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TROMAN REFUGEES "NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE In the continuing effort of governments and international and private organizations to resolve the problems of World War II refu- gees and the constant flow of refugees into Central Europe from Eastern European countries, the year 1958 may be described as a period of stock taking and reassessment of the residual problem of refugees not only in Europe, but also in the Far East. In 1957 as a result of the Hungarian revolution the attention of the world was dramatically focussed on the plight of refugees from oppression and on the desire latent in individuals and in groups en masse to seek opportunities to live in dignity and in an atmosphere of personal freedom. The response of governments to the crisis of the Hungarian revolution was sufficiently generous in 1957 to provide asylum for some 200,000 refugees who fled Hungary in 1956 and 1957 into Austria and Yugoslavia. At the beginning of 1958 only 18,000 Hungarian refu- gees remained in Austria awaiting resettlement in other countries and less than 2,500 in Yugoslavia. The latter, the residue of 19,000, were moved on to other countries in Europe and overseas in the first quarter of the year. Resettlement of those remaining in Austria at the beginning of the year proceeded more slowly. Canada accepted an additional seven hundred, Australia an equal number and the United States made visas available for some three thousand. Many of the Hungarian refugees in Austria preferred however to remain in the hospitable atmosphere provided by the Austrian Government and people rather than to risk the uncertainties of resettlement in overseas countries.

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