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Post-WW II Europe

 

The Second World War created mass destruction and havoc and displaced tens of millions of people both in Europe and elsewhere. At the end of the war, the majority of displaced were initially repatriated, often forcefully, by the Allied Western Forces and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to their home countries in Central and East Europe. By 1948, however, there remained over a million displaced persons (DPs) who refused to return home because of fear of persecution. The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was created to resettle the remaining DPs to new homes around the world. By the end of the IRO’s tenure, some 400,000 DPs who, because of age, disability, illness or the wrong profession, were considered undesirable to resettlement countries. These ‘hard-core’ refugees remained in camps scattered throughout Western Europe until the early 1960s.

When the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was created at the end of 1950, the Office’s initial caseload comprised of the 400,000 refugees left over from the IRO period. UNHCR initially focused its efforts on local integration efforts aimed at this protracted refugee problem but progress on resolving the problem was painstakingly slow. It was not until after the international response to the 1956 refugee crisis in Hungary that the world became more aware of the failure of governments and the international community to address the needs of the DPs who had languished in camps and other settlements for over a decade.

In 1959 the UN, governments, NGOs and individuals embarked on a unique international campaign, World Refugee Year (WRY) in response to the continuing protracted refugee crises in Europe and elsewhere. Nearly 100 countries and 80 NGOs participated in the effort, raising around US$92 million (US$670 million in today’s prices). The WRY also campaigned in support of broader solutions for protracted refugee situations. One of the most notable outcomes of these efforts was the eventual clearance of the DP camps in Europe through a combination of overseas resettlement and local integration.

Credit: Gil Loescher

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