Humanitarian politics and governance: international responses to the civilian toll in the Second World War

Displacement during the Second World War is best imagined expansively, as something widespread and often open-ended. Wartime displacement changed the global map and shaped the war's aftermath; it transformed the make-up of national populations, influenced the creation of new states and shaped political ideas about the post-war world. The continuums of ethnic violence and displacement ran over the convenient end date of 1945. Faced with this epic crisis in Europe and in Asia, the emergent international community attempted to try and provide a coordinated response. It was an impressive effort in many ways. The response to the refugees involved the assistance of intergovernmental, governmental and voluntary groups. The contemporary political situation and the subsequent life histories of refugees determined many memories of exile. The continued existence of minorities and the separation of kinship groups remaining in the 'motherland' could also add to the complications of beginning life anew.