"To jest nasza Polska!" Identitätsstiftung und Identitätssicherung in der polnischen Exilgemeinde in Großbritannien während und nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg.

The Polish community in Great Britain developed from various migration waves: emigrants who left for Britain before World War II and whose motivation for leaving their country of origin was both political as well as economical; exiles who had to leave Poland during World War II and the group of emigrants who arrived in Britain after the War, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s. With Poland joining the European Union in 2004, the Polish community in the United Kingdom has expanded once more through the arrival of mainly young Polish citizens. The main topic of the doctoral thesis is the group of exiles who left Poland due to World War II, reached Britain on various routes and decided to stay in Britain after the War. This group consists mainly of former members of the Polish Forces in exile and civilians who had to leave Poland during wartime. The research project addresses the question of measures taken by the exiles to stabilise and secure their individual identity and the identity of the group in their host country. Three different sources helped approach the subject: The presence of the Polish Forces was extensively covered by the Scottish daily newspaper “The Scotsman”. Newspaper articles and especially letters to the editor proved to be an important source in finding out to what degree the Polish troops had an impact on Scottish everyday life. The analysis of the newspaper articles and the letters to the editor showed the Polish troops as being seen as exotic new arrivals at first but soon being accepted and well liked in Scotland. In the course of the war Scots and Poles built good relations on a personal as well as an institutional level. Especially in 1943 the majority of newspaper articles published in “The Scotsman” on the Polish troops in Scotland drew a positive picture of the troops and their stay. The year 1945 brought changes in the relationship: Especially the question of naturalisation of Polish troops and of the future borders of postwar-Poland proved to be much discussed topics and led to a slight shift of the public opinion towards a more negative picture. In some opinions expressed in letters to the editor, the Poles, in the past considered to be Allies, had become “aliens”. Against this backdrop, a changed public opinion and increasing calls for repatriation, the Poles had to decide whether to return to their country of origin, now led by a Communist regime, or to stay in Britain. Many decided to stay and in consequence had to build a new life in a country foreign to them. Contemporary witnesses were being given the opportunity to talk about their arrival and their life in Great Britain. The conducted interviews paint a picture on how the exiles coped with the knowledge of not being able to return to Poland and illustrate how they settled in Great Britain. Almost 70 years after World War II another place has gained importance. Polish sections on British cemeteries show that measures to stabilise and secure identity now extend to the graveyard. A variety of religious, military and national symbols, as well as engravings found on gravestones of Polish exiles, prove the existence of a wish to keep and to display one’s identity as being Polish, a veteran of the Polish Forces etc. even after one’s death. Thus, gravestones and memorials have become important vehicles to display and secure identity. Furthermore they function as carriers of group membership and as constant reminders of the background of the Polish community in exile in Britain. The last chapter is taking a closer look on new developments within the Polish community in Britain, the arrival of a great number of young Poles to the UK, and raises the question on how these developments might affect the members of the exile community and their remembrance.