German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss

18 German Migrants in Postwar Britain: Immigration Policy, Recruitment, and Reception

EIGHTEEN German Migrants in Postwar Britain Immigration Policy,Recruitment, and Reception
Johannes-Dieter Steinert Inge Weber-Newth 217 217 The reception of Germans in Britain in the immediate postwar period must be seen in the broader context of a labour shortage that could not be satisfied by the domestic workforce. Germans were targeted as part of a comprehensive recruitment initiative that was aimed primarily at eastern European refugees and former forced labourers. This chapter gives insight into the thinking behind the British government’s decision to favour some selected ethnic groups whilst excluding others. It will first focus on the general political framework of British postwar immigration policy, which enabled the recruitment and reception of foreign nationals. An overview is then given of the experiences of those Germans who arrived in Britain as a result of this policy. It highlights the migrants’ perception of life during the early stages of their migration and shows how the circumstances of their arrival affected their reception in Britain. This contribution draws on the results of a research project that was carried out in the late 1990s.1 Among the one million migrants Britain received between 1945 and 19512 there were almost 60,000 German nationals. The reception of Germans in Britain was by no means a new phenomenon, since Britain had welcomed and integrated Germans at different times in history . But their admission shortly after the end of World War ii against the background of war crimes and mass murder is significant. It must be seen in the broader context of a recruitment initiative for foreign labour led by the British government, which targeted mainly East Europeans: 80,000 218 JOHANNES-DIETER STEINERT, INGE WEBER-NEWTH Ukrainians, Poles, and Balts, former forced labourers and refugees from camps in Germany and Austria who were allowed entry under the “Westward Ho” scheme. In addition, 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war who had fought in the SS (and had been brought to Britain from Italy in 1947) settled in Britain side by side with their East European compatriots. At the same time, the British government restricted the immigration of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and was anxious not to encourage non-white British subjects to enter the country and to settle permanently. As different policies guided the recruitment process, for the purposes of this chapter the total number of about 60,000 German migrants are broken down into different groups: • some 15,000 former prisoners of war, who were allowed to remain in Britain; • about 10,000 women recruited in Germany under the government’s “North Sea” scheme for work in the public health systems and in hardship households; • more than 20,000 German female work permit holders, committed by contract to private domestic work; • approximately 10,000 war brides, married to British soldiers or members of the Control Commission for Germany; • some 1,300 male and female ethnic Germans (born in East European countries) included in the official Westward Ho scheme; and • more than 1,300 German women from the Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia , recruited for work in the cotton mills of Lancashire, also under the Westward Ho scheme. British Immigration Policy The British decision to recruit foreign labour was the result of great external debts and an acute need for labour immediately after the war.3 In order to raise its exports quickly, the government decided to strengthen the old industries: coal mining and the textile, iron, and steel industries. However, foreign workers were also required in the newly founded national health system and in agriculture, as well as for construction work and in the domestic sector. In general,the employment of foreign labour was not a new occurrence, but for the first time, government officials were involved in the development and application of this process. In making this decision, the British government took into consideration its own foreign policy (especially its relations with the ussr at the start of the Cold War), public opinion at home, and the interests of trade unions and employers. Recruitment was not influenced by humanitarian considerations but by job skills, age, sex, and personal independence, the latter being important because of the shortage of accommodation in postwar Britain.4 Although the state of the labour market was a major consideration, it would be misleading to explain British policy purely as a response to its needs. The demand for labour could have...