Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Man, Dante, Frederic Chopin, Marc Chagall, Victor Hugo, Chief Sitting Bull, myself and millions of people around the world are refugees! Not all famous or none famous refugees lived in the 20th or 21st century! A much earlier example is Publius Ovidius Naso (24BC- 17AD) or else known as Ovid, who was one of a most celebrated Roman poets. Ovid wrote “The Art of Love” which was considered to be inappropriate by the emperor Augustus who decided to banish him from Rome. During his exile Ovid wrote “The Metamorphoses” a collection of Greek and Latin mythology which influenced many famous writers such as Goethe, Shakespeare.
While in exile Ovid wrote: “Thrust among hostile people, I suffer every ill imaginable… No one is further from home than me.”
Dante wrote “La Divina Commedia”. Victor Hugo wrote “Les Miserables”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and many volumes of poetry while living in Channel Islands… He writes of his experience:
“I love everything that suffers for freedom, for the fatherland and for justice; and I have a piece of mind, even though it is always painful to tread on a foreign soil.”
Sitting Bull the famous Sioux Indian Chief (Native American) struggled for the survival of his people. He led his tribesman into Canada and lived there for four years. In a statement to the U.S government he said:
” …I want to have the white man with me, but not to be my chief…I want to be seen and known that I have my rights…”
Einstein was accused of treason by the Third Reich and his books were burned. He was given refuge in U.S and used his influence status and financial resources to obtain visas for other refugees. During his struggle he stated:
“Politics are for the moment. An equation is for eternity!”
The gifts, skills and talents that each refugee brings enrich us and our communities. Let us celebrate, learn and be inspired; welcome all into our home, hearts and land. As the famous poet Benjamin Zephania wrote:
“…We can all be refugees and sometimes it takes only a day, sometimes it takes a handshake or paper that is signed. We all came from refugees, no one just simply appeared…we all came here from somewhere.”
Indira Beqiri
Sources: UNHCR Famous Refugees, Refugee Council
Posted by Indira Kartallozi 
