Migrants In Britain: 4.1 Flashcards
Changes to Parliament, industry/economy, empire and British attitudes to migration, migration during World War 1 and migration during World War 2
1
Q
Describe the key changes to Parliament from 1900 - present day and their impacts on migration to Britain
A
- women given equal voting rights to men in 1928
[] greater political representation to minority groups as more of their people could vote; greater minority voice in British politics
[] more migrants attracted due to increasing rights and equality with white people - 1948, the NHS created
[] NHS desperately needed workers, attracting economic migrants from the Caribbean
[] NHS was free to all, paid through via taxes; free healthcare was rare elsewhere and so this was a huge help to poor migrants and migrants in general, attracting them - legislation like Equal Pay Act 1970, National Minimum Wage Act 1998, Equality Act 2010
[] greater workers’ rights made Britain more attractive place to work and live - economic migrants attracted - legislation like the Aliens Act 1905 (allowed asylum seekers to Britain despite imposing rules surrounding immigration), Race Relations Act 1965 passed
[] migrant communities given greater protection and legal rights - more attractive due to safety and increase in equality; Britain viewed as progressive and welcoming - Britain joining the EU (1975) then leaving it (2016)
[] joining the EU increased British support for asylum seekers as well as increasing freedom of movement between EU countries; when former communist countries joined the EU immigration from them skyrocketed (such as Polish immigration in particular)
[] Brexit in 2016 reflected the changing attitudes and increased tension towards mass immigration to Britain from non-migrant residents in Britain and made immigration slower and harder to Britain
2
Q
Describe the key changes to British industry and economy from 1900 - present day and their impacts on migration to Britain
A
- increase in production to supply armies during WW1 and 2, and rebuilding needed after WW2
[] many people living in countries of Britain’s empire were encouraged to join the war efforts and post-war rebuilding efforts, and so migrated to Britain - aeroplanes and large turbine-powered ships became more common, making movement of people and goods globally easier and faster
[] made it easier for families of migrants to move longer distances rather than singular individuals; communities of migrants became more common
[] people who wanted to migrate but couldn’t due to having families that would be difficult to move earlier now could; encouraged migration - 1980s, many businesses began to close down due to greater global competition
[] in effort to keep these industries in Britain alive, companies were keen to recruit migrants who were willing to work for lower wages, meaning more profit and success for the businesses in Britain
[] encouraged migrants in need of jobs to migrate to Britain
[] caused tensions between English people who wanted higher wages and migrants who drove down the wages
3
Q
Describe the key changes to the British Empire from 1900 - present day and their impacts on migration to Britain
A
- soldiers from the British Empire’s countries fought for Britain in both world wars
[] people felt a stronger connection with Britain and were more motivated to support Britain’s economy, rebuilding and become truly British by migrating - after WW2, many of Britain’s empirical countries began to gain freedom
[] Britain orchestrated the British Commonwealth (later called the Commonwealth of Nations) and encouraged migration to keep touch with the countries it had previously colonised, as their resources were very valuable to Britain and it was pivotal that trading links remained freely flowing
[] in 1948, the British Nationality Act allowed anyone with a Commonwealth passport to migrate to Britain in order to help it rebuild its economy after WW2
[] many Caribbean and Asian (mainly Indian or Pakistani) migrants flowed into Britain
[] the Commonwealth was also seen by some to be like a “family”, encouraging greater migration links between members and Britain
4
Q
Describe the key changes to British attitudes to migration from 1900 - present day and their impacts on migration to Britain
A
- between 1900 and 2000, Britain became far more diverse and its migrant communities became central to culture and economy
[] encouraged government protections of migrant communities across race, and thus encouraged public acceptance and embracing of cultural diversity in Britain, making it safer and more appealing to migrate to Britain - some people were unsettled by the quick change around them, or were racist, and so led to much racism/discrimination/violence from far-right groups that grew in popularity the more that immigration to Britain increased
- national newspapers and television became increasingly part of daily life, leading to much more circulation of current events and people’s opinions
[] had a huge role in shaping public opinion; many parts of the media exacerbated and encouraged anti-immigrant feeling and even hostility early on, but many in the media campaigned against this hostility too
5
Q
What was the 1905 Aliens Act ?
A
said that only people with money or jobs could migrate to Britain
- first time Britain put restrictions on migration
- exempted Belgian refugees to Britain after Germany invaded Belgium in 1914
6
Q
Which groups of people migrated to Britain during and after WW1 (before WW2) and why ?
A
- 3 million soldiers from countries in the British Empire, over 1 million being Indian
- 250 000 Belgian refugees migrated to Britain in 1914, when Germany invaded
- many migrant merchants/seamen arrived, from countries in the British Empire in particular, bringing food and resources and replacing the British seamen and dock workers who had gone to fight
- 8274 Jewish children arrived as a result of the Kindertransport programme between December 1938 and September 1939, when war was declared and the German borders closed
- 60 000 Jewish refugees from Germany in total throughout the 1930s as Hitler’s persecution of Jews increased leading up to WW2
7
Q
Describe the key features of the Kindertransport programme
A
- leading up to December 1938, Jewish and Christian leaders in Britain convinced the government to drop all visa and passport requirements for Jewish child migrants from Germany to save as many children as possible
- German Jewish leaders organised the transport from Germany and coordinated with the British working on the Kindertransport too
- children, once in Britain, would be fostered by a British family whilst the war waged on, and were supposed to return to Germany to their own families after it ended
[] to return after the war, the foster families were to buy tickets for the children; if they couldn’t afford it, charities were to help
[] many of the Jewish families were killed during the Holocaust and the war in general as a result of Hitler’s “Final Solution” and anti-Semitism in Germany, and so just over 8000 Jewish children were left stranded in Britain - a lot of families kept the children they had fostered, but others were left to the government as orphans
8
Q
Describe the experiences of Belgian refugees in England during the first world war
A
- were welcomed
[] little to no job tensions, as the majority of the British working population (male) were off at war and people were actually needed to fill their positions and keep the economy going
[] many set up their own businesses in Britain
[] around 60 000 refugees worked in Britain during world war 1 - Belgian refugees were clearly told that they were expected to stay only for the duration of the war
[] 1918, all Belgians provided with a free one-way ticket back to Belgium
[] about 90% of the refugees returned to Belgium, and Belgium needed them back anyway to rebuild its own economy after the war
9
Q
What was the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914, and what were its impacts on German migrants living and working in Britain at the time ?
A
- the Act defined who was and who was not definitively “British”
[] Germans were classed as “enemy aliens” and treated with apprehension and suspicion, even hostility by the majority of British - male “enemy aliens” who were old enough to fight were to report to a police station and provide evidence of good character and knowledge of English
[] those who failed to do so risked deportation - 29 000 Germans were deported over the course of WW1
[] those who did provide sufficient evidence were interned (kept prisoner for political reasons) on the Isle of Man
[] were separated from their wives and children (HUGE IMPACT; LEFT THEM ALONE TO DEAL WITH ANTI-GERMAN FEELINGS AND TOOK FATHER FIGURES FROM CHILDREN GROWING UP; PRODUCED TENSIONS AMONGST FAMILIES AND CHILDREN WHO DIDN’T REMEMBER THEIR FATHERS AFTER GROWING UP), and lived in huts
[] spent time gardening, reading, crafting and playing music
[] were released at the end of the war
10
Q
Describe the impacts of anti-German feelings amongst the British public (exacerbated by newspapers and the media) on Germans living in Britain
A
- many violent mob attacks, hate crimes and riots on Germans as the war waged on
[] German property and businesses were looted and destroyed - the government sent in the army to protect these however
[] increased significantly after the German army sunk a British passenger ship - the Royal Family changed their original German last name to Windsor so as to not anger the British public or cause their assassination on grounds of being of German descent
[] many other Germans in Britain anglicised their last names also to avoid violence against them; shows the extent of anti-German feelings in Britain and the fear and tensions they caused amongst the public - restaurants and supermarkets stopped selling/serving German foods like sausages, sauerkraut etc.
[] German people could no longer enjoy their own culture without being attacked or harassed - caused a lot of wariness towards the British - workers went on strike if their places of business employed Germans
[] put many Germans out of work and forced them into poverty whilst the anti-German tensions lasted
11
Q
Describe the experiences of lascars and migrant seamen working at the English docks after 1918 and their significance
A
- when British men returned from soldiering during the war, many were furious to find that their jobs had been filled by lascars
[] lascars continued to be hired by British shipping and sea-companies due to them working for lower wages than the British and thus allowing higher profits for the business owners
[] made it harder for the British to get their jobs back after the war - unemployment and poverty skyrocketed amongst them, especially impacting families, as the women who worked during the war were expected to leave the workplace afterwards and thus depended on their now unemployed husbands to be the breadwinners
[] incited a lot of riots in many ports - the worst in Tiger Bay, Cardiff; the mayor blamed the aggression on the white seamen, but argued that unemployed lascars should “go back to where they came from”; encouraged anti-immigrant feelings, especially if not useful somehow to the economy - instead of convincing lascars to join British unions and help to drive up wages again and thus encourage hiring of British seamen as well, riots and violence simply grew and accusations of stealing jobs festered
12
Q
Describe the key features of the Battle of Cable Street and its causes
A
causes:
- 1930s had high unemployment rates
- some blamed Jewish migrants
[] the British Union of Fascists (a far right group led by Oswald Mosely, a supporter of Hitler) targeted the East End because of this, though it also affected the Irish and Somali people in the area
- October 1936, 100 000 residents of the East End as well as socialists and trade unionists gathered to stop the BUF march through the East End
[] blocked the street with barricades in hoped to stop the march, but they were cleared by a police force sent to the site
[] violence broke out between the police and the protesters of the march, resulting in over 100 injuries and arrests; stunning example of police brutality and anti-immigrant feelings even amongst the enforcers of British law at the time
- the police eventually escorted the BUF marchers back towards central London
- MADE MANY IMMIGRANTS FEEL UNSAFE AND UNSUPPORTED BY THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES; TENSIONS ROSE AND ANTI-IMMIGRANT VIOLENCE WAS LEGITIMISED BY ACTIONS OF THE POLICE LIKE IN THE BATTLE OF CABLE STREET
13
Q
Describe migration to Britain during the second world war
A
- 8 million men from British colonies fought for Britain again, many from India as with WW1
[] increased feelings of loyalty to Britain after the war and led to a rise in post-war migration - migrant merchant seamen again arrived to fill the positions of British men who went to fight for the Royal Navy, as in WW1
[] again caused tensions and anti-immigrant feelings amongst British seamen who found it hard to get their jobs back after WW2 - black men and women from British colonies migrated to Britain to work and support the war efforts in conjunction with British women
[] greater sense of loyalty to Britain, as well as allowing immigrants to establish themselves in Britain and stay even after the war instead of returning to their home countries, which were often smaller and less economically prosperous - when Poland was occupied by Germany and Russia, around 160 000 Polish people fled to England and 14 000 joined the RAF, fighting for Britain
[] many of these Polish people were unskilled and caused tensions surrounding jobs once the British returned from the war - British children/children in Britain from 1939 onwards were evacuated to other parts of the country if in cities likely to be bombed in a similar fashion to the Kindertransport
[] no one was forced to leave the cities but it was encouraged
[] everyone was issued a gas mask in case of a gas attack from the Germans; didn’t happen but the fear was always there
[] children took a few changes of clothing but no toys or entertainment
[] none of the children knew exactly where they were going
[] the Children’s Overseas Reception Board (CORB) was set up in 1940 to evacuate children to British Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada; however this was stopped after a German U-boat sunk a ship carrying many of these evacuees, drowning the majority
14
Q
Describe the experiences of Polish migrants who served in the RAF in WW2 after the war
A
- after WW2, many Polish migrants didn’t want to return to Poland as it had been taken over by the USSR and made communist
[] Parliament passed the Polish Resettlement Act in 1947, giving Police servicemen the right to remain in Britain with their families
[] did this because of rising Cold War tensions between the US and USSR (Britain was a US ally), and also because wanted the Poles to work in British industries that needed labour post-war, like mining - at first, lots of opposition from British trade unions
[] eventually Poles were accepted begrudgingly due to their service and affinity for hard work
[] Polish communities grew, particularly in industrial towns
15
Q
Describe the experiences of Jewish and British child evacuees during and after WW2
A
- Jewish:
[] after the war, many Jewish children remained in Britain (their families were mostly killed in the Holocaust), although some went to the USA or Israel - British:
[] by 1945, all children were returned to their families
[] many emigrated to Canada or Australia after the war - both:
[] some children were exploited or abused by their evacuee families
[] for example, a Jewish girl had been beaten by her foster mother for wetting the bed, then was moved to a different home due to the abuse
[] all sent to live with strangers; resulted in children who were detached from or didn’t know their parents (if young enough) when the war ended, and also traumatised the children in many cases as a result of being suddenly away from their families for so long
16
Q
Describe the experiences of Italian and German “enemy aliens” during and after WW2
A
- the British government set up tribunals to decide which British Germans posed a threat to national security
[] people recognised that they were largely no threat to Britain, as were German Jews who had fled Nazism or had been in the country a long time already
[] only 348 out of 35 000 were interned - Italians were interned too in 1940 when Benito Mussolini joined the war as a German ally
[] mass internment of Italians and Germans began
[] July 1940, British ship carrying over a thousand German and Italian internees was sunk by a German U-boat on the way to Canada and half drowned; public opinion shifted against interning
[] by the end of the year, almost all internees were released due to public pressure
