Anticommunism in the Streets: Refugee Politics in Cold War Germany

Abstract

This article examines anticommunism among Eastern European ‘displaced persons’ in early postwar Germany. It addresses a number of questions about anticommunism, displaced communities, and the development of the Cold War. It illuminates the central role that anticommunism played in the self-definition of displaced Eastern Europeans, providing a communal alibi for the predicament of displacement as well as a program for overcoming this predicament. It also contributes to the task of reconstructing the genealogy of anticommunism itself. In particular, it highlights the role that rightist political movements displaced from Eastern Europe played in shaping postwar politics.