Exarcheia ( Greek : Εξάρχεια pronounced [eˈksaɾ.çi.a] ) is a community in central Athens , Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens . Exarcheia took its name from a 19th-century businessman named Exarchos (Greek: Έξαρχος ) who opened a large general store there. Exarcheia is bordered on the east by Kolonaki and is framed by Patission Street , Panepistimiou Street and Alexandras Avenue . Exarcheia is known for being Athens' historical core of radical political and intellectual activism. Exarcheia is often considered the anarchist quarter of Athens, known for its radical democracy .
92-587: The National Archaeological Museum of Athens , the National Technical University of Athens and Strefi Hill are all located in Exarcheia. The central square features many cafés and bars with numerous retail computer shops located mainly on Stournari street, also called the Greek Silicon Valley. Located on Exarcheia square is one of the oldest summer cinemas of Athens, called "Vox", as well as
184-407: A particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. In 1967 the definition
276-477: A riot police unit implemented after the dictatorship; Operation Virtue, which used blockaded areas and rapid raids of public spaces to capture undocumented migrants in the 1970s and 1980s; and Operation Xenios Zeus, which implemented stop-and-search and document checks for foreigners in 2012. In 2019, a change in political governance affected Exarcheia. The New Democracy party was elected to power nationally in July and
368-484: A 118-year-old library of archeology with rare ancient art, science and philosophy books and publications. The library has some 20,000 volumes, including rare editions dating to the 17th century. The bibliography covers archaeology, history, arts, ancient religions and ancient Greek philosophy , as well as Ancient Greek and Latin literature. Of particular value are the diaries of various excavations including those of Heinrich Schliemann . The collection of archaeology books
460-705: A 6th-century BC marble statue of a woman, which were returned as stolen artifacts to Greece in 2007 by the Getty Museum in California , after a 10-year-long legal dispute between the Getty Center and the Greek Government . One year earlier, the Los Angeles foundation agreed to return a 4th-century BC tombstone from near Greek Thebes and a 6th-century BC votive relief from the island of Thassos . The museum houses
552-747: A Christmas tree on the central square in December. It was quickly burnt down and when a second tree was put up in its place, it was destroyed several hours later. Line 4 of the Athens Metro is expected to have a station at Exarcheia Square, and there has been significant opposition against the construction of the station, mostly by anarchist and anti-state groups. National Archaeological Museum of Athens The National Archaeological Museum ( Greek : Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο , romanized : Ethnikó Archaiologikó Mouseío ) in Athens houses some of
644-714: A Repatriation Agreement with the USSR. The interpretation of this Agreement resulted in the forcible repatriation of all Soviets regardless of their wishes. When the war ended in May 1945, British and United States civilian authorities ordered their military forces in Europe to deport to the Soviet Union millions of former residents of the USSR, including many persons who had left Russia and established different citizenship decades before. The forced repatriation operations took place from 1945 to 1947. At
736-615: A café in the sculpture garden. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible. There are also facilities and guides for hearing-impaired visitors. It is next to the old building of the National Technical University and is served by bus, trolleybus and metro. It is not served by Proastiakos or the Athens Tram. Refugee A refugee , according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
828-563: A child, a painted limestone head of a goddess and the famous warrior's vase dating from the 12th century. The Egyptian collection dates back to the last twenty years of the 19th century. Notable is the donation of the Egyptian government which in 1893 offered nine mummies of the era of the Pharaohs from Bab el-Gasus . However, the Egyptian collection is mainly by two donors, Ioannis Dimitriou (in 1880) and of Alexandros Rostovic (in 1904). In total
920-572: A claim for asylum . Internally Displaced People (IDPs) are often called refugees, but they are distinguished from refugees because they have not crossed an international border, although their reasons for leaving their home may be the same as those of refugees. In English, the term refugee derives from the root word refuge , from Old French refuge , meaning "hiding place". It refers to "shelter or protection from danger or distress", from Latin fugere , "to flee", and refugium , "a taking [of] refuge, place to flee back to". In Western history,
1012-510: A dozen squats in Athens, primarily centered in Exarcheia, serving as housing, healthcare, and social centers for refugees, migrants, or anarchists. These squats provide space for highly diverse communities and coalitions. For example, the City Plaza squat houses Afghanis, Iraqis, Iranians, Syrians, Kurds, Palestinians, and Pakistanis within a single occupied hotel. Many of these spaces aim to recreate
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#17328488174371104-497: A large amount for the completion of the museum. The initial name for the museum was The Central Museum . It was renamed to its current name in 1881 by Prime Minister of Greece Charilaos Trikoupis . In 1887 the important archaeologist Valerios Stais became the museum's curator. During World War II the museum was closed and the antiquities were sealed in special protective boxes and buried, in order to avoid their destruction and looting. In 1945 exhibits were again displayed under
1196-504: A long history: Ovid was sent to Tomis ; Voltaire was sent to England. By the 1648 Peace of Westphalia , nations recognized each other's sovereignty . However, it was not until the advent of romantic nationalism in late 18th-century Europe that nationalism gained sufficient prevalence for the phrase country of nationality to become practically meaningful, and for border crossing to require that people provide identification. The term "refugee" sometimes applies to people who might fit
1288-879: A new frontier between the Soviet Union and Poland approximately at the Curzon Line , despite the protestations from the Polish government-in-exile in London and the western Allies at the Teheran Conference and the Yalta Conference of February 1945. After the German surrender on 7 May 1945, the Allies occupied the remainder of Germany, and the Berlin declaration of 5 June 1945 confirmed the unfortunate division of Allied-occupied Germany according to
1380-476: A person who sought sanctuary in a holy place could not be harmed without inviting divine retribution was familiar to the ancient Greeks and ancient Egyptians . However, the right to seek asylum in a church or other holy place was first codified in law by King Æthelberht of Kent in about AD 600. Similar laws were implemented throughout Europe in the Middle Ages . The related concept of political exile also has
1472-626: A refugee at this time was an individual with either a Nansen passport or a " certificate of identity " issued by the International Refugee Organization. The Constitution of the International Refugee Organization, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 December 1946, specified the agency's field of operations. Controversially, this defined "persons of German ethnic origin" who had been expelled, or were to be expelled from their countries of birth into
1564-625: A result of deportation policy of Armenia against ethnic Azerbaijanis. During the 1948 Palestine War , some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs or 85% of the Palestinian Arab population of territories that became Israel fled or were expelled from their homes by the Israelis. The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was founded on 20 April 1946, and took over the functions of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration , which
1656-528: A result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War . These refugees are assisted by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). UNHCR also provides protection and assistance to other categories of displaced persons: asylum seekers, refugees who returned home voluntarily but still need help rebuilding their lives, local civilian communities directly affected by large refugee movements, stateless people and so-called internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as people in refugee-like and IDP-like situations. The agency
1748-520: A safe haven from police violence. On December 6, 2008, a Greek police special guard shot and killed 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos within blocks of the Athens Polytechnic University, leading to the largest protests in Greece since the end of the dictatorship in 1974. Protests originated in Exarcheia and it continued to be the epicenter of demonstrations as they spread across Athens. In
1840-955: A subterranean expansion at the front of the museum. In 2023, the Greek government approved plans for a 20,000 square metre underground extension to the museum. The extension is expected to be completed by 2028 and will also feature a rooftop garden. The museum's collections are organised in sections: The prehistoric collection displays objects from the Neolithic era (6800–3000 BC), Early and Mid- Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC and 2000 to 1700 BC respectively), objects classified as Cycladic and Mycenaean art. There are ceramic finds from various important Neolithic sites such as Dimini and Sesclo from middle Helladic ceramics from Boeotia , Attica and Phthiotis . Some objects from Heinrich Schliemann excavations in Troy are also on display. Key highlights of
1932-423: Is a bronze statue of the princess-priestess Takushit , dating to around 670 BC. Standing 70 cm high and wearing a gown covered in hieroglyphs, the statue was found south of Alexandria in 1880. The Stathatos collection is named for the donors and major Greek benefactors Antonis and Eleni Stathatos. The collection features about 1000 objects, mainly jewels as well as metal objects, vases, and pottery from
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#17328488174372024-473: Is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as a result of who they are, what they believe in or say, or because of armed conflict, violence or serious public disorder." Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by a contracting state or by the UNHCR if they formally make
2116-634: Is a refugee. An article in the foreign press describes this: The agency defines Palestinian refugees as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” In 1965, UNRWA changed the eligibility requirements to be a Palestinian refugee to include third-generation descendants, and in 1982, it extended it again, to include all descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, regardless of whether they had been granted citizenship elsewhere. This classification process
2208-816: Is also an art hub where theatrical shows and concerts are held around the central square. The headquarters of PASOK , a Greek political party that supported austerity measures dictated by the European Union in 2009, are also located in Exarcheia and has been a target of attacks by anarchists. Police stations and other symbols of authority (and capitalism ) such as banks are often targets of far-leftist groups. One can find numerous anti-capitalist graffiti in Exarcheia. A self-organized health structure providing medical services functions in Exarcheia. Protests that begin in Exarcheia evidence diverse political formations and coalitions, including dispossessed young people, migrants, anti-authoritarians, anarchists, and Greek citizens from
2300-539: Is inconsistent with how all other refugees in the world are classified, including the definition used by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the laws concerning refugees in the United States. Refugee resettlement is defined as "an organized process of selection, transfer and arrival of individuals to another country. This definition is restrictive, as it does not account for
2392-427: Is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and to resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state or territory and to offer "durable solutions" to refugees and refugee hosting countries. Unlike other refugee groups,
2484-578: Is on the Patission Street adjacent to the historical building of the Athens Polytechnic university . The first national archaeological museum in Greece was established by the governor of Greece Ioannis Kapodistrias in Aigina in 1829. Subsequently, the archaeological collection was relocated to a number of exhibition places until 1858, when an international architectural competition was announced for
2576-663: Is represented by stone, bronze and ceramic pots, figurines, ivory, glass and faience objects, golden seals and rings from the vaulted tombs in Mycenae and other locations in the Peloponnese ( Tiryns and Dendra in Argolis , Pylos in Messinia and Vaphio in Lakonia ). Of great interest are the two golden cups from Vafeio showing a scene of the capture of a bull. Mycenean collection includes also
2668-438: Is sometimes included in this process, but the focus is generally on short‐term survival needs rather than long‐term career planning." Refugee integration means "a dynamic, long‐term process in which a newcomer becomes a full and equal participant in the receiving society... Compared to the general construct of settlement, refugee integration has a greater focus on social, cultural and structural dimensions. This process includes
2760-528: Is the richest of its kind in Greece . The Library has been recently renovated with funds from the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation . Its renovation was completed on 26 May 2008 and is now named after Alexander Onassis . The museum is accessible by the Athens metro . The nearest station is Victoria Station (Line 1) and it is within a 5-minute walk from the museum. The museum houses a gift shop with artifact replicas and
2852-471: The 1951 Refugee Convention , is disputed. Additionally, academics have critiqued the lack of a theoretical basis of refugee studies and dominance of policy-oriented research. In response, scholars have attempted to steer the field toward establishing a theoretical groundwork of refugee studies through "situating studies of particular refugee (and other forced migrant) groups in the theories of cognate areas (and major disciplines), [providing] an opportunity to use
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2944-637: The Allies of World War II created the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to provide aid to areas liberated from Axis powers of World War II , including parts of Europe and China. By the end of the War, Europe had more than 40 million refugees. UNRRA was involved in returning over seven million refugees, then commonly referred to as displaced persons or DPs, to their country of origin and setting up displaced persons camps for one million refugees who refused to be repatriated. Even two years after
3036-496: The Antonopoulos apartment building , known as the "Blue Building", because of its original colour, which is a typical example of modern architecture in Athens during the inter-war period. Due to the political and intellectual character of Exarcheia, many bookstores, fair trade shops and organic food stores are also located in Exarcheia. Exarcheia is also known for its comic book shops, and its night clubs, cafés, and bars. Exarcheia
3128-670: The League of Nations in 1921 from the Commission for Refugees. Following World War II and in response to the large numbers of people fleeing Eastern Europe , the United Nations passed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees . It defines "refugee" in Article 1.A.2 as any person who: owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of
3220-588: The Reich Citizenship Law of 1935. On 4 July 1936 an agreement was signed under League auspices that defined a refugee coming from Germany as "any person who was settled in that country, who does not possess any nationality other than German nationality, and in respect of whom it is established that in law or in fact he or she does not enjoy the protection of the Government of the Reich" (article 1). The mandate of
3312-682: The Temple of Aphaea in Aegina , the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta , Pylos , Thebes , Athens, Vari Cave , the Antikythera wreck and from various other places in Greece . The museum houses the archaic terracota statuette daidala that inspired the designers of the 2004 Athens Olympics maskots Athena and Phevos . Two of the newest exhibits of the museum include a 4th-century BC golden funerary wreath and
3404-576: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) itself, in addition to the 1951 definition, recognizes the following persons as refugees: who are outside their country of nationality or habitual residence and unable to return there owing to serious and indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom resulting from generalized violence or events seriously disturbing public order. The European Union passed minimum standards as part of its definition of refugee, underlined by article 2 (c) of Directive No. 2004/83/EC, essentially reproducing
3496-552: The 1933 Refugee Convention, an early, and relatively modest, attempt at a human rights charter, and in general assisted around one million refugees worldwide. The rise of Nazism led to such a very large increase in the number of refugees from Germany that in 1933 the League created a high commission for refugees coming from Germany. Besides other measures by the Nazis which created fear and flight, Jews were stripped of German citizenship by
3588-480: The 1951 definition, which the Organization of African Unity adopted in 1969: Every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality. The 1984
3680-952: The British authorities closed that destination in 1939. On 31 December 1938 both the Nansen Office and High Commission were dissolved and replaced by the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees under the Protection of the League. This coincided with the flight of 500,000 Spanish Republicans, soldiers as well as civilians, to France after their defeat by the Nationalists in 1939 in the Spanish Civil War . The conflict and political instability during World War II led to massive numbers of refugees (see World War II evacuation and expulsion ). In 1943,
3772-512: The Communist government. It is estimated that about 800,000 Russian refugees became stateless when Lenin revoked citizenship for all Russian expatriates in 1921. In 1923, the mandate of the commission was expanded to include the more than one million Armenians who left Turkish Asia Minor in 1915 and 1923 due to a series of events now known as the Armenian genocide . Over the next several years,
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3864-540: The Greek military raided the student occupation of the Athens Polytechnic University, killing 40 civilians. The events resulted in public outrage and the passing of the Academic Asylum Law, which designates university campuses as off-limits to police and military personnel. This law has contributed to the prevalence of protests within Exarcheia, as the Polytechnic functions as a site of insurgent coordination as well as
3956-762: The High Commission was subsequently expanded to include persons from Austria and Sudetenland , which Germany annexed after 1 October 1938 in accordance with the Munich Agreement . According to the Institute for Refugee Assistance, the actual count of refugees from Czechoslovakia on 1 March 1939 stood at almost 150,000. Between 1933 and 1939, about 200,000 Jews fleeing Nazism were able to find refuge in France, while at least 55,000 Jews were able to find refuge in Palestine before
4048-1019: The Middle Bronze Age to post- Byzantine era. Features of special note are the Hellenistic period golden jewels from Karpenissi and Thessaly . Some of the ancient artists whose work is presented in the museum are Myron , Scopas , Euthymides , Lydos , Agoracritus , Agasias , Pan Painter , Wedding Painter , Meleager Painter , Cimon of Cleonae , Nessos Painter , Damophon , Aison (vase painter) , Analatos Painter , Polygnotos (vase painter) , Hermonax . Collections include sculpture work, Loutrophoros , amphora , Hydria , Skyphos , Krater , Pelike , and lekythos vessels, Stele , frescoes , jewellery, weapons, tools, coins, toys and other ancient items. Artifacts derive from archaeological excavations in Santorini , Mycenae , Tiryns , Dodona , Vaphio , Rhamnous , Lycosura , Aegean islands , Delos ,
4140-425: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on 14 December 1950. It protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in providing durable solutions, such as return or resettlement . All refugees in the world are under UNHCR mandate except Palestinian refugees , who fled the current state of Israel between 1947 and 1949, as
4232-601: The Polish western border as that of 1937, placing one fourth of Germany's territory under the Provisional Polish administration . Article XII ordered that the remaining German populations in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary be transferred west in an "orderly and humane" manner. Although not approved by Allies at Potsdam, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans living in Yugoslavia and Romania were deported to slave labour in
4324-460: The Skoros collective promoted re-use, recycling, and sharing practices. Other new and renewed political formations in Exarcheia included producer or consumer cooperatives and collective kitchens. Exarcheia is the site of a large migrant and refugee community. The overcrowding and abuse within Greek refugee camps has propelled a movement of squatting within Athens and across Greece. There are more than
4416-608: The Soviet Union, to Allied-occupied Germany , and subsequently to the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ), Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany ( West Germany ). This entailed the largest population transfer in history. In all 15 million Germans were affected, and more than two million perished during the expulsions of the German population . (See Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950) .) Between
4508-446: The UN created a specific entity called the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the aftermath of the war in 1948, which led to a serious refugee crisis in the Arab region, and was responsible for the displacement of 700,000 Palestinian refugees. This number has gone up to at least 5 million refugees in the last 70 years. The United Nations defines Palestinian refugees as "persons whose normal place of residence
4600-436: The Yalta Conference, which stipulated the continued existence of the German Reich as a whole, which would include its eastern territories as of 31 December 1937. This did not impact on Poland's eastern border, and Stalin refused to be removed from these eastern Polish territories . In the last months of World War II, about five million German civilians from the German provinces of East Prussia , Pomerania and Silesia fled
4692-570: The acquisition of legal rights, mastering the language and culture, reaching safety and stability, developing social connections and establishing the means and markers of integration, such as employment, housing and health." Refugee workforce integration is understood to be "a process in which refugees engage in economic activities (employment or self‐employment) which are commensurate with individuals' professional goals and previous qualifications and experience, and provide adequate economic security and prospects for career advancement." The idea that
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#17328488174374784-428: The advance of the Red Army from the east and became refugees in Mecklenburg , Brandenburg and Saxony . Since the spring of 1945, the Poles had been forcefully expelling the remaining German population in these provinces. When the Allies met in Potsdam on 17 July 1945 at the Potsdam Conference , a chaotic refugee situation faced the occupying powers. The Potsdam Agreement , Article VIII signed on 2 August 1945, defined
4876-506: The aftermath of the riots, collectives and movements in Exarcheia expanded initiatives experimenting with new political formations, especially to provide public spaces organized around an anti-hierarchical and anti-commercial ethos. For example, activists turned a parking lot into the guerrilla Park Navarinou, which hosted events such as ticket-free movie screenings and anti-consumerist fairs. The Sporos collective developed solidarity economies through trade and sale of Zapatista-produced goods, and
4968-442: The collection includes more than 6000 artefacts, 1100 of which are available presently for the public. The collection is considered to be one of the best collections of Egyptian art in the world. The exhibition features rare statues, tools, jewels, mummies, a wooden body tag for a mummy, a stunning bronze statue of a princess, intact bird eggs and a 3000-year-old loaf of bread with a bite-sized chunk missing. The exhibition centrepiece
5060-401: The collections include: Cycladic collection features the famous marble figurines from the Aegean islands of Delos and Keros including the Lutist . These mysterious human representations, which resemble modern art and inspired many artists such as Henry Moore , came from the 3rd millennium BC old cemeteries of Aegean islands along with bronze tools and containers. Mycenean civilization
5152-403: The commission. Its most notable achievement was the Nansen passport , a refugee travel document , for which it was awarded the 1938 Nobel Peace Prize . The Nansen Office was plagued by problems of financing, an increase in refugee numbers, and a lack of co-operation from some member states, which led to mixed success overall. However, the Nansen Office managed to lead fourteen nations to ratify
5244-401: The country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s. Most European refugees (principally Jews and Slavs) fleeing the Nazis and the Soviet Union were barred from going to the United States until after World War II, when Congress enacted the temporary Displaced Persons Act in 1948. In 1930, the Nansen International Office for Refugees (Nansen Office) was established as a successor agency to
5336-450: The crackdown on squats in Greece by releasing a statement on 20 November 2019 which demanded all squats were to be evacuated in 15 days' time. Commentators quickly noticed that the end of the deadline was 5 December, the day upon which Alexandros Grigoropoulos had been killed in 2008. More evictions followed and by mid December the state was attempting to evict anarchist social centres as well as migrant squats. The New Democracy party installed
5428-400: The damage caused by the 1999 earthquake . The Minoan frescoes rooms opened to the public in 2005. In May 2008 the Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis inaugurated the much anticipated collection of Egyptian antiquities and the collection of Eleni and Antonis Stathatos. In 2020, there was renewed discussion regarding the need to further expand the museum to adjacent areas. A new plan was made for
5520-496: The definition outlined by the 1951 Convention, were it applied retroactively. There are many candidates. For example, after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685 outlawed Protestantism in France, hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled to England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa , Germany and Prussia . The repeated waves of pogroms that swept Eastern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries prompted mass Jewish emigration (more than 2 million Russian Jews emigrated in
5612-415: The direction of Christos Karouzos and Semni Karouzou . The south wing of the museum houses the Epigraphic Museum with the richest collection of inscriptions in the world. The inscriptions museum expanded between 1953 and 1960 with the architectural designs of Patroklos Karantinos . In 2023, the Greek government approved plans for a 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft) underground extension to
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#17328488174375704-409: The end of War and the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961, more than 563,700 refugees from East Germany traveled to West Germany for asylum from the Soviet occupation . During the same period, millions of former Russian citizens were forcefully repatriated against their will into the USSR. On 11 February 1945, at the conclusion of the Yalta Conference , the United States and United Kingdom signed
5796-413: The end of War, some 850,000 people still lived in DP camps across Western Europe. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, Israel accepted more than 650,000 Jewish refugees by 1950. By 1953, over 250,000 refugees were still in Europe, most of them old, infirm, crippled, or otherwise disabled. After the Soviet armed forces captured eastern Poland from the Germans in 1944, the Soviets unilaterally declared
5888-439: The end of World War II, there were more than 5 million "displaced persons" from the Soviet Union in Western Europe . About 3 million had been forced laborers ( Ostarbeiters ) in Germany and occupied territories. The Soviet POWs and the Vlasov men were put under the jurisdiction of SMERSH (Death to Spies). Of the 5.7 million Soviet prisoners of war captured by the Germans, 3.5 million had died while in German captivity by
5980-402: The end of the war. The survivors on their return to the USSR were treated as traitors (see Order No. 270 ). Over 1.5 million surviving Red Army soldiers imprisoned by the Nazis were sent to the Gulag . Poland and Soviet Ukraine conducted population exchanges following the imposition of a new Poland-Soviet border at the Curzon Line in 1944. About 2,100,000 Poles were expelled west of
6072-472: The feeling of home for displaced migrants and refugees. However, far-right, neo-fascist, and nationalistic organizations have been connected to multiple attacks and burnings of refugee squats. In addition, the government of Alexis Tsipras evicted multiple squats in Athens during Syriza 's time in power. In addition, Exarcheia and bordering Omonoia have been the focus of specialized policing tactics in Greece. These include MAT, (Public Order Restoration Units)
6164-421: The front of the museum there is a large neo-classic design garden which is decorated with sculptures. The building has undergone many expansions. Most important were the construction of a new east wing in the early 20th century based on the plans of Anastasios Metaxas and the construction of a two-storeyed building, designed by George Nomikos , during 1932–1939. These expansions were necessary to accommodate
6256-419: The increasing prevalence of unmanaged migration processes." The term refugee relocation refers to "a non‐organized process of individual transfer to another country." Refugee settlement refers to "the process of basic adjustment to life ‒ often in the early stages of transition to the new country ‒ including securing access to housing, education, healthcare, documentation and legal rights [and] employment
6348-458: The location and the architectural design of the new museum. The current location was proposed and the construction of the museum's building began in 1866 and was completed in 1889 using funds from the Greek Government , the Greek Archaeological Society and the society of Mycenae . Major benefactors were Eleni Tositsa who donated the land for the building of the museum, and Demetrios and Nikolaos Vernardakis from Saint Petersburg who donated
6440-524: The magnificent 19th-century finds of Heinrich Schliemann in Mycenae from the Grave Circle A and the earlier Grave Circle B . Most notable are the golden funerary masks which covered the faces of deceased Mycenean nobles. Among them, the most famous is the one that was named erroneously as the mask of Agamemnon . There are also finds from the citadel of Mycenae including relief stelae, golden containers, glass, alabaster and amber tools and jewels. Other features include an ivory carving of two goddesses with
6532-540: The mandate was expanded further to cover Assyrians and Turkish refugees. In all of these cases, a refugee was defined as a person in a group for which the League of Nations had approved a mandate, as opposed to a person to whom a general definition applied. The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey involved about two million people (around 1.5 million Anatolian Greeks and 500,000 Muslims in Greece) most of whom were forcibly repatriated and denaturalized from homelands of centuries or millennia (and guaranteed
6624-508: The moderate to extreme on both ends of the political spectrum. The European refugee crisis resulted in an enormous migration to Greece – in 2017, 55,000 people throughout Greece were registered as permanent residents. When borders between Greece and the European Union were closed, many migrants were forced to stay in camps that lacked housing or hygiene infrastructure. As a result, refugees and migrants sought alternative options within Athens, including squats in Exarcheia. On November 17, 1973,
6716-450: The most important artifacts from a variety of archaeological locations around Greece from prehistory to late antiquity . It is considered one of the greatest museums in the world and contains the richest collection of Greek Antiquity artifacts worldwide. It is situated in the Exarcheia area in central Athens between Epirus Street, Bouboulinas Street and Tositsas Street while its entrance
6808-452: The museum. The extension is expected to be completed by 2028 and will also feature a rooftop garden. The museum has an imposing neo-classical design which was very popular in Europe at the time and is in accordance with the classical style artifacts that it houses. The initial plan was conceived by the architect Ludwig Lange and it was later modified by Panagis Kalkos who was the main architect, Armodios Vlachos and Ernst Ziller . At
6900-619: The narrow definition of refugee offered by the UN 1951 Convention. Nevertheless, by virtue of articles 2 (e) and 15 of the same Directive, persons who have fled a war-caused generalized violence are, at certain conditions, eligible for a complementary form of protection, called subsidiary protection . The same form of protection is foreseen for displaced people who, without being refugees, are nevertheless exposed, if returned to their countries of origin, to death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatments. UNRWA has an alternate definition of what
6992-636: The nationality of the destination country) by a treaty promoted and overseen by the international community as part of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) . The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924 . The Immigration Act of 1924 was aimed at further restricting the Southern and Eastern Europeans, especially Jews , Italians and Slavs , who had begun to enter
7084-592: The new border (see Repatriation of Poles ), while about 450,000 Ukrainians were expelled to the east of the new border. The population transfer to Soviet Ukraine occurred from September 1944 to May 1946 (see Repatriation of Ukrainians ). A further 200,000 Ukrainians left southeast Poland more or less voluntarily between 1944 and 1945. According to the report of the U.S. Committee for Refugees (1995), 10 to 15 percent of 7.5 million Azerbaijani population were refugees or displaced people. Most of them were 228,840 refugee people of Azerbaijan who fled from Armenia in 1988 as
7176-505: The new prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to impose order and to clean up Exarcheia. Subsequently, a new mayor of Athens was elected in August. Immediately, evictions of migrant squats began. The City Plaza squat at 78 Acharnon decided to close itself down on its own terms rather than be evicted. By the end of September 2019, there had been seven evictions, including the 5th School squat. The Ministry of Citizen's Protection broadened
7268-529: The particular circumstances of refugee situations to illuminate these more general theories and thus participate in the development of social science, rather than leading refugee studies into an intellectual cul-de-sac." Thus, the term refugee in the context of refugee studies can be referred to as "legal or descriptive rubric", encompassing socioeconomic backgrounds, personal histories, psychological analyses, and spiritualities. Headquartered in Geneva , Switzerland,
7360-728: The period 1881–1920). Between the Crimean War of 1853–56 and World War I, at least 2.5 million Muslims arrived in the Ottoman Empire as refugees, primarily from Russia and the Balkans. The Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 caused 800,000 people to leave their homes. Various groups of people were officially designated refugees beginning in World War I. However, when the First World War began, there were no rules in international law specifically dealing with
7452-586: The postwar Germany, as individuals who would "not be the concern of the Organization." This excluded from its purview a group that exceeded in number all the other European displaced persons put together. Also, because of disagreements between the Western allies and the Soviet Union, the IRO only worked in areas controlled by Western armies of occupation. With the occurrence of major instances of diaspora and forced migration ,
7544-465: The present. Most notably in 1988, the Journal of Refugee Studies was established as the field's first major interdisciplinary journal. The emergence of refugee studies as a distinct field of study has been criticized by scholars due to terminological difficulty. Since no universally accepted definition for the term "refugee" exists, the academic respectability of the policy-based definition, as outlined in
7636-474: The rapidly growing collection of artifacts. The most recent refurbishment of the museum took more than 1.5 years to complete, during which the museum remained completely closed. It reopened in July 2004, in time for the Athens Olympics and it included an aesthetic and technical upgrade of the building, installation of a modern air-conditioning system, reorganisation of the museum's collection and repair of
7728-401: The regional, non-binding Latin-American Cartagena Declaration on Refugees included the following definition of refugees: persons who have fled their country because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances which have seriously disturbed public order. As of 2011
7820-503: The situation of refugees. The first international co-ordination of refugee affairs came with the creation by the League of Nations in 1921 of the High Commission for Refugees and the appointment of Fridtjof Nansen as its head. Nansen and the commission were charged with assisting the approximately 1,500,000 people who fled the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent civil war (1917–1921), most of them aristocrats fleeing
7912-582: The study of their causes and implications has emerged as a legitimate interdisciplinary area of research, and began to rise by mid to late 20th century, after World War II . Although significant contributions had been made before, the latter half of the 20th century saw the establishment of institutions dedicated to the study of refugees, such as the Association for the Study of the World Refugee Problem, which
8004-904: The term was first applied to French Protestant Huguenots looking for a safe place against Catholic persecution after the first Edict of Fontainebleau in 1540. The word appeared in the English language when French Huguenots fled to Britain in large numbers after the 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau (the revocation of the 1598 Edict of Nantes ) in France and the 1687 Declaration of Indulgence in England and Scotland. The word meant "one seeking asylum", until around 1916, when it evolved to mean "one fleeing home", applied in this instance to civilians in Flanders heading west to escape fighting in World War I . The first modern definition of an international refugee status came with
8096-624: Was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict." The population of Palestinian refugees continues to grow due to multiple UNRWA reclassifications of what is considered to be a refugee. "In 1965, UNRWA changed the eligibility requirements to be a Palestinian refugee to include third-generation descendants, and in 1982, it extended it again, to include all descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, regardless of whether they had been granted citizenship elsewhere. This classification process
8188-628: Was basically confirmed by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees . People fleeing from war , natural disasters , or poverty are generally not encompassed by the international right of asylum . However, many countries have implemented laws to protect also those Displaced Persons . Accordingly, the Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa expanded
8280-539: Was closely followed by the founding of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees . In particular, the 1981 volume of the International Migration Review defined refugee studies as "a comprehensive, historical, interdisciplinary and comparative perspective which focuses on the consistencies and patterns in the refugee experience." Following its publishing, the field saw a rapid increase in academic interest and scholarly inquiry, which has continued to
8372-522: Was created between 1870 and 1880 at the confines of the city and has played a significant role in the social and political life of Greece. It is there that the Athens Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 took place. In December 2008, the murder of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman in Exarcheia caused rioting throughout Greece . Exarcheia is a place where many intellectuals and artists live and an area where many socialist , anarchist , and anti-fascist groups are accommodated. Exarcheia
8464-512: Was shut down in 1947. While the handover was originally planned to take place at the beginning of 1947, it did not occur until July 1947. The International Refugee Organization was a temporary organization of the United Nations (UN), which itself had been founded in 1945, with a mandate to largely finish the UNRRA's work of repatriating or resettling European refugees. It was dissolved in 1952 after resettling about one million refugees. The definition of
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