Displaced Person Transportation post World War II Displaced Person Transports: Cargo of Hope It was a short note, just a request for information about a troopship listed on this website. The author mentioned he came to the United States as a Displaced Person (D.P.), and that he has taken "many cruises on some of the world's biggest cruise ships, but this was one of the best." "By today's standards the food was probably not great, but is was the best we had eaten in years. For the first time in my life I had oranges, bananas, nickel Cokes in bottles out of a machine, and in the evening we saw black-and-white American movies where beautiful actresses wore strapless dress and gowns. "Although about half the bunks were not used and remained folded up it was quite crowded. The crossing was long and rough. Many passengers were seasick. We learned to avoid being downwind from the large deck vents which constantly emitted nauseating smells and fumes." This letter brought a rush of memories, since I too came to the United States as a Displaced Person in 1949.

Although at 6 years of age I was too young to form strong opinions about the cuisine, I distinctly remember eating the first orange of my life aboard the USAT General R. L. Howze. I also remember the terrible smells, since nearly all were sick during a fierce North Atlantic storm that extended our planned 10-day voyage by 4 days. In July 1948, the U. S. Immigration Bureau announced that 205,000 D.P.'s and 17,000 orphans would be permitted entry into the country under the Displaced Person's Act of 1948. According to Watson B. Miller, Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, "A board set up in Hamburg, Germany will carefully screen all D.P.'s to sift out Communists and other subversives." [I guess I passed the test.] Displaced Persons were mostly Eastern Europeans: people who were unable or unwilling to return to their native countries after World War II. Some were "ostarbeiter" [eastern-workers] -- people forced to work in German factories and farms, some were survivors of concentration camps, and others fled to Germany to escape Communist rule.

After the war they were housed in camps administered by the International Refugee Organization. Eventually, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Australia opened their doors to the refugees. To emigrate to the U.S., a Displaced Person needed a sponsor who arranged for housing and employment [which could not replace an American worker]. For most refugees their embarkation point was Bremerhaven; others left via Italy or Shanghai. In 1947, USAT General S. D. Sturgis was the first American troopship to carry European refugees to their new homes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they could become farmers or factory workers. Army Transport Service and its successor, Military Sea Transportation Service, operated some of the refugee ships; others were operated under charter by private companies. These C-4 Maritime Commission ships were built to transport 3,485 GI's, but usually carried fewer than 700 refugees. Typical C-4 Troopship used to transport Displaced Persons "We watched them come aboard at Bremerhaven, many dressed in cast-off clothes and carrying their pitifully meager belongings. First came the orphans, then the aged and finally the families...

Though there were 193 family groups aboard, there were no facilities for quartering families together. The 374 men bunked aft, the 316 women forward, with cabins reserved for the aged and for mothers with small children." "As we moved up the Weser River towards the sea, the passengers gradually fell silent. They realized they were leaving their mother continent, probably never to return again. As long as land was in sight, the D.P.'s stood there on deck watching their past fade into oblivion..." wrote a member of the crew on one of these voyages. Meals were taken at standing-height tables, except for mothers with small children who were given seats in the former officer's dining room. Women were assigned to help in the kitchen; men were given clean-up assignments on deck or in the engine room. "Providing their own work details, the quarters were kept swabbed and cleaned by the passengers themselves... But duties made small demands on their time, with the whole day theirs to spend on deck. Family groups gathered to luxuriate in the joy of just being together.

Others congregated in groups, telling each other of the things they had heard of the land that was now only a few days away." My parents heard the streets in America were "paved with gold." Crowded accommodations in the women's hold My husband served as Third Engineer aboard the Military Sea Transportation Service operated USNS General M. B. Stewart that carried D.P.'s from Bremerhaven to New York. His living accommodations were quite different from those pictured above. First glimpse of their new country "As the ship approached the Statue of Liberty the fireboats sent up their streams of water and the whistles of greeting reached a crescendo. New York was welcoming these citizens-to-be as only New York can welcome... As the ship moved in toward the dock, her flags fluttered from bow to stern; while amidship were eleven foreign flags, representing the nations from which these future citizens had been drawn. "Among them, the largest group consisted of 388 Poles, Next in number were 178 Lithuanians.

The remainder were composed of 59 Czechs, 32 Latvians, 17 Ukrainians, 14 Estonians, 10 Yugoslavs, 10 Roumanians, 6 Hungarians, 16 Germans and 83 without country, all coming from lands whose people have long been known as hardworking and thrifty... Ranging in age from a seven-week-old infant-in-arms to a seventy-nine-year-old woman, with 63 orphans among their number.... Displaced Persons: young and old "Representatives of the nation, of the state and of the city welcomed them as future citizens. There was Attorney General Tom Clark to convey a message to them from President Truman. Governor Dewey, too, sent a welcome through his representative, while Mayor O'Dwyer spoke of the people of New York City itself. Representative Frank Fellows, author of the Bill authorizing their entry into the country, was also on hand...." The General R. L. Howze, with your webmistress aboard, was greeted by a brass band waiting on the docks of Boston harbor on an Easter Sunday.

Like other Displaced Persons, we soon found out that although the streets in America were not paved with gold, America was the land of golden opportunities. Sources: World War II -- the holocaust displaced persons DPs DP camps Post-World War II: Individual Dispalaced Persons Camps Fuigure 1. Here Jewish DPs at Zeilsheim rally for free immigration to Palestine. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken about 1947. Notice the boys and older youth in uniform. We are not sure what kind of group that was, but was a Zionist youth group. They do not look like Scouts. The initial Transit Camps gradually turned into DP camps, mostly located in Austria and Germany. This was where people from all over Europe had been brought to support the German war effort. Millions of people had been brought into the Reich under various circumstances. Many of these people were able to quickly return to their home countries. This was the case for people from Western European countries. The distances were rather short, the transportation links being reestablished, and the governments there able to aid in repatriation. Eastern Europe was a different matter.

conditions were worse there and many people were reluctant even afraid to return with the Communists seizing power. Jews were another special problem. Most did not have communities to which they could return. The NAZIs had destroyed Jewish communities throughout Europe, especially In Eastern Europe. And some Jews attempting to return were attacked in Eastern Europe. Many Jews wanted to go to Palestine, but wee blocked by the British trying to appease the Arabs. Thus Jews unlike many others were stuck in the camps. At first the camps were organized by nationality, but it was soon found that Jews had to be treated differently, either in separate camps or in separate facilities in the different camps. We are collecting information on individual camps. Jewish camps were not established in the Soviet sector because Stalin did want to recognize the fact that the Jews were especially targeted by the Germans. Most of these caps were located in Germany or Austria (which had been annexed by the NAZIs and part of the reich during the war), but not all. We note some camps in Poland, but know little about them. Germany Bad Reichenhall Deggendorf Deggendorf was the site of a displaced persons camp for Jewish refugees. It housed some 2,000 refugees.

Many of the refugee residents were survivors of the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in nearby Czechoslovakia. As in all these camps, the refugees set out establishing a cultural life while in the camp. There were two newspapers: The Deggendorf Center Review and Cum Ojfboj. Also established were a theater group, synagogue, mikvah, kosher kitchen, and other amenities. The camp authorities issued its own currency known as the Deggendorf Dollar. The camp closed on June 15, 1949. Eschwege Eschwege is a town in Hesse along the river Werra. It's claim to fame is a famous 4-day music and drinking festival called the Johannisfest. It attracts thousands visitors annually. After the German surrender (May 1945), Eschwege was in the American occupation zone. The U.S. Military Government established a DP camp to accommodate Jewish refugees. The camp cared for 3,300 refugees. It was closed in 1949. Feldafing Feldafing was the first DP camp exclusively for Jewish refugees. The camp was located at the Bavarian town of Feldafing, in Starnberg district.

Bavaria was in the American occupation zone. It was at first exclusively for liberated Jewish concentration camp prisoners. It later accommodated Jewish refugees from the Soviet occupation zone and Eastern Europe. The camp was set up in Feldafing's Hï¿½henberg area and immediate area. Fï¿½hrenwald Fï¿½hrenwald was one of the largest DP camps in Europe and unlike the other camps did not close until 1957, being the the last to close. It was located in Wolfratshausen in Bavaria. The camp facilities were originally built by German authorities in 1939 to house IG Farben construction workers. It was used for foreign slave laborers brought to the Reich during the War. The U.S. Army appropriated the camp to house international refugees (June 1945). The camp's initial population included Jewish refugees from the Baltics, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. General Eisenhower ordered that Fï¿½hrenwald be made an exclusively Jewish DP camp, after he had found living conditions at the Feldafing DP camp unacceptable (October 2, 1945).

Fï¿½rth Fï¿½rth is a small city located in northern Bavaria, Middle Franconia district. Along with the larger cities of Nuremberg and Erlangen as well as other minor cities, it forms the Middle-Franconian conurbation or metropolitan area. American military authorities established a DP camp for Jewish refugees at Fï¿½rth called Finkenschlag (1945). It was a relatively small camp, housing some 850 refugees. It was closed July 1950. . Indersdorf Landsberg Landsberg am Lech is a town in the southwest of Bavaria, about 50 km west of Munich and 35 km south of Augsburg. It is the capital of Landsberg am Lech district. The Landsberg camp was a NAZI concentration camp. At its peak it held more than 5,000 inmates (October 1944). Landsberg was not a death camp, but at the ebnd of te War, there wee a lot of Jewish prisoners there whi gad survived the SS death marches from camps in tn Poland.

The American 12th Armored Division reached it (April 27, 1945) and were appalled by what they found. American crooner Tony Bennett was among the soldiers who liberated the camp. General Taylor had the news media record the atrocities. He ordered local German civilians to come into the camp and see for themselves what the NAZIs had done so no one could deny it afterwards, They and the guards were forced to bury the dead m bare-handed. After liberation, American authorities turned the camp into a a DP camp. Most of DPs were Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union and the Baltics. Landsberg became one of the most influential DP camps in the Sh'erit ha-Pletah. A Yiddish-language newspaper (The Yiddishe Zeitung) began publishing. Religious schools and organizations to promote Jewish religious observance were set up. Landsberg is the camp depicted in the 'Band of Brothers' mini-series (Episode 9: Why We Fight). Several important Jewish leaders emerged from the camp, including Samuel Gringauz, who became the chairman of the Council of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the U.S. zone.

The camp also served as the headquarters for the Jewish Education and Training Organisation (ORT). The camp closed on October 15, 1950. Zeilsheim Zeilsheim DP Camp was located 12 miles west of Frankfurt in the American-occupied zone of Germany. It was different than most DP camps. Zeilsheim was a small town, essentially a residential suburb for the workers of an IG Farben plant. The homes were small 2-3 story townhouses. The U.S. Army requisitioned them to accommodate inhabitants for a DP camp specifically to accommodate Jewish refugees. There was no doubt where the refugees wanted to go. The refugees renamed the streets and building complexes after towns and kibbutzim in Palestine. Zeilsheim quickly developed an active cultural life. The refugees established a theatrical group, a synagogue, a jazz orchestra, a sports club (Chasmonai), and several schools, including an ORT school. The camp set up a library with some 500 books. Two Yiddish-language newspapers circulated: Unterwegs (In Transit) and Undzer Mut (Our Courage).

The camp held 3,570 refugees (October 1946) and may have served 5,000 Jews before it was closed. With the creation of Israel the British restrictions on immigration tom Palestine ended and like most of the other DP camp, Zeilsheim was closed (November 15, 1948). Austria Rothschild Hospital The Rothschild Hospital was founded in 1872 by the Rothschild family in Vienna, Austria. It served as a clinic for neurological disorders, with among others Viktor Frankl as its leaders. After the war, it was a hospital for sick and infirm displaced persons in the American zone of occupation in Austria. It housed as many as 600 refugees. Salzburg Salzburg is an important city in western Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. It was at the time of World War II a part of the Greater German Reich. Austrians had enthusiastically welcomed the NAZI Anschluss (March 1938). The city became a target in the Allied strategic bombing campaign. Allied bomb raids destroyed 7,600 houses and killed 550 inhabitants.

A total of 15 strikes hit Salzburg, destroying some 45 percent of the city's buildings especially around Salzburg train station which was the focus of the attacks. Although the town's bridges and the dome of the cathedral were demolished, much of its beautiful Baroque architecture survived. remained intact. American troops reached Salzburg (May 5, 1945), just before the German surrender. Salzburg became the center of the American-occupied area in Austria. American authorities set up several DP camps in and around Salzburg, including Riedenburg, Camp Herzl (Franz-Josefs-Kaserne), Camp Mï¿½lln, Bet Bialik, Bet Trumpeldor, and New Palestine. Poland We notice some DP camps in Poland, but have been able to find little information about them. We suspect tat they were mostly located in the German areas assigned to Poland, but can not yet confirm that. One problem was that Polish Jews who survived the War could often not return home. Their communities had been destroyed and Poles were not welcoming. We are unsure what policies the Polish authoritiesadopted concerning resettling Jews. In addition, wht had been eastern Poland was now part of the Soviet Union.

There was also a huge problems with rhe Poles deported by the Soviets from what had been eastern Poland before the War. We notice alot of information set up for the Poles fleeing the Soviet Union in Irn, East Africa, Britain, and other countries, but very little about the DP/refugee camps open in Poland after the war. We notice some were still open in 1947 and are not sure when they were closed. We are not sure if these were UNRRA camps, but believe that they received American supplies. How long this continued and how they were affected by the developing Cold War we are not sure. CIH-- WW II Displaced Persons' (DP) Camps Book List Displaced Persons - Books about DP Camps in Europe 1) The refugee experience: Ukrainian displaced persons after World War II, edited by W. W. Isajiw, Y. Boshyk, R. Senkus. Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1992. ISBN 0920862853. The bibliography and notes will lead you to other sources. 2) Ukrainians during World War II: history and its aftermath: a symposium, edited by Y.

Boshyk [with R. Waschuk and A. Wynnyckyj], Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 1986. (Canadian library in Ukrainian studies), ISBN 0920862372. 3) Political refugees and 'displaced persons', 1945-1954: a selected bibliography with special reference to Ukrainians, by Y. Boshyk and Boris Balan. Edmonton: CIUS, 1982. (Occasional research reports - CIUS, no. 2.) 4) Searching for the Place Ukrainian Displaced Persons, Canada, and the Migration of Memory, 2000 "Canada was not in a welcoming mood when Ukrainian displaced persons and other refugees began immigrating after the Second World War. In this compelling and richly documented account, Lubomyr Luciuk maps the established Ukrainian Canadian communityï¿½s efforts to rescue and resettle refugees, despite public indifference and the hostility of political opponents in Canada and abroad.

He explores the often divisive impact that this third wave of nationalistic refugees had on organized Ukrainian Canadian society, and traces how this diasporaï¿½s experiences of persecution under the Soviet and Nazi regimes in occupied Ukraine, and their subsequent hiving together in the cauldrons of the postwar DP camps, underlay the shaping of a shared political worldview that would not abate, despite decades in exile." Professor Paul Robert Magocsi, FRSC, Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto Phone 1-800-565-9523 or fax 1-800-221-9985 (toll-free within Canada & USA). Outside Canada &USA, call: 1-416-667-7791 or fax 1-416-667-7832). Dr Lubomyr Luciuk 5) Displaced Persons in Australien, den USA und Kanada 1946 - 1952. Text in German. 6) An Army in Exile, by Gen. W. Anders, Commander - Second Polish Corp in Italy, is a journal of imprisonment in Stalin's Red Army.

Released when Russia became America's ally against the Nazis, Gen. Anders formed a Polish army in Russia consisting mainly of the deportees that Russia had in concentrations camps in Siberia. After fighting side by side with the Americans and British in Italy, they were betrayed by the allies and their country handed over to the Soviets after the war. General Anders writes: "I tried to assess the real figure of Polish citizens deported in 1939-41, but it was extremely difficult. After many months of research and enquiries among our people who were pouring from thousands of prisons and concentrations camps spread all over Russia, we were able to put the numbers at l,500,000 - l,600,000 people. Statistics obtained afterward from Poland confirmed these figures. But unfortunately, it was clear that most of these poor people were no longer alive. God only knows how many of them were murdered, and how many died under the terrible conditions of the prisons and forced labor camps." 7) The Grand Alliance and Ukrainian Refugees by Professor Marta Dyczok excerps from her book (2000; ISBN 0-312-23192-X).

8) God's Playground: A History of Poland Professor Norman Davies, author of the internationally acclaimed, two-volume study, (Oxford University Press, 1981) In reference to war losses, he has recently reviewed the various claims made about deaths during WW2. He calculates that approximately 5 million Jews died in the war, compared with 5 million ethnic Poles and as many as 11 million Ukrainians. Access to Soviet archives is denied to western scholars for the time being. 9) KNYHA PAM'IATI UKRAINY has subtitles naming the oblast. In most cases the family names are listed alphabetically by oblast, then by raion, then by village. The books are in Ukrainian or Russian; some volumes are available from Ukrainian bookstores (or Edmonton Bookstore), at an average price of $40 ea. 10) Language of Mules by John Guzlowski . Email jzguzlowski@eiu.edu A sample of John's poems are on the Slave camps page of this site. 11) DPs Europe's Displaced Persons, 1945-1951 by Mark Wyman, Balch Inst.

Press, Philadelphia, 1989. 12) Vom Zwangsarbeiter zum Heimatlosen Auslaender, Die Displaced Persons in Westdeutschland 1945 - 1951, by Wolfgang Jacobmeyer, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Goettingen 1985. 13) Die Displaced Persons' in Deutschland 1945 -1952 by Jacobmeyer, Wolfgang. In: Bremisches Jahrbuch, Bd. 59. Staatsarchiv Bremen, Bremen, 1981, S. 85 - 108. 14) Victims of Yalta, by Nikolai Tolstoy, London 1979. 15) The Last Secret: Forcible Repatriation to Russia, 1944-1947,by Nicholas Bethell, London 1976. 16) European Refugees, 1939-1952: A study in forced population movement, by Malcolm J. Proudfoot, Faber and Faber LTD, London 1957.

45) In Their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide Volume II: Russian by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. Hoffman . a 77-page vocabulary with over 4,000 entries, featuring archaic terms and spellings most likely to be found in records but rarely included in modern dictionaries . a 26-page list of over 700 Christian and Jewish given names with equivalents in English, Latin, Lithuanian, and Polish . plus lots more 46) A Handbook of Czechoslovak Genealogical Research, by Daniel M. Schlyter. (GenUn, 1985, 1990). 131 pages. ($15). ISBN 0-912811-06-4. {Excellent in-depth guide to research, detailing record types, archival addresses, microfilms available, translation helps, etc.}. OUT OF PRINT. A revised version, entitled A Handbook of Czech and Slovak Genealogical Research is planned.

47) Where She Came From: A Daughter's Search for Her Mother's History by Helen Epstein, ISBN: 0452280184, 336pp, Pub. date: October 1998 Publisher: Dutton/Plume. 48) The Education and Reeducation of POW 31G-23742357 by Wolfgang D. Schmidt. 312 pages 1 edition (March 26, 2001). 49) Jüdische DP Camps in Franken 1945-1949 (about Jewish DP camps in Bavaria), by Jim G. Tobias, ISBN 3-9806636-3-9.

50) Das war nicht nur 'Karneval im August', Das Internierungslager Biberach an der Riss 1942-1945 Geschichte-Hintergründe by Reinhold Adler; ISBN 3-9806818-2-3; edited by the Municipal Archives Biberach / Riss in co-operation with the Historical Society Biberach (Biberach Historical Studies Vol 6), pp.320, 29 photos, 9 tables. Available at the Biberach Archives and as well as Information about UNRRA camp 10 team 209 Jordanbad near Biberach/Riss can be found on pp. 245-250 51) A real situation: the story of adult migrant education in Australia 1947 to 1970 by Carrington, Lois; Canberra: Tara. 1997. Lois Carrington 52) Sonya's mob: the life and times of a Polish-Australian family. Lois and George Carrington. Canberra: Tara, 1996.

53) Zbirnyk Ukrains'koi himnazii v Ashaffenburzi. (a collection of articles about the Ukrainian Gymnazium in Aschaffenburg. Compiler Bohdan Boychuk. Kyiv, Published by the Committee of Former Students of the Aschaffenburg Gymnazium, 1993. 207 p., avail. at Shevchenko Scientific Society Library. This book is written in Ukrainian. It contains articles about Aschaffenburg student life, organizations, teachers and history of this institution which existed in post-war Germany. Includes many photographs. 54) Regensburg: Articles and Documents on the History of Ukrainian Emigration in Germany after World War 2. Editor Omelian Kushnir. New York, Paris,etc. 1985. 684 p. Part of the Shevchenko Scientific Society Ukrainian Archive Series, vol.40. Written in Ukranian. Contains many photographs. Summaries in English, German and French. Avail. at Shevchenko Scientific Society Library.

55) Mittenwald 1946-1951: commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Ukrainian Displaced Persons Camps in MIttenwald, Germany. Warren, Michigan. Published by the Society of Former Residents of the DP Camps in Mittenwald, Germany, 2001. 753 p. In Ukrainian and English. Contains numerous photographs. Avail. at Shevchenko Scientific Society Library. 56) Hearken Then Judge by Juozas Pasilaitis, Patria Tüingen, J.P. Steinkopf, Stuttgart, Germany, date? This small booklet chronicles the occupation of Lithuania, the shattered lives of the Lithuanian people, their life in dp camps and their migration. From the Lithuanian perspective and written in English. 57) United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. Summary of Displaced Persons Population: UNRRA Assembly Centers in the United States Zone 24 August 1946. Statistics and Reports Branch, UNRRA Headquarters, U.S. Zone. This text is a copy of the statistical UNRRA report on the DP camps administered by that relief agency.

In graph form, the report provides primary data about many features of DP camp management, including DP population figures, relief team numbers, camp locations, assembly center numbers, camp names and capacities, and the precise dates that information was recorded in August 1946. The statistics also chart the DP population by ethnicity. (Available at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Library and major research libraries.) 58) United States Department of State, Office of Public Affairs. Foreign Affairs Background Summary: Displaced Persons. 1948. Available at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Library) "This work is designed to help outsiders understand the DP problem. It begins by breaking apart some of the common stereotypes of DPs in general and goes on to describe who the DPs actually were, giving statistics about their nationalities, religions, ages, and skills. The document also describes the care required for the maintenance of the DP camps. It lists the organizations that helped support DP camps, as well as problems in the camps. The work concludes with a discussion of the fate of the camps and suggested courses of action for dealing with immigration and repatriation.

" 59) Crimes and Mercies (1997) James Bacque describes how he confronted New York Times reporter Drew Middleton with evidence that after the war, the U.S. starved to death over one million German POWs. "What Middleton told me basically was that, yes, he had lied in 1945 and no, it did not matter to him or the New York Times if I exposed this." "Middleton's sense of security, his sense of the New York Times' power, took my breath away", Bacque writes. "But worse than that, Middleton did not care about this atrocity... the New York Times witnessed it, then denied that it happened. And has gone on denying it into the 1990's." Bacque estimates that, during the Allied Occupation (1946-1950) an additional eight to twelve million Germans were deliberately starved to death. The war did not end in 1945.

For five additional years, Germany was subjected "physical and psychic trauma unparalleled in history." 60) The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust by Martin Gilbert, published by Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY, 2003. First American edition, 2003. 529 pp., xxvi Martin Gilbert writes: "Yad Vashem has recognized 1,755 Ukrainians--inhabitants of present-day post-Communist Ukraine--as Righteous Among the Nations." (p. 24). Meanwhile, "seventy-nine Russians have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations." (p. 26). Some of the entries from the index: Sheptitsky, Father Ihumen: helps a Jew in hiding, p. 37. Sheptitsky, Metropolitan Andreas: an appeal to, pp. 36-37. Sheptitsky, arranges hiding places, p.37. Sheptitsky, mourned, p.41. Ukrainian Catholic Church: appeal, pp.36-37. Ukrainians: and collaboration: pp.

xix, 2, 61, 63, 64, 67; 'bestiality' of: pp. xix; acts of rescue by: pp. 9, 13, 15-16, 24-26, 54, 55-56, 63-64; hostility of: pp. 9-10, 55; 'humanitarian' acts by: pp.130; and a 'decent Gentile': p. 406. The index also contains the names of Ukrainians who rescued Jews. 61) Baltic Refugees and Displaced Persons 1947, Published by Boreas Publishing Co. Ltd., Corinthian Press, London. 62) The Baltic Refugees in Sweden - A Successful Experiment by Prof. N. Kaasik, Stockholm 1947. 63) Stanislaw Mikolajczk,The Pattern of Soviet Domination, London 1948, p.111.

64) Ukrainians in Romania Ukrainian Dialects in Romania: Dialectical Texts by Nicolae Pavliuc and Ion Robciuc The second part of the book encompasses materials from 32 Ukrainian villages, including taped conversations of dialectal speech made between 1962-1965. The texts offer interesting data for dialectology as well as for sociolinguistic, ethnographic, and folklore studies. 65) Against Their Will, The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR by Pavel Polian "During his reign over USSR, Joseph Stalin oversaw the forced resettlement of people by the millions--a maniacal passion that he used for social engineering. The Soviets were not the first to thrust resettlement on their population but in terms of sheer numbers, technologies used to deport people and the lawlessness which accompanied it, Stalin's process was the most notable. Six million people of different social and ethnic background and professions were resettled before Stalin's death. Contents range from the early 1920s to the rehabilitation of repressed nationalities in the1990s, dealing with internal (kulaks, ethnic and political deportations) and international forced migrations (German internees and occupied territories).

CEU PRESS E-mail: ceupress@ceu.hu 66) Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia by Brian J. Lenius His gazetteer (3rd Edition) is without a doubt the best for Galicia, as it includes more than a simple list of village locations. It includes among other things, data from various church shematisms (Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic, Evangelical) and Jewish synagogue locations. The gazetteer is NOT available on-line. He spent thousands of hours of research to compile the gazetteer. It's around $40.00 US. 67) A Woman in Amber by Agate Nesaule, by Penguin Books. ISBN: 1-56947-046-4 (hard copy). ISBN: 0 14 02.6190 7 (paperback). 68) Walking since daybreak by Modris Eksteins. A story of Eastern Europe, World War II, and The Heart of our Country, by Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN: 0-395-93747-7 (hard copy).

ISBN: 0-618-08231-X (paperback). 69) Milk and Honey - but No Gold by Nonja Peters, published by the University of Western Australia Press, 2001; covers postwar migration to Western Australia 1945-1964. 70) Jewish Displaced Persons titles: Angelika Koenigseder / Juliane Wetzel, Lebensmut im Wartesaal. Die jüdische DPs (Displaced Persons im Nachkriegsdeutschland), Frankfurt a. Main 1994 (Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag) English edition: Angelika Koenigseder / Juliane Wetzel, Waiting for Hope. Jewish Displaced Persons in Post-World War II Germany, Evanston /Ill. 2001 (Northwestern University Press) Juliane Wetzel, Jüdisches Leben in München 1945-1951, München 1987 (Miscellanea Bavarica Monacensia) Angelika Koenigseder , Flucht nach Berlin.

Jüdische Displaced Persons 1945-1948, Berlin 1998 (Metropol Verlag) and a lot of essays on the subject. With best regards Dr. Juliane Wetzel wetz0154@mailbox.tu-berlin.de Europe’s Displaced Persons After World War II | JSTOR Daily Erin Blakemore Politics & History June 26, 2015 Europe’s Displaced Persons After World War II As anniversaries of the final battles of World War II come and go, it’s easy to forget the aftermath of the war in Europe: a “forgotten refugee crisis” the likes of which the world had never seen. The issue of what to do with millions of “displaced persons” became an intense international debate, even as the subjects of these arguments clustered in camps awaiting repatriation. But what was life like for those refugees, especially those who had survived the Holocaust? Margarete Myers Feinstein argues that for the nearly 300,000 survivors who passed through displaced persons camps in Germany alone, their time in the camps was a chance to reestablish their identities as Jews and as members of a larger community.

As they sought missing family members, fled Eastern Europe, and tried to find future homes after years of slavery, writes Feinstein, many Jews compared their situation to the 40 years of wandering faced by Israelites who had escaped the hands of the Egyptians before they reached their Promised Land. There was hope of a new promised land for many survivors: the prospect of resettling in Palestine. With an eye toward their eventual life there, writes Feinstein, Jews in the displaced persons camps attempted to reinstate their communal traditions. Feinstein finds particular interest in the stories of Jewish women in the displaced persons camps. Though they have not been studied extensively by historians, she writes, they played an active role in their own reinvention—often in private, unacknowledged ways. For example, they worked to form new social bonds among people who had seen their entire social structure disintegrate. As romantic bonds led to marriage and motherhood in the camps, writes Feinstein, women began to see the bearing of children as a political act. They engaged in acts of communal motherhood that they then extended to their community at large as they “mothered” cultural institutions like schools, kosher kitchens, theatrical groups and hospitals.

Up to twelve years after the war was over, the last displaced persons were finally sent on to their new homes. “The European shtetl had ceased to exist,” writes Feinstein—but in its place were new traditions and a group of women who “transmitted the Jewish past to a new generation, cared for the physical, emotional, and economic wellbeing of the [displaced persons] community, and worked toward the Jewish future in Palestine.” JSTOR Citations Records Relating to World War II Era Refugees | National Archives Records Relating to World War II Era Refugees Table of Contents Records of International Conferences, Commissions, and Expositions (Record Group 43) Records regarding refugees and displaced persons can be found in the following series: Records of the Council of Foreign Ministers {ca.

1945-1955} {Lot M-88} (Entry UD-16) [Box 141 contains a folder on Displaced Persons and Refugees] Country Files, 1946-48 [Box 201 contains a folder titled, "Moscow: Allied Prisoners of War, Refugees, and Expellees"] Research Reports 152 And 160, April-May 1950 (Entry A1-658) [Box 310 contains a folder titled, "Population Problems (Refugees, Expellees, DPs and PWs"] General Records of the Department of State (RG 59) The State Department's involvement in refugee issues began before the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 and continued after the war's end in 1945. The following is a description of the records of the Department of State. The Central Decimal Files The most important State Department records concerning refugees are contained within Record Group 59, the General Records of the Department of State. Of particular value is the Department's Central Decimal File, 1910-January 1963.

This series consists of incoming and outgoing departmental correspondence and memos. These documents are filed by subject according to a predetermined file classification scheme divided into seven date segments: 1910-29, 1930-39, 1940-44, 1945-49, 1950-54, 1955-59, and 1960-63. One filing manual covers the years 1910 through 1949. Revised filing manuals cover the years 1950-1959 and 1960 through January 1963.

Useful finding aids include: Filing manuals which contain subject indexes Footnotes in the volumes published by the State Department entitled Foreign Relations of the United States Purport Lists and Cards which are abstracts of documents arranged according to the decimal filing scheme Source Cards available for each segment 1910-49 arranged by the source of the communication (country or city, thereunder to or from, thereunder by date) Name Cards available for each segment 1910-59 arranged alphabetically by name of person or organization The primary source for refugees in the Central Decimal File from 1910 through 1949 are the decimals 840.48 and 840.48 (Refugees) which have been reproduced in microfilm publication M1284 , Records of the Department of State Relating to the Problems of Relief and Refugees in Europe Arising from World War II and Its Aftermath, 1938-49. These records relate to the State Department's interest and involvement in relief measures in Europe before, during, and after the war and with refugees displaced by persecution and fighting who were unable to return home after the war.

These records are arranged by decimal and thereunder chronologically. Rolls 1-18 (decimal file 840.48) contain State Department records documenting the general problem of calamities, disasters, and relief activities in Europe. Rolls 19-70 (decimal file 840.48 Refugees) deal with the problem of European refugees. The early part of the file contains material documenting U.S. concern for political and Jewish refugees in Germany and Austria prior to World War II and U.S. participation in the Intergovernmental Committee for Political Refugees. File 840.48 Refugees illustrates the problems of European refugees all over the world by documenting State cooperation on the refugee problem with other agencies of the U.S. Government, other government, and private organizations. After the war, the file includes information on repatriation of displaced persons and refugees from communism in Eastern Europe.

Some of the more interesting topics in decimal 840.48 Refugees include the settling of Jewish refugees in Santo Domingo, the trip of Linton Wells through Angola (1939) to examine that area for possible settlement by refugees, the smuggling of Jewish and other refugees out of Europe, the establishment of the Polish refugee camp at Santa Rosa, Mexico, the activities of the War Refugee Board, the liquidation of the Emergency Refugee Shelter at Oswego, NY, and the post war repatriation of refugees. The best way to conduct research on WWII refugees in these records is to consult the Purport Lists for 1940-44 in microfilm publication M973 to examine abstracts of relevant documents, and then to proceed to M1284 . Both microfilm publications are located in the Microfilm Research Room on the 4th floor of the National Archives research facility in College Park, Maryland.

Records of the Special Committee on Migration Subject File, 1943-44 Minutes of Meetings, 1943-44, box 5 (Entry A1-1411) Alpha-Numeric File, 1943-44, box 5 (Entry A1-1412) Memorandums, 1943-44, box 5 (Entry A1-1413) Documents, 1943-44, box 5 (Entry A1-1414) Records Relating to Atrocities Committed by the Nazis, 1944-45, box 8 (Entry A1-1415) Records Relating to the War Refugee Board Subject File, 1943-45, 2 boxes (Entry A1-1417) Other records relating to the War Refugee Board are located at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum . Records Relating to the Santa Rosa Polish Refugee Camp Subject File, 1944-46, 1 box (Entry A1-1418) There is also documentation in the U.S.

Foreign Service Post Files in Mexico (RG 84) and in the records of the Foreign Economic Administration (RG 169) Records Relating to the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and the Displaced Persons Commission (DPC) IRO Subject File, 1946-52, 20 boxes (Entry A1-1419) DP Subject File, 1944-52, 16 boxes (Entry A1-1420) Resettlement File, 1941-52, 7 boxes (Entry A1-1421) Special War Problems Division Subject Files, 1939-54, 199 boxes This division had responsibilities concerning the evacuation and repatriation of Americans in foreign countries and foreign citizens in the U.S. There is substantial information on refugees. A folder title list is available. Records of the Policy and Planning Staff Beginning in 1947, this staff was responsible for the development of long-range policy which would serve as a framework for program planning and as a guide for current policy decisions and operations.

This staff's policy papers included document PPS 22 and PPS 22/1 on the topic of the "Utilization of Refugees from the Soviet Union in the U.S. National interest." This document is part of the series, Records of the Policy Planning Staff, 1947-54 (Entry A1-1568). It is also reproduced in microfiche publication M1171 , "Policy Planning Staff Numbered Papers, 1-63, 1947-1949." Records of Harley A. Notter, Advisor for United Nations Affairs During World War II, Harley Notter was involved in post-war planning with various offices and committees. His papers include documentation on refugees. See the following series: Miscellaneous Subject Files (Entry A1-496, box 17) Records of the Division of Central European Affairs The mission of this division was to direct the day-to-day conduct of diplomatic relations with Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. The following series includes documentation concerning displaced persons in Germany.

Subject Files, 1944-49, (Entry A1-381B) Records of the Personal Representative of the President to Pope Pius XII, 1942-50 The following series contains information on Jews, refugees, and relief activities: Decimal File, 1944-50, 27 boxes (Entry A1-1068) Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration NARA holdings include the following lot files created by this Bureau's Office of Refugee Relief Programs: Refugee Organizations, 1946-47 (Entry A1-5491, boxes 1452-1459) [Statistics Unit] Reports and Correspondence, 1953-57 (Entry A1-5494, boxes 88-90) Files of Harry Lyford, 1953-55 (Entry A1-5495, boxes 91-95) Subject Files, 1952-57 (Entry A1-5498, boxes 25-55) Subject Files, 1953-55 (Entry A1

-5496, boxes 96-104) Correspondence with Foreign Service Post Files, 1952 (Entry A1-5497, boxes 1-15) Lot Files Pertaining to the Middle East Records of Arthur Zimmermann Gardiner - Palestine Refugee Case Files, 1947-49 (Entry A1-1107B, boxes 3-4) Office of Near Eastern Affairs - Miscellaneous Records Relating to Problems of Palestinian Refugees, 1949-56 (Entry A1-1300, Boxes 70-74) Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs - Records Relating to Refugee Matters and Jordan Waters, 1949-68 (Entry A1-5270, boxes 1-10) Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the United States (RG 84) This record group consists of documents originally filed at American embassies, legations, and consulates.

Although much documentation is duplicated in the State Department's Central Files, there is unique documentation and even discrete series of records relating to activities unique to the post. After 1935, the records are arranged by country, thereunder alphabetically by diplomatic and consular posts. Most of the records are filed by post, thereunder by year, and thereunder according to the foreign service post decimal filing scheme, which resembles the State Central Decimal filing scheme. The decimal numbers of the two schemes can be translated back and forth. Under each post, series are created according to the original security classification of the records (i.e., general, confidential, secret, and top secret). There are detailed box lists for the 1936-54 time period available.

Key decimals in the post files from 1945-48 include: 711 (European War) 711.5 (Civil Prisoners) 800 (Political Affairs) 840.1 (People - Race Problems) Jewish Refugees (This decimal category contains documentation of cases of Jews smuggled out of Europe for a ransom) 848 (Relief Measures) International Refugee Organizations 851.51 (Financial Exchange) Refugee funds Key decimals in the post files from 1949-63 include: 300 (Political and Governmental Affairs - General) 321.4 (Prisoners of War) 321.5 (Civil Prisoners. Enemy Non-Combatants) 350 (Political Affairs - Political Refugees) 570.1 (People - Race Problems.

Pogroms, Racial Disturbances, Displaced Persons, Refugees) There are significant records in the following posts regarding refugees: Austria, Records of the Political Advisor (POLAD) and USCOA (High Commissioner), Vienna, Austria France, Records of the Political Advisor to SHAEF (Paris) Great Britain, Records of the U.S. Embassy, London, and Records Maintained by Ambassador John G. Winant, 1938-46 Hungary, Records of the U.S. Legation and Mission, Budapest Italy, Records of the Political Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Portugal, Records of the U.S. Embassy, Lisbon Spain, Records of the U.S. Embassy, Madrid Sweden, Records of the U.S. Embassy, Stockholm Switzerland, Records of the U.S. Legation, Bern U.S. Mission to the United Nations - Central Subject Files, 1950-1963 (Entry 1030-D) U.S.

Mission to the United Nations Position Papers and Background Books, 1946-1963 (Entry 1030-B) Records of the Displaced Persons Commission (Record Group 278) Congress established this Commission in 1948 to administer the program that allowed limited emigration of displaced persons to the United States. The commission was abolished in 1952 and the records transferred to the Department of State. Pertinent series include the following: Central Subject File, 1948-52 (Entry A1-1) Commissioner Harry N. Rosenfeld Subject File, 1948-52 (Entry A1-6) Commissioner Edward M.

O'Connor Subject File, 1948-52 Legal Division Subject File, 1948-52 (Entry A1-8) General Counsel's Subject File, 1948-52 (Entry A1-9) Correspondencee with Voluntary Organizations, June-July 1949 (Entry A1-23) Records of Interdepartmental and Intradepartmental Committee (Record Group 353) SWNCC was established in December 1944 to reconcile the views of the State, War, and Navy departments and to formulate politico-military policies. SWNCC prepared policies for occupying and controlling Japan, Germany, and Austria; and position papers for use by the United States at international conferences. The records of the State, War, Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC) includes records on refugees and displaced persons.

See the following series: SWNCC Documents, 1944-49 (Entry A1-503) Document 80 (and sub-cases)- Displaced Persons in Germany and Austria Document 359 (and sub-cases)- Evacuation of Jewish Displaced Persons and OtherUnassimilablee Displaced Persons from Austria Document 176/14 - Displaced Persons in Korea, January 10, 1946 Document 205 (and sub-cases)- Repatriation of Displaced Person in Japan U.S. High Commissioner for Germany (Record Group 466) The following series are particularly helpful: Office of the Executive Director General Records, 1949-55 (Entry A1-9; arranged by post file decimal scheme) Office of the Executive Secretary General Records, 1947-52 (Entry A1-16A) Office of the U.S.

Land Commissioner for Bavaria, Political Affairs Division, Displaced Populations Branch Children's Case Files, 1946-51 (Entry A1-198) Closed Children's Case Files, 1946-52 (Entry A1-199) Correspondence Regarding Displaced Children, 1946-52 (Entry A1-200) These case files document the placement of orphan children of Jews and others whose parents died in the concentration camps with foster parents in the U.S. There is a list of case files available. U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1948-61 (Record Group 469) This Record Group contains additional material relating to the Marshal Plan and the problem of European refugees.

Of particular relevance are the following series contained within the records of the Foreign Operations Administration headquarters Office of European Operations, Office of the Director: Geographic Files, 1953-54 (Germany-Refugees) BBC - History - World Wars: European Refugee Movements After World War Two European Refugee Movements After World War Two By Bernard Wasserstein Last updated 2011-02-17 The end of the war in Europe was only the beginning of the suffering for millions of people left homeless by the fighting, released from captivity or expelled as an act of vengeance. On this page Print this page Post-war scramble The end of World War Two brought in its wake the largest population movements in European history. Millions of Germans fled or were expelled from eastern Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, survivors of the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, sought secure homes beyond their native lands. And other refugees from every country in eastern Europe rushed to escape from the newly installed Communist regimes. The expulsions were ... conducted in a ruthless and often brutal manner. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, British, American and Russian leaders agreed to '... recognise that the transfer to Germany of German populations ...

remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, will have to be undertaken.' They also specified that '... any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner.' The expulsions were, in fact, conducted in a ruthless and often brutal manner. Some of the people who left those eastern countries were recent arrivals, who had been settled in German-conquered territories by the Nazis as part of their long-term plan for German domination of eastern Europe. But most of those being expelled came of stock whose ancestors had been settled in the eastern lands for generations, and who knew no other place as home. The Volksdeutsche, as the Nazis had called them were, however, for the most part, victims of a calamity of which they were themselves part-authors. Not all were Nazis, but a majority had become supporters of Hitler. Top Expulsion of Germans Displaced persons in Vienna, 1946 © Even before the end of the war the greater part of the German population of East Prussia had fled westwards - although thousands drowned en route, in overloaded ships that sank in the Baltic Sea.

In the city of Königsberg, annexed by the USSR, the food supply broke down completely in 1945. People were reduced to eating offal, and human flesh was offered for sale as fried meatballs. Seven centuries of German civilisation, in the city that had nurtured philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottfried von Herder, thus ended in cannibalism. By 1949 nearly all the surviving Germans in the region had been driven out. At the peak period ... 14,400 people a day were being dumped over the frontier. In Poland, German-owned farms and houses were handed over to Poles. Germans were rounded up by Polish militias and put in camps, before being removed from the country. In Czechoslovakia, more than 2.2 million Germans were expelled, and their property was expropriated. At the peak period, in July 1946, 14,400 people a day were being dumped over the frontier. About three quarters went to the American occupation zone of Germany, and most of the remainder to the Soviet zone.

About 60,000 Germans had already fled from Hungary before the end of the war, some travelling by boat up the Danube. After the war the government ordered the German population to leave en bloc. As their trains left, some deportees tried to affirm their loyalty by waving Hungarian flags, singing Magyar folk songs, and chalking on the sides of the carriages slogans such as, 'We don't say goodbye, only au revoir!' Most were sent to Germany, but from some villages the entire adult population was deported to labour camps in the Donets Basin of the Soviet Union. By the end of the expulsions only about 200,000 Germans remained in Hungary. Top Further expulsions Family of German refugees, September1945 © In Romania, from the autumn of 1944, tens of thousands of the Swabian Germans of the Banat, and more from the ancient Saxon communities of Transylvania - long-established outposts of German peasant and mercantile life - loaded their wagons and hitched their horses for the long trek to their ancestral homeland.

By 1948 the pre-war German population of 780,000 had been reduced by more than half. ... Germans who were expelled or who departed voluntarily from eastern Europe ... mounted to 11.5 million ... Virtually all the half million Germans in Yugoslavia fled, were expelled, or were sent to labour camps by the victorious Communist partisan forces. An estimated 27,000 were sent to camps in the Soviet Union. Violence against the Volksdeutsche here was probably more relentless than in any other country. According to official West German accounts (perhaps exaggerated) at least 610,000 Germans were killed in the course of the expulsions. The total number of Germans who were expelled or who departed voluntarily from eastern Europe after the end of the war mounted to 11.5 million by 1950. Top Other wanderers A displaced person returns from a German prison camp © As the German presence in eastern Europe was thus abruptly terminated, the Germans' foremost victims were also turned into refugees. Surviving Jews from concentration camps who returned to their homes found that they were unwelcome. Their property had new occupants who were generally reluctant to vacate the premises.

Hundreds of thousands ... fled westwards ... most of them hoping to get to North America. In Poland and Slovakia pogroms broke out, in which Jews were killed. Over 100,000 Jews infiltrated to the western powers' occupation zones in Germany and Austria. Most sought permission to enter Palestine - but the British mandatory government there denied entry to all save a handful. They therefore remained stuck for years in so-called displaced persons' camps. Other wanderers were also on the move in the early months of the peace. Nearly two million Poles were compulsorily transferred from eastern areas of Poland that had been annexed by the USSR. They took the place of Germans expelled from the formerly German regions of Pomerania and Silesia, now transferred to Poland. Half a million Ukrainians, Belorussians and others were deported from Poland to the Soviet Union. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Croats, and others, fearful of reprisals for wartime collaboration, fled westwards from all over eastern Europe, most of them hoping to get to North America. Top International response The integration of the millions of refugees in their countries of arrival was not easy.

European states were, in the main, too preoccupied with the sufferings of their own citizens and with the tasks of reconstruction to have much compassion to spare. The millions of Germans from the east who suddenly found themselves in a fatherland that most of them had never seen before became for a while a dangerous element in politics, easy prey to nationalist demagogues spouting irredentist talk. Over two million Soviet citizens were returned by the western Allies to areas under Soviet control. The international response to the refugee crisis took both legal and organisational form. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 guaranteed a '... right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution', and forbade the arbitrary deprivation of nationality. The Geneva Convention on Refugees of 1951 defined refugees, accorded them specific rights, and prohibited their refoulement (or forcible return) from countries of refuge. Meanwhile a United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) had been created in 1943. UNRRA was succeeded by the International Refugee Organisation, established in 1946; and that in turn gave way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in 1950.

All these bodies, however, were plagued by political conflict, in particular the outbreak of the Cold War. UNRRA was limited under its Articles of Agreement to assisting in the 'repatriation or return' to their home countries of 'displaced persons'. It transported millions of former concentration-camp dwellers, forced labourers and other victims of the Nazis to countries such as France, Belgium, and Greece. Over two million Soviet citizens were returned by the western Allies to areas under Soviet control. They were moved in batches, generally in return for equivalent numbers of citizens of western countries, an equivalence insisted upon by the Soviet authorities. Many of the Soviets departed willingly. But others did not, and their forcible return conflicted with the 'non-refoulement' principle. Many citizens of east European states that were taken over by Communists also resisted repatriation. Most sought refuge in western Europe, the United States, Canada, or Australia. Cold War considerations, combined with calculation of labour requirements in industries such as mining, led Britain, Australia and other countries to grant Poles and some others permanent settlement.

The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 finally provided a secure refuge for Jews who had been hounded from their homes in central and eastern Europe. But the buoyant United States economy held out the most tantalising hope to refugees. Top Legacy American refugee policy in the post-war period was driven by conflicting tendencies towards isolationist restrictionism and Cold War internationalism. The former approach was staunchly advocated by powerful figures in Congress and important organs of public opinion, for example, the Chicago Tribune. The deepening of east-west conflict in the early years of the Cold War provided the context for subsequent US legislation. In 1948 the Displaced Persons Act, primarily inspired by anti-Communism, finally led to a relaxation of US immigration policy. The US Escapee Program was established in the same year, and offered sanctuary to a limited number of refugees from Communist countries. The deepening of east-west conflict in the early years of the Cold War provided the context for subsequent US legislation. The Refugee Relief Act of 1953 provided for the admission over three years of 214,000 refugees - of these, it was laid down that 186,000 should be from Communist countries.

By 1959 some 900,000 European refugees had been absorbed by west European countries. In addition, 461,000 had been accepted by the USA, and a further 523,000 by other countries. But many 'hard-core' refugees still remained in camps. At that point the United Nations launched an ambitious effort to resolve the refugee problem once and for all. World Refugee Year, in 1959-1960, was designed as a 'clear the camps' drive. It achieved some significant results - at any rate in Europe. By the end of 1960, for the first time since before World War Two, all the refugee camps of Europe were closed. But the global refugee problem was far from solved. In Africa and Asia millions of fugitives from persecution, hunger, and natural disasters continued to scramble for secure homes. Europe, hitherto mainly an exporter of refugees, henceforth became a net importer. Today the United Nations estimates that over 17 million asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people are seeking homes worldwide.

Books The Uninvited: Refugees at the Rich Man's Gate by Jeremy Harding (Profile Books, 2000) The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A Study of Czech-German Relations 1933-1962 by Radomír Lula (Routledge, 1964) The Unwanted: European Refugees in the Twentieth Century by Michael Marrus (OUP New York, 1985) European Refugees: 1939-1952 by Malcolm J Proudfoot (Faber, 1957) About the author Bernard Wasserstein was born in London and educated at Oxford University. He is now professor of modern history at the University of Chicago. His books include Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945 (Clarendon Press, 1988), Vanishing Diaspora: The Jews in Europe since 1945 (Harvard University Press, 1997) and Israel and Palestine (Profile Books/Yale University Press, 2004). Top About the author Bernard Wasserstein was born in London and educated at Oxford University.

He is now professor of modern history at the University of Chicago. His books include Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945 (Clarendon Press, 1988), Vanishing Diaspora: The Jews in Europe since 1945 (Harvard University Press, 1997) and Israel and Palestine (Profile Books/Yale University Press, 2004). The Refugee Experience: Ukrainian Displaced Persons after World War II | CIUS Press Ukrainian Displaced Persons after World War II $49.95 (Cloth) This volume, a collective study of the post-World War II Ukrainian emigrants in Germany and Austria, departs from the standard approach to immigration studies. Instead of focusing on the immigrants' adjustment to their host societies (the United States, Canada, Australia, the countries of Latin America, and others), the approach in this volume assumes the primary importance of the pre-immigration experience.

The twenty-five contributions to this book present a detailed analysis of the social conditions that shaped the Ukrainian displaced … Related Books About The Book This volume, a collective study of the post-World War II Ukrainian emigrants in Germany and Austria, departs from the standard approach to immigration studies. Instead of focusing on the immigrants' adjustment to their host societies (the United States, Canada, Australia, the countries of Latin America, and others), the approach in this volume assumes the primary importance of the pre-immigration experience. The twenty-five contributions to this book present a detailed analysis of the social conditions that shaped the Ukrainian displaced persons, with particular attention to the five-year period that many of them spent in internationally organized resettlement camps. The essays in this volume are grouped in nine sections covering the most important facets of the displaced persons' lives.

These include an assessment of the DP phenomenon in the context of Ukrainian history; its demographic dimensions; an examination of the economic and organizational structure of the DP camps; the role of political parties and nationalist ideology; the activities of the Catholic and Orthodox churches; the establishment of schools and women's organizations; the proliferation of literary, cultural, and scholarly activity; Soviet efforts at repatriation and the Allied response; the resettlement of Ukrainians in the USA and Canada; and a sociological and psychological interpretation of the DP experience. Four contributions by eyewitnesses round out the volume. About The Authors

Question: After World War II, what was a DP?
Answer: Displaced Person