IB History Post-war Displacement in Europe Questionbank

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent was persecution the main reason for post-war mass displacement in Europe?

Source A: Adapted from United Nations Economic and Social Council, survey of refugees and displaced persons, 1946.

Europe contained people displaced for many different reasons: forced labourers and prisoners of war, survivors of racial and political persecution, people expelled through territorial changes and others unwilling to return because of new regimes. A durable solution therefore required more than repatriation alone.

Source B: Adapted from Earl G. Harrison, report to President Truman on displaced persons in the US occupation zone, 3 August 1945.

Many Jewish survivors did not wish to return to countries where their families had been killed and where they feared renewed hostility. Yet they were still housed by nationality alongside people among whom they felt unsafe. Their displacement could not be understood only as a wartime transport problem.

Source C: U.S. Army Signal Corps photograph 111-SC-209893-S, 18 June 1945, reproduced via Wikimedia Commons.

image: p1-europe-causes-1945.jpg

Italian refugees eating and resting at Camp Reichenau, Innsbruck, Austria, 18 June 1945.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent was persecution the main reason for post-war mass displacement in Europe?

Source A: Adapted from Agreement of the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference, section XIII, 2 August 1945.

The transfer to Germany of German populations remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary should be carried out in an orderly and humane manner. Because large numbers were already moving, the Allied Control Council was asked to examine how further transfers could be distributed among the occupation zones.

Source B: Adapted from Fela Warschau, Holocaust survivor testimony recorded by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

When British soldiers entered Bergen-Belsen, liberation did not mean that I had somewhere to go. I was ill, my family had been destroyed and the world I had known no longer existed. Survival therefore began another period of uncertainty rather than an immediate return home.

Source C: Adapted from Earl G. Harrison, report to President Truman on displaced persons in the US occupation zone, 3 August 1945.

Many Jewish survivors did not wish to return to countries where their families had been killed and where they feared renewed hostility. Yet they were still housed by nationality alongside people among whom they felt unsafe. Their displacement could not be understood only as a wartime transport problem.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent was persecution the main reason for post-war mass displacement in Europe?

Source A: Adapted from Earl G. Harrison, report to President Truman on displaced persons in the US occupation zone, 3 August 1945.

Many Jewish survivors did not wish to return to countries where their families had been killed and where they feared renewed hostility. Yet they were still housed by nationality alongside people among whom they felt unsafe. Their displacement could not be understood only as a wartime transport problem.

Source B: Adapted from United Nations Economic and Social Council, survey of refugees and displaced persons, 1946.

Europe contained people displaced for many different reasons: forced labourers and prisoners of war, survivors of racial and political persecution, people expelled through territorial changes and others unwilling to return because of new regimes. A durable solution therefore required more than repatriation alone.

Source C: U.S. Army Signal Corps photograph 111-SC-209893-S, 18 June 1945, reproduced via Wikimedia Commons.

image: p1-europe-causes-1945.jpg

Italian refugees eating and resting at Camp Reichenau, Innsbruck, Austria, 18 June 1945.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent did international organizations provide an effective response to post-war displacement in Europe?

Source A: Adapted from Harry S. Truman, directive on the immigration of displaced persons and refugees, 22 December 1945.

American immigration officials should give displaced persons preference within the existing national quotas. Particular attention should be paid to orphaned children and to people who had suffered persecution, while voluntary agencies and the military authorities should help with selection and transport.

Source B: Adapted from United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, report on displaced-person operations in Europe, 1946.

Millions had been returned home, but repatriation slowed as the remaining camp population included people who opposed return or could not be received safely. Relief agencies still had to supply food, medical care, registration and transport while governments disagreed about longer-term solutions.

Source C: Photograph by Sergeant J. Mapham, No. 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit, 18 May 1945, reproduced via Wikimedia Commons.

image: p1-europe-response-1945.jpg

Displaced persons being processed at the reception centre established by British forces in the former forced-labour camp at Hamburg Zoo, 18 May 1945.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent did international organizations provide an effective response to post-war displacement in Europe?

Source A: Adapted from Constitution of the International Refugee Organization, adopted by the UN General Assembly, 15 December 1946.

The organization would identify and register refugees and displaced persons, arrange their care and protection, assist voluntary repatriation and help those unable or unwilling to return to resettle elsewhere. International action was required because no single government could solve the problem alone.

Source B: Adapted from Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, The State of the World's Refugees 2000, chapter on the early post-war years.

The post-war refugee regime developed through successive agencies, but states retained control over admission. UNRRA concentrated on relief and repatriation, the IRO placed greater emphasis on resettlement, and the 1951 Refugee Convention created a legal framework whose original reach remained limited mainly to Europe.

Source C: Adapted from Harry S. Truman, statement upon signing the Displaced Persons Act, 25 June 1948.

The law will permit many displaced persons to enter the United States, but it discriminates against Jewish refugees and other groups through restrictive dates and quota provisions. Congress should remove those unfair features so that the country can meet its humanitarian responsibility more fully.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.