ABSTRACT
The dimensions of postwar Russian migration are difficult to calculate exactly. In the case of the European displaced persons, the historian is baffled at every turn by the mass phenomenon of misstatement of identity; as Andrew Janco puts it, ‘Soviet refugees’ attempts to remain undetected by Soviet repatriation officers have also hidden them from the historical record.’ But there are other difficulties, arising from the nature of the historical record itself and the kind of statistics that were kept. Among Australia’s postwar mass resettlement migrants, over 60,000 were classified as Polish, according to International Refugee Organization statistics. A Department of Immigration statistician privately questioned by Arthur Calwell in 1951 gave a figure of 6260 Jewish mass resettlement migrants, plus 13,650 Jews from all countries of origin except Britain arriving with landing permits for the period 1945–50, making a total of almost 20,000 for these years alone.
