After World War Two, many displaced persons could not find work and were placed in camps created and provided by the IRO, the International Refugee Organization. As many European countries were physically destroyed by the war, they needed laborers: cheap, willing, and numerous. The DPs in the refugee camps were not working, and many had moral problems with this, saying it was a waste that so many were without jobs while jobs existed in other areas of the world, especially in Western Europe. Thus, twenty-six countries across the globe came together and formed the IRO, which was in charge of moving DPs between states. While the international movement has gone down in history as a great humanitarian effort and success, it was not without pitfalls and problems.
Cohen’s article, In War’s Wake, discusses the many nuances behind how countries selected DPs and their evolution from commodities to people in need of help; from laborers to human beings. Many people at the time made comparisons between treatment of DPs as workers and slavery, as they were often put into the least desirable or most dangerous jobs. In Belgium, DPs were “reserved the most difficult areas of mine operations (Cohen, 105).” Also, countries bringing in refugees made work compulsory for a certain period of time. In Belgium, two years of labor in mines were required before moving on to “a field less strenuous than mining (Cohen, 105).” In Britain, it was not a time specified, but certain fields of hard labor. They were to remain in that field until the restrictions were lifted in 1951; new refugees had to live in Britain for three years before working in another field.
For the early years of the IRO, immigration was heavily based not only on effective labor, but also racism and beliefs that those of one race were genetically superior, morally, mentally, or culturally. Most western countries highly desired immigrants from the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. They saw the people from these states as cleaner, smarter, healthier, and more energetic, attractive, and industrious. As the IRO desired to resettle as many DPs as possible, it categorized DPs using ID cards like the picture above. These cards held basic information on the owner such as name, date of birth, area of birth, and a photo. This racism meant that refugee sponsors in the United States, those who would pay money to partially cover the cost of resetlling DPs, would unevenly choose to help the refugees from these areas. As antisemitism was still prevalent and overt in non-European countries, Jews were most negatively affected. This lasted until the creation of Israel in 1948, two years after the IRO. Israel gave a release to the buildup of unwanted Jews in Europe and increased the quantitative success of the IRO.
I think you do a really good job explaining the IRO and giving insight on the purpose of it. I also think you did a really nice job explaining the struggles of Displaced People in refugee camps and the daily strifes that occurred in them. I also think you did a good job including other countries besides just Britain that are struggling in this time as well!
I liked how you defined what the IRO was because it provides information for the outsider reader. It was interesting that you pointed out that DPs treatment in the labor force was almost the same as slavery. Do you think that the life of DPs and their working conditions are often over looked by modern historians? Is this topic in history often cast aside or just forgotten because of the Cold War and other conflicts that were going on at the time?
I would question how willing the displaced people where at being relocated essentially at the whim of the IRO. While they looked for good laborers, they also discriminated against those who would not be good at labor. I think because there where so many DP’s available, the IRO was able to find the most willing people to aid.