The Birth of the Refugee Figure in the 1970s

German Historical Institute London Podcast · Aug 14, 2026 · 49m

The twentieth century is normally considered the century of the refugee, beginning with the mass flight and expulsion of civilian populations in the First World War, and reaching its sad climax with millions of displaced people in the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. In the German discourse, however, the refugee appears as a socially relevant figure only from the beginning of the 1970s onwards, when an increasing number of refugees from non-European territories came to Europe. The lecture will explore this phenomenon by looking at how decolonization and the transformation of…