--- description: 21 photos of the refugee crisis caused by World War II title: This Is What Europe's Last Major Refugee Crisis Looked Like image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44bb5c337db4e08e/69886307428a9e0011ccf0b0/150910-wwii-refugees-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [photography](/tag/photography/) ## photography Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is What Europe's Last Major Refugee Crisis Looked Like by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) Sep 11, 2015 4:36 PM CUT  Refugees in La Gleize, Belgium, on Jan. 2, 1945, wait to be transported from the war-torn town after its recapture by American forces during the German thrust into the Belgium-Luxembourg salient. Refugees in La Gleize, Belgium, on Jan. 2, 1945, wait to be transported from the war-torn town after its recapture by American forces during the German thrust into the Belgium-Luxembourg salient.Peter J. Carroll—AP Photo by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) and [Liz Ronk](/author/liz-ronk/) Sep 11, 2015 4:36 PM CUT As the [current migrant crisis](http://time.com/4025749/greek-coast-guard-migrants/ "undefined") in Europe continues, one particular fact gets repeated [over](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/09/world/migrants-global-refugee-crisis-mediterranean-ukraine-syria-rohingya-malaysia-iraq.html "undefined") and [over](http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/europe-faces-worst-migration-crisis-since-world-war-ii-2/ "undefined"): this is the [worst](http://www.unhcr.org/53a155bc6.html "undefined") such disaster since World War II. That conflict sent millions of Europeans fleeing the persecution, fighting, and poverty that came with it. The displacement [began](http://time.com/4030159/evian-conference/ "undefined") even before the war did, as the first signs of Nazi aggression pushed German residents and their neighbors—particularly Jews—to seek safety elsewhere. Migration continued throughout the war, as families left burned-out towns, children were sent to safer areas, and the scale of Nazi crimes increased. Even the return of peace saw a surge of refugees, with released prisoners as well as citizens of occupied Axis powers left wandering the continent. All told, by [some](http://www.jstor.org/stable/142127?seq=1#page%5Fscan%5Ftab%5Fcontents "undefined") estimates, a total of about 60 million Europeans became refugees during the entire World War II period. According to the [United Nations](http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c1d.html "undefined"), a million people had yet to find a place to settle by 1951, more than five years after the fighting stopped. The despair and urgency of Europe’s contemporary humanitarian plight has been [powerfully](http://time.com/4022765/aylan-kurdi-photo/ "undefined") communicated through photography, and that was no less true during the Second World War. These are just a few images that help convey the impact and scope of the post-war refugee crisis. ### These Photos Show the Massive Scale of Europe’s Migrant Crisis  Syrian and Afghan refugees warm themselves and dry their clothes around a fire after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, early on Oct. 7, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—AP  A migrant who recently arrived across the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey, watching a ferry in the port of Mytilene, Lesbos island, Greece, on Oct. 5, 2015. Zoltan Balogh—EPA  An Afghan wades to the shore after arriving in an overloaded rubber dinghy on the coast near Skala Sikaminias, Lesbos island, Greece, Oct. 1, 2015. Filip Singer—EPA  Syrian refugees are covered with life blankets upon arriving to the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Sept. 28, 2015. Aris Messinis—AFP/Getty Images  Migrants and refugees arrive on Sykamia beach, west of the port of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Sept. 22, 2015. Iakovos Hatzistavrou—AFP/Getty Images  Migrants and refugees board a train by climbing through the windows as they try to avoid a police barrier at the station in Tovarnik, Croatia, on Sept. 20, 2015. Manu Brabo—AP  A Syrian refugee boy cries while he and his family try to board a train at the station in Tovarnik, Croatia, on Sept. 20, 2015. Manu Brabo—AP  A migrant holds his child during a clash with Hungarian riot police at the Horgos border crossing in Serbia, on Sept. 16, 2015. Sergey Ponomarev—The New York Times/Redux  Migrants sleep on a highway in front of a barrier at the border with Hungary near the village of Horgos, Serbia, on Sept. 16, 2015. Marko Djurica—Reuters  A wagon equipped with razor wire is placed at the border between Hungary and Serbia in Roszke, some 10 miles southeast from Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 14, 2015, to close the gap of the temporary border fence at the Horgos-Szeged railway line. Balazs Mohai—EPA  A refugee reacts from exhaustion while swimming towards the shore after a dinghy carrying Syrian and Afghan refugees before reaching the Greek island of Lesbos, on Sept. 13, 2015. Alkis Konstantinidis—Reuters  Syrian people sleep inside a greenhouse at a makeshift camp for asylum seekers near Roszke, southern Hungary, on Sept. 13, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—AP  Syrian refugee Raed Alabdou, 24, holds his one-month old daughter Roa'a, while he and his wife hide in a field not to be seen by Hungarian policemen, after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, southern Hungary, on Sept. 11, 2015. Muhammed Muheisen—AP  Migrants and refugees beg Macedonian police to allow passage to cross the border from Greece into Macedonia during a rainstorm, near the Greek village of Idomeni, on Sept. 10, 2015. Yannis Behrakis—Reuters  Migrants run over a motorway from a collection point that had been set up to transport people to camps in Morahalom, Hungary, on Sept. 9, 2015. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  A young Syrian man from Damascus tries to evade the Hungarian police by sneaking through a forest close to the Serbian border in Morahalom, Hungary, on Sept. 8, 2015. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  Migrants cross into Hungary as they walk over railroad tracks at the Serbian border with Hungary in Horgas, Serbia, on Sept. 7, 2015. Dan Kitwood— Getty Images  A refugee from Syria prays after arriving on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos aboard an inflatable dinghy across the Aegean Sea from Turkey, on Sept. 7, 2015. Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty Images  A migrant scrambles to climb back aboard a rubber dinghy full of his fellow Syrians as they try to cross from Turkey to the Greek islands on their way to claim asylum in the European Union, late on Sept. 6, 2015. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A Syrian migrant aboard a flimsy rubber motorboat hands his one-month-old baby to Greek coast guards, who have arrived to rescue the boat full of migrants from dangerous waters near the border between Greece and Turkey, early on Sept. 7, 2015. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A young Syrian boy is wrapped with a thermal blanket as he arrives with others at the coast on a dinghy after crossing from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos, Greece, on Sept. 7, 2015. Petros Giannakouris—AP  Refugees and migrants wait to cross the border from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia, on Sept. 7, 2015. Giannis Papanikos—AP  Migrants walk along rail tracks as they arrive to a collection point in the village of Roszke, Hungary, on Sept. 6, 2015. Marko Djurica—Reuters  Migrant families ride a train from Gevgelija to the Serbian border in Macedonia, on Sept. 4, 2015. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  Migrants crowd the bridge of the Norwegian Siem Pilot ship sailing along the Mediterranean sea, on Sept. 2, 2015. Gregorio Borgia—AP   A Turkish gendarme carries the body of Alan Kurdi, 3, who drowned along with his brother Galip, 5, and their mother, in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos, in the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, on Sept. 2, 2015. Reuters  Dozens of refugee families, mostly from Syria, camped near the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary on Sept. 2, 2015. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A Syrian migrant bids farewell to the Hungarian volunteers who welcomed him upon his arrival in the European Union in Szeged, Hungary on Aug. 30, 2015. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A father of a migrants family is arrested by the local police near the village of Roszke on the Hungarian-Serbian border on Aug. 28, 2015. Attila Kisbender—AFP/Getty Images  Syrian migrants cross under a fence as they enter Hungary at the border with Serbia, near Roszke, on Aug. 27, 2015. Bernadett Szabo—Reuters  Hungarian soldiers install a wire fence at the border between Hungary and Serbia near Hercegszanto, 115 miles southeast from Budapest, on Aug. 25, 2015. Tamas Soki—EPA  A little girl from Syria looks out of a bus as the ferry she arrived in is reflected in the bus window at the port of Piraeus, Greece, on Aug. 25, 2015. Petros Giannakouris—AP  Children cry as migrants waiting on the Greek side of the border break through a cordon of Macedonian special police forces to cross into Macedonia, near the southern city of Gevgelija, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on Aug. 21, 2015. Georgi Licovski—EPA  Gendarmerie attempt to prevent people from entering the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, Calais, France on July 30, 2015. Rob Stothard—Getty Images  Life vests and a deflated dinghy are seen on a beach on the Greek island of Kos, following the arrival of Afghan immigrants, on May 30, 2015. Yannis Behrakis—Reuters  Betti Malek—pictured on May 17, 1945—was one of numerous child refugees brought from Belgium to England after the Germans seized Antwerp in 1940. AP Photo  German refugees and displaced persons crowding every square inch of a train leaving Berlin after the war's end. 1945. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  On Aug. 10, 1944, a girl and her grandmother wait in a schoolyard in Saint-Pois, Normandy, France. Refugees fled to Saint-Pois to escape the fighting in Mortaine during the final battle for Normandy. Galerie Bilderwelt—Getty Images  In 1945, a handful of survivors remain of the 150 refugees who left Lodz in Poland two months earlier, headed for Berlin. They follow railway lines in the hope of being picked up by a British train. Fred Ramage—Getty Images  Refugees in La Gleize, Belgium, on Jan. 2, 1945, wait to be transported from the war-torn town after its recapture by American forces during the German thrust into the Belgium-Luxembourg salient. Peter J. Carroll—AP Photo  Refugees from across Central Europe queue for food at an Allied Forces refugee camp in Germany, on Mar. 20, 1945. Allan Jackson/Keystone—Getty Images  A stream of refugees and people who have been bombed out of their homes moving through destroyed streets in Germany in 1945, after end of war. On the left, two Soviet soldiers can be seen patrolling. ullstein bild—Getty Images  A group of Dutch refugee children arriving at Coventry Station in the U.K., in 1945. Ian Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  German refugees fleeing from the Russian zone in the first few weeks after the end of World War II in Europe, seen on Oct. 25, 1945\. They are sleeping on straw in a makeshift transit camp at Uelzen in the British zone of Germany. Keystone—Getty Images  German refugees crowding the market square on Mar. 3, 1945, at Juchen, Germany, a town captured by the U.S. Army at the end of the Second World War. Fred Ramage/Keystone—Getty Images  Exhausted, homeless German refugees huddled in a city municipal building seeking shelter. 1945. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Dutch child refugees arrival In Britain at Tilbury, Essex, on Mar. 11, 1945\. The small paper parcel under the boy's arm contains all his luggage. Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer/IWM—Getty Images  Refugees from eastern Germany around 1944-1945. Berlin Verlag/Archiv/picture-alliance/dpa—AP Photo  German civilian refugees prepare to flee war-torn Aachen, Germany as the battle for the doomed city draws to a close, Oct. 24, 1944. Keystone—AP Photo  Women and children standing at the roadside in 1945. dpa/picture-alliance/dpa—AP Photo  Swiss Jew Eva Bass, formerly a nightclub singer in Paris, entering refugee camp at Fort Ontario, with her children Yolanda and Joachim, whom she carried on a 60-km trek through the fighting lines to reach the American transport ship Henry Gibbins. 1944. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  German civilian refugees walking through the streets of Aachen, Germany, on their way to a safer area away from the combat zone, on Oct. 15, 1944. FPG/Hulton Archive—Getty Images  A Civil Affairs Refugee Camp in France, 1944. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  War refugees walking through Berlin with their belongings on Dec. 15, 1945. dpa DANA/picture-alliance/dpa—AP Photo  A Frenchwoman with two children and belongings loaded on a baby carriage seen in Haguenau, France on Feb. 20, 1945, before they started on their long trek to a safe rear area. They are some of the refugees leaving the town because of the planned withdrawal of the 7th U.S. Army. AP Photo  An attendant with white brassard (front, r) accompanies newly arrived refugees, in January 1946, through the refugee camp in Bebra, Germany. dpa/picture-alliance/dpa—AP Photo ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4029800/world-war-ii-refugee-photos-migrant-crisis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4029800/world-war-ii-refugee-photos-migrant-crisis/"},"headline":"This Is What Europe's Last Major Refugee Crisis Looked Like","datePublished":"2015-09-11T16:36:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:36.406Z","description":"21 images of the refugee crisis caused by World War II","url":"https://time.com/4029800/world-war-ii-refugee-photos-migrant-crisis/","keywords":["photography","Immigration","conflict","World War II"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44bb5c337db4e08e/69886307428a9e0011ccf0b0/150910-wwii-refugees-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44bb5c337db4e08e/69886307428a9e0011ccf0b0/150910-wwii-refugees-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"WWII Belgium Refugees 1945","caption":"Grim-faced refugees stand in a group on a street in La Gleize, Belgium on Jan. 2, 1945. 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