Victims of Stalin and Hitler : the exodus of Poles and Balts to Britain / Thomas Lane.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lane, A. T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Polish people--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Polish people.

Balts (Indo-European people)--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Balts (Indo-European people).

Political refugees--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Political refugees.

Immigrants--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Immigrants.

Ethnic relations.

History.

Baltic Sea Region--Emigration and immigration--History--20th century.

Baltic Sea Region.

Poland--Emigratation and immigration--History--20th century.

Poland.

Great Britain--Ethnic relations--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xi, 281 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Summary:

Germany in 1945 was crammed with millions of people displaced by war, deportation, Nazi slave labour, and flight before the advance of the Red Army. Many of them, including Poles and the Baltic peoples of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, refused to return to their communist-controlled homelands. Simultaneously in Italy, the Middle East and Britain, there were more than 100,000 Polish military personnel under British command, along with their dependents. Most of these were survivors of the one and a half million Poles deported to Siberia by the Soviet security police. Based on official documents and the words of the survivors and their children, this book describes the brutal uprooting of these people, their subsequent terrible experiences in the Soviet and Nazi forced labour camps and prisons, and their ultimate settlement in Britain. Here the newcomers created communities, integrated into British life while attempting to preserve their cultures and identities, and experienced how ethnic minorities relate to the host society.

Contents:

1 'A Timeless and Magical World?' 9

2 Defeat 21

3 German Colonies 33

4 Soviet Fiefs 56

5 Deportations 78

6 Penal Camps and Settlements 96

7 Release 114

8 Soldiers and Refugees 137

9 'Midway to Nowhere' 158

10 Resettlement 179

11 Communities 204

12 Identities 224.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-268) and index.

ISBN:

1403932204

OCLC:

55066470