We re-examine a key aspect of the transition from WWII to the postwar in Europe: the ethno-national categorizations of ‘expellees', i.e. people expelled across inter-state borders as national minorities. We argue that the level of ethno-national homogeneity between incoming expellees and more established population groups in the postwar moment has been exaggerated. The dynamics of determining the boundaries of national belonging were more complex than often acknowledged, especially for expellees from historically multi-ethnic border regions. Whether such expellees had developed heightened national feelings or retained a sense of ethno-national fluidity, their arrival provoked prolonged, complicated conflicts between strong homogenizing forces, primarily from above, and extensive ethno-national uncertainties on the ground. The result was a complex process of redefining and renegotiating the bounds of the postwar national community in which ethno-national categories were far from clear.

2021

2025