PhD Student Morten Baarvig Thomsen
2024-2027
New Carlsberg Foundation
Project Description
This PhD project investigates the Danish refugee care system which was set up for the 34.000 so-called non-German refugees (Displaced Persons), who found themselves in Danish refugee camps after WWII. It explores the system’s institutional development, the agency of the refugees and their interactions with Danish employees through an analysis of the camps located in Aarhus (1945-1945), the system’s closed disciplinary camps (1945-1947) and the last refugee camp in Denmark ‘Prags Boulevard’ - located in the outskirts of Copenhagen (ca. 1949-1953). The project draws theoretical inspiration from street-level theory, the history of experiences, and the recent discussions on refugee agency in Danish and international refugee history.
Supervisor: Heidi Vad Jønsson
Co-supervisor: Gareth Millward
Output
Thomsen, Morten Baarvig. ‘Allierede flygtninge og pæne tyskere - flygtningelejren ved Fredericias gamle jernbaneremise 1945-1946’. In Befrielsens Skyggesider i Fredericia, edited by Lisbeth Aagaard Lykke, 71–94. Museum Fredericia, 2025.
Falsberg, Rasmus Christian, and Morten Baarvig Thomsen. ‘Sovjetiske Krigsflygtninge i Odense’. Odensebogen 2025 (2024): 173–85.
Thomsen, Morten Baarvig. ‘Da Sovjetunionen Kom Til Odense - Lejren “Rosenhaven” for Ikke-Tyske Flygtninge i Befrielsessommeren 1945’. Fynske Årbøger 2025 (Oktober 2025): 81–103.
Podcast. Historier fra Odense. Episode: Befrielsessommeren 1945 og de sovjetiske flygtninge i ”Russerhaven”, Morten Baarvig Thomsen, Rasmus Falsberg og Johnny Wøllekær. Listen to the episode at SoundCloud here.