Call for Papers | Exile Governments and Political Refugees in 20th-Century Europe: Sovereignty in the Face of Totalitarianisms (Deadline: November 15) - Instytut Pileckiego

The year 2027 marks the 85th anniversary of the signing, on 13 January 1942, of the Declaration of St James’s Palace on the Punishment of War Crimes. To commemorate this landmark event, we are organising an international academic conference addressing the history and significance of governments in exile and political refugees in 20th-century Europe.

The conference will focus in particular on European governments-in-ex ile during the Second World War, and the enduring legacy of their wartime cooperation. It will also seek to examine the broader historical, legal, and political significance of these experiences and their place in the history of 20th-century Europe.

It is usually assumed that governments-in-exile are formed in response to either enemy occupation or civil war. During our conference, we would like to discuss how totalitarian regimes of the 20th century forced politicians and dissenters into exile as early as the interwar period, followed by entire governments during the war. We are interested in factors that contribute to forming and dissolving governments-in-exile, as well as shaping the individual decisions of exiles. During our conference, we intend to examine various forms of exile politics, as well as the diverse realities of 20th-century European governments-in-ex ile. We are interested in the contributions of historians, legal historians, law yers, political scientists, etc., with a special focus on – but not limited to – the following topics:

• governments-in-exile during and after World War II;

• governments-in-exile during the Great War and the question of what con stitutes a government-in-exile (e.g. the Polish National Committee);

• governments-in-exile and other forms of political representation in exile;

• comparative studies of different governments-in-exile;

• relations between host countries and governments-in-exile;

• biographies of officials and politicians in exile;

• political exiles from the Third Reich after 1933, and from communist Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution;

• the heritage of exile politics and the issues of remembrance;

• relations between exile governments and their citizens under occupation, as well as between politicians in exile and the domestic opposition;

• the political role, influence and agency of exile governments.

Timeline for submissions

October 14, 2026 – Paper submission opens

November 15 – Call for papers closes

November 27 – Confirmation of participation

January 27–28, 2027 – Conference to be held at the Pilecki Institute, 82 Sienna Street, Warsaw

Important information

The language of the conference is English.

This is an in-person conference.

To submit, email proposals to exile.conference@instytutpileckiego.pl by November 15.

Individual paper proposals should contain a title, an abstract of approximately 250 words and a biographical note about the speaker of maximum 100 words.

Please email documents in .docx or .pdf format.

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