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European Voluntary Workers (EVW) was the collective name given to continental Europeans invited by the British government to work in the UK in the immediate Post-World War II period, to help people who have become homeless during the war and to support labor shortages in industry. Programmes inviting staff include Balt Cygnet, which recruited Baltic women for nursing, housework and textile work. In spite of its name, Balt Cygnet also accepted applicants from Ukraine, Poland and countries in the Balkans, among others. Later Westward Ho! which recruited men for unskilled jobs in industry. [1]
The relatively high level of economic growth in the UK during the post-war period led an acute labour shortage within key sectors. EVWs were first and foremost invited in order to cover the need for low-paid and unskilled work to work in industry sections like mining, iron, textiles and steel, but also in the health system and agriculture. [2] The majority of EVWs originated in Ukraine, Poland and Latvia. During the selection process, interviews were conducted, and medical reports were prepared. [3] Since many of these people were displaced because of World War II, also a humanitarian element has been attributed to some of the EVW schemes. In total some 91.000 people came to the UK between 1946 and 1949 under the various EVW schemes. EVWs were initially referred to as ‘Displaced Persons’, since many of the arrivals had been displaced by World War II. This term was however replaced by ‘EVW’ due to its derogatory connotations. In 1953 the term ‘EVW’ was replaced with simply ‘Foreign Workers recruited under the Westward Ho scheme’. [4]
Some of the schemes in place, such as Balt Cygnet, did not make any provisions for dependents. This also raises questions of the humanitarian aspirations of the British government. These schemes did however experience problems with recruitment, and the most successful scheme ‘Westward Ho!' did accommodate for both children and spouses. [4] EVWs who came to the UK were generally paid the same wage and had the same rights as British workers. Some did however experience discrimination, especially within trades with strong trade unions. They were for instance often refused positions with more responsibility and were in some places fired before British workers in the case of redundancies. [5] Another criticism was that some of the residents of the shelters had to live in large camps without contact with their families and the local population. [6] A total of around 80,000 European Volunteer Workers and former displaced persons have been recruited through the Balt Cygnet and Westward Ho! programmes. [7]
The Balts or Baltic peoples are a group of peoples inhabiting the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea who speak Baltic languages. Among the Baltic peoples are modern-day Lithuanians and Latvians — all East Balts — as well as the Old Prussians, Curonians, Sudovians, Skalvians, Yotvingians and Galindians — the West Balts — whose languages and cultures are now extinct.
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part of the United Nations in 1945. Its purpose was to "plan, co-ordinate, administer or arrange for the administration of measures for the relief of victims of war in any area under the control of any of the United Nations through the provision of food, fuel, clothing, shelter and other basic necessities, medical and other essential services". Its staff of civil servants included 12,000 people, with headquarters in New York. Funding came from many nations, and totalled $3.7 billion, of which the United States contributed $2.7 billion; Britain, $625 million; and Canada, $139 million.
Forced displacement is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations".
Since 1945, immigration to the United Kingdom, controlled by British immigration law and to an extent by British nationality law, has been significant, in particular from the former territories of the British Empire and the European Union.
Westward Ho may refer to:
Displaced persons camps in post–World War II Europe were established in Germany, Austria, and Italy, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the former inmates of the Nazi German concentration camps. A "displaced persons camp" is a temporary facility for displaced persons, whether refugees or internally displaced persons. Two years after the end of World War II in Europe, some 850,000 people lived in displaced persons camps across Europe, among them Armenians, Czechoslovaks, Estonians, Greeks, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Yugoslavs, Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Kalmyks, and Belarusians.
Britons never made up more than a small portion of the population in Hong Kong, despite Hong Kong having been under British rule for more than 150 years. However, they did leave their mark on Hong Kong's institutions, culture and architecture. The British population in Hong Kong today consists mainly of career expatriates working in banking, education, real estate, law and consultancy, as well as many British-born ethnic Chinese, former Chinese émigrés to the UK and Hong Kongers who successfully applied for full British citizenship before the transfer of sovereignty in 1997.
Post-war immigration to Australia deals with migration to Australia in the decades immediately following World War II, and in particular refers to the predominantly European wave of immigration which occurred between 1945 and the end of the White Australia policy in 1973. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (1945–1949), established the federal Department of Immigration to administer a large-scale immigration program. Chifley commissioned a report on the subject which found that Australia was in urgent need of a larger population for the purposes of defence and development and it recommended a 1% annual increase in population through increased immigration.
Ukrainians in the United Kingdom are Ukrainians and people of Ukrainian ancestry residing in the United Kingdom. The number of Ukrainian-born citizens residing in the U.K. increased dramatically following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; the U.K. has issued 260,800 visas to Ukrainian refugees as of July 2024.
In the United Kingdom, military conscription has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1920, and the second from 1939 to 1960. The last conscription term ended in 1963 although many soldiers chose to continue in the service beyond 1963.
Baltic people in the United Kingdom are those born or raised in the UK, or residents, who are of ethnically Baltic, meaning Latvian or Lithuanian, origin.
Maltese people in the United Kingdom are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom who originate from the country of Malta.
The visa policy of the United Kingdom is the policy by which His Majesty's Government determines visa requirements for visitors to the United Kingdom and those seeking to work, study or reside there. The visa policy of the UK also applies to the Crown dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, which each operate their own immigration enforcement and have separate work permit systems. The visa policy does not apply to any of the British Overseas Territories, who generally apply their own visa policies.
Voluntary return or voluntary repatriation is usually the return of an illegal immigrant or over-stayer, a rejected asylum seeker, a refugee or displaced person, or an unaccompanied minor; sometimes it is the emigration of a second-generation immigrant who makes an autonomous decision to return to their ethnic homeland when they are unable or unwilling to remain in the host country.
Latvians in the United Kingdom are those born or raised in the UK, or residents, who are of ethnically Latvian descent or originate from Latvia, a country in North-Eastern Europe.
Emigration from Malta or the Maltese diaspora consists of Maltese people and their lineal descendants who emigrated from Malta. It was an important demographic phenomenon throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading to the creation of large diaspora’s concentrated in English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States.
Immigration policies of the United Kingdom are the areas of modern British policy concerned with the immigration system of the United Kingdom—primarily, who has the right to visit or stay in the UK. British immigration policy is under the purview of UK Visas and Immigration.
Immigrants from Eastern Europe and their descendants have been present in the United Kingdom, in small numbers, for several centuries, with subsequent large migrations in the 21st century. At times, British media also included people with Central European ancestry in this category. This is similar to the definition of Eastern European in the United States, Canada, and Australia: Coming from former Eastern Bloc countries.
Home Office 213/926 or HO 213/926 is a Home Office file which records the secret deportation from the United Kingdom of thousands of seafarers to China in 1945 and 1946, permanently separating them from their families. It was officially entitled "Compulsory repatriation of undesirable Chinese seamen."
EVW may refer to: