Introduction: Population displacement in Lithuania in the twentieth century: experiences, identities and legacies

ENThis volume brings together scholars from several countries whose research contributes to the rapidly growing field of “refugee studies,” “forced migrations” or “population displacement.” This thematic area has already seen the emergence of a large number of works and has been institutionalized in an array of governmental, humanitarian and academic bodies. The upsurge in studies of population displacement was generated, first of all, by the collapse of the Soviet regimes in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War. However, it continues to be fuelled by recurring political conflicts in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. In June 2014 the un refugee agency reported that the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has, for the first time in the post-World War Two era, exceeded 50 million people. [...].