In September 1945, the Control Commission for Germany - British Element (CCG/BE) built a camp in Friedland, near the American (Hessen) and Soviet occupation (Thuringia) zones. The camp was designed as the first way station for refugees, evacuees, and returning soldiers. During the period of mass expulsions from 1944 to 1945, the camp offered services to large waves of refugees. Thereafter, it functioned primarily as a way station for German (or ethnic German) emigrants - "Heimkehrer" repatriates. Between 1950 and 1987, approximately 1.4 million people of German extraction passed the camp. Therefore it also worked as a symbol of post war revisionism and a moral fortress of the cold war. 

Currently the camp is the central way station for refugees from all over the world. In the short hour one sunday in july 2014, although the war in syriah lasted already 2 years it was slightly empty. "Friedland" means land of peace.