Displaced Persons, Resettlement and the Legacies of War

From War Zones to New Homes

Jessica Stroja

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000593914
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Australian & Oceanian History
• Index: History

This book provides a case study on the ongoing impact of displacement and encampment of refugees who do not have access to resettlement support services or are resettled in locations of low cultural and linguistic diversity.

Following the journeys of displaced families and children who left Europe after the Second World War to seek resettlement in Queensland, Australia, this book brings together the rarely heard voices of these refugees from written archives, along with material from more than 50 oral history interviews. It thoroughly explores the impacts of displacement, encampment, and eventually resettlement in locations without resettlement facilities or support networks. In so doing, the book brings to light important findings that can be used to help understand the experiences of those impacted by contemporary refugee crises and can be considered when developing responses and assistance in locations where there is a lack of diversity or support for refugees.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students studying and researching the history of migration, sociology of migration, psychological effects of migration and displacement, as well as demography. Practitioners and policymakers will also be able to draw from this book when considering the long-term impacts of responses to contemporary refugee crises.

1 Introduction Refugees, Resettlement, and the Legacies of an Unprecedented Crisis

DOI: 10.4324/9781003268000-1

‘War experiences stay with you forever, whether you are a soldier or a refugee’.¹ This is the way Sarma Gertners encapsulates her family’s experiences as Latvian Displaced Persons following the Second World War. A single sentence that encompasses the immense trauma and loss felt by so many as a result of the widespread conflict that had ceased, yet left behind many legacies that would endure for decades.

The end of the Second World War brought signs of hope for many, but for others, it was far from a return to normality. Refugees were scattered across Europe, many unaware of their families’ locations, and many more unsure if their families had survived the conflict. These Displaced Persons found themselves unable to return home and were stranded amidst chaotic scenes of post-war Europe. Victims of the conflict had seen their lives irreparably altered; many were unable to return home due to fears of political opposition or persecution, and others no longer had a home to which they could return. Others felt unable to return home, their willing or unwilling collaboration with enemy forces presenting yet another layer of anxiety that remained present despite the end of the Second World War.

These refugees, who were known as Displaced Persons, were physically distanced from homes, families, friends, and loved ones and had been emotionally wrenched from the places and lives they had once called their own. These many refugees of the Second World War faced unprecedented struggles. As the post-war world sought answers to the horrors of the conflict and its legacies, Displaced Persons and their families were faced with the terrifying reality of seeking a life in the aftermath of war. They sought a new beginning, free from the trauma and fear that had become characteristic of so many lives. There was, however, no panacea for the fears and trauma experienced by refugees and their families.

Sarma Gertners and her family were some of the many Displaced Persons resettled in Australia following the Second World War. In 1999, she reflected on her family’s experiences as Latvian Displaced Persons. Still living in Queensland, Australia, the passage of time had not erased the effect of these events for Sarma, and she could not deny her feelings surrounding the horror her family had endured. She recalled the fear felt by other Latvian families when deportations to Siberia commenced and remembered her family’s terror when their ‘Russian maid … tried to denounce us … [with her] fists on her hips [saying] that we were supposed to be deported too’. As Soviet forces neared Sarma’s home in Latvia ‘in the summer of 1944’, her family was forced to flee, leaving behind their home, possessions, friends, and even Sarma’s sister. They ‘fled with almost nothing’, and did not know ‘whether she [Sarma’s sister] was alive or dead’. In Sarma’s own words, being forced to abandon a loved one ‘was a matter of lifelong stress for all of us’ and one that continued to linger with her family throughout their lives.²

Sarma’s experiences as a Displaced Person were not isolated. Many people were impacted by the widespread effects of the Second World War, and their lives changed dramatically in the face of unimaginable horrors. The development of organisations such as the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in 1943 and later the International Refugee Organization (IRO) in 1946 was intended to provide assistance to these mass groups of refugees. The Red Cross and diasporic migrant communities also offered assistance to the many groups of Displaced Persons stranded in Europe. However, this did not erase the complexities facing authorities as they attempted to negotiate the largest mass refugee crisis the world had ever seen.

With the contemporary global refugee population at the highest numbers ever recorded, the experiences of refugees and those forcibly displaced remain foremost in the minds of assistance agencies, governments, communities, and scholars.³ Yet how well do we understand the experiences of refugees who were at the heart of the mass displacement that characterised life for those impacted by the Second World War? The resettlement of these Displaced Persons in many locations is well understood. Extensive studies have well-established the way these events affected the individuals and families who found themselves in densely populated locations in countries such as Australia, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. However, current understanding of locations that did not have pre-existing migrant support networks already in place upon Displaced Persons’ arrival is limited. The experiences of families with children who found themselves in areas that were not culturally diverse were vastly different from those in other more diverse or metropolitan regions. Indeed, for the more than 50,000 people who formed the first wave of Displaced Persons to arrive in remote and homogenous regions across Queensland, Australia after the war, understandings of their lives during resettlement and the way the legacies of their displacement continue to resonate into the present are drastically understudied.

The mass displacement of refugees who found themselves stranded in Europe following the Second World War was an unprecedented event. Global authorities had never before faced a refugee crisis of this extent, and the millions of people unable or unwilling to return home presented numerous concerns. During a time when shortages of food and other essential items plagued communities, the provision of clothing, accommodation, and food for refugees meant many were acutely aware of the seriousness posed by this situation. The work of UNRRA and later the IRO to assist refugees did not diminish the paucity of homes and supplies that was ongoing in many locations. The Red Cross intervened in many cases to provide assistance, as did some diasporic communities abroad. Yet despite the intense efforts of governments, authorities, and aid agencies, the conditions faced by many were far from ideal. Despite many best intentions, the mass refugee crisis remained an ongoing concern.

The many Displaced Persons who had already suffered extensively throughout the conflict now sought a new beginning, free from the trauma and fear that had become characteristic of so many lives. There was, however, no panacea for the fears and trauma experienced by refugees and their families. Fears abounded that Soviet collaborators may be present in camps designed to house refugees in the immediate post-war period, and ongoing histories of territorial border changes in many countries overlaid these tensions and accentuated them further. Mass repatriation of Displaced Persons to their former homelands was fraught with difficulty, particularly for those who feared persecution, had collaborated with enemy forces, or no longer had a home or family to which to return. Local integration also proved difficult due to tensions towards refugees in local communities.

Resettlement in another country became a potential solution, although not all locations accepted children and aged family members, particularly in the initial post-war years. While resettlement was ostensibly a suitable solution for many Displaced Persons, it did not end the conflict’s effects, which continued to linger with families for decades. The process of seeking resettlement was complex and onerous for Displaced Persons. Many feared the resettlement process, concerned that families would become separated, children would be lost, and former identities may be revealed. Some Displaced Persons altered details on resettlement applications, hoping to be selected for resettlement or attempting to avoid the revelation of details that may have rendered them subject to pressures of repatriation.

These concerns were complicated even further by the lack of legal recognition for some citizenships during the post-war period. Displaced Persons who identified as Ukrainian had suffered through many changed borders, and for a time, their citizenship was not legally recognised. These concerns were also an issue for Latvians whose country was similarly occupied and absorbed into the Soviet Union. Such difficulties also existed for the many Poles who had resided in regions that were no longer the territory of their country of birth. The promises offered by countries such as Australia, while potentially an escape from these fears and the trauma they represented, were in many cases seemingly impossible to obtain without becoming a reminder of wartime encampment and oppression.

The Australian post-war experience has been well-studied. Many people have considered Australia’s place in the aftermath of the Second World War, including the impact of resettlement on refugees who came to the country after the conflict. The resettlement of Displaced Persons in Queensland, Australia’s second-largest state, has always before been considered as consistent with the broader Australian post-war experience. The stark reality is that resettlement in Queensland was vastly different to resettlement in other Australian locations. Many of Queensland’s geographically diverse regions were rural, remote, and homogenous. Attitudes towards migrants and refugees were complex. Citizens feared the potential infiltration of communist agents and the loss of housing and employment to migrants. Official support for refugees was in some areas almost non-existent. This raises an important question, and one that thus far remains unanswered: How did these vastly different resettlement experiences impact Displaced Persons? It is a question that highlights the uniqueness of locations that are not multicultural, nor provide already established networks of support for refugees. It is also a question that holds relevance for other locations with similar characteristics that have participated in refugee resettlement programmes.

Australia had not immediately become involved in the formal resettlement of Displaced Persons that occurred under the auspices of the IRO; however, the country nonetheless came to accept significant numbers of refugees for resettlement. Australia’s post-war experience was characterised by economic and labour shortages that were coupled with security concerns. In light of these circumstances, Australian post-war policy involved various planned migration programmes in order to counter anxieties surrounding the possibility of declining population rates. Scholars such as Klaus Neumann have readily established that Australia’s involvement in the Displaced Persons Resettlement Scheme was not solely underpinned by a desire to offer humanitarian assistance, and was instead motivated by economic shortages and security concerns.⁴ Post-war plans for infrastructure and rural development required increased population numbers, and the mass migration of the Displaced Persons resettlement programme was a potential solution.

These post-war Displaced Persons became the largest influx of refugees Australia had ever received to date. The Australian Government had become heavily involved in aspects of the Displaced Persons Resettlement Scheme that pertained to Australian settlement. The nation had appointed its own selection and medical officers in European camps, and the programme was carefully planned in order to increase the Australian public’s acceptance of the scheme. Once Australian resettlement of these post-war refugees began, life changed dramatically, both for Australian citizens and Displaced Persons themselves. Of the more than 50,000 refugees who formed the first wave of Displaced Persons to arrive in Queensland, the majority found themselves in regional and remote locations. They were frequently viewed with suspicion through the prism of supposed communist infiltration. Importantly, they did not have access to migrant support services and facilities upon their arrival, and Australian federal policies surrounding the resettlement, employment, and accommodation of Displaced Persons were largely developed without any provision for Queensland’s unique demographics and environment.

Despite Australia’s initial desire for single workers to be resettled in Australia, many were also accompanied by families with children. In some cases, adult family members who travelled to Australia on their own were later reunited with their children. Each, however, experienced resettlement in a time and place where they could not access existing migrant support networks and communities. They found themselves in regional and remote locations with accommodation and regulations that eerily mirrored the traumas of Europe. Decades on from these months of early resettlement, the legacies of these events continue to linger. They provided an important influence on life for Displaced Persons that continues to resonate within families despite the increasing passage of time.

This book particularly considers the resettlement of Polish, Latvian, and Ukrainian families with children. While many nationalities were displaced as a result of the Second World War, the situations faced by these Polish, Latvian, and Ukrainian Displaced Persons allow for a consideration of refugees who experienced displacement and oppression, and became some of the first nationalities resettled in Queensland after the Second World War. While each of these nations has its own particular national story, each had experienced a lengthy history of oppression by Russia, the Soviet Union, or others. They each asserted themselves through a lengthy struggle for independence and endured significant discrimination and death as a result. Significant numbers of families and individuals who identified with Polish, Latvian, or Ukrainian nationality were displaced due to these circumstances.

With such a substantial body of literature already in existence that discusses the post-Second World War refugee crisis, it raises the query that perhaps those in remote areas of locations such as Queensland may be no different. Yet the experiences of those families in these rural, homogenous regions provide a stark contrast to existing understanding of other locations. The legacies of historical trauma continued to resonate throughout the resettlement process. Experiences families had undergone in Europe, both traumatic and otherwise, directly influenced their engagement with resettlement experiences in homogeneous regions of Queensland. Echoes of life in Europe continued to remain prominent during resettlement, and became central to memories of this period that continue to resonate with families long after their initial arrival in Australia. It is the implication of these memories and their resonance that holds an important role for refugees, even decades after their initial arrival in rural resettlement locations.

Displaced Persons endured horrific experiences that changed their lives forever. While there has previously been a perception that these events contributed to the development of a widespread apathy and helplessness among Displaced Persons, they should not be wholly defined by these events. Resettlement can provide points of opportunity, such as the development and consolidation of social or familial networks, through which to rebuild lives and reimagine futures. While acknowledging the crucial importance of this for refugees, there nonetheless remains the question of the lingering effects of displacement, encampment, and conflict for Displaced Persons. Despite the desire not to perpetuate a stereotype of refugees as forever suffering, there is a need to understand the legacies of displacement for refugees in regions of low cultural diversity who do not have access to pre-existing support networks upon their arrival.

As Sarma Gertners reflected, ‘[w]ar experiences stay with you forever’. Resettlement in a location geographically distanced from sites of conflict did not erase the horrors of war and the loss of friends and family that had plagued Displaced Persons. While resettlement offered various opportunities for homes, work, and lives, it could not replace that which had been lost in Europe. Sarma felt the experiences of war stayed with everyone, ‘soldier or … refugee’. Certainly, the effects of the Second World ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Refugees, Resettlement, and the Legacies of an Unprecedented Crisis
• 2 The Chaos of Post-War Europe and Resettlement in Australia: New Lives or Echoes of Past Trauma?
• 3 A New Home at Last?: The Making of Home for Displaced Persons
• 4 Separation of Family: Echoes of Conflict and Trauma
• 5 Longing for the Homeland
• 6 Heritage and Legacies of Displacement
• 7 Displaced Persons and Faith-Based Networks of Support
• 8 Looking to the Future: Refugee Resettlement and the Legacies of Displacement
• 9 Conclusion: Displaced Persons and the Echo of Displacement: Resilience and Resettlement
• Index