Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Refugees

Photographs of an elderly Holocaust survivor from an album documenting the Jewish Relief Unit's activities in Germany after World War II

Elderly Jews Were Among the Most Likely to Die in the Holocaust. Why Has History Forgotten About the Genocide’s Oldest Victims?

A new exhibition at London’s Wiener Holocaust Library spotlights the unique challenges faced by European Jews who were over the age of 55 during World War II

The Syrian shawarma, originally served in the alleys of Damascus and Aleppo, has become a culinary mainstay in Berlin.

How Shawarma Became a Soul Food of Syria’s Diaspora in Berlin

The popularity of the humble street food is a testament to cultural survival for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who arrived in Germany as refugees and asylum seekers in 2015

Jewish refugees lined up outside of the Japanese Consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania, waiting to receive transit visas from Chiune Sugihara in July 1940

This Heroic Japanese Diplomat Defied His Government to Save Thousands of Jewish Refugees From the Holocaust

Stationed in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara granted transit visas that allowed holders to escape Europe and travel through Japan as they sought safety abroad

Inside the recreated kitchen of the Confino family, Greek Jewish immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard Street during the early 20th century

See Inside the Newly Reopened Tenement Museum

The Manhattan museum dedicated to telling the stories of everyday immigrants offers vital lessons for today

Muriel Gardiner in 1934, the year she began her career in the Austrian Resistance.

The American Heiress Who Risked Everything to Resist the Nazis

When the fascists took power in Austria, Muriel Gardiner helped refugees and others in need, and never stopped

Adorned in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, Victoria Franco takes part in a protest near Los Angeles City Hall on March 19, weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine.

How Ukrainian and Russian Immigrants View the War From Afar

To residents of Southern California with ties to the Eastern European nations, the conflict feels close to home

Portuguese diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes was serving as a consul general in France when the Nazis invaded the country.

The Untold Story of the Portuguese Diplomat Who Saved Thousands From the Nazis

As the German army marched across France, Aristides de Sousa Mendes faced a choice: obey his government or follow his conscience—and risk everything

Tea Time, Hongkew, Shanghai, China, April 1946

Europe’s Jews Found Refuge in Shanghai During the Holocaust

A new exhibition in Illinois centers the stories of the 20,000 Jewish refugees who fled to the Chinese city

Shef, which currently operates in the Bay Area and New York City, features meals made by chefs specializing in dozens of cuisines and hundreds of dishes.

Sick of Quarantine Cooking? New Companies Let Chefs Prepare Homemade Meals for You

Startups like Shef and WoodSpoon give Covid-impacted professional chefs and excellent home cooks a platform for sharing their food

Refugees established communities in displaced persons (DP) camps across Germany.

The Little-Known Story of World War II’s ‘Last Million’ Displaced People

A new book by historian David Nasaw tells the story of refugees who could not—or would not—return home after the conflict

The Kindertransport memorial in Gdansk.

Trending Today

Germany to Compensate Child Refugees Who Escaped the Nazis on the Kindertransport to Britain

The program brought an estimated 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi-controlled Europe to safety in Great Britain

Readers Discuss Our July/August 2018 Issue

Feedback from our readers

Anne Frank in 1940

Anne Frank’s Family Tried to Escape to the United States, New Research Shows

They were held back by war, restrictive immigration policies and bureaucratic red tape

The train to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a French village where strangers in need have been welcomed for centuries.

The Dispossessed

Identity Crisis: Three Photo Essays Highlight the Lives of the Dispossessed

In our chaotic era, there are outcasts—and people who take them in

In the foreground stand foundation remnants of a house where soldiers once searched for Jews. The family hid refugees in a secret compartment constructed between the interior walls.

The Dispossessed

This French Town Has Welcomed Refugees for 400 Years

For centuries, the people of the mountain village of Chambon-sur-Lignon have opened their arms to the world’s displaced