After the Second World War came to an end, a different problem arose out of the citizens of the war-torn Axis countries. Displaced people all over Europe had little to no country or home to return to, having it either be destroyed, forgotten, or they’re not wanted. Citizens of Germany, one of the most heavily effected nations, were being sent back to a destroyed Germany all over Europe by both the Allied powers and the many nations they took over during the war.
Personally, I’ve never given the thought to the millions of “Displaced Persons” that WW2 left behind, as it was never taught in any history class nor did I ever think about what did happen to the victims of the war who weren’t soldiers. From the readings I stand firm in saying that this is an area/topic that needs to be taught in at least some history courses. What I read did not surprise or shock me, as I’ve understood the impact of WW2 for some time, but it was all very new information.
“The biggest human problem with which we shall be faced in re-ordering the world after the end of the war will probably be that of re-establishing the peoples who have been displaced from their homes or localities for one reason or another,” said by a British commissioner in Into The Wars Wake (pg. 4). This sentence perfectly describes the seer size of the problem of displaced people after WW2. Not only do they need to return to their homes, but these people need to return to a home that they need to almost entirely rebuild themselves. They would need to rebuild everything from their cities to their societies.
A Human Treasure, by Tara Zahra, includes a large section on the displaced children living after the war. Many nations made the children one of their primary focuses as, “The project of reclaiming national sovereignty in liberated Europe was also linked directly to sovereignty over children. Like women, children were seen as a form of national ‘property’ that required protection from foreign invasion and appropriation,” (Zahra, pg. 334). Children were seen as the new future for many post-war countries, including France and Czechoslovakia as mentioned by Zahra. These children, whether they be from that country or not, would be taken in and used to, in broad terms, repopulate the country in attempts to replace the dead from the war. To me this is a very strange thing to think about. It seems that these countries were more-so using the children as a means of healing for the betterment of the country, rather than for the betterment of the children.
It is definitely true that the postwar period has been overlooked by most history classes. There are many moments of history where, based on the way that information is presented, it seems as though problems simply go away. In the aftermath of World War II, it seems as though there was a period from 1946-1954 that simply had no problems. The Soviet Union was certainly gaining traction, but beyond that, it was bliss. The study of displaced persons shatters this reality. The question then becomes: what purpose has it served for US schools to gloss over the realities of these eight years before focus on the Cold War really took off?
I definitely agree that its a bit strange that I had never been taught to even think about or consider what happened with the millions of DP’s after WWII, and would perhaps be willing to consider this to be a failing of the school system that should be rectified. These people had such a monumental task ahead of them, rebuilding every aspect of your country from almost the ground up is a burden that shouldn’t have to be bore without international assistance. I personally don’t find it too strange to think that these war torn countries would see children as a commodity, and feel that even if the children were in a sense being used to revitalize the country they ended up in, that it was still very much to their benefit as well, and that nations weren’t wrong to do what they did (though some racial prejudices had more influence over selecting what children would be allowed to immigrate than it ideally should have).
I really enjoyed your last sentence ” it seems that these countries were more-so using the children as a means of healing for the betterment of the country, rather than for the betterment of the children.” It is powerful that connection you made, it seem unimaginable to expect children to be high functioning especially when I imagine so many were orphaned.