Poles in Belgium in the Past Fifty Years

Abstract

The origins of Polish immigration in France and Belgium are virtually the same. After the November Rising of 1830 a group of Polish officers settled there and helped to organize the Belgian army. After the First World War Polish economic immigrants arrived, first from Westphalia and the Rhineland, and then from Poland. The Poles sought employment in Belgian mining and industry congregating in fairly closely knit settlements in the industrial centres. According to the figures quoted by the Polish Consular Office in Belgium, in 1939 c. 70,000 Polish citizens lived in that country, including 50 per cent of Jews.

In the years 1944-1947 there was another wave of Polish immigration, this time a result of the War. According to the Belgian census the immigrants totalled 25,929. After 1950 most of them left Belgium.

Before the Second World War Poles set up a number of extremely active organizations, social, cultural, religious and sport’s ones. At present, as the population oî Polish origin has become more dispersed any organizational work is difficult and tends to decrease. Polish religious societies run by Polish priests seem the most active. There are Polish sections with a membership of c. 6,000 in the Christian Trade Unions and Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique.

In the past fifty years we can observe the increase in social status of the subsequent generations of Polish immigrants as well as the growing integration into the local society proved by ’mixed’ marriages. Yet it is necessary to stress the number of polish youth organizations in Belgium; most young Belgian Poles seek contacts with Polish culture.