Polish Emigration to British Commonwealth Countries: A Demographic Survey

Abstract

This article presents an examination of the pattern of emigration from Poland to the countries of the “old” British Commonwealth. 1 Following a general survey of Polish emigration up to World War II, this article examines the situation of Polish migrants in each of the Commonwealth countries. 1 No mention will be made here of South Africa, a member country of the “old” Commonwealth until 1961. Intensive search for information relating to Polish settlers in South Africa revealed only two published items of little value (Jaworski, J. 1968; Krolikowski, 1969). The South African census of 1960 listed 4,421 persons born in Poland who constituted 1.41% of the country's foreign born population. Apart from the survivors of a large group of Polish Jews who arrived in South Africa in the first decade of this century, followed by another group in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Polish born population was recruited mainly from World War II refugees and evacuees followed by a contingent of former Polish soldiers who fought in Western Europe under British command. Among the former were 500 Polish children (299 boys, 201 girls) who had lost their families during their exile in the Soviet Union and who were offered hospitality by the South African government. They were brought in 1944 from Persia to Outsdoorn, where a Polish school was organized for them (J. Jaworski: 8; Krolikowski: 83). There was, therefore, a close parallel between this event and the story of 733 Polish children who arrived in New Zealand also in 1944(Skwarko 1972 and 1974). The majority of Polish settlers live in Johannesburg and other places in the Transvaal.