Governments in Exile

Report Outline
Refugee Governments of Occupied Nations
Organization of the Exiled Governments
Military and Political Activities of the Exiles

Refugee Governments of Occupied Nations

Eight of the 26 nations whose representatives signed the Declaration by United Nations at Washington, January 1, 1942, are European countries which have been occupied by the Axis. Seven of the eight—Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Yugoslavia—now maintain governments in exile at London. The eighth—the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg—has established a government at Montreal, Canada. A new recruit was added to the group of refugee governments last month, when President Quezon of the Commonwealth of the Philippines arrived with his war cabinet in Australia to set up his government at the headquarters of General MacArthur.

Continuance of Free Governmental Representation

The foregoing governments in exile are led by rulers of the countries concerned or by statesmen who were members of the government before the occupation of the homeland. Since in most cases the new government is virtually the same as the old, merely having transferred the seat of its activities, the governments in exile can legitimately claim the right to exercise such powers as they can under existing conditions. By keeping intact at least a semblance of their former governing bodies, moreover, the invaded countries have provided for representation of their national interests by authoritative spokesmen among powers opposing their conquerors. These governments in exile are all recognized by the United States.

In addition to the fully recognized governments in exile, there is in London the French National Committee, headed by General de Gaulle. The Free French authorities exercise effective control over a large portion of the French empire and have won limited recognition from the United States and Great Britain. Their position differs from that of the other exiled governments, however, since France was only partially occupied and a theoretically independent French government, with which the United States still maintains diplomatic relations, remains in administrative control of the unoccupied section of the country and of the most populous French colonies.