Poles in Britain 1940-2000

The contributors to this book provide description and analysis of the development of the Polish community in the UK from the earliest years of World War II until the end of the 20th century. As such, the book's presented perspectives not only dispel many false perceptions of the Poles, but present fresh insights that add up to a provocative interpretation of their position in British society. Several chapters add to our understanding of the significant Polish military effort alongside the Allies in defeating Nazi Germany, while the appalling political price the Poles paid at the end of the war at the Yalta Conference - the annexation by the Soviet Union of nearly half of the pre-war Second Polish Republic and the brutal imposition of a communist regime - is accentuated. This crass and wholly unjustified betrayal of the cause of a Free Poland by the Allies resulted directly in the formation of a large Polish community in the UK. The multifarious difficulties confronting the Poles in creating a new life in an unfamiliar and not particularly welcoming country after 1945 are examined, in particular, from their experiences in Scotland and two English cities, Leicester and Sheffield.