Figure 1.--At the end of World War II, Europe was awash with people, especially the former and now occupied German Reich. Most but not all of the pople wanted nothing more than to get home. This included millions of Germans, especially the children, who had been evacuated from the cities into the countryside. Now the problem of moving all these people home might have been manageable had the German transport system, especially the rail system, had survived the War. It had not. In fact the German transport system had been a primary target of the strategic bombing, part of destroying the German war economy. And with the destruction of the German transport system there was no easy or quick way for these people to get home. This is what was left of the main Berlin railroad stations. Not only the rail centers were attacked abd destroyed, but locomorives and railing stock which is why any thinh that move after the War was cramed with people. Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White.

Repatriation was primarily a process which took place after the War and it concerned the millions of workers brought into the Reich for war work. This included different groups of people from all over occupied Europe. Many were slave workers, mostly from Eastern Europe. Other were conscript workers, mostly from Western Europe. Other had voluntarily come to Germany from neutral countries, including some from Spain. Getting all these people home was a real problem. And the problem was confounded by the numbers of Germans flooding into occupied Germany from eastern and central Europe as well as millions of Germans attempting to get home from where they were when the War ended. This included millions of Germans, especially the children, who had been evacuated from the cities into the countryside. Now the problem of moving all these people home might have been manageable had the German transport system, especially the rail system, had survived the War. It had not. In fact the German transport system had been a primary target of the strategic bombing, part of destroying the German war economy. Europe, especially Germany, was awash with people. And with the destruction of the German transport system there was no easy or quick way for these people to get home. Thus Displaced Persons (DP) camps had to be set up to care for people until they could get home. Some were in such poor condition thst they need immediate medical care to be kept alive. Many were beyond help and could not be saved. There are other issues concerning repaitriations. Most of the displaced people wanted to go home. Not all people wanted to go home. Some of these people did not want to return to a Communist dominsted Eastern Europe. Some were forcibly repatriated. This was primarily the Soviet citizens who fought with the Germans. The Jews were a special problem. Many did not want to return home to eastrn Europe, in part because of the Comminiust take over, the murder of their families, and the prevlant anti-Semitism. Most wanted to go to either America or Israel. British policy to placate the Arabs severely limited Jewish access to Palestine. Ametrican emogration policy was changing, but immediately after the War was still restrictive. Another major reptariation effort was getting the Japanese home. Japanese civilians were located in the Marianas, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria and had to be repatriated. This was done in an orderly fashion except for the areas occupied by the Red Army (Manchuria and North Korea).

Created: 12:47 AM 9/17/2018
Last updated: 12:47 AM 9/17/2018