The global movement of people that occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War is often evoked today. It’s used as a benchmark against which the scale and scope of the current global refugee crisis is measured. However, histories of this ‘global’ post-1945 crisis of displaced people have mainly focused on Europe, especially the aftermath of the Holocaust. This was a global war, but historical work on its aftermath for those displaced by fighting, genocidal regimes, and wartime mobilization is far less global in scope. Unlike in Europe after 1945, where, as historian Tony Judt writes, “boundaries stayed broadly intact and people were moved instead,” in East Asia, “both people and boundaries moved.” In this seminar, we look at the histories of the wartime and postwar movement of people in Asia, especially those mobilized or displaced by the wartime expansionist Japanese state, its colonial governments, and military forces.
