What Becomes a Refugee Camp? Making Camps for European Refugees in North Africa and the Middle East, 1943–46

Abstract

Refugees have often been housed in camps made by ‘adaptive reuse’ of a wide range of existing sites. We argue that any given refugee camp’s previous uses shape the experiences of its residents and may indicate how that displaced population is viewed by the responsible authorities. We test this argument on three historical case studies drawn from an important but under-researched episode in the history of the refugee camp: the far-flung network of camps established by the Allies in North Africa and the Middle East in the 1940s for European refugees from Fascism. They range from a former hotel housing under 50 people to a vast tented encampment housing over 20,000, adapted from an army ‘rear camp’. We argue that research on any given camp should include analysis of the site’s architectural origins. This is a step towards a more fully articulated methodological approach to researching refugee camps, the ‘site biography’.