After the Second World War, the economies of both Western and Eastern Europe alike found themselves in labor shortage. In order to get their economies back on track, European countries needed workers. One group of people that became the main source of labor was the individuals who were displaced during the war.
Displaced persons became the main market that countries in need of labor went to. As Gerard Daniel Cohen, Associate Professor of History at Rice University, illustrates in his book, In War’s Wake, many countries instituted programs in order to entice migrants to come and work in their industries. Although some displaced persons were from Eastern European countries, the political and situations in their home countries did not prove appealing to them and so they choose to work in countries in Western Europe. Belgium was one of the first countries to appeal to displaced persons. They offered salary that was equal to other Belgians in exchange for two years service in their mining industry. However, this program did not prove effective as the conditions in the mines were very harsh, causing many migrants to back out. England’s “Westward Ho” program proved more effective, although England was much more picky on which migrants they accepted. They only wanted the healthiest and the fittest, which increased the efficiency of their labor. France was one of the last countries to the party and only began accepting migrants after the U.S. threatened to cut off Marshall Plan aid. However, by the time they began accepting migrants, the lot had already been picked over by Britain and Belgium, leaving behind the less qualified individuals.
With the high influx of foreign migrants also came a shock in culture, especially in Britain. Britain had lost all of its colonial holdings since the Second World War which had left them shocked. The culture that they had been used to for centuries had changed so suddenly and now immigrants were coming in to work and treading on their domestic land as well. In Wendy Webster’s article, “They’ll Always Be a Little England,” she states the idea of “little England” had been “a place from which adventure heroes journeyed to a far off land.” This idea changed after 1945 when England lost her colonies. As Webster states, “the domestic and adventure narrative began to merge.” Other than racial lines, the national identity in Britain changed along gender lines as well. In Chris Waters’ article, “Dark Strangers,” he states that the national identity became more “feminine,” being more focused on the home (212). Because of these shifts, the people in Britain adopted a national identity that was focused on white British families while excluding the racial “others.”
Overall, Europe after WWII saw a drastic boost in immigration and migrant labor. This led to clashing cultures as well as the need for new national identities. Some of which excluded racial minorities. The question of labor was the catalyst to this shift, which was increased by the dissolution of the British empire, and the solution that was often consulted was the accessibility of displaced persons after the War
