Article 1- Refugees in Europe in the 20th Century
After the first World War, the League of Nations was created as a form of peaceful cooperation between states, and it was this body which first focused on tackling the issue of refugees at the international level.
The Second World War and the immediate post-war period produced the largest population displacement in history. In May 1945, over 40 million people were estimated to be displaced in Europe. There were also some 13 million ethnic Germans who were expelled from the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other east European countries in the months following the end of the war.

The European continent had been devastated by war, which was followed by civil war in Greece and other conflicts in southeast Europe, which also led to large-scale displacement. The Allied powers recognized the need to tackle the growing issue of refugees in Europe and created the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) in 1947. The IRO was not able, however, to bring the refugee problem to a conclusion and when the organization officially closed down in 1952 many people remained displaced in Europe.

The end of the 1940s saw a number of Cold War crises that generated new refugees and made it clear that displacement was not a temporary post-war phenomenon. The Berlin Blockade of 1948/49 was followed by the formation of two separate German States, the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the start of the Korean War in 1950.

By 1950, the international community had still not established a network of institutions, systems and laws to deal with the refugee problem. The turning point came in 1950-1951 with the establishment of the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the adoption of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (see chapter 1 for more detail).

Article 2 - The Hungarian Crisis of 1956
UNHCR’s first major test was the exodus of refugees from Hungary after the Soviet suppression of the uprising in 1956. The subsequent exodus provided UNHCR with its first experience of working with a mass influx of refugees fleeing political repression.

The roots of the Hungarian crisis lay in the thaw in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union following Stalin’s death in 1953. The Communist regime which had taken power in Hungary in 1947-48 had been led by one of Stalin’s closest followers in Eastern Europe. Nikita Khrushchev’s famous speech to the Communist Party in February 1956, in which he acknowledged that Stalin had made many serious mistakes, sent shock waves through the Soviet Union and the Communist world. Khrushchev also undertook to reassess the Soviet Union’s relations with its satellite neighbours.

In response, the Hungarian regime appeared to recognize the need for reform, appointing the reformist Imre Nagy as Prime Minister. But popular demonstrations against the regime took place on October 23rd and responding to popular demands, Nagy formed a coalition government excluding communist hardliners and promised free elections.

In response the Soviet army attacked the capital Budapest on 4 November. In the widespread street fighting which followed, resistance to the red army was crushed. More than 3,000 people died in the streets on Budapest in 10 days of what turned out to be the most violent confrontation in Europe between the Second World War and the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Article 3 - Mass Movements - Vietnam: Crisis and legacy
Taken form: Loescher, Gil. Beyond Charity: International Cooperation and the Global Refugee Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993: 86-87.
During the Vietnam War, an estimated half of South Vietnam’s 20 million population was uprooted. Millions of Laotians and Cambodians, caught up in violent and indiscriminate warfare, fled from the countryside into the cities and refugees camps. The population of Saigon swelled from 1.8 million to 3.8 million; and by the war’s end, the majority of the rural population of the three Indochinese countries had moved into the cities for safety.

Before 1975 the conflict in Indochina resulted in relatively few cross-border population movements, with only a small number of humanitarian organisations in place to provide aid to large numbers of displaced persons in Vietnamese and Laotian territories. These humanitarian organisations were ill equipped to cope with the huge outflows of refugees following the rapid fall of the governments in Saigon, Phnom Penh, and Vientiane during 1975.

Neighbouring states perceived the refugee influxes as constituting a threat to their national security, political and social stability, and economic development. Consequently, when tens of thousands of people crossed into their territories or landed on their shores, the refugees were met with hostility. Malaysia and Thailand warned that they would forcibly turn away refugees if they did not receive such prior commitments, and they did indeed push away boatloads of refugees, causing great loss if life.

In July 1979, with the crisis reaching alarming proportions, the United Nations held a conference in Geneva at which Vietnam agreed to impose a “moratorium” on illegal departures. Simultaneously, Malaysia and Thailand were persuaded to respect the refugees’ right to asylum after the United States, Canada, Australia, France, and some thirty others nations embarked on a huge and costly resettlement program that was to continue into the 1990s.

Activity 2 - Question
The people who fled Vietnam in the late 1970s are often refered to as the 'Vietnamese boat people'.  Throughout history, crossing seas has often been a way for people to escape conflict and find refuge.  Can you think of any other migrants we could now refer to as 'boat people'?

Activity 3 - Discussion
Do you know of any refugee movements during the 20th century, which have not been mentioned above?
Using the evidence of history, what is the most common element causing refugee movements?