Polish Resettlement Act 1947
Act of Parliament | |
Territorial extent | England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland |
---|---|
Dates | |
Royal assent | 27 March 1947 |
Status: Amended | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The Polish Resettlement Act 1947 (
Background
The
In advance of the war, the
The majority of Poles came to the United Kingdom to help the
Poles formed the fourth-largest Allied armed force in Europe after the Soviets, the Americans and the combined troops of the British Empire. Poles were the largest group of
By July 1945, 228,000 troops of the
Yalta
The Polish II Corps was instrumental in the Allied defeat of the Germans in North Africa and Italy, and its members hoped to return to Kresy in an independent and democratic Poland at the end of the War. But at Yalta, Churchill agreed Stalin should keep the Soviet gains that Adolf Hitler had endorsed in the Nazi-Soviet Pact, including Kresy, and carry out Polish population transfers. Consequently, Churchill had agreed that tens of thousands of veteran Polish troops under British command should lose their Kresy homes to the Soviet Union, with the implication that relatives including wives and children would be at the mercy of the NKVD.[2] In reaction, thirty officers and men from the II Corps (Poland) committed suicide.[3]
Churchill explained his actions in a three-day parliamentary debate starting 27 February 1945, which ended in a
During the debate, 25 MPs risked their careers to draft an amendment protesting against Britain's tacit acceptance of Poland's domination by the Soviet Union. These members included
Legislation
When the Second World War ended,
The result was the Polish Resettlement Act 1947, Britain's first mass immigration law.
Large numbers of Poles, after occupying resettlement camps of the
In the 1951 Census, the Polish-born population of the UK numbered some 162,339, up from 44,642 in 1931.[6][7]
At the same time, Britain's social and economic areas had been hard hit by the Second World War, and to rebuild itself physically and financially it required a workforce to do it quickly and effectively. The Polish Resettlement Act enabled Poles to settle in Britain and provide labour. They formed much of the
See also
- Polish British
- Western betrayal
- Federation of Poles in Great Britain
- World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West
References
- ^ "How Poles cracked Nazi Enigma secret". BBC News. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ "WWII Behind Closed Doors - PBS". WWII Behind Closed Doors - PBS.
- ^ a b c d pp.374-383 Olson and Cloud 2003
- ^ "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- .
- ISBN 0-333-28209-4.
- ^ Burrell, Kathy (2002). "Migrant memories, migrant lives: Polish national identity in Leicester since 1945" (PDF). Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society (76): 59–77.
External links
- Text of the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- "Polish Resettlement". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008.