A displaced person is one who has been driven from one’s homeland or place of residence by war, internal upheaval, or natural disaster.

There are more displaced persons in the world right now than there have been since the end of World War II, and there were somewhere between 10 and 20 million of them on V-E Day in 1945.

We’re seeing people fleeing the Middle East on boats (which capsize), on land (into Turkey), through razor wire (into Hungary) and through the Eurotunnel (from Calais to England).

The European governments don’t have a clue what to do about this. Politically, they have lots of citizens who want no part of immigrants and are rioting in parts of their countries to keep them out. Financially they still believe in austerity policies which have slowed economic growth throughout the region.

It took three years for the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to settle about half the millions lost in Europe after World War Two. It may take a lot longer to do the same for fewer people now, because many of the citizens of those countries have no desire to help pay for foreigners in their midst. Unlike the end of WW II when the US developed the Marshall Plan, the United States Congress has no interest in helping Europe now.