1956: Three Hungarian women carrying all of their belongings and a child, arriving at the Eisenstadt Camp
UNHCR began as a small organization in 1951, with a three-year mandate to help resettle European refugees who were still homeless in the aftermath of the Second World War. Since that time, the organization has expanded to meet the growing needs of refugees and other displaced people.
This image shows three Hungarian women carrying all of their belongings and a child, arriving at the Eisenstadt Camp in Austria in 1956.
During 1956-1957, UNHCR and the Red Cross carried out a major relief operation in Austria and Yugoslavia – assisting some 200,000 refugees fleeing the suppression of the Hungarian uprising by Soviet forces. It marked a turning point in UNHCR's transformation from a small UN agency to a larger organization with broader responsibilities.
World Refugee Day has been marked globally on 20 June.
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