Polish liberators and Ostarbeiterinnen in Belgium during the Cold War. Mixed marriages and the differences for immigrant men and women.

Autor(en)

Machteld Venken

Abstrakt

In the aftermath of World War II, two groups of migrants arrived in Belgium. On the one hand there were Polish soldiers who had served with the Allies and liberated parts of Flanders and on the other hand there were Eastern European women forced labourers, often called Ostarbeiterinnen, who travelled to Belgium after they had been employed in the Nazi war industry. Both groups had a lot in common. Most of them married a Belgian within the first year after the liberation. Furthermore, all came from Central and Eastern Europe and their migration and settlement took place against the background of the Cold War. This geopolitical context made it difficult or even impossible for them to visit or return to their homeland. The most important difference between the two groups was that the Polish liberators were all men and the Ostarbeiterinnen all women. This chapter analyses the differences these men and women encountered with regard to the migration and naturalisation policies of their home and host countries and explores the ramifications of these differences upon the experience of arrival and the settlement process.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte

Seiten

54-75

Anzahl der Seiten

22

Publikationsdatum

2010

ÖFOS 2012

601022 Zeitgeschichte, 504014 Gender Studies, 504021 Migrationsforschung

Schlagwörter

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/e253170d-62fe-45d7-ac70-e8fc553b2af7