Publications of the Research Group for European Migration Problems – serie

People are not so firmly rooted as they used to be. The greater frequency, at least in the Western world, with which people move house can be seen from the statistics. Many migrate voluntarily, or under compulsion, to build up new existences in other parts of the country or in other parts of the world. The problems which face people who are obliged to settle elsewhere have become matters of national and international political importance. Of recent years they have also become the subjects of sociological and socio-psychological research. The psychological research of which this book gives an account took place among families who some years ago emigrated from what was then known as the Dutch East Indies to the Netherlands. Dutch is the language spoken from their youth. Born and bred in another part of the world they embarked in groups to the N ether­ lands, which they had never seen before, when the country they lived in became independent. No doubt they had a vivid image of the Netherlands. It was the Mother country; they had heard a great deal about it in the course of the simple education they had received. They were acquainted with it through pictures and through the contact, however superficial, with representatives of the ruling country. The military service which had played such an important part in the lives of the male adults had made them feel bound up with the country of the House of Orange.

It amounts to a truism to say that amongst the great problems left by the Second Great War very few called for national and international planning so urgently as the problem of human migrations. During and after the conflicts a mass displacement of population was brought to be ar heavilyon the demographie situation of Western Europe. On the other hand, in the turmoil of the aftermath some western countries came to lose, one by one, their Afriean and Asiatic colonies, and were in consequence deprived of an outlet for their surplus population. The economic implications of the problem were tremendous. Where to find a remedy to such a tragie situation? I would not venture to say that large scale migrations are like­ ly to bring about, all by themselves, a harmonious distribution of population. It must be recognized, nevertheless, that economists and geographers alike are ready to admit that this problem, and the problem of economic pressure whieh derives therefrom, cannot be satisfactorily settled unless a weIl devised policy of regulation is set up, in order to bring all manpower available doser to the natural resources of wealth. It follows that in the present days the migration policy of any given country has to be considered in the light of international co-operation. This planetary vision of all great human problems is a welcome sign of our times.

La Hollande est la terre benie des demographes de toutes nuances: Les demographes-statisticiens y trouvent d'abord un materiel de choix propre a l'etude non seulement du pays qu'il conceme, mais a la verification ou la decouverte de certaines lois ou de certaines evolutions communes a divers pays. Les demographes-biologues Oll biometres se rejouissent de voir battre par ce pays les records de longevite. En particulier, le hideux fleau qu'est la mortalite infantile est pousse dans ses demiers retranchements par une politique eclairee, energique, continue, dans le domaine social et sanitaire. aux Pays- Les demographes-economistes trouvent, eux aussi, Bas un sujet vivant d'etude et de reconfort. La densite nationale la plus elevee du monde ne tient pas exclusivement a la richesse des ressources naturelles, loin de Ia; i1 a fallu, en outre, les efforts tenaces d'un peuple qui trouve, dans les difficultes memes, une raison de vivre.Cette singularite a deja frappe le grand siede - le XVIIIe - au point qu'il est peu d'auteurs, a tout le moins chez les defenseurs du commerce et de l'industrie, c'est-a-dire les progressistes, qui n'aient celebre cette terre assez habilement exploitee pour faire vivre plus d'hommes qu'elle n'en nourrissait effectivement. Et de nos jours encore, ce defi perpetuel a la nature se pour- suit avec l'assechement du Zuydersee qui, en depit de son cout, montre que la prise de sol sur la mer est moins onereuse que les conquetes de territoires chez les voisins.

The study by Dr Friedrich Edding is, as far as I can see, the first paper to treat the economic side of the Refugee problem in Western Germany in an impartial form, showing, on the basis of new figures, its positive as well as its negative aspect and effect. Anyhow it may be of some use to underline - from the "bird's-eye view point" of Basle - some of his conceptions and conclusions and to throw some light on the sociological background which makes this particular problem the hard core of the social and political situation of Western Germany - and probably of Western Europe as well. Firstly: it must be noted that this scientific analysis supports neither the optimists nor the pessimists. The optimists are bound to admit that the stimulus provided by new manpower and entrepreneurial initiative is more than counterbalanced by lack of capital and by the need for considerable aid in the form of housing, clothes and money for millions of refugees who are old, sick or for other reasons unable to work. The pessimists are bound to admit that the burden of 9 million immigrants is an enormously stimulating challenge to Western Germany and that this burden is partly counterbalanced by the new firms, methods and techniques which owe their foundation, application or development respectively to the Refugee entrepreneurs, cattle-breeders or seed-growers.

The publications of the Research Group for European mi­ gration problems represent studies by independent writers. These studies do not form an integrated whole, but are inter­ related by their subject, namely, European and international migration. The topic is, therefore, approached in various ways, like a discussion in which experts from different spheres of activity expose their views on population in Europe. The writers not necessarily always agree in their opinions. The series must do surely be all the more valuable be~ause of this, since the solution of the problem of over-population in Europe is of such great importance as to deserve a wide, multilateral approach. The author of the present publication, Mr. H. A. Citroen, is an official of the International Refugee Organization (I. R. O. ). It is not surprising that his approach should differ from that of Dr Hilde Wander, the author of the first publication of the series 1). Dr Wander has stressed the present demographic trends in the more important Western European countries, and the possibility of the absorption of an ever increasing number of workers into the economy of Europe itself. She is mainly thinking in terms of the integration of Europe. Mr. Citroen's idea, on the other hand, is that of "one world.

Some years ago the N etherlands Research Committee for European Refugee Problems commissioned an investigation into the adjustment problems of foreigners who for various reasons have taken refuge in the Netherlands. This investigation is of great interest. In these times of rapid change we alI have our problems of adjustment. How very much greater these problems must be for those who had to leave aU they cherished behind them and start aU over again in new and strange surroundings. I wholeheartedlyendorse the Committee's initiative in publish­ ing in this monograph the main results of the investigation. These results should be useful in the work of the organizations concerned with refugee welfare. But in wider circles, both in the Netherlands and abroad, this publication should also awaken interest in the refugee question in general and the situation of refugees in the Nether­ lands in particular. How necessary this interest still is has been shown once again by the recent events in Hungary, which brought untold misery to many thousands. These Hungarian refugees and countless others who before them fled can best be helped to adjust to the new patterns of life if aU who in their daily lives come into contact with them approach them in the right way. But to be able to do that we must first realize the difficulties the refugees have to contend with. Therefore the study of this monograph should be of posi­ tive value to many people.

This brief study of the 1945 expulsion of German populations from Eastern-Central and Eastern Europe does not by any means pretend to be a complete and exhaustive analysis of a subject so massive, complex and controversial. Moreover, it is selective: in dealing with the reception of the expellees it focuses on West Germany, which though most extensively involved, is nevertheless only one of the many countries affected by the exodus. Yet the writer feels that even by presenting barely the funda­ mentals he can still hope to make some contribution to a field which -at least in the English speaking world - is far from being explored, analyzed and evaluated. His concentration on West Germany has been stimulated by two factors. First, this is the part of the former Reich which is most immediately affected by the transfer. Second, as a result of this involvement it is in West Germany that documentation and literature on the question are most extensive. Indeed, to obtain proper information and data from those countries within the Soviet orbit which are in any way linked with the problem is difficult and at times even impossible. For obvious reasons, in these countries interest is centered, and quite understandably, not on the expulsion of the Germans, but rather on the transfer, dispersion, and annihilation of their own peoples under the Nazi conquest, events, which, in turn, many Germans prefer to keep forgotten.

This first publication of the Research Group for European Migration Problems is devoted to the importance of migration in Western Europe. Small wonder that espedally German sodal sdentists, living in a country invaded by millions and millions of refugees and expellees from Central and Eastern Europe, are paying so much attention to the solution of regional andnationaloverpopulation. It is doubtful whether we can speak of European overpopulation in general. Dr Hilde Wander's investigations make it dear that from a European point of view short distance migration may solve many problems for which up to now overseas emigration to Canada, Australia, etc. seemed to be the only remedy. Those talking about European integration (there still is much than real action) should keep in more discussion on this topic mind that the only way out of the present system of frustrations consists in economic and sodal freedom, i.e. a free flow of goods, capital and migrating people. The Research Group for European Migration Problems is an international committee promoting the study of one of the crudal sodal problems, rather neglected so far: a more effective distribution and spreading of the European population.

The saga of Jewish flight, suffering and death has been investi­ gated from different points of view, and various aspects of this sad chapter of Jewish history have been carefully studied. There is, however, one aspect which has had little attention from Jewish sociologists; perhaps because it is an anticlimax to heroism and monumental suffering; even more, because the whole group imbues a feeling of discomfort, an aftermath that should not have been, a chapter that had better not been written ... "Historically, this group has survived its own past; but humans do not experience their own life as history ... "1 This group is but a very small remnant: those who returned to the very" doomed soil" the very countries in which all the worst atrocities against European Judaism originated. Usually, they do not come back with an easy heart, they experience the anger and sadness of fellow-Jews who condemn them. They also feel their own guilt - yet they return ... How many of them there are is impossible to calculate. Not only were post-war records faulty; but Jewish organisations differed with others and in their own records in the definition of "return" so that all comparisons can be only on the level of careful esti­ mates at best. Lastly, in common with other return groups, there is the unknown number who never registered with those organi­ sations keeping any type of records (e.g. Jewish organisations).

1. 1. Why this essay? It is customary for the author on return migration to complain about the lack of theoretical and empirical knowledge on his sub- ject. Three recen t general handbooks on the sociology of migra- tion Jackson (1969), Jansen (1970) and Albrecht (1972), pro- duce together no more than 10 sources on return migration. The extensive migration bibliography by Mangalam (1968), although giving no less than 2051 titles, still comes up with no more than 10 sources. I t is true that not so many books and articles are de- voted exclusively to return migration: Appleyard (1962a, 1962b), Cerase (1967,1970), Committee ...(1967), Davison, B. (1968), Dietzel (1971), Elizur (J 973), Feindt & Browning (1972), Form & Rivera (1958), Frohlich & Schade (1966), Hemandez-Alvarez (1967,1968), Kraak (1957a, 1957b, 1958), Kayser (1972), Myers & Masnick (1968), Migration News (1969), Mc Donald (1963), O. E. C. D. (1967a, 1967b), Patterson, H. O. (1968), Richmond (1967a, 1967b, 1968), Richardson (1968), Saloutos (1956), Stark (1967b), Vanderkamp (1972), Vagts (1960) and Wilder-Okladek (1969).But this does not imply that no further research has been done and that therefore every new student of return migration had to begin from scratch. In numerous studies on emigration, migrant labour, immigration, integration and assimilation, room has been made for a chapter or a paragraph on "those who re- turned" or "the migrant's return". I've found the demographical periodical Population Index relatively useful in tracing the subject. 1. 2.

Dr de Gadolin's study calls attention to a country, a people, and a problem about which in general much too little is known outside Finland. To the extent that it was possible, the valiant and industrious Finnish people have endeavored to overcome the difficulties created by two wars and the consequent onerous peace terms. One of the most stupendous problems was that of the Finnish refugees evacuated from the Karelian isthmus, Salla, Petsamo, and the leased peninsula of Porkala. The lost territory, with a total area of 45,000 square kilometers, had important industrial plants and traffic networks, including the very important Saima Canal, and large expanses of arable land and forest. Some 450,000 persons, or 12 percent of the total population at that time, had to be resettled in the remainder of Finland, particularly in the southern provinces. In his detailed description of how this difficult problem was solved, even if at the cost of a sharpened inflation, Dr de Gadolin strongly emphasizes the financial and economic aspects. It is fortunate for Finland that, though situated within the Russian sphere of influence, it nevertheless belongs to the Swedish-Finnish neutral bloc, and thus was able to maintain its economic relations with the West.

This study represents but the initial phase of a multidisciplinary endeavor sponsored by the Russian and East European Studies Center of the University of California, Los Angeles, the ultimate goal of which is to provide a comprehensive description and analysis of the cultural, linguistic, economic and social integration of the Slavs living in California into American society. As the first step of this planned cross-disciplinary investigation, the Center recommended the implementation of a preliminary study of a limited scope, the present linguistic investigation of the Yugoslav community of San Pedro, California. As there is a dearth of information of a sociological as well as a linguistic nature pertaining to the local Slavs, the investigators decided to treat briefly the sociological situation of Yugoslav immigrants and then proceed with a more detailed discussion of the linguistic problems of immigrant bilingualism. Consequently, we have divided the present study into the following major chapters : Chapter I, the Yugoslav Immigration to America, not only examines the several phases of Yugoslav immigration to the United States, but also discusses the various motives which prompted people to immigrate to this country and especially to the small maritime community of San Pedro; against this background the investigators describe the Yugoslav ethnic minority and its contributions to the San Pedro community.