Exile in the Desert: The European Refugees Who Fled to the Middle East During the Second World War

In the summer of 1944, long after much of Europe had been consumed by invasion and occupation, thousands of Yugoslav families were living not in forests or ruined cities, but in rows of military tents pitched deep in the Egyptian desert.

There were no olive groves. No stone houses. No Adriatic breeze. Only sand and wind.

“A wide, yellow, sandy plain stretched into infinity… oh, how unfriendly it was. Not a blade of grass, a flower, not a bug, butterfly or bird. Silence… and in front of the eyes flickered the ardent mass of the sandy plain.”

Dalmatian refugee Danica Nola’s description of El Shatt captures something rarely explored in popular histories of the Second World War. While attention often focuses on London during the Blitz or Stalingrad under siege, tens of thousands of Europeans were displaced far beyond the continent. Some of them found temporary sanctuary in Egypt, Gaza and Aleppo.

This was not a footnote. It was a substantial wartime operation involving more than 40,000 displaced civilians.

The Collapse of the Balkans

The story begins with the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. Within weeks, the country was partitioned. Coastal Dalmatia came under Italian control, later replaced by German occupation after Italy’s capitulation in 1943. Reprisals, forced labour, executions and destruction of villages became routine.

Civilians were not merely caught in crossfire. They were targeted in campaigns designed to suppress resistance movements, particularly the Partisans led by Josip Broz Tito.

By late 1943, as German forces consolidated control along the Adriatic coast, the civilian population on islands and coastal towns faced starvation, bombardment and retaliation for supporting resistance networks. Allied commanders, coordinating with the Partisans, made a decision: evacuation.

British naval vessels transported thousands of civilians from Adriatic islands to Bari in southern Italy. From there, many were moved further east into British controlled territory in Egypt. This was not spontaneous flight alone. It was organised extraction tied to military strategy.

The Creation of MERRA

As refugee numbers increased across the eastern Mediterranean, the British government established the Middle East Relief and Refugee Administration in 1942. Known as MERRA, it was designed to coordinate humanitarian support across Egypt, Mandatory Palestine and Syria.

Its responsibilities were administrative and logistical:

• Food distribution

• Medical services

• Shelter construction

• Camp management

• Coordination with Allied military authorities

By the height of its operation, MERRA oversaw a network of camps housing more than 40,000 displaced Europeans.

Egypt became the principal hub due to its relative security and proximity to Allied supply routes. Gaza and Aleppo also became important reception points.

El Shatt: A Camp at the Edge of Empire

The most significant of these camps was El Shatt, located near the southern end of the Suez Canal.

Established in early 1944, El Shatt eventually housed roughly 20,000 Yugoslav refugees, most of them from Dalmatia.

The location was chosen for strategic reasons. It was:

• Close to Allied military infrastructure

• Within reach of established supply chains

• Beyond effective Axis bombing range

But strategic suitability did not translate into comfort.

The terrain was a flat, sandy plain. Daytime temperatures during summer could exceed 40 degrees Celsius. Nights could be cold. Sandstorms were frequent, driving fine dust into tents, bedding and food supplies.

Rows of army tents formed the camp’s structure. There were no permanent buildings. Water was delivered and rationed. Sanitation required constant management to prevent disease outbreaks.

Refugees were generally issued half a British Army ration per day. It was enough to survive, but rarely sufficient to satisfy hunger. Those with money could purchase supplementary food at canteens, though stocks were inconsistent.

Mortality in Exile

The camps offered safety from bombardment and execution, but they were not without loss.

At El Shatt, hundreds died between 1944 and 1946. Many were elderly or children weakened by months of displacement before arrival. Illness, respiratory complications caused by dust, and general exhaustion took their toll.

A cemetery was established near the camp. Simple graves marked the resting places of those who had survived invasion only to die in exile. The cemetery remained long after the tents were dismantled, becoming a site of remembrance for families who returned decades later.

It is an essential detail. The camp was a refuge, but it was not a paradise.

As British aid worker John Corsellis observed:

“I must not give the impression that these people created a little paradise here on the desert with their resourcefulness. Their extreme lack of everything only makes what they do more impressive, standing as it does against such a background.”

A Political Community in Waiting

El Shatt was not merely a humanitarian holding area. It developed into a structured civic community.

Schools operated according to Yugoslav curricula. Teachers resumed lessons for children whose education had been disrupted. Workshops were established for carpenters and tailors. Bakers improvised ovens. Administrative committees coordinated daily life.

Cultural organisations formed choirs and theatre groups. Newspapers were printed within the camp, reporting on developments in Europe and the progress of the Partisan struggle.

The Partisan movement maintained influence inside the camp. Political education and youth organisations reflected the emerging socialist order that would shape post war Yugoslavia. In that sense, El Shatt functioned as a rehearsal space for a new society forming beyond the desert horizon.

Women played a central role. They organised food preparation, clothing repair, childcare and education networks. Oral histories consistently emphasise the labour of women in sustaining daily order and morale.

Gaza and Aleppo: Refuge Under Mandate

Other MERRA camps operated in Gaza, then part of the British Mandate for Palestine, and in Aleppo in northern Syria.

In Gaza, thousands of displaced Europeans found shelter in camps established along the Mediterranean coastline. The sea offered limited climatic relief compared to the Egyptian interior, though conditions remained rudimentary.

Among those housed in Mandate territory were Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Their presence intersected with the political tensions of British policy. The 1939 White Paper had restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine, creating a complex situation in which humanitarian shelter did not automatically translate into permanent settlement rights.

Aleppo, historically a crossroads of migration, became another temporary refuge. As in Egypt, camps were tightly administered. Relief was balanced against wartime security concerns.

Cultural Life and Psychological Survival

Camp authorities recognised that prolonged displacement erodes morale. Cultural activities were therefore encouraged.

Plays were staged. Dances organised. Religious observances continued. Children were given playgrounds constructed from available materials. Maintaining routine became as important as distributing rations.

At El Shatt, residents sometimes gathered near the Suez Canal to watch Allied warships passing through. It was a striking image: displaced civilians in desert tents observing the naval arteries of a global war.

Occasionally, families bathed in the canal waters, an improvised moment of relief from heat and dust.

These small rituals provided continuity. They allowed families to imagine futures beyond the desert.

The End of War and Uncertain Futures

The end of the war in Europe did not immediately resolve the refugees’ situations.

Yugoslavia had been transformed under Tito’s leadership. Infrastructure was damaged. Political authority had shifted. Some refugees returned home. Others emigrated further afield, including to Australia and the Americas.

El Shatt was officially disbanded in 1946. The tents were removed. The desert reclaimed the site.

But memory persisted. Survivors returned in later decades to visit the cemetery. In Croatia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, El Shatt became part of collective historical consciousness.

A Global War, A Global Displacement

The camps administered by MERRA illustrate how the Second World War displaced civilians far beyond Europe’s immediate front lines. While post war Displaced Persons camps in Germany and Austria are better known, the Middle Eastern camps reveal the wider geographic reach of wartime displacement.

These were not extermination sites or labour complexes. They were emergency settlements constructed under imperial administration in response to military and humanitarian crisis.

More than 40,000 Europeans passed through them.

In the harsh deserts of Egypt and along the coasts of Gaza and Syria, families rebuilt routines. Children resumed schooling. Newspapers were printed. Graves were dug.

The war did not end for them with liberation headlines in Europe. It ended slowly, through repatriation, emigration and the quiet dismantling of tents in 1946.

What remains is the record of endurance in an unlikely place. A chapter of exile written not in ruins or forests, but in sand.

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