Refugee Week 2025

16–22 June 2025

Published: 29th May 2025

Refugee Week 2025

80 years ago, the Second World War came to a conclusion in Europe. While some may have been rejoicing in the streets, millions of others were on the move across Europe and around the world. These people were refugees of a global conflict, of genocide and a new developing Cold War – where to move to, how to move and what their welcome would be were a set of moving outcomes and resulting insecurity. However, the huge shifts that the war had created meant that refugees and displaced persons were just another part of the turmoil that the 20th century appeared to be in.

This huge movement of people would result in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and a promise to help those who had been displaced by circumstances around them

Today people movement of any type has become an issue with political connotations of a small and/or capital ‘p’. Yet once you pare back the politics, the results are the same as they were 80 years ago – people of all ages moving from their homes due to necessity resulting in insecurity. History has taught us that it is unusual for people to abandon their homes and families when everything around them is good and promising; people generally do it as a result of a lack of choices, because they are scared or are scared for others, because they are forced to move or because they cannot survive where they once lived.

It took huge global co-operation and charitable intervention to try and support those who became refugees in 1945. Today it needs a greater understating of why people become refugees and a political (small ‘p’) resolve to help them.

Refugee Week is an opportunity for historians to use their knowledge of the past to help understand some of the needs of the present and to fill some of the gaps in historical knowledge that others may have.

The HA has drawn together some articles and resources that explore the historical experiences and status of refugees.

General resources

* All HA members have access to all History journal articles (Wiley Online Library site). To access History content:
1. Sign in to the HA website (top right of any page)
2. Then click this link to allow access to History content on the Wiley site.

Primary resources

Secondary resources