UtePO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Replies: 599
Location: GermanyBack to top |
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:31 am
Post subject: Return rate of Polish immigrants
I recently discovered another interesting Polish-American website when I was browsing for information on the return rate of Polish immigrants. In the course of my family research I have found or heard of several family members who returned (twice it was the wives of relatives who returned to Poland after living in the US for years, while their husbands permanently stayed in the US.) I knew there was a large number of temporary migrant workers who came to the United States to earn some money and return home after weeks, months, or even years abroad, but I was surprised to read how high the estimated return rate actually was. According to the information given on the website
http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Polish_American#cite_note-4
“… Official estimates claimed 30% of the emigrants from the Russian provinces of Poland-Lithuania returned home, while the return rate for non-Jews was closer to 50-60%, while over two-thirds of migrants who left Austrian Galicia for the U.S. returned.”
I was wondering what their return migration experiences were and if any problems arose between the better off migrants who returned with their savings and those who stayed, e.g. social distance.
Ute
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:45 pm
Post subject:
i know that at least several of my uncles who came to America in 1904-1914 and who returned to Poland after 1918, but they came back to America. One of the reasons for the return to Poland was to get a 'new' wife, after the wife in america Passed away, usually in childbirth. When they did reutrn on these occasions, they left glowing terms of america, as a land of milk and honey, as long as you were willing to work hard. This inspired my father to filnally come to america in 1954, many years later, when there were openings in the Polish Quota for him and his family
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UtePO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Replies: 599
Location: GermanyBack to top |
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:40 am
Post subject:
| johntudek wrote: | | i know that at least several of my uncles who came to America in 1904-1914 and who returned to Poland after 1918, but they came back to America. One of the reasons for the return to Poland was to get a 'new' wife, after the wife in america Passed away, usually in childbirth. When they did reutrn on these occasions, they left glowing terms of america, as a land of milk and honey, as long as you were willing to work hard. This inspired my father to filnally come to america in 1954, many years later, when there were openings in the Polish Quota for him and his family |
John,
Thanks for your comment. I imagine it's really difficult to estimate the actual return rate. I just read that it was only toward the first decade of the 20th century that US immigration officials began to record the departure of immigrants, and that probably refers only to those who indicated that they were returning to their country of origin permanently and not to those who were coming and going several times. Some may have come back years later, just like your father did.
Ute
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:09 am
Post subject:
Ute,
Four of my great uncles and a great aunt came to America between 1904-1914, and at least three of them went back multiple times, one to bring money back for families, or two, to get a spouse or to replace a spouse who had passed away. My grandfather, never left Poland, but the tales his brothers told, inspired my father to come to America with all of us in 1954. Incidentally, I have a nephew who was born in America, but so so disenchanted with american women, that he went to Poland specifically to get a wife. And he was very successful, This happened only 10 years ago
John
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UtePO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Replies: 599
Location: GermanyBack to top |
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:38 am
Post subject:
| johntudek wrote: | | i know that at least several of my uncles who came to America in 1904-1914 and who returned to Poland after 1918, but they came back to America. One of the reasons for the return to Poland was to get a 'new' wife, after the wife in america Passed away, usually in childbirth. When they did reutrn on these occasions, they left glowing terms of america, as a land of milk and honey, as long as you were willing to work hard. This inspired my father to filnally come to america in 1954, many years later, when there were openings in the Polish Quota for him and his family |
John,
you mentioned in your post that your father came to America in 1954 when there were openings in the Polish quota for him and his family. I know that the US Immigration Act of 1924 severely restricted the number of immigrants from foreign countries by a system of quotas that were based on national origins. Did your father have to apply for immigration to the US and then just wait for open quota for himself and his family? And if the quota for the respective year was exhausted, he had to wait another year? Were there any conditions under which the Communist regime gave a permit to leave the country?
Ute
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 11:47 am
Post subject:
Hi Ute,
It wasn't that complicated or that simple. My parents and us kids were in forced labor camps in 1944, and after world War 2 ended, and we were liberated, they were in Italy, where I was born. Yes, my father tried to come to America for Ages, ever since his uncles talked about America, in the 1920's. Always denied. But after World war 2 ended, they relaxed the quotas somewhat, and my father and his family were finally able to emigrate, As a sidenote, since I was born in Italy, I came under the Italian Quota, the rest fo the family came under the Polish quota.
John
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UtePO Top Contributor
Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Replies: 599
Location: GermanyBack to top |
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:27 pm
Post subject:
| johntudek wrote: | Hi Ute,
It wasn't that complicated or that simple. My parents and us kids were in forced labor camps in 1944, and after world War 2 ended, and we were liberated, they were in Italy, where I was born. Yes, my father tried to come to America for Ages, ever since his uncles talked about America, in the 1920's. Always denied. But after World war 2 ended, they relaxed the quotas somewhat, and my father and his family were finally able to emigrate, As a sidenote, since I was born in Italy, I came under the Italian Quota, the rest fo the family came under the Polish quota.
John |
John,
You have a really interesting family history! Thanks for sharing!
Ute
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