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When did we start using passports? - Kristin Surak
When did we start using passports? - Kristin Surak
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Legendas (86)
0:06
In 1941, in German-occupied Poland,
0:10
the Nazis began abducting members of the Jewish population
0:14
and imprisoning them in extermination camps.
0:18
But there were exceptions—
0:20
the Nazis held foreign passport holders in detention camps
0:24
to be traded later for Germans detained abroad.
0:29
With this loophole in mind, Aleksander Ładoś,
0:32
a Polish diplomat in Switzerland,
0:35
started producing forged Latin American passports
0:39
and smuggling them to Polish Jews.
0:42
In the end, these simple paper booklets
0:45
would mean the difference between life and death for thousands.
0:51
A striking thing about passports
0:53
is that they’re actually a relatively new invention.
0:56
They’re not the first form of travel documents:
0:59
in ancient Egypt, travelers carried letters of safe conduct issued by rulers;
1:05
in Han China and Tudor England, foreigners were issued travel passes;
1:11
and in the 19th century,
1:12
poorer migrants often needed health certificates to enter the US.
1:18
However, for much of human history,
1:20
borders have been relatively fluid and travel lacked bureaucratic requirements.
1:26
But when World War I broke out in 1914, everything changed.
1:32
Neighboring countries, and their colonies, became wartime enemies.
1:37
To deter both espionage and desertion,
1:41
many European nations established checkpoints at ports of entry
1:46
to confirm travelers’ nationalities.
1:48
Here, authorities would screen early versions of passports,
1:53
which, depending on the issuing country,
1:55
were documents that followed different formats
1:58
and contained varying types of information.
2:02
When the war ended, many expected nations to remove passport requirements.
2:08
In 1920, the newly established League of Nations discussed this,
2:13
but in light of other post-war concerns,
2:16
such as safeguarding national security, preventing the spread of epidemics,
2:21
and managing the movement of refugees,
2:24
they opted to temporarily keep the passport system.
2:28
To ease travel,
2:29
they encouraged countries to follow international passport guidelines,
2:34
using booklets of standard size and layout,
2:37
written in the language of the issuing country and French.
2:42
But beyond this, every country was free to determine what approvals or documents
2:47
a person needed to cross its borders.
2:50
This included rules around issuing visas,
2:54
the legal permissions dictating how long a person can stay in a country,
2:59
and what they can do, such as work or study.
3:02
And by 1926, when the League of Nations met again,
3:06
the idea of abolishing passports had lost momentum,
3:10
solidifying the passport system we know today.
3:15
However, this system brought new problems with it.
3:19
Passports were used not just to monitor movement,
3:22
but also as tools of power and control.
3:26
They reinforced hierarchies between citizens born in colonizer states
3:30
and those born in the colonies.
3:33
For example, in the 1920s,
3:35
UK-born British subjects could get British passports,
3:40
while Indian-born subjects could receive a distinct British Indian passport.
3:46
And since passports are issued by governments,
3:49
they could be withheld from citizens as punishment or to discourage dissent.
3:54
During the Cold War, the US revoked the passports
3:58
of political and civil rights activists, like W.E.B. Dubois.
4:03
As passport monitoring was largely relocated into airports
4:08
in the second half of the 20th century,
4:10
advances in digital tracking and databases
4:14
allowed governments to more tightly regulate and control individual movement.
4:19
Today, a passport’s strength and where a person can travel to and from
4:24
are often dependent on relationships between countries.
4:28
There can be regional agreements, like the Schengen Agreement,
4:32
which allows border-free travel within 29 European countries.
4:37
Higher-income countries also typically have better travel access.
4:42
The result is a system that privileges citizens of certain countries,
4:46
while constraining others.
4:49
As of 2025, a US passport holder can enter almost 180 countries
4:55
without arranging a visa beforehand.
4:59
For a Pakistani passport holder, that number drops below 40.
5:03
And these disparities extend to a person’s chances of securing a foreign visa.
5:10
For example, in 2024,
5:12
Algerian applicants for US visitor visas
5:16
faced a much higher refusal rate than Brazilian applicants.
5:20
In some places, money can buy you access—
5:24
more than a dozen countries offer "golden passports” programs
5:28
that grant citizenship,
5:30
and therefore passports, to people who make a significant investment or donation.
5:36
As the world becomes increasingly global for some,
5:40
and increasingly divided for others,
5:43
the question remains:
5:44
should lines on a map determine a person’s rights and freedoms?
