Figure 1.-- The NAZIs brought racism to a whole new level. They were not just concerned with traditional racism involving White, Blacks, Native Americans, and Asians, but created elaborate categories of Whites. Their hatred toward Jews is well known, but they also identified other White groups for destruction. The result was mass murder and setting Europe awash with refugees. Here is a Czech in Prague after fleeing the NAZI seizure of the Sudetenland in 1938. The press caption read, "Czech Refugee Baby Safe With Its Doll: Among pathetic figures suffering from the threat of war over the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia are the children, forced to flee with their parents from the area demanded by Germany, the children have been given shelter in hastily equipped refugee [facilities] here." The photograph was dated September 26, 1938. The Czechs were one of ethnic groups to be totaly elimninated. The chlilling NAZI vision was spelled out in perhaps the nost chillingly ruthless undertaking in all of history -- Generalplan Ost.

Race has become a major factor in modern history. The impact of face on refugees is complicated. Race in the ancient an medieval eras was much less significant than is case in our modern world. Race was not a fctor unknown to the ancients am medieval peoples, it just was not the poweful force it has become. This began to change with the European maritime outreach. As contacts were developed with Native Americans and Africans the idea began to develop that Europeans were superior. Part of that was ehat was seen as the true religion. And as India and China was so rich, a purely racial outlook was hard to conceoualize. This changed as science devloped in the West along with capitalism. The resulting Industrial Revolution propelled the West over both India and China. As a result a more racial outlook developd currency in the West, jutified by social Darwinism. Now the most obvious impact of racism is African slavery, bith the Arab and European slave trade. In terms of oppression this is hihh on the lost, but we are not sure slavery fits into our discussion of refugees as we slaves were a captive prople, but a people fleeing oppression. Of course the Underground Railway and the Maroons in the Caribbeam cerainly can be considered refugees. As can blacks fleeing the rural South after World War I. The race mania reached its peak with the NAZIs and World War II. The NAZIs brought racism to a whole new level. They were not just concerned with traditional racism involving White, Blacks, Native Americans, and Asians, but created elaborate categories of Whites. Their hatred toward Jews is well known, but they also identified other White groups for destruction. The result was mass murder and setting Europe awash with refugees of evry race, ethnicity, nationality, and relgion. The last major World War II refugee group was the Germans driven out of Eastern and Central Europe by the people they attempted to dominate and in many cases destroy. The Japanese were also highly racist and created large numbers of refugees, mostly in China. After World War II large numbers of refugees After World War II, new groups of refugees appeared. Some had religious and nationl bases, such as Muslims and Hindus in India and Jews and Muslims in Palestine. The later was a relatively small number of refugees, but has attracted great attention. Huge numbers of regugees now come from the Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa, and Oceania. Many come from the new nations resulting from pt-World War II Decolonization. Here it is difficult to separate refugees from economic migrants. And that dichtomy is further blured by the fact that economic migrantion is in large part generated by the denial of economic freedom by socialist or socialist-influnced regimes. Religious fanaticism is another limiting mchanism. Both socilist regimes and theocracies share many featues, mist primently the sbance of the rule of law. This is related to race bcause many of these countries have populations with identifiavle racial populations.

Created: 12:21 AM 1/10/2017
Last updated: 5:47 PM 9/8/2018