Displaced Persons

Emerging from the wave of destruction caused by World War II, millions of Europeans found themselves scattered across the cotenant after liberation. The Manchester Guardian defines many of these scattered individuals as “unfortunates who were brought to Germany as forced labourers, who are now confined to camps and known as displaced persons”. The two leading daily newspapers, The Times and the Manchester Guardian allow insight into what the British public knew about the fate of these displaced persons. The information the two newspapers is paralleled by the information in Keith Lowe’s, Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II. Which offers a modern understanding of the issue of displaced persons. Although similar, the coverage

Many of the facts introduced in Lowes book, are paralleled by the information in both newspapers from May 1945 to the 31 December 1946. After liberation millions of people who had been moved to German for forced labour, were now causing massive population movements around Europe. Primarily the differences between the newspapers and book by Lowe, are the numbers of displaced persons. In The Times the largest number of total displaced persons offered is 25 million people. Which about half of the total number of 40 million total Europeans displaced provided by Lowe. This reasons for this differing information is caused by the ability for Lowe to look back a research the information, rather than the at the time estimate that could be made in The Times. Other small differences hinge on his ability to look back on the issue of displaced persons, rather than living it. This information includes the Manchester Guardian and The Times, most often reporting that Poland had the largest number of displaced persons. Which differs from Lowe, as he has Poland listened as the second largest group next to the Soviet Union. In Lowe’s book he presents multiple accounts from displaced persons, helping to promote personal connections between the reader and the displaced persons. This tactic is similar to the approach taken by the Manchester Times. Although, the general information reported by both newspapers and Lowe are very similar, they each offer their own unique view of the aftermath of World War