RLI Working Paper No. 45 War and Resettlement: Polish Resettlement Camps in the UK after the Second World War. The experience of creating a settlement policy for Polish political refugees Agata Blaszczyk Polish University Abroad in London-PUNO
[email protected] Abstract The subject domain of this paper is Polish immigration to post-War Britain. It portrays the Polish community’s rehabilitation in exile and the British government’s creation of a model migrant settlement policy for Polish refugees after 1946. It explains how Poles successfully integrated into mainstream British society and highlights the importance of education as their route to civic integration. The research leading to this paper examined the political implications of the passage of the Polish Resettlement Bill in March 1947 (the first ever British legislation dealing with mass immigration) and how the original refugees formed much of the Polish community as it exists today. The exceptional aspects of this legislation in terms of modern British refugee policy lay in its clauses relating to the Polish refugees’ entitlement to government support in key areas of social life. Major government departments were assigned special duties linked to the management, organization and support of this group of immigrants. Each of them took different responsibilities. A good deal of this paper is dedicated to the creation of the Polish Resettlement Camps in Britain in 1946. At the end of the Second World War the British Government offered hospitality to Polish soldiers who had served under British command and who were unable or unwilling to return to their native country. Wives and dependents were brought to Britain to join the soldiers, bringing the total estimated number to over 250,000.