Społeczne skutki emigracji Polaków oraz ich wkład w odbudowę Francji po pierwszej wojnie światowej
The Social Effects of Polish Emigration and Their Contribution to the Reconstruction of France after the First World War

Author(s): Anna Ambrochowicz-Gajownik
Subject(s): History, Military history, Social history, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Polish emigration in France; interwar period; World War I; Poland; France
Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to present the role Polish emigration played in the process of rebuilding the French economy just after the end of the First World War. The northeastern departments of France, which were the most valuable, were destroyed. It was not until 1924 that the French industrial economy was rebuilt. By May 1, 1920. France had made infrastructure more efficient with an outlay of 10 billion fr.fr. On the other hand, the resurgent Polish state, facing problems on many levels, first of all had to be unified. This situation created favorable conditions to allow Poles to emigrate en masse to France. The emigration was eminently economic in nature. Most Poles emigrated from the most industrialized provinces, where there was great overcrowding and the so-called “Westphalians.” Initially, Polish workers were sent to rebuild devastated areas (Administration des Régions Libérées), and later to mining, agriculture and other industries. From December 1919 to May 1920, more than 13,000 Poles arrived in France. By 1921, on the other hand, it was reported that French mines were bringing in about a thousand emigrants every month. Over time, Polish emigration numbered about half a million people. Mass emigration to France contributed to the initiation and development of socio-cultural and educational life, creating a diaspora.

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