Refugees on a German country road west of the Oder in spring 1945
Image: ullstein bild
After World War II, people fled along the same routes that Ukrainians do today. Her story shows what is important for integration to succeed.
Et are images that seem familiar: millions of people are fleeing the advancing Russian army, holding all the possessions they have left in their arms. Many are women and children. You travel from Lviv to Wroclaw, from Wroclaw to Berlin. It is unclear whether they will see their homeland again. They have to integrate into a new environment, rebuild their lives.
This is what is happening to many at the moment. Almost seven million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian war of aggression began in February, more than 700,000 of them to Germany. But the refugees that are the focus here are not Ukrainians, but Poles and Germans. The year is not 2022, but 1945. The Second World War caused the largest wave of flight and displacement in the last century. Between 40 and 60 million people had to leave their homes. Their experiences shaped post-war societies. They offer an insight into what a lengthy process the integration of refugees can be – and how a flight story can shape people themselves for generations. In most cases, it was only the second generation that achieved economic advancement. And to this day, families with a refugee background are different from others.
