HCRI’s Professor Peter Gatrell and Dr Jenny Carson have been involved in two exhibitions exploring population displacement and humanitarian assistance during and after the Second World War.

‘When the War was over: European refugees after 1945’ was produced in collaboration with the University of Nottingham and funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.  The exhibition explores the lives of more than 11 million people who found themselves stranded in Europe in 1945 following displacement during the Second World War.  Presenting analysis, testimony and original source materials, the exhibition tells the story of these displaced persons, including former Nazi slave labourers, liberated prisoners-of-war, and concentration camp survivors, as well as East Europeans fleeing westwards to escape the Soviet Red Army.  ‘When the War was over: European refugees after 1945’ is on display at the People’s Gallery space at Nottingham Castle from Friday 17 August until Sunday 23 September 2012.  For more information see: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/postwar-refugees/index.aspx

A second exhibition, produced for the Quaker Service Memorial Trust, details the work of Quaker organisations during and after the Second World War.  ‘Quaker Service’ presents the work of the Friends Ambulance Unit and Friends Relief Service which offered forms of humanitarian service to individuals who were not prepared to bear arms, while respecting those fighting in the armed forces.  The exhibition features audio visual material and interviews with former members of the FAU and the FRS, in addition to archive footage, photographs and memorabilia, posters and text, all of which give background to Quaker beliefs and their continuing work for peace. The exhibition was created to support the inauguration of a Quaker Service Memorial which will open next year in the grounds of the National Memorial Arboretum (http://www.thenma.org.uk/).  The exhibition was displayed at the NMA in June 2012, and will be available for hire from the Quaker Service Memorial Trust (http://www.qsmt.org.uk) from October 2012.

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