A ship commissioned by the International Refugee Organization to aid in the emigration of Displaced Peoples
Following the conclusion of World War II, many people were left homeless or in a place where they felt they just did not belong. Many of these people had endured years of hardships as a result of the second world war. They came to be known as Displaced Peoples, or DPs for short.
Their trauma was recognized by nations outside of their locations, specifically by the victorious Allied Powers. They bonded together through an organization called the International Refugee Organization (IRO), and set out to relocated the displaced peoples; and they did so with purpose. According to Chapter 5 of Cohen’s “In War’s Wake,” The IRO was able to research where displaced people were most needed, many times for their labor. The result was a nation gifted with new laborers, and displaced peoples granted new places to call home. On paper, it sounds like a win-win scenario right?
It was…but the process was also much more political than it seemed. As pictured above, it was the goal of the IRO to promote their actions as a beneficial practice that was only represented by celebration on all fronts. However, on page 110 in “In War’s Wake,” Cohen writes that public information officers were warned “not to ‘make use of extravagant emotional appeals…and should avoid undue emphasis of themes of acute distress, privation and horror.’” The reason behind this was to make sure that the displaced peoples were viewed as hard-workers and anti-communists.
Some nations, like Great Britain, saw through the advertising facade and relied on a vetting process to import their newly immigrated laborers. They needed “good, healthy workers to mine coal, make bricks, work on farms and do other heavy work.” To ensure this, they sought to immigrate single men first, followed by “productive” parents with children under the age of sixteen.
Other nations, like France, were slow to seek the immigration of the displaced peoples of the war. According to Cohen, this led to the threat by the Unites States to “withdraw Marshall Plan assistance from ‘any European nation refusing to open its borders to a reasonable number of DPs.’” The United States had a direct interest in European nations investing in the emigration of DPs into their countries because the United States was losing money trying to fund the safety and rehabilitation of the DPs.
The International Refugee Organization was a great international tool for aiding the displaced people of the war. It was also a great tool for finding and providing labors that were much needed for the restoration processes of Allied nations and their neighbors. In hindsight, it is certainly clear that in the event of post-war reconstruction, even the most heroic nations are willing to toss ethics aside in order to promote a political agenda.
It was interesting that you connected the goal of the IRO to a political agenda. I agree with your closing statement that “heroic nations are willing to toss ethics aside in order to promote a political agenda” that seems to be a common theme that has been explored throughout the semester.
I agree with both you, Quinton, and Allie that this political agenda seeming to be pushed post-WWII by “heroic nations” is a common theme we have seen throughout this semester. I wonder why this is true, and how organizations like the IRO relate to the human rights movement(s) pushed by the EU among others.
I think that despite the great efforts of the IRO and other world organizations, politics always finds some way to put their own interests first. The IRO wanted to help relocate refugees after the war, but countries were being picky about who they would let in. Also due to a shortage in labor, countries were looking for people who could work the open labor jobs. The countries taking in refugees were concerned about their best interest over the refugees best interest.
While, yes, the IRO was a great international tool for aiding the Displaced Persons after the war I think it was important to note that the IRO came out of the UN. The UN was an organization dominated by western political thought. Therefore, the IRO indirectly also supported western politics. The aid given by the IRO refugees was not universal or unconditional.