Are Refugees
an Asset?
[This
is Page Two, continued from Page One.]
HOW
MANY WERE ADMITTED?
Immigration
into Britain was practically unrestricted during the whole of the nineteenth
century and the first decade of the twentieth century; at that time
the average level of unemployment was low. But after the last war unemployment
became more pronounced: this is the fundamental fact which coloured
the whole of British official policy towards aliens in the last three
decades.
The
result, in general, was that aliens, seen as competitors with British
workmen, were no longer welcomed. The ensuing restrictive policy
was greatly intensified when the Great Depression (1929-1933) produced
mass unemployment on a scale hitherto unknown. The result was that the
many thousands of victims of Nazi persecution who looked to Britain
for refuge were confronted with barriers to immigration which only the
fortunate few could scale.
The
number of refugees admitted was therefore small. By December 1937 out
of a total of 154,000 refugees from Nazi Germany only 5,500 had been
admitted to Britain. The German occupation of Austria in March 1938,
the cession of the Sudeten Areas in October 1938, the Jewish pogroms
in Germany in November 1938 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia in March
1939 increased the number seeking refuge; and these events also led
to a less restrictive policy. Even so, admissions were only granted
when the authorities were satisfied that a particular refugee was of
independent means, or that his support was guaranteed by private persons
or charity organisations, or that a labour permit could be granted without
prejudice to the employment of British labour. The main categories for
admission were:
(i)
transit emigrants with definite plans for further emigration
within two years and sufficient guarantee for their support during their
residence in this country;
(ii)
children under sixteen, usually to be prepared for re-emigration
under the care of various charitable organisations;
(iii)
persons aged 16-35, to be trained under the auspices of recognised
organisations;
(iv)
persons over sixty with independent means or guarantees.
Apart
from these groups only domestic servants, nurses, a number of agricultural
workers, scientists and industrialists were able to gain admission by
showing that they would not compete on the labour market with British
subjects.
Even
at the outbreak of war there were only 55,000 adult and 18,000 juvenile
refugees from Germany and Austria; of these about 90 per cent.
were Jews. Most of these were only temporarily admitted pending resettlement.
In addition there were at the same time some 10,000 refugees from Czechoslovakia,
4,000-5,000 from Poland, and 2,000 from Spain, Italy and other countries.
There could not have been more than 90,000 refugees in all when the
Nazis marched into Poland.
A
second consequence was that many of the refugees were either very young
or old; those who were either too young or too old for work could not
well compete with British workmen. It is estimated that of the
73,000 Germans and Austrians 25 per cent. were children under sixteen
and about 35 per cent. over fifty years of age. Amongst the adults,
the percentage of women (many were domestic servants) amounted to 57
per cent.
A
third consequence was that the social and occupational composition of
refugees in Britain differed in various respects from that of German
refugees in general, as tabled below. Many of the refugees - many at
least of the Germans and Austrians - were either wealthy or had international
connections, and merchants, manufacturers, scientists and professional
men were therefore strongly represented. Since labour permits for domestic
service were comparatively easy to obtain, the number of refugees in
this category was also high; most of these were women, but former lawyers,
civil servants and doctors were also trained as men servants.
Occupations
of refugees on leaving Germany (1937)
| Occupation |
Men
% |
Women
% |
Total
% |
| |
|
|
|
| 1. Independent
businessmen |
37.4 |
1.5 |
21.8 |
| 2. Craftsmen
|
10.2 |
2.3 |
6.5 |
| 3. Clerical
workers |
8.6 |
6.2 |
7.5 |
| 4. Unskilled
|
1.3 |
0.3 |
0.8 |
| 5. Employees
engaged in housework |
0.1 |
6.4 |
3.0 |
| 6. Shop assistants |
0.7 |
-- |
0.4 |
| 7. Doctors |
1.8 |
-- |
1.1 |
| 8. Other professions
and artists |
5.8 |
3.0 |
4.4 |
| 9. Farming |
5.5 |
1.1 |
3.4 |
| 10. Children, school
children, students |
13.6 |
13.2 |
13.0 |
| 11. Married
women without occupation |
-- |
40.7 |
18.7 |
| 12. Others
without occupation |
6.9 |
19.6 |
12.7 |
| 13. No particulars |
8.1 |
5.4 |
6.7 |
| |
_____ |
_____ |
_____ |
| |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
The
use which has been made of this potential addition to our labour supply
will be examined in the second part of this pamphlet.
Changes
during the war
The
war brought almost to a standstill the movement of refugees from Austria,
Germany and Czechoslovakia. The numbers of refugees from these countries
has also contracted markedly during the war for three reasons:
(i)
Natural loss. The death rate among refugees has probably been
relatively high owing to the large percentage of old persons among them
and to their previous sufferings and ill-treatment. Deaths would account
for an annual decrease of about 800 persons or about 3,200 during the
four years of war, if the British death rate is applied to the refugee
population. The loss through deaths has not been made good by gain through
births, since British nationality is always acquired by those born in
Britain whatever the nationality of their parents.
(ii)
Emigration. Between 1940 and 1943 about 11,000 refugees emigrated
from this country. Most of them were holders of U.S. immigration visas,
who had waited in this country until their quota numbers entitled them
to enter the United States.
(iii)
Internment overseas. In June and July 1940 7,664 alien internees
were transferred to Canada and Australia, the majority of them refugees.
They have mostly been released by now but not all of them have returned
to Britain. Three thousand five hundred are still in Canada and Australia.
In
spite of these losses the war years brought a considerable increase
in the number of adult refugees of all nationalities.
(i)
As mentioned before, there were, at the outbreak of war, about
18,000 child refugees under sixteen in this country. About 6,000 of
them have reached the age of sixteen in the meantime and must therefore
be included in the number of adult refugees.
(ii)
War-time refugee immigration to Great Britain was negligible
until the invasion of Norway. But 1940 brought new waves of refugees.
The Prime Minister has recently given particulars about the numbers
involved. "Since the outbreak of war," he said, "there
have been the following admissions of aliens who came as refugees from
enemy and enemy occupied countries, namely: in 1940 about 35,000, in
1941 more than 13,000, and in 1942 over 15,000. The total number of
these refugees in the three years 1940-42 thus amounted to more than
63,000. This total includes about 20,000 seamen, but it is exclusive
of the very large numbers who have come as members of the Allied Forces.
If all children who came with their parents were allowed for, the total
of refugees who were here at the beginning of the war or who have come
here since is approximately 150,000." This
estimate of 150,000 obviously does not allow for those who have left
or died since the beginning of the war. Such allowance is made in our
following estimate, made in the Summer of 1943.
Civilian
refugees in Britain, Summer, 1943
| Belgians |
15,000 |
| French |
12,000 |
| Norwegians |
10,000 |
| Czechoslovaks |
10,000 |
| Poles |
8,000 |
| Danes |
3,000 |
| Greeks |
2,000 |
| Jugoslavs |
230 |
| Luxemburgers |
200 |
| Germans |
35,000 |
| Austrians |
15,000 |
| Allied Seamen |
20,000 |
| Various |
2,000 |
| |
______ |
| |
139.430 |
A
very considerable number of these 140,000 persons, who had been admitted
as civilians, joined the British or Allied Forces soon after their arrival.
More
recent information was given by Mr. Morrison in the House of Commons
on April 4th, 1944. About 10,000 refugees of alien nationality (consisting
mainly of volunteers for the Allied Forces) were admitted in 1943. Taking
into account these additions and losses through emigration, transfer
of internees to the Dominions, deaths and acquisition of British nationality
by marriage, the Home Secretary arrives at the following conclusion:
"The best estimate that can at present be made is that the total
of civilian refugees (men, women and children) at present in this country
is in the neighbourhood of 120,000 of whom some 20,000 are merchant
seamen."
Continue
to Page Three: HOW MANY WILL BE LEFT
AFTER THE WAR?
