Source: The National Archives of the UK and The Wiener Library, London
General Editor: Professor Dan Stone, Royal Holloway College, University of London
Here are the essential primary sources covering the politics and administration of the refugee crisis in Europe after World War II as well as the day-to-day survival of the refugees themselves.
Although the War in Europe ended officially in May 1945, the struggle continued for the millions of homeless people who had been displaced by military action, deportation into labour or concentration camps, or local racism and discrimination. The burden of the refugee problem taxed the Allied governments and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) relief groups in their attempts to administer, feed and house a moving people searching for their lost families and a permanent home.
A rapid repatriation programme was organised but many Displaced Persons ("DPs") could not, or refused to, return to their homelands. Emigration programmes struggled against the reluctance of nations outside Europe to assist in the resolution of this humanitarian catastrophe.
Topics covered include:
- The role of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Commission
- The international response to the refugee crisis in Europe
- Life in the DP camps
- The rise of Zionism and determination to secure a Jewish homeland in Palestine
- The Soviet attitude to refugees from Eastern Europe and the breakdown in US and Soviet relations
- Reports and statistics on refugees by country
The source material is supplemented by a chronology of key events, photographs, contemporary documentary film, an introduction to the material and period by the General Editor as well as several essays from other leading scholars in the field. These essays cover the major themes of the material and contain links directly to related documents offering a means of easy access for students unfamiliar with the original materials.
The process of digitisation and quality control is summarised as follows.
- Microfilm images are duplicated and metadata information is prepared. Manual inspection of all metadata is performed to ensure high quality.
- Trained scanner operators select the optimal scanning setting for each image on the microfilm.
- Images are scanned as 300dpi greyscale TIF images. These are automatically cropped, de-skewed and converted to PNGs for preservation, then JPGs for online delivery. They are then manually checked for quality.
- Quality control operators view every page image for quality and metadata capture accuracy. Pages identified as poor quality are rescanned.
- Images are grouped into batches for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) based on predefined templates to account for different document types.
- Individual page output is transformed into structured XML and additional metadata information is captured based on specifications provided by Cengage Learning.
- Pages that are reviewed and do not meet specifications are reprocessed.
Given the number of pages within this collection, the physical condition of the original documents, variant spellings, typing errors in the original documents and the variety of types of text – type-written letters, carbon copies and hand-written items - some OCR errors are inevitable which may result in incorrect character capture, affecting some full-text search results. However, the high accuracy of metadata capture, as well as the fuzzy search functionality, greatly minimizes the impact such OCR errors may have on your search results.
In addition to the data capture of the full text of all items, metadata has been captured to facilitate searching and ensure accessibility of the items within this collection.
Several search indexes have been developed for Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950 utilizing this metadata, providing bibliographic details within the Full Citation. The Full Citation appears at the top of the screen in both Image and Reading Views, and includes:
Folder Name: An individual description of the content of a folder of files, e.g. “JRU Co-operation with Other Relief Organisations: Voluntary Societies”.
File Description: An individual description of the content of a file, e.g. “Committee for Jews in Germany: Minutes and Associated Matters, 1945”.
Date: The date on which the item was created.
Document Type: The type of document, e.g. map, newspaper cutting, pamphlet, photograph, etc.
Source: The Institution from which the folder was sourced, either The National Archives of the UK or The Wiener Library, London.
Language: The language(s) in which the items were written, e.g. French or Polish.
Number of pages: The number of pages in an individual document or file.
Document Reference Number: The archival number for each individual item, e.g. HA6A/2/1. Allocated by The National Archives or The Wiener Library or, for un-numbered items within a file, allocated by TL EMEA indexers at the metadata creation stage, e.g. HA6A/2/1/0001.
Access to Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950 has been designed to facilitate research. There are three separate search paths as described below:
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Basic Search |
Basic Search allows you to search on specific words occurring within the full text of items and all of the fields of metadata. |
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Advanced Search |
Advanced Search allows you to conduct a search using a variety of criteria and retrieve very specific results. You can search on a word or words occurring within the full text of items and limit your search to particular fields of metadata. In addition you can limit your search by date and source. |
|
Browse Indexes |
Browse Indexes allow you to browse any of six lists: Document Reference Number, Camps, selected Organisations, selected Persons, Document type and Language. Selecting an entry from any of these lists and clicking on the search button returns a list of results containing all of the records associated with the entry selected. |
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While every effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information presented in this product, Cengage Learning does not guarantee the accuracy of the data contained herein. Cengage Learning accepts no payment for listings and inclusion in this product of any organization, agency, institution, publisher, service, product or individual does not imply endorsement by the editors or publisher.
Errors brought to the attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected.
This product is a creative work copyrighted by Cengage Learning and fully protected by all applicable copyright laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws. The authors and editors of this product have added value to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the following: unique and original selection, coordination, expression, arrangement and classification of information.
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Requesting Permission to Reproduce Material
Cengage Learning's agreement with The National Archives and The Wiener Library, grants the Publisher rights which do not include reproduction of images outside of Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950. If you wish to include any images in a book or article, please contact Cengage Learning EMEA in the first instance, c/o Publishing Department, 50 Milford Road, Reading, RG1 8LJ, United Kingdom, setting out the purpose and intended distribution of the material you would like to reproduce.
The Basic Search is accessible via the Search button on the home page, or via the first tab in the Navigation Bar, shown below.
The Basic Search enables you to search the entire database for the presence of any word or words within the full text of items and the metadata. Enter a phrase, term(s) using Boolean search operators of AND, OR, or NOT. If searching on a phrase that contains a Boolean search operator you must enclose the phrase within inverted commas. Search terms or phrases entered cannot exceed one hundred characters or twelve words.
The Fuzzy Search
feature, 
set
to ‘On’ by default, activates a low level of fuzzy
searching. Click on the button to de-activate this feature. 
Clicking the Search button will execute your search and return a results list matching your search parameters. From the Results List, you may revise your search parameters by clicking the Revise Search button. Clicking the Clear Search button will clear the search terms box.
Information on how to improve your search results can be found within Search Tips, accessible from all views via the Search Tips button within the Tool Bar at the top of the window, shown below.
The Advanced Search is a powerful tool which allows you to conduct detailed searches using a variety of criteria to retrieve more specific results. The Advanced Search is accessible via the second tab in the Navigation Bar.
You can search on a word or words occurring within the full text of items and limit your search to particular fields of metadata. In addition you can limit your search by date or source archive. Below are descriptions of the types of searches and the search limiters you may employ.
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Advanced Search Type |
Description |
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All |
Searches for any word or words within the full text of items and the metadata. For each item returned a citation is provided, search terms are highlighted in the citation and/or on the image of each relevant page. |
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File Description |
Searches for any word or words contained within the title field of the file. |
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Folder Name |
Searches for any word or words contained within the title field of the folder. |
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Document Reference Number |
Searches for the archival number for each individual item, allocated by The National Archives or The Wiener Library or, for un-numbered individual items within a file, allocated by TL EMEA indexers at the metadata creation stage, e.g. HA6A/2/1 or HA6A/2/1/0001. |
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Document Type |
Searches for documents by type, e.g. newspaper cutting, map, etc. |
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Language |
Searches for material presented in a specific language, e.g. French or Polish. |
|
Advanced Search Limiters |
Description |
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Date Range |
Limits your search to documents based on the year in which they were created. You may select year, month and day from drop-down lists or choose specific dates using the pop-up calendars. Click on Calendar, navigate around the calendar using the arrows, and click on the specific date you require and the drop-down boxes will automatically be populated. The date range for the archive is limited to 1945-1950. |
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Source |
Limits your search to documents sourced from The National Archives or The Wiener Library. |
Three search string rows are initially presented: use each to search within a different, or the same, search field using Boolean search operators of AND, OR, or NOT from the right-hand drop-down menu to combine search terms. After entering your search term(s), select the field(s) you wish to search by making a selection from the drop-down menu beside the search term box. If searching on a phrase that contains a Boolean search operator (AND, OR, or NOT) you must enclose the phrase within inverted commas. Search terms or phrases entered cannot exceed one hundred characters or twelve words. If additional search string rows are required you can ‘Add a row’. Return to the default three search string rows using ‘Reset rows’.
In the Advanced Search the default setting for fuzzy search is ‘None’. You may activate fuzzy searching by clicking on the Fuzzy Search button, with each click the fuzzy level will cycle through the fuzzy levels of None, Low, Medium and High, as shown below.
Information on how to improve your search results can be found within Search Tips, accessible from all views via the Search Tips button within the Tool Bar at the top of the window, shown below.
Fuzzy Search expands your full-text search results to include very near matches on your term. The table below shows the four levels of fuzzy search and the impact upon your search results.
|
Fuzzy Level |
Default Level in Basic Search |
Default Level in Advanced Search |
Impact upon Search Results |
Example Results using the Search Term “harbour” |
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None |
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None |
Returns exact matches only |
“harbour” |
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Low |
Low |
|
Returns very near matches |
“harbor” and “harbour”. |
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Medium |
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Returns near to broad matches |
“harbor”, “harbour” and “haber” |
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High |
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Returns very broad matches |
“harbor”, “harbour”, “harder”, “haber”, and “harker” |
Note that if a truncation ("wildcard") character is used within a search string and a fuzzy search setting other than None has been selected, the search will ignore the fuzzy search setting in favour of the search indicated by the wildcard character.
The Browse Indexes feature, accessible via the third tab in the Navigation Bar, shown above, allows you to access pre-defined lists of Document Reference Number, Camps, selected Organisations, selected Persons, Document type and Language. You may only search one list at a time and within that list just one item. The Persons and Organisations Browse Indexes are lists of people or organisations deemed to be of lasting interest or significance in the time period covered by Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950.
In order to select an alternative browse index click on the appropriate tab within the browse box and this listing will be brought forward. Selecting an entry and clicking the search button will return a Results List of all documents associated with the entry selected.
In the Persons Browse Index the entries have been sorted alphabetically. A series of alphabetical buttons are shown down the left-hand side of the list. Selecting a letter will display names beginning with that letter.
All other indexes have been sorted alphabetically or numerically in ascending order, where appropriate. They can be navigated either by using the scroll bar on the right-hand side of each list, or by highlighting any entry within the list and clicking a specific letter on the keyboard to scroll to the first entry beginning with that letter.
The Search History feature, accessible via the third tab in the Navigation Bar, saves and displays a list of the searches conducted during a session. The type of search (whether basic or advanced), the Fuzzy Search level and the search terms are captured when you enter a term and the Search button is clicked. Search History is automatically cleared when you close or time out of the session.
Within the Search History feature you can repeat or edit a previous search, and clear the search history. To repeat a previous search, click on the “Search” text next to the search you wish to repeat. To edit a search, click on the “edit” text next to the search you wish to edit. To clear the search history click on the Clear History button.
Once you have entered search term(s) and executed a search of Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950, items that meet your search parameters are returned in a Results List.
Results returned from a Basic, Advanced or Browse Index search are, by default, sorted by ascending date. The sort feature, at the top right-hand corner of the Results List, allows you to sort the results by descending date and document reference number.
To navigate to the previous and next page of the Results List, use the arrows to the left and right of the Results List page numbers, located above and below the Results List.
For each item within a results list, a brief citation is provided. Each brief citation includes Folder Name, File Description, Date, Document Reference Number and number of pages.
Clicking on a File within a brief citation takes you directly to the relevant item on which the search term has been highlighted or the first page of a document where the result is within the citation.
The Item View displays the document image, the full citation below the image and document tool bar to the left of the image.
The Document Tool Bar appears on the left-hand side of the window when viewing an item. The Document Tool Bar allows you to:
- Change between Reading and Image views. The Image View is the default view; the Reading View presents an enlarged viewing area.
- Navigate back to the Results List.
- Return to the previous page.
- Mark documents that you find especially useful or interesting in order to create a personalized citation list.
- Search for a word within the item.
- Go to the front page of the file.
- Move to the previous or next page of the document.
- Go to a specific page of the document. A page number here refers to the items as they are numbered within each document, and may not match printed or hand-written page numbers.
- Increase or decrease the viewing magnification.
- Click on the page number to go directly to the pages containing the relevant search term (known as a ‘hit’).
- Jump to pages containing various document types, including maps, tables, photographs and diagrams.
Post-War Europe: Refugees, Exile and Resettlement, 1945-1950 allows you to mark items that you find especially useful or interesting in order to create a personalized citation list. Items may be selected from the Results List by checking the box to the left of the brief citation or from the Image View by selecting the box to the left of the item. After selecting one or more items you may view your citation list by clicking on the Marked Items button in the Tool Bar at the top of the window.
To remove an item from your Marked Items list, simply deselect the box to the left of the citation, or the item, or click "Clear Marked Items" in the Marked Items view.
Entries consist of the brief citation, as in the Results List, and are listed in the order in which they were selected. You have the option of e-mailing or printing this list.
Printing: Click
on the 
Print icon in the Tool Bar. The Marked Items list
will load into a ‘Print Friendly’ format. Click File and Print from the main
browser tool bar.
Emailing: Click
on the Email icon 
E-mail
in the Tool Bar. Enter a name and email address into the Email Document form. Click
Send to email the Marked Items list to the email address you have just entered.
An InfoMark at the top of any page indicates that the URL of the page persists even when the session is over. Persistent URLs can be bookmarked for future reference or copied into an email or into a Web Browser.
One common use for InfoMarks is to create a predefined search. Any combination of searching and limiting that produces results can be saved. Each time the saved link is selected, the search will be run anew, so the results are always fresh. To create predefined searches, save the URL at the Results List page.
Saving a Results List page provides a link to the list with the most recent matches.
Saving a Mark List page provides a link to a list of selected items.
Important: Anyone who uses a saved URL must have access to the product from which the URL came. Users who have access to some Gale products but not the product from which the URL came will see the following message: "The InfoMark specifies a database that is not on your current subscription list."
Further Help using InfoMarks is available on our website.
The Marked Items
list and items can be reformatted for printing by clicking on the Print icon Print located on the left-hand side of the Tool
Bar.
The Print/View Option page allows you to either print the current page or select up to ten pages for printing. To print a single page, click on the Print Page button. To print a number of pages enter the item numbers into the box provided. The pages are reformatted in a PDF format without the Tool Bar and navigation features, which can be printed using Adobe Acrobat.
Marked Items
lists, Full citations and items can be e-mailed to yourself or others by
clicking on the Email icon E-mail
in the Tool Bar. Enter a name and email address into the Email Document form.
Click Send to email the Marked Items list to the email address you have just
entered.
Citing Cengage Online Products
Help on how to cite Cengage Learning online products is available on the Gale Cengage Learning website.
The Introductory Essays have been written by authorities on Post-War Europe. They provide an overview of the subject and initial avenues for research. The essays include selected search terms which are highlighted in yellow; clicking on a highlighted word or phrase will perform a search on that term and produce a results List.
This tab opens a gallery of film clips. Film clips are played by clicking on the images within the film strip on the left-hand side of the window. Clicking ‘About these films’ opens the full credits and description of the film clips.
The Chronology provides a browsable, electronic Chronology of events in Europe in the aftermath of World War II, set within key world events from 1945-1950. Use the decade buttons to jump to the beginning of a specific decade. Alternatively, use the scroll buttons, to scroll through the calendar.