No man’s lands emerged in 1938 at various points along the borders of East-Central Europe. These were places of abandonment, immense suffering, and extreme exclusion. Between March 1938 and September 1939, tens of thousands of Jewish men, women, and children struggled to survive in the forests, fields, and abandoned buildings of this liminal space. Historian Michal Frankl from the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences delves into this overlooked chapter of Holocaust history. He is the author of the book Občané země nikoho: Uprchlíci a pohyblivé hranice středovýchodní Evropy 1938–1939 (Citizens of No Man’s Land: Refugees and Shifting Borders in East-Central Europe 1938–1939). 

In this audio article, you will learn where groups of Jewish refugees became stranded in Europe and what helped them survive. And a question inevitably arises: are these “no man’s lands” really a thing of the past, or do parallels persist in today’s world?​

This audio feature is based on the article written by Leona Matušková, which you can read in full in the quarterly A / Magazine of the CAS here. The English issue is available online via the Czech Academy of Sciences website, or you can request a print copy by emailing [email protected].​

Narrated by: Daniel Zappi // Edited by: Jitka Kostelníková //
Produced with support from: Strategy AV21