MILLIONS IN MOTION

The end of the war in Europe saw the largest displacement of humanity in the continent's history, and repatriation became a huge challenge between the former Allied powers, East and West

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In the middle of the Second World War, with the outcome of the conflict becoming more evident as the Allies progressed from hard-won victory to victory, the tremendous upheaval and eventual return to a tenuous peace in a new world order demanded some provision.

Among the priorities in a post-war world was the repatriation or relocation of more than 11 million displaced people in western Europe and – by 1945 – an estimated 12 to 26.5 million refugees or expelled German-speaking people. In the west this included those who had been forcibly removed during Nazi occupation, those whose property had been seized, those imprisoned in concentration and forced labour camps, and those simply caught up in the maelstrom of warfare.

But by the spring of 1945 another dimension was becoming readily apparent. The Nazis had been vanquished and the global political orientation was rapidly changing, and throngs of Germans had fled their homes in the east in advance of the conquering Red Army. Many of them were ethnic Germans who had lived in territories for generations, perhaps never before setting foot in their ancestral land of origin. They fled from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania. Others had been settled by the Nazi government during its campaign of land seizures for Lebensraum, or living space, in eastern Europe.

At the same time, there was the question of those who fled a future of communist rule. Diplomacy was required as the victorious alliance divided, with the United States and Great Britain as principals in the west and the Soviet Union preeminent in the east. No matter. The displaced were coming, and provision had to be made for them.