Transit: Stories of Movement and Meaning

In this second episode of Transit: Stories of Movement and Meaning, we turn to a largely overlooked chapter of European migration history: the international adoption of thousands of Greek children during the Cold War.Between the late 1940s and the 1970s, more than 4,000 Greek children were adopted abroad, primarily to the United States, often through opaque legal processes and with little regard for preserving their original identities. For many adoptees, this meant growing up disconnected from their birthplace, their language, and the circumstances that led to their displacement.In conversation with classical scholar and historian Gonda Van Steen, we explore the historical roots and long-term consequences of this transnational adoption movement. Drawing on her research into Greek adoption archives and the testimonies of adoptees themselves, Van Steen sheds light on the complex intersections of Cold War politics, social stigma, poverty, and migration that shaped these adoption practices.Together, we discuss the lifelong search for origins experienced by many adoptees, the legal and emotional barriers they face when trying to recover their birth records, and the growing movement advocating for recognition and access to identity. The conversation also reflects on what it means to return — not only to a place, but to a history that was once obscured.By foregrounding the voices and experiences of adoptees, this episode invites us to rethink adoption not only as a private family matter, but as part of broader histories of migration, displacement, and belonging.Transit is hosted by Daniel Franco Sánchez and produced by Working Group 6 of the HIDDEN Cost Action.

In this opening episode of Transit: Stories of Movement and Meaning, we turn to history to better understand the present.Over the last decade, Europe has repeatedly been described as facing “the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.” But what does this comparison really mean? What histories are invoked — and which ones are forgotten — when crises are framed in this way?In conversation with historian Francesca Piana, we explore the deeper roots of refugee protection and humanitarian responses in Europe. Drawing from her book Humanitarian Protection for Prisoners of War and Refugees in the Long Aftermath of the First World War, Piana invites us to shift the frame beyond the post-1945 narrative and look instead to the aftermath of the First World War — a period marked by collapsing empires, mass displacement, forgotten prisoners of war, Armenian genocide survivors, and Russian refugees in exile.Together, we discuss how early institutions such as the League of Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Labour Office experimented with forms of refugee protection long before the creation of the UNHCR or the 1951 Geneva Convention. We also examine how race, gender, class, and imperial legacies shaped — and continue to shape — who is protected, who is excluded, and who is rendered invisible.This episode challenges dominant narratives of crisis by foregrounding historical continuities, institutional failures, and, crucially, the voices and agency of refugees themselves. Rather than treating displacement as an exception or emergency, it asks what we can learn when we understand migration as a structural and recurring feature of modern history.Transit is hosted by Daniel Franco Sánchez and produced by Working Group 6 of the HIDDEN Cost Action.