Population transfer

Population transfer is a term referring to a policy by which a state forces the movement of a large group of people out of a region, invariably on the basis of ethnicity or religion. By contrast, individuals and smaller groups of their politically effective adherents may be banished or exiled for political reasons.

Issues arising from population transfer

According to political scientist Norman Finkelstein transfer was considered as an almost humanist solution to the problems of ethnic conflict, up until around World War II and even a little afterward, in certain cases. Transfer was considered a drastic but 'often necessary' means to end an ethnic conflict or ethnic civil war1. The feasibility of population transfer was hugely increased by the creation of railroad networks from the mid-19th century.

Related Topics:
Norman Finkelstein - Humanist - World War II - 1 - Railroad

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Population transfer differs more than simply technically from individually-motivated migration, though at times of war, the act of fleeing from danger or famine often blurs the differences. If a state can preserve the fiction that migrations are the result of innumerable "personal" decisions, then the state may be able to justify its stand that it has not been culpably involved. Jews who had actually signed over properties in Germany and Austria during Nazism found it nearly impossible to be reimbursed after World War II.

Related Topics:
Migration - Nazism

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