The last million : Europe's displaced persons from World War to Cold War

Resource Information

The work The last million : Europe's displaced persons from World War to Cold War represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Grosse Pointe Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The last million : Europe's displaced persons from World War to Cold War

Title remainder

Europe's displaced persons from World War to Cold War

Statement of responsibility

David Nasaw

Creator

• Nasaw, David

Author

• Nasaw, David

Subject

• Emigration and immigration -- Government policy
• Europe
• Europe -- Emigration and immigration | History -- 20th century
• HISTORY / World
• History
• Humanitarianism
• Humanitarianism -- History -- 20th century
• International Refugee Organization
• International Refugee Organization
• Jewish refugees
• Jewish refugees -- Europe -- History -- 20th century
• Jews -- Europe -- Migrations | History -- 20th century
• Jews -- Migrations
• 1900-1999
• Political refugees -- Europe -- History -- 20th century
• Refugees
• Refugees -- Europe -- History -- 20th century
• Refugees -- Government policy
• Refugees -- Government policy -- Europe -- History -- 20th century
• United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
• United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
• United States
• United States -- Emigration and immigration | Government policy
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees -- Europe
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees -- United States
• Political refugees
• Emigration and immigration

Genre

• History

Language

eng

Summary

"In May of 1945, German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, effectively putting an end to World War II in Europe. But the aftershocks of this global military conflict did not cease with the signing of truces and peace treaties. Millions of lost and homeless POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and concentration camp survivors overwhelmed Germany, a country in complete disarray. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate foreigners, and attempted to repatriate them to Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the USSR. But after exhaustive efforts, there remained over a million displaced persons who either refused to go home or, in the case of many, had no home to which to return. They would spend the next three to five years in displaced persons camps, divided by nationalities, temporary homelands in exile, with their own police forces, churches, schools, newspapers, and medical facilities. The international community couldn't agree on the fate of the Last Million, and after a year of fruitless debate and inaction, an International Refugee Organization was created to resettle them in lands suffering from labor shortages. But no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United States, among the last countries to accept anyone for resettlement, finally passed a Displaced Persons Bill - but as Cold War fears supplanted memories of WWII atrocities, the bill only granted visas to those who were reliably anti-communist, including thousands of former Nazi collaborators, Waffen-SS members, and war criminals, while barring the Jews who were suspected of being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been recent residents of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the passage of the controversial UN resolution for the partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining Jewish survivors finally able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany."--

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

940.53/145

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography