Refugees

Aid work can be risky, especially in areas that are experiencing conflict.. How do people deal with the dangers they face whilst working to support others? 

When people are displaced by conflict, being able to communicate isn’t always straightforward. Translating Asylum is an ongoing research project that aims to investigate the different approaches to providing translation and interpretation services.

The largest influx of refugees in British history happened during the First World War – 250,000 Belgians fled to Britain during the conflict. But what became of those who made the journey? Researchers have worked to uncover the stories of these people and their experiences.

Reckoning with Refugeedom is an ongoing project conducted by the University of Manchester.

The project aims to put refugees more firmly and centrally into modern history by accessing the perspectives of refugees from different backgrounds, through petitions and letters to those in positions of authority, but also personal correspondence and other source material.

More than five million refugees from the Syria Conflict have sought refuge in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. The Refugee Hosts project explores local responses to displacement in the Middle East, considering the experiences of both refugees from Syria and the communities which host them.

What is it like to attempt to travel across the Mediterranean Sea by boat? What do those who do so face on their journeys?

Researchers for the Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat project interviewed 271 people, most of whom had already crossed the Mediterranean by boat, 

Habib is an Afghan refugee who came to the UK as an unaccompanied child asylum seeker. This animation explores his journey, his separation from his family and how he has built a new community in the Midlands.

Artist Shorsh Saleh has created a series of works for the Refugees exhibition at IWM London, including five miniature paintings and two handwoven carpets based on Saleh’s journey from Iraqi Kurdistan to the UK. 

Artist Indrė Šerpytytė has represented various refugee journeys across the Mediterranean through lights in her new work Constellations, now on display at IWM London as part of Refugees: Forced to Flee. 

Artist Grace Schwindt’s new work Remembering Home is a sculpture and audio artwork, created for IWM’s Refugee season. Each sculpture is based on a conversation with an individual refugee, in which they recalled their home before conflict. The sculptures are accompanied by an audio piece, inspired by the sounds and events each refugee remembered.

Among those Jewish children brought to safety by the `Kindertransport’ was 14-year old Edith Jacobowitz. Edith arrived in Northern Ireland with her younger brother Gert in June 1939, having left her home in Berlin shortly after both parents were arrested by the Nazis.

In 1938 and 1939, nearly 10,000 children fleeing the persecution of Jews in Greater Germany (Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia), were brought to Britain on the Kindertransport ('children’s transports').

In August 1945, a group of teenagers and younger children who had survived the concentration camps were flown to the UK by the RAF. The group of refugees arrived from Prague airport on Stirling bombers, touching down at the aerodrome at Crosby on Eden in Cumberland, where they began their long recuperation. 

During the First World War, 250,000 Belgians came to Britain fleeing the conflict that had taken over their country. Some of those who came would end up playing an important role in the war effort. 

A Face to Open Doors is an immersive experience created by award-winning artists Anagram. It invites visitors to consider the systems used to process people fleeing conflict by taking them into an imaginary future world where international movement is policed by intelligent machines. 

On 3 May 1945 British forces entered the city of Hamburg after overcoming the last desperate defence of the beleaguered German army in northern Germany. Victory brought with it enormous challenges as the Allies attempted to deal with millions of people displaced by the war. The Allies called them Displaced Persons (DPs) and set up a network of camps to house and feed them.

The Second World War ended in 1945, but the consequences continued for many years afterwards. Find out what happened to people displaced by the Second World War.