IB History Focused Study 4: Conflict and Displacement Key Definitions

The countries who fought with Nazi Germany against the Allied powers during the Second World War; the key members were Germany, Italy and Japan.

Refugees who fled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos by sea after the Communist takeovers of 1975. Boat people faced drowning, piracy, starvation, and rejection by first asylum countries. The term is most commonly associated with Vietnamese refugees crossing the South China Sea.

A predominantly Muslim ethnic minority in Cambodia descended from the historic Champa kingdom. The Cham maintained distinct religious practices, language, and customs that made them a target under Khmer Rouge rule.

Punishment imposed on a group for actions attributed to some of its members, often used to intimidate, deter, or reshape a population.

An agricultural policy in which private farms are combined into large state-controlled or cooperative farms. In Vietnam, collectivization was imposed on the south after 1975, eliminating private land ownership and requiring farmers to work collectively under government direction.

An international agreement that introduced individual screening of Indochinese asylum seekers to distinguish refugees from economic migrants. Those not recognised as refugees were to be repatriated, ideally voluntarily.

Forced marches of concentration camp prisoners carried out by the SS in the final months of the war, as Allied forces advanced. Guards evacuated camps and marched prisoners westward to prevent their liberation, killing those who fell behind. Tens of thousands died from exhaustion, exposure, and shooting.

A programme by which the Allies aimed to purge Nazi influence from German society and politics after the Second World War. Millions of Germans submitted questionnaires and appeared before tribunals that categorised them from 'major offenders' to 'exonerated'. The process was criticised for becoming less rigorous over time.

Temporary camps established after WWII to house people who could not return to their home countries. Run by Allied forces and later by the International Refugee Organization (IRO), the last DP camps did not close until 1957.

The act of leaving one's own country to settle permanently in another. After 1945, many displaced persons emigrated to the United States, Canada, Australia, and Latin America because they could not or would not return to their countries of origin.

Of or belonging to a population group or subgroup who share a common cultural background or descent; the "Aryans" according to Nazi ideology.

The common market established by the Treaty of Rome (1957), signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The EEC created free movement of goods, services, labour, and capital among member states and a common external tariff. It expanded to include Britain, Ireland, and Denmark in 1973, and was transformed into the European Union by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

The first safe country a refugee reaches after fleeing their home country. For Indochinese refugees, first asylum countries included Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.

An ethnic group from the mountainous regions of Laos, Vietnam, and southern China. In Laos, the Hmong were recruited by the CIA to fight a covert war against communist forces during the Vietnam War era, leading to severe persecution after 1975.

Ethnic Chinese people living in Vietnam, many of whom had been settled there for generations. They formed a distinct community concentrated in the Cholon district of Saigon and in northern border areas.

Ethnic Chinese residents of Vietnam. The Hoa community, concentrated in southern Vietnam (especially Cholon district of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City), numbered roughly 1.5 million in 1975. They were disproportionately targeted by the Vietnamese government's economic policies after reunification.

A US-Vietnam bilateral resettlement program operating from 1989 that allowed former re-education camp detainees and their families to emigrate to the United States. The program processed approximately 160,000 people and was distinct from the earlier Orderly Departure Program.

US federal law that allocated funds for the resettlement of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees. It authorized spending on housing, language training, and employment assistance for the first wave of evacuees.

A neutral humanitarian organisation that traced missing persons, delivered food and medical aid, and helped reunite families separated by the war, working alongside Allied governments and UNRRA in the displaced persons camps.

The United Nations agency that took over refugee and displaced-persons work from UNRRA in 1947. Unlike UNRRA, the IRO refused to force displaced persons to return to countries under Communist control, and instead focused on resettling them in third countries.

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, led by Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and attempted to create an agrarian utopia through forced collectivisation, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people.

The communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 under Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge sought to create an agrarian utopia by emptying cities, abolishing money and religion, and eliminating perceived enemies of the revolution.

French for "against our will." The term refers to approximately 130,000 men from Alsace and Lorraine who were conscripted into the German armed forces after Germany annexed these French territories in 1940. After the war, they faced suspicion from both French and German authorities.

Announced by US Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, this programme used American resources to help European countries recover from the Second World War. Aid credits allowed infrastructure improvement and free trade was a condition of receiving Marshall Aid. It worsened US-Soviet relations and helped bring about the Cold War.