Lecture: Franziska Lamp, Controlling Female Bodies: Resettlement Procedures in Refugee Camps in Postwar Austria, 14.03.2023, virtual space

The Wiener Holocaust Library London: Virtual PhD and a Cup of Tea (Web)

Time: 14.03.2023, 4:30 pm-5:30 pm (London Time)
Venue: The Wiener Holocaust Library London and virtual space

After the end of the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of so-called Displaced Persons (DPs) lived in newly created refugee camps in Austria, facing an uncertain future. Some of them stayed there for weeks, others remained stranded for years. The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was responsible for the resettlement of those refugees that could not or would not return „home“. However, with their emigration plans they encountered many obstacles, like being pregnant or having young children to look after.
The importance of physical as well as psychological resilience cannot be underestimated for the resettlement process in the postwar world. Pregnant women as well as young mothers were particularly affected by this. For research on the responses to displacement in postwar Austria, the following questions are therefore key: What role did pregnancy play in the emigration of Displaced Persons from Austria? How were pregnant women and young mothers depicted in the sources on the IRO? What special policies and care facilities existed in Austria regarding their care and emigration?

Franziska Lamp (Web) is currently working as a project researcher at the Department of Contemporary History of the University of Vienna and is doing her PhD as part of a larger project on the negotiation of migration regimes in post-war Austria and beyond (Web).

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