POLISH RESETTLEMENT CAMPS IN PICTURES

Monday 21st March, 6.00pm, Room 347, UCL-SSEES Building, 16 Taviton Street

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. A Polish Resettlement Corps was established by the British Government in 1946 as a holding unit for members of the Polish Armed Forces. Wives and dependents were brought to Britain to join them, bringing the total estimated number to over 200,000. The Polish Resettlement Act of 1947 regulated this settlement and became the first ever mass immigration legislation of the British parliament.

Former army and air force camps were utilised as temporary accommodation for the Polish troops and their families. By October 1946, some 120,000 Polish troops were quartered in 265 camps throughout Great Britain. For many years these camps were seen as remote places packed with Nissen huts or poor quality dwellings occupied by more than one family per hut. However, for the first generation of Poles they became a symbol of stability, for the second, much younger generation, the camps would always remain in their memory as happy places, full of freedom.

By 1949 the corps had ceased to function. About 150,000 Polish soldiers and their dependents settled in the United Kingdom, forming a significant part of the Polish community as it exists today.

Under the supervision of Professor George Kolankiewicz, Chair of Sociology at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), Agata Blaszczyk-Sawyer has carried out research into this period of Polish migration history, entitled, The Committee for the Education of Poles in Great Britain (1947-1954). The Experience of British Migrant Settlement Policy. During the course of her research, Agata has amassed more than 1,000 photographs depicting the everyday experience of the camps. Part of the collection also consists of pictures taken between 2008 and 2010 aiming to present the remains of the camps as they exist today.

Thanks to the M B Grabowski Fund, Agata was able to present her findings to an audience which included many of the children who had been part of that experience. The photographic exhibition was held in the Masaryk Senior Common Room at SSEES building. It has since moved to POSK , 238-246 King Street, London W6 0R. To view the talk visit: http://www.vimeo.com/21740364 and for Polish newspaper coverage see: http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/51,80277,9725905.html?i=4

This page last modified Thursday 16 June 2011.