51ºÚÁÏ

In contrast to dominant narratives about refugees from Asia and Africa arriving at the borders of Europe, between 1939 and 1945 thousands of European refugees took shelter in South Asia. They were joined by other war evacuees from Southeast Asia and refugees from China. This lesson looks at Polish and Jewish refugees who came to India from Europe and were joined by refugees from Malta and the Balkans. Alongside these refugees nearly half a million people fled from Burma and Southeast Asia as the Japanese advanced and sought shelter in colonial India. Thus, during the Second World War, India became home to thousands of refugees from Europe and Asia.

This lesson uses original documents to explore how these refugees were provided with relief, how they were treated, and what happened to them when the war ended.