Refugee
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A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a person who has lost the protection of their country of origin and who cannot or is unwilling to return there due to well-founded fear of persecution. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.
Konrad Schumann, an East German border guard, fleeing East Germany towards West Germany in 1962
Darfur refugee camp in Chad, 2005
Refugees from Herzegovina, painting by Uroš Predić in 1889 made in the aftermath of the Herzegovina Uprising (1875–77)
Turkish refugees from Edirne, 1913
Nansen passport
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Nansen passports, originally and officially stateless persons passports, were internationally recognized refugee travel documents from 1922 to 1938, first issued by the League of Nations's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees to stateless refugees. They quickly became known as "Nansen passports" for their promoter, the Norwegian statesman and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen.
Nansen passport cover; Police office, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1930
Nansen passport renewal stamp; Nansen International Office for Refugees, 1930
Memorial plaque (partial view); outside wall, City Hall, Oslo, Norway, 2007