Defining ‘White Russians': IRO and US Resettlement Negotiations for Russian Displaced Persons in the Philippines, 1950-1951

• In Event: Cultural Histories of Displaced Persons between World War II and the Cold War

Abstract

In the face of a communist takeover in China 1949, the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) evacuated 5,500 anti-communist Russians from Shanghai to the Philippines. In the following four years, the IRO facilitated the resettlement of these displaced persons across the US, Australia, Latin America, and Europe. By the example of the US selection mission, this presentation examines the negotiations, power dynamics, and conflicts among US bureaucrats, IRO officials, and Russian community leaders as they defined who qualified as a ‘White’ Russian and, crucially, who was deemed worthy of resettlement in the United States. The presentation also explores underlying norms and categorisations shaping the resettlement process.

Author

• Lena Clara Christoph, University of Vienna