The Settlement of Russian Refugees and Displaced Persons in Postwar Argentina

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2022.2.683

Keywords:

World War II, Argentina, refugee, displaced persons, Russian emigration, repatriation, legal status

Abstract

This article considers Argentina’s participation in solving the problem of Russian refugees and displaced persons, which became international as a result of the Second World War. The author describes the place of Latin American countries in improving the system of international law and spreading the practice of applying the institution of territorial asylum in the region, starting from the formation of national statehood and mass immigration of to the continent. In relation to the postwar period, the author focuses on the role of such institutional structures as the UNRRA, the UN, the IRO, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Resettlement of Emigrants from Europe, and the participation of Latin American countries in them, including Argentina. Traditionally, the main recipient state on the Latin American continent was Argentina, which sought to solve its own economic and social problems by recruiting an appropriate contingent of migrants for the country’s developing economy. The author reveals the attitude of President Juan Domingo Perón of Argentina to the migration issue and the problem of Russian refugees; it is demonstrated how the country’s migration policy towards immigrants from Russia and the USSR changed depending on domestic politics and the international situation. To reveal the peculiarities of the situation with Russian refugees, the author refers to materials from the WUA of the Russian Federation, the State Archives of the Russian Federation, and the archives of Harvard University demonstrating the reaction of the USSR to the position of Argentina in relation to Soviet displaced persons. Also, the article describes the participation of religious structures (resettlement committees of ROCOR, the Vatican, and the Jesuit Order) and emigrant charitable organisations (with the Tolstoy Foundation standing out) in their fate. The author shows that most of the permits received for the departure of Russian refugees to Argentina were not used due to a lack of funding for the move, inappropriate physical data of the resettled, and due to the fact that, starting in 1949, the government of Perón limited and then stopped admission into the country of displaced persons of Soviet origin.

Author Biography

Mаrina Moseуkina

Dr. Hab. (History), Head of the Department of History of Russia, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University).

6, Miklukho-Maklay Str., 117198, Moscow, Russia.

ORCID 0000-0001-9279-4079

moseykina-mn@rudn.ru

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Published

2022-06-21

How to Cite

Moseуkina M. (2022). The Settlement of Russian Refugees and Displaced Persons in Postwar Argentina. Quaestio Rossica, 10(2), 485–500. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2022.2.683

Issue

Section

Problema voluminis