Voting With Their Feet: The (Attempted) Return of Polish Displaced Children to Occupied Germany
Journal: Journal of Contemporary History
Year: 2025

In November 1946, after repatriating to Poland and reuniting with his parents, Władysław B., made the perilous journey back to US-occupied Germany; claiming his parents were dead, he sought emigration for a better future. Displaced persons (DPs) returning to centres was not uncommon; many wanted to change their futures by re-entering the camps and vied for a chance to resettle abroad. Employing Gatrell's concept of ‘refugeedom’ to understand the mechanisms which drove refugee agency in the postw