The Second World War displaced states, political movements, military units, refugee administrations, professional groups and civilian communities. Some operated from London, the best-known hub of European governments-in-exile. Others worked from Stockholm, Lisbon, Moscow, Mexico City, New York, Switzerland and other spaces of refuge, transit and political negotiation.
This call invites papers that examine exile as a wartime and post-war practice. We are interested not only in what exile meant as loss, displacement or waiting, but also in what exiled actors were able to do. How did they claim legitimacy, organise refugees, mobilise military forces, conduct diplomacy, maintain contact with occupied homelands, plan reconstruction, provide welfare, shape propaganda or influence post-war settlements?
We welcome papers on governments-in-exile, refugee communities, military and humanitarian organisations, political parties, resistance networks, minority groups, children and families, professional communities and non-state actors. Contributions may focus on London, but we especially encourage work on other exile spaces, including neutral countries, where displaced actors developed forms of administration, welfare, military organisation and political preparation without necessarily constituting formal governments-in-exile. Possible themes include:
• displaced statehood, legitimacy and representation
• exile communities and host states
• welfare, humanitarianism and refugee administration
• military organisation, intelligence and propaganda
• relations between exile, resistance and occupied homelands
• everyday life, gender, generation and emotions in exile
• post-war planning, reconstruction, justice and memory
The aim is to rethink wartime exile as a social, political and institutional field shaped by both possibility and constraint. We particularly welcome comparative, transnational and source-based contributions that connect exile history to broader questions of war and society.
The call is organised by researchers at Aarhus University (AU) and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU):
Karen Gram-Skjoldager, Professor, Aarhus University
Niels Wium Olesen, Associate Professor, Aarhus University
Jacob Vrist Nielsen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University
Troels Solgaard Andersen, Postdoctoral Researcher, Aarhus University
Søren Werther Kjær Rasmussen, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Southern Denmark
The initiative grows out of two Danish research projects, Denmark in Exile: Practices of Displaced Politics 1940–45 and The Outcast, the Unwelcome and the Admired: Resocialisation, Welfare and Democratisation. Together, the projects bring perspectives on exile and displaced politics, occupation and resistance, welfare and humanitarianism, and the political and social transition from war to peace.
The guest editors are currently in dialogue with a major international English-language journal in the field of war and society concerning the publication of a special issue based on this call. Contributions selected following the call will form the basis of the formal special issue proposal. Publication of the special issue is therefore subject to approval by the journal, and individual articles will subsequently undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process.
Prospective contributors are invited to submit:
Proposals should be submitted in English by 15 January 2027 to: soras@sdu.dk
Contributions will be selected with a view to creating a coherent special issue while reflecting a diversity of geographical perspectives, approaches and contributors. Authors whose proposals are selected for inclusion in the special issue proposal will be contacted shortly after the deadline.
We welcome proposals from both junior and senior scholars.
Subject to approval of the special issue by the prospective journal, the provisional timetable is:
Accepted individual articles may appear online ahead of publication of the complete special issue.
Full research articles are expected to be approximately 8,000 words. Detailed submission, formatting and referencing guidelines will be provided to selected contributors.
For questions about the call, please contact:
Søren Werther Kjær Rasmussen, University of Southern Denmark: soras@sdu.dk
