In May 1945 nearly 1.9 million citizens of prewar Poland were in Germany: about 1.2 million in the British, American, and French zones of occupation and seven hundred thousand in the Soviet zone.10 Over 90 percent had been slave laborers in the economy of the Third Reich. The remaining 10 percent included prisoners of Nazi concentration camps and prisons, former POWs, and Poles who had been slated for Germanization. In the last stages of the war, several thousand soldiers of the Holy Cross Brigade (Brygada Świętokrzyska) of the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, or NSZ, a right-wing anticommunist military organization), who had left Poland under the pressure of the incoming Soviets, found themselves on the territory of Germany, as did inmates of concentration camps and prisons evacuated before the onslaught of the Red Army. Former Wehrmacht (German army) soldiers who had been forcibly conscripted from the population in Silesia and Pomerania were still in Germany, as was a smaller group of Poles deported from the territory annexed by the Soviet Union. Polish armed forces stationed in Germany in the spring of 1945 included about sixteen thousand soldiers and officers, representing the First Armored Division under the command of General Stanisław Maczek; the First Independent Parachute Brigade (Samodzielna Brygada Spadochronowa); Division 131 of the British Air Force of Occupation; and Polish land forces that had fought as part of the French army. Most of these units participated in occupation duties in various parts of Germany.11 The ranks of Polish civilian refugees in the Western zones soon swelled with those who had escaped from the Soviet zone of occupation and escapees from Poland who had illegally crossed the border. These numbers increased further through the high birth rate among DPs.12
Most Polish displaced persons, like those of other ethnic groups, lived in assembly centers, or camps, created and supervised by UNRRA. According to UNRRA statistics, there were more than 250 camps in December 1945, and more than 700 in July 1947.13 Some Poles who could walk and who were determined to get back home as soon as possible set off on their way to Poland in the summer months of 1945. No coordinated repatriation action began until the fall, when train transports became available. By the end of December 1945, UNRRA had repatriated about 150,000 Polish DPs and provided care for 438,643 Poles in the territory of Germany and Austria. Statistics for December 1946, after the major repatriation action was over, showed that 278,868 Polish displaced persons remained in the DP camps of Germany, Austria, and Italy. All in all, between November 1945 and June 1947, some 549,998 Polish DPs were repatriated to Poland from the three Western occupation zones of Germany and 11,676 from Austria.14
Most of the available data on the internal structure of the Polish DP population comes from the period after the mass repatriation was over and the IRO had begun to compile statistics that could be used in the resettlement of the remaining 166,000 persons born in Poland. In 1947 data on the age structure of the Polish DP population indicated 9.5 percent were below two years of age; 6 percent were between two and seven; 4.5 percent were between seven and fourteen; 3 percent were between fourteen and eighteen; 69 percent were between eighteen and forty-five; 7 percent were between forty-five and sixty; and 1 percent were more than sixty years of age. There were more men than women in all three Western occupation zones.15 Data compiled by the IRO in March 1948 showed that 38 percent of Polish men had a background in agriculture and farming, about 30 percent were skilled workers, and about 6 percent were professionals. Many Polish women (33 percent) worked in agriculture and service, and, of these, almost 19 percent were domestic servants. Some 7 percent of Polish women had professional backgrounds. By comparison, the 1948 report estimated that the Polish group in the American zone included about 10,000 skilled farmers and the same number of unskilled agricultural workers; 10,000 skilled artisans and workers; 4,500 people in the professions; and 7,000 persons in various white-collar occupations.16 A different report, from the summer of 1949, assessed the class structure of the Polish DP group as follows: 68 percent farmers; 12 percent workers; 15 percent craftsmen and artisans; and 5 percent professional middle class (inteligencja).17 A registration of inteligencja undertaken in all three Western zones in 1946 revealed that the group included 3,500 commissioned officers, 2,870 civil servants, 1,480 economists and merchants, 640 teachers, 520 civil engineers and technicians, 340 lawyers, 260 medical doctors, 240 journalists, and 180 artists.18
TABLE 2.1. Polish displaced persons receiving UNRRA assistance in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Middle East, and China, December 1945–June 1947
Total for December 1945–September 1946 does not include displaced persons in Italy, for whom nationality breakdown is not available.
SOURCE: George Woodbridge, UNRRA: The History of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (New York: Columbia University Press, 1950), 3:423.
DPs of the same ethnic background immediately began to seek out their fellow nationals. Separation into nationalities proceeded spontaneously but was also encouraged by the occupation and UNRRA administrations for reasons of convenience and control. Clusters of Balts, Ukrainians, Poles, or Slovaks formed in various locations and, as the word spread, attracted more and more of their countrymen. Initially, Jews were placed together with DPs of other nationalities. Prompted by the so-called Harrison report and responding to the pressure from Jewish organizations and Jewish DPs themselves, American and British authorities organized separate Jewish centers beginning in the fall of 1945.19 Separate camps ensured that DPs of the same background could find comfort and support, and develop national cultures in exile and common political programs. Both the military and UNRRA/IRO teams found the day-to-day management of ethnically homogeneous camps less troublesome. This arrangement reduced opportunities for ethnic animosities and conflict, and allowed repatriation actions and emigration programs to be executed more easily.20
TABLE 2.2. Occupational skills of Polish refugees in Austria, Germany, and Italy by major occupational groups, March 1948
SOURCE: Louise W. Holborn, The International Refugee Organization, a Specialized Agency of the United Nations: Its History And Work, 1946–1952 (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 305.
The separation of ethnic groups, however, was never total. Many camps continued to house refugees of different nationalities, and most large cities had several camps, giving the DPs ample possibility to interact. These interactions often reflected the multiethnic makeup of prewar Poland. For example, DPs who could read Polish borrowed books from Polish libraries and subscribed to the Polish press. Ukrainian, Belorussian, and sometimes Jewish students attended Polish schools, and foreign student organizations at German universities often gave mutual support. Scouting and sports became another arena for collaboration and exchange of friendly visits.21
Differences among ethnic groups, generally rooted in the complicated past, often had deepened during the war years and were revived by competition for better living conditions in DP camps or for available resettlement opportunities. DPs of different ethnic backgrounds understood, however, the basic need to present a common position before international agencies, occupation authorities, or forced repatriation efforts. For example, some Russians and Ukrainians slated for repatriation to the Soviet Union found refuge and false papers in Polish camps. Polish and Ukrainian journalists organized meetings during which they discussed the situation of the DP press and the most important DP issues. Meetings of the International Bureau for DP Collaboration (Międzynarodowe Biuro Porozumiewawcze