). Film can teach us what socialist man was like, how he spoke, moved and felt. There is a lot of ideology in the dress code, in the everyday vocabulary, body language and emotions, as much as in the communist party leaders' own speeches.

Therefore, these films complete the work made by researchers using traditional archives. Moreover, we cannot forget that cinema was the favorite medium of the working class class . The Eastern European regimes, at least on paper, belonged to the workers and therefore, cinema remained an important means of political communication in these countries until 1989.

Why did you choose the figure of the orphan?

It is an important point of entrance to discussion. As a "child of the state," with no family ties, the orphan is placed at the center of the revolution. Cinematic representations of the orphan show the way in which, at certain moments in history, the socialist state and its public imagined and debated the topic of the new socialist man.

After the harsh post-war status in Eastern Europe, do you think Europe has learned something so as not to make the same mistakes again?

Since World War II and until 1989, the two Europes have lived in a process of negative symbiosis. The errors (and crimes) of the socialist state have been widely discussed in the West (see the long discussions on totalitarianism and human rights) and their rejection had great repercussions within the Eastern European identity.

Since 1989, things have changed. The time has come for Europe to learn from the mistakes of the Eastern European socialist state, but also from its achievements, or at least from what it pretended to achieve. And one of the most important things is utopian emancipation thinking. Europe needs it. 

Europe is currently experiencing one of the largest migration crises since World War II. What lessons from the post-war period can be applied to solve the refugee crisis?

After World War II, Czechoslovak or Polish Jews returned home from concentration camps and were not welcomed by their own neighbors, even though they had been victims of the most horrible biopolitical apparatus the human mind could ever devise. Self-pity, fear and various economic issues were behind this rejection.

Capitalism preaches the defense of self-interest. Politicians today should not overestimate Europe's capacity to show empathy for the suffering of others. European leaders should design appropriate policies, taking into account the political and emotional reality of the scenario in which they live.