Christopher Jackson
Displaced Persons
The common theme for these articles involves people being displaced. This displacement was a result of war and the after affects. War has always been troublesome in the past and even to this very day. These articles however focus on the after math of World War II and its effect on people. The World Wars were destructive enough but WWII just left whole nations flattened. Then there were the people left over, people left without homes or a nation.
While the texts themselves talk about the same issue they cover it differently. The perspective taken in the text by Tara Zahra involved children, nationalism, and human rights. Though human rights might be an old idea the systems that protects them are not. Sharif Gemie and Louise Rees’s work focuses on who the Allies reacted to the number of homeless Europeans. Along with their work is information regarding films akin to one made by Fred Zinnemann. The third reading continues with the United States perspective on displaced people. There is even mention of the dangers of a crippled Europe in the face of communism.
The reason the information provided in Tara Zahra is important is that it points out accomplishment of post WWII humanitarian. The actions of, “UNRRA and IRO workers ultimately anchored long-standing nationalist ideals at the heart of new international regimes of refugee relief and rehabilitation” (Zahra, “‘A Human Treasure’: Europe’s Displaced Children Between Nationalism and Internationalism” p.350). The Gemie and Rees’s strength comes from its analysis of the film by Fred Zinnemann. As it provides contact for post WWII displaced people in Europe. Looking at what makes, In Wars Wake important the case could be made that it is the transition from post WWII into the Cold War era. Though not entirely about the Cold War the text does cover the topic of displaced persons alongside Cold War themes.
