This week, AP staff photographer based in Greece Petros Giannakouris took over our Instagram feed with photos from Europe's migrant crisis.  During Europe’s refugee crisis, more than a million people landed in this country, their first stop after reaching the continent. For many it was the last: Hundreds drowned while crossing from Turkey, and tens of thousands were trapped here by border closures. It’s a story filled with emotion and one of overwhelming scale.

Refugees haven’t crossed Europe in such numbers since World War II and many of the scenes we witnessed looked like they might have come from that era. Desperate and escaping war, families were packed into unsafe boats, slept rough, walked for endless miles, were crammed into rail carriages like cattle, and dealt with the indecision of a continent that opted to welcome them before scrambling to keep them out.

The European refugee crisis is a story that left few who covered it unaffected.

Follow AP photographers on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP/lists/ap-photographers

Spotlight is the blog of AP Images, the world’s largest collection of historical and contemporary photos. AP Images provides instant access to AP’s iconic photos and adds new content every minute of every day from every corner of the world, making it an essential source of photos and graphics for professional image buyers and commercial customers.  Whether your needs are for editorial, commercial, or personal use, AP Images has the content and the expert sales team to fulfill your image requirements. Visit apimages.com to learn more.

Written content on this site is not created by the editorial department of AP, unless otherwise noted. 

AP Images on Twitter | AP Images on Facebook | AP Images on Instagram