Oskars Osis walking in the snow in Latvia

Images(2)

Oskars Osis walking in the snow in Latvia

Date1942

Object number00029756

NamePhotograph

MediumBlack and white photographic print on paper.

DimensionsOverall: 86 x 60 mm, 0.001 kg

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis black and white print shows Oskars Osis, the younger brother of Jekabs Osis, walking in the snow in Latvia, in 1942. Jekabs Osis was one of many Latvians who migrated with his family to Australia after World War II. Osis arrived in 1951 and settled in Melbourne.HistoryDuring World War II much of Western Europe was invaded by Nazi Germany, forcing millions of people to flee their oppressed homelands to Displaced Persons camps. The Soviet Union annexed Latvia in 1940 under the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union during World War II Latvia was invaded and occupied. The Soviet Union recaptured Latvia from Germany in 1944. In the decade after the end of World War II, more than two million people migrated to Australia as part of a government campaign to increase Australia’s population. More than 170,000 were European displaced people resettled in Australia through the Displaced Persons’ Resettlement Scheme, established through an agreement between the Commonwealth Government and the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). The IRO was formed in 1946 to transport Displaced Persons to countries in Europe, North America and Australia. The organisation chartered individuals and families from various European countries including Germany, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Lithuania. Latvians were one of the first Displaced Persons groups to be accepted by Australia, with some 19,421 Latvians living in the country by 1951.SignificanceThe photograph is part of a series that relates to the migration of Displaced Persons from Latvia to Australia after World War II. The series documents life in Latvia prior to and after German occupation during World War II, life in German refugee camps awaiting resettlement as Displaced Persons and the journey via England to life in Australia. Latvians were amongst the first migrants to be accepted by Australia after World War II through the Displaced Persons’ Resettlement Scheme. This scheme, an agreement between the Commonwealth Government and the International Refugee Organisation, marked a major shift in Australian immigration policy, which had previously prioritised British migration.