Formerly ISS WORKING PAPERS, Seria: PRACE MIGRACYJNE Return migration of second- generation British Poles Agata Górny Dorota Osipovič March 2006 Centre of Migration Research Faculty of Economic Sciences Warsaw University Banacha 2B 02–097 Warsaw Poland Tel.: +48 22 659 74 11 Fax: +48 22 822 74 05 www.migracje.uw.edu.pl [email protected] Formerly ISS WORKING PAPERS, Seria: PRACE MIGRACYJNE Return migration of second-generation British Poles Agata Górny Dorota Osipovič March 2006 Contents List of tables……...……………………………………………………………………….. III Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….. IV Summary……...…………………………………………………………………………... IV Streszczenie………………………………………………………………………………... V Agata Górny and Dorota Osipovič 1. Introduction........................................................................................................................ 1 Agata Górny and Dorota Osipovič 2. Empirical Data and Selected Definitions ........................................................................... 4 2.1. Empirical Data ................................................................................................................ 4 2.2. Selected Definitions ........................................................................................................ 6 Dorota Osipovič 3. Polishness of the second-generation British Poles............................................................. 9 3.1. Two Languages ............................................................................................................. 10 3.2. Two Cultures................................................................................................................. 13 3.3. Two Homelands ............................................................................................................ 16 3.4. Self-portraits of the second-generation British Poles.................................................... 20 3.5. Boundaries of the Group – “Us” and “Them” .............................................................. 23 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 27 Dorota Osipovič 4. The Issue of Return in the Diaspora Press at the Beginning of the 1990s....................... 29 4.1. First Generation of Poles in Exile – a short historical account..................................... 29 4.2. “Is Poland really free yet?”- Launch of Discussion in the Diaspora Press ................... 32 4.3. Opinions on the Political Role of Polish Exiles after 1989........................................... 35 4.4. Poland – Descriptions of the Changing Situation and Accounts from Visits ............... 37 4.5. Impossibility of Return – Selected Arguments of the First Generation........................ 39 4.6. The Stance of the Second Generation ........................................................................... 40 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 42 Agata Górny 5. Returnees – Factors of Remigration................................................................................. 44 5.1. Assumptions and Method of Analysis .......................................................................... 45 5.2. Setting a Macro-context – a Short Overview................................................................ 47 5.3. Motives of Remigration – Micro-level ........................................................................ 48 5.4. Family Factors and Social Capital – Meso-level .......................................................... 55 Table 5. Partnersa of second-generation British Poles by gender of respondents.................... 56 SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................64 Agata Górny 6. How Permanent? How Stable? Patterns and Prospects of Remigration .......................... 66 6.1. Time-Space Strategies of Returnees ............................................................................. 67 6.2. Success or Failure of Return? ....................................................................................... 75 6.3. Prospects for Remigration............................................................................................. 80 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 84 March 2006 Dorota Osipovič 7. Poland in the Life Strategies of the Second Generation Polish Londoners ..................... 86 7.1. Staying Put – Motives for not Returning to Poland during the 1990s .......................... 86 7.2. Opinions about the Returnees ....................................................................................... 90 7.3. Prospects of Mobility – Destination Poland.................................................................. 91 7.4. Polish Community or Polish Communities?................................................................. 93 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 97 Agata Górny and Dorota Osipovič 8. Conclusions...................................................................................................................... 98 Bibliography........................................................................................................................... 102 List of Tables Table 1. Respondents by year of birth ........................................................................................5 Table 2. Respondents by gender .................................................................................................5 Table 3. Returnees by year of return and date of interview........................................................5 Table 4. Selection of British and Polish cultural characteristics as perceived by respondents.14 Table 5. Partnersa of second-generation British Poles by gender of respondents.....................56 II Acknowledgements We are very grateful to our respondents both in Warsaw and in London for sharing their experiences and views, therefore enabling us an insight into their everyday lives. Also our thanks are due to the Institute of Public Affairs, Warsaw, for allowing us to incorporate some of the empirical material gathered during their research project on return migration to Poland. We are also grateful to Michał Garapich for his helpful comments on the late draft of this report. And last but not least, we would like to thank our sponsor – MB Grabowski Fund – for providing the funding to carry out this research and Professor George Kolankiewicz from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, UCL for his kind support and advice throughout the project. III Return migration of second - generation British Poles Summary This paper demonstrates the findings of our qualitative research into the second-generation British Poles living in Warsaw and London that was carried out in 2002-03. As shown in our interviews, they perceive themselves as a distinct group partly due to a specific national identity consisting of a mix of Polish and British elements. We focus on the ‘return wave’ of the second- generation British Poles being a response to changes in Poland. In fact, only relatively small part of this group returned to Poland in the 1990s and 2000s and ‘returns for good’ were exceptions rather than the rule. Then, remigration of the second-generation British Poles remains closer to transmigration than to repatriation or settlement migration. Moreover, on the collective level of the Polish émigré community, as we uncovered in the diaspora press analysis, the dream of return to the sovereign Poland underwent a reality check, being replaced by some alternative ideas regarding help for Poland or involvement in Polish matters. Nevertheless, Poland is present in life prospects of the second-generation British Poles that remained in the UK, in one way or another as for example in planning the retirement or buying a property in Poland, regular visits in Poland and so on. Migracja powrotna drugiego pokolenia Brytyjskich Polaków Streszczenie Niniejsze opracowanie przedstawia najważniejsze wnioski z badania jakościowego dotyczącego drugiego pokolenia „brytyjskich Polaków” mieszkających w Warszawie i Londynie, które zostało zrealizowane w latach 2002-03. Jak pokazują nasze wywiady, „brytyjscy Polacy” mają silne poczucie odrębności grupowej oparte, w dużym stopniu, na specyficznie skonstruowanej tożsamości narodowej łączącej elementy polskich i brytyjskich wartości. Najwięcej uwagi poświęcamy zjawisku powrotów drugiego pokolenia „brytyjskich Polaków”, które pojawiło się jako jeden z rezultatów przemian systemowych w Polsce. Wszystko wskazuje na to, że tylko niewielka część omawianej grupy powróciła w latach 1990. i 2000. do Polski, a „powroty na dobre” stanowiły wśród nich raczej wyjątki niż regułę. W rzeczy samej, omawiana remigracja przypomina bardziej transmigrację niż repatriację czy migrację osiedleńczą. Co więcej, jak pokazała przeprowadzona przez nas analiza prasy emigracyjnej, marzenia o powrocie do niepodległej Polski, pielęgnowane przez lata przez polskich emigrantów, zostały zrewidowane na poziomie zbiorowym polskiej społeczności i zastąpione przez alternatywne pomysły zaangażowania w pomoc Polsce i sprawy polskie. Należy jednak podkreślić, że Polska jest obecna w przestrzeniach życiowych drugiego pokolenia „brytyjskich