ABSTRACT
Part of the task of helping victims of the war survive involved the refugee problem, at once harsh, dramatic, and poignant. The dis heartening plight of uprooted persons had, of course, been continuous ever since the First World War. That plight had been intensified in the 1930’s and during the Second World War. The persisting needs of the Spanish exiles in France were a reminder that the problem facing Europe was not new. But its magnitude and complexity in the years following the collapse of the Axis Powers was unprece dented. In the decade and a half after 1945 the migration in vari ous parts of the world of 40,000,000 human beings led many to speak of their time as “ the century of the uprooted” or “ the age of the homeless man.” Of this number, many moved in planned mi grations to reduce surplus population in one place and to supply needed labor in another. But the great majority were displaced persons-DP’s, that is to say, refugees, expellees, and escapees.
