Columns of Ukrainians crossing the Polish, Romanian, Slovak or even Moldavian borders.
Women dragging suitcases, children with haggard eyes, old men walking painfully.
For two weeks, these images have been around the world.
More than 2.3 million Ukrainians have already left their country in the face of the Russian invasion.
According to the UN, this figure could be increased to 4 million, if the conflict continues, out of a population of more than 37 million people in the territories controlled by Kiev which therefore do not include the Crimea annexed by Russia, nor areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
For historian Delphine Diaz, a specialist in the history of exile and political asylum, this influx "revives burning historical memories".
Looking at the faces of those who fled Ukraine, the author of "In exile, refugees in Europe from the end of the 18th century to the present day" thought in particular of the exodus of Belgian civilians during the First World War, but especially that of the Spanish Republicans in 1939: "This influx at the borders which is extremely brutal recalls this precedent, even if it is different. There were many men, but also women, children and elderly people, which we have somewhat forgotten".
Photo dated February 1939 of a woman and her child arriving on foot at the Col du Perthus in France after fleeing Spain after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War.
AFP-STF
By early 1939, nearly half a million Spaniards had crossed the French border after the fall of Barcelona to General Franco.
This episode was called "la Retirada".
But unlike the Ukrainian refugees who benefit from a surge of solidarity almost everywhere in Europe, these Republicans had not been very well received in France.
Considered undesirable foreigners, the families had been separated and the men taken under good escort to camps that quickly became overcrowded.
An outpouring of generosity
Eighty years later, Ukrainians fortunately do not face the same reception conditions.
Since the beginning of the Russian attack on their country, their neighbors have mobilized to come to their aid.
Authorities facilitated border formalities and organized reception centres, while thousands of individual volunteers provided refugees with meals, transport and accommodation in their homes.
Almost everywhere, in town halls, churches, schools or sports centres, a quantity of food, hygiene products, clothing and blankets have been brought to these refugees.
More than 2,000 kilometers away, this generosity was also expressed in France.
The Ministry of the Interior indicated on Wednesday March 9 that 6,823 displaced persons (including 6,540 Ukrainians) had reached France.
Among them, more than 3,000 are already taken care of in emergency accommodation, such as gymnasiums or hotels, mainly in Île-de-France, while many others have been accommodated directly by relatives. .
In total, the State received 20,000 accommodation offers from individuals, not counting 6,000 other offers from companies or communities.
This surge of solidarity is not a first.
Delphine Diaz recalls the reception of Polish refugees in the 1830s. "They fled Russian repression in the aftermath of the Warsaw uprising in the fall of 1831", she says.
"They were very well received in France. They were even called "les Français du Nord". There was a wave of subscriptions to raise money and distribute them. There were committees practically in all French localities. The government had also granted them financial aid. This is explained by the fact that Poland had been an ally of France during the Napoleonic wars and also because the Warsaw uprising had been made on the model of the revolution. French of July 1830".
The Polish political refugee depicted after the Warsaw Uprising.
© Wikimedia
But little by little, as the years go by, the initial enthusiasm ends up fading.
"As for all refugees, these Poles had difficulties integrating. Everything will not be rosy for them", underlines Delphine Diaz.
They were thus quickly encouraged to work so as not to depend on the aid that the government wanted to reduce.
Selectivity of asylum
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the comparisons are also numerous with the Second World War.
The images of these people thrown on the roads with some personal belongings recall the exodus of 1940 during which 8 to 10 million refugees had fled the German offensive.
"But in the case of Ukraine, it is essentially made up of women and children. This is quite exceptional in the history of Europe", notes the specialist in exile.
Civilians fleeing the bombardments and the arrival of German troops, take the road of exodus, in May 1940. AFP
For Delphine Diaz, a comparison can however be made with regard to the aftermath of the Second World War.
In 1945, more than 20 million uprooted people found themselves scattered across Europe.
At the time, there was already a selectivity of asylum.
“Among these displaced people, certain groups have been favored in the way they have been distributed in the different countries,” she describes.
"At the time the Balts or the Ukrainians were better considered in Western Europe and better received".
Thus, due to racial prejudices that highlighted their "whiteness", but also gender stereotypes that portrayed them as polite and dedicated workers, Baltic women were recruited into jobs in the service sector or in the textile industry. ,
Germans leaving Silesia for Allied-occupied Germany in 1945. Bundesarchiv - o.Ang.
Even today, these discriminations are topical.
Many Africans fleeing the war in Ukraine have claimed to have been rejected at the Polish border because of their skin color.
Far-right parties have also highlighted the proximity to Ukrainian refugees considered "similar".
Guillaume Peltier the spokesperson for the candidate Reconquest!
in the French presidential election Éric Zemmour did not hesitate to oppose these "European and Christian displaced refugees who are the Ukrainians and economic migrants from the Arab-Muslim sphere who are in the process of endangering our civilization".
For Delphine Diaz, "these politicians give themselves a clear conscience by using these refugees whom we consider to be good refugees compared to others, whereas when we flee war, whether in Syria or Ukraine, we flee finally the same form of persecution".
More recently, the historian thus analyzed that “the exiles of the Arab springs had been considered more threatening because they were composed mainly of men”.
According to her, this "virility in migration is thus associated with a potential anxiety-provoking image of which we must be wary".
In view of the current crisis, the historian notes however a notable change: "We are far from the fortress Europe that we can describe. We see that it is now capable of opening its borders and granting a temporary protection to hundreds of thousands of people in a very short time".
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