A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration
Considering the difficulties of the early 20th-century emigrants’ lives and their controversial fate in their own history of emigration, it is worth saying that they did not always end successfully. The period before, during, and after World War I became particularly active in increasing migration p...
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| Опубліковано в: : | Народна творчість та етнологія |
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| Дата: | 2020 |
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Інститут мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології iм. М.Т. Рильського НАН України
2020
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| Цитувати: | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration / O. Romanenko // Народна творчість та етнологія. — 2020. — № 1. — С. 82–85. — Бібліогр.: 17 назв. — англ. |
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| author | Romanenko, O. |
| author_facet | Romanenko, O. |
| citation_txt | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration / O. Romanenko // Народна творчість та етнологія. — 2020. — № 1. — С. 82–85. — Бібліогр.: 17 назв. — англ. |
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| description | Considering the difficulties of the early 20th-century emigrants’ lives and their controversial fate in their own history of emigration, it is worth saying that they did not always end successfully. The period before, during, and after World War I became particularly active in increasing migration policy for both Americas. The Central and Eastern European regions became labor suppliers primarily to the USA and Canada. The article provides an overview of some cases of unsuccessful emigration to North America and unravels the myth, which from the early 19th century until today has been circulating among emigrants: quick enrichment and a better destiny. The examples cited in the article mainly refer to emigrants from the territory of Galicia (first as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later as Poland’s lands during the interwar period).
Враховуючи труднощі життя емігрантів початку ХХ ст. та їхню суперечливу долю у власній історії еміграції, варто зазначити, що вони не завжди закінчувалися успішно. Період до, під час і після Першої світової війни став особливо активним у посиленні міграційної політики для обох Америк. Регіони Східної і Центральної Європи стали постачальниками робочої сили, насамперед до США та Канади. Стаття показує деякі випадки неуспішної еміграції до Північної Америки та розвінчує міф, що з початку ХІХ ст. і до сьогодні курсує в середовищі емігрантів: швидке збагачення та краща доля. Приклади, що наведені в статті, переважно відносяться до емігрантів з території Галичини (спочатку як складової частини Австро-Угорської імперії, а пізніше польських земель міжвоєнного періоду).
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| fulltext |
82
A Round TRip, oR The Myth of no RetuRn
in eAsTeRn euRopeAn MigRATion
УДК 314.151.3-054.72(71+73=161.2)“1846/1939”
РОМАНЕНКО ОЛЕНА
кандидат політичних наук, молодший науковий співробітник відділу глобальних і цивілізаційних процесів
державної установи «Інститут всесвітньої історії НАН України»
RoMAnenko olenA
Ph.D., a junior research fellow at the State Establishment NAS of Ukraine Institute of World History Department
of Global and Civilization Processes
DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nte2020.01.082
Бібліографічний опис:
Романенко, о. (2020) поїздка в обидва кінці, або «Міф про неповернення» у східноєвропейській міграції.
Народна творчість та етнологія, 1 (383), 82–85.
Romanenko, O. (2020) A Round Trip, or the Myth of No Return in Eastern European Migration. Folk Art and
Ethnology, 1 (383), 82–85.
Анотація / Abstract
Враховуючи труднощі життя емігрантів початку ХХ ст. та їхню суперечливу долю у власній історії еміграції, варто
зазначити, що вони не завжди закінчувалися успішно. період до, під час і після першої світової війни став особливо
активним у посиленні міграційної політики для обох Америк. Регіони Східної і центральної Європи стали поста-
чальниками робочої сили, насамперед до США та канади.
Стаття показує деякі випадки неуспішної еміграції до північної Америки та розвінчує міф, що з початку ХІХ ст.
і до сьогодні курсує в середовищі емігрантів: швидке збагачення та краща доля. приклади, що наведені в статті, пе-
реважно відносяться до емігрантів з території Галичини (спочатку як складової частини Австро-Угорської імперії,
а пізніше польських земель міжвоєнного періоду).
Ключові слова: міграція, Східна Європа, Австро-Угорська імперія, польща, богемські землі.
Considering difficulties of the early 20th century emigrants’ life and their controversial fate in their own history of emi-
gration, it is worth saying that they did not always end successfully. The period before, during and after World War I became
particularly active in increasing migration policy for both Americas. The Central and Eastern European regions became
labor suppliers primarily to the USA and Canada.
The article provides an overview of some cases of unsuccessful emigration to North America and unravels the myth,
which has been circulating among emigrants from the early 19th century until today: quick enrichment and better destiny.
The examples cited in the article mainly refer to emigrants from the territory of Galicia (first as a part of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire and later as Poland’s lands during the interwar period).
Keywords: migration, Eastern Europe, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, Bohemian lands.
www.etnolog.org.ua
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8383
Олена РОманенкО
Between 1846 and 1940, more than
50 million Europeans moved to the Americas
in one of the greatest migrations of human
history. Different authors give the numbers from
55 to 58 million of those, who moved to North
and South Americas in the mentioned period.
As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire
was the top supplier of migrants to the United
States (more than 2 million people) [11, p. 156].
Some sources underline that the Habsburg
monarchy was one of the main European centers
of emigration at the beginning of the 20th century,
and between 1876 and 1910, at least five million
Austro-Hungarian citizens, nearly ten percent of
the population, emigrated [8, p. 23].
Nearly 70 percent of all migrants to the
United States in 1910 were born in Galicia. Poles,
Jews, and Ukrainians from this province formed
an important part of the New Immigration to
the USA. Most of the Galician migrants were
single men at an age between 15 and 49 [8,
p. 17]. Galician migrants dominated as servants
and workers in agriculture. They moved to
new lands as young unmarried people without
families.
Another so-called family migration pattern
was based on a scheme than one member of
the family went first, and after he or she had
settled, the relatives followed. It was popular
among Bohunks *. In Bohemian lands, more
than 20 000 Bohemians received passports
to emigrate from Austria in the 1850s, and
this number does not include individuals
who emigrated illegally [17, p. 11]. Therefore,
early Czech nation builders and government
authorities responded with alarm to a wave of
mass migration to North America. Regional
and local officials mobilized their efforts to
stop mass emigration. Such measures included
the prohibition of emigration agencies and the
prosecution of agents, writing agitation and
patriotic songs and plays (as Lesní Panna aneb
Cesta do Ameriky [15] by Josef Kajetán Tyl),
destroying stereotypes that America is an ideal
place for living.
* Derogatory term for immigrants from the Habsburg
Empire (formed from words Bohemian and Hungarian).
The same ideas we can find in Poland: even
people who agree with the existence of labor
migration are against emigration of people
who permanently leave the homeland, because
emigration leads to demographic losses and social
sickness. In Galicia, and elsewhere, the discourse
about travel agents became part of a much broader
and crucial discussion about work necessary for
the rise of Polish national consciousness among
peasants and their Polish character [16, p. 81].
Tara zahra in her book The Great Departure:
Mass Migration from Eastern Europe and the
Making of the Free World [17] shows that not all
emigration stories were successful. According
to Tara zahra, from 30 to 40 % of Central and
Eastern European emigrants return to their
homes.
Faustina Wiśniewska was counting days until
she could return home, having no intention to live
in misery or to kill herself in order to save a grosz
[17, p. 4]. In her letters [10], the young woman
wrote to her parents, describing that newcomers
needed to be at work in terrible conditions for
12 hours per day, feeling lonely and depressed.
Moreover, at that time the journey across the
Atlantic took averaging from thirty to forty days
and was potentially deadly. Another example,
Adam Loboda from Galicia at the age of 16 with
other fourteen Austrian boys from his village
went for searching his new homeland. Finally,
he found a job and had no regrets about his
achievements, but four of his friends committed
suicide, one shot himself, one hanged himself,
one took poison, and one drowned himself.
Only two of them became more or less rich.
Others like Adam became just the workers [17,
pp. 13–14].
Coming back to Polish emigration history,
after the restoring of the Polish Republic’s
independence in November 1918, the new
government faced a problem of citizenship and
created a new emigration policy for Polonia. This
term is broadly used until today to name the
Polish immigrants. It was firstly used in Poland
by Jan Ciemieniewski in 1896 [6, pp. 175–176].
What is interesting, the same word for the same
meaning (the imagined community of Polish
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immigrants in the United States and elsewhere)
had already been used twenty year before in
1875 by Władysław Dyniewicz in Gazeta polska
dla Polonii w Ameryce [7].
The law from the 20th of January
1920 regulated the issue of Polish citizenship
[13, pp. 63–66]: without further formalities,
former bearers of German, Austrian, Hungarian,
and Russian citizenships, who, as of 10 January,
1920, lived in the area now constituting the
Polish territory, were granted Polish citizenship.
Furthermore, without any additional formalities
persons who were born on Polish territories and
parents permanently residing on these territories
became Polish citizens, even if on January 10,
1920 (when the law came into force) they did not
reside in Poland permanently, but lived abroad.
A person without any other citizenship received
the Polish citizenship by virtue of the fact that
he or she was born on Polish land. People also
were required to opt for nationality they would
like to keep, because Polish law forbade dual
citizenship.
In the interwar period, Poles (and ethnic
Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Belarusians,
Germans, etc.) having not naturalized abroad
retained Polish citizenship: Polish migrants in
the world were simply treated as Poles. So the
attempts to use the Diaspora for the benefit of a
new Polish state were made. According to law and
to the rhetoric of politicians, members of the Polish
Diaspora living abroad were viewed and declared
to be Poles. The practical consequences of such an
approach were… dubious and controversial. In the
years 1918–1921, the country faced a problem of
repatriation, the return of forced migrants, people
who during the war had been expelled from their
homes [16, p. 84].
Some governmental agencies were interested
in solving migration problems, such as:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare,
Ministry of Internal Affairs.
However, the main institution, which was
established in November 1918, to solve these
problems was the State Office for the Problems
of Returning Prisoners, Refugees and Workers
(JUR for short). It existed until late 1920. The
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and MFA
agreed that migration problems are closely linked
with the ideas of general foreign policy, because in
fact [migrants] make an impact on attitudes of
various countries towards Poland [5].
To illustrate the controversial policy in
accordance to Polonia, let us see the example of
Polish migration policy in the USA. Politicians
and Polish centers of power expressed interest
in return migration from America earlier, before
and during the First World War. After the war,
thousands of people intended to return. At the
same time, the Ministry of Labor proclaimed that
returns should rather be stopped now. Due to the fear
that returnees would more deeply destabilize the
bad social situation of the country, the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs proclaimed that considering
the high unemployment and the economic crises
in the country, mass reemigration now will have
serious and dangerous consequences [2].
In November 1919, the Prime Minister
Ignacy Paderewski issued official Appeal to
Polonia, asking the Poles to remain in America.
The Consulate General in New York was
discouraging American Poles from applying for
passports in order to return [1; 4; 3]. It is not time
yet. Feverish return migration might be harmful for
Poland and for the returnees, announced a press
release [12].
In 1920, in order to coordinate the policies of
migration and unemployment, the Emigration
Office (EO) was formed by the Parliament [16,
p. 85]. It was subordinated to the Ministry of
Labor by working closely with MFA. Several
years later, the situation for the returnees still
did not change. In the end of the interwar period,
the problem basically disappeared because of a
policy of the Polish state in restraining American
returnees.
Seven years later, in the Regulation of
December 15, 1927, issued by the President of the
Polish Republic, was provided a new definition
of the term emigrant. An Emigrant ... is the Polish
citizen who is leaving, or who has left, the territory
of the Polish Republic in search of labor, or in order
to work, or who went to joint his spouse, relatives or
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Олена РОманенкО
kins, who had previously emigrated. By emigrant
will be understood a person leaving the territory of
the Polish Republic, a person remaining outside the
Polish territory jointly with an emigrant, and who is
a member of his family [9, p. 178].
Conclusions
The example of Polish government shows
that the postwar period was difficult both for
citizens of the newly created country, and for
the diaspora who wanted to return home. In
different years of the interwar period, depending
on the economic and political situation, the
attitude towards these citizens changed: from
the unprompted come back, we are waiting for
you to build our Poland to wait, it is not time
yet because of a high level of unemployment,
economic instability and increasing social
problems.
However, ambiguous is the fate of the
emmigrants who left the country for one reason
or another. Some examples show that many of
such people just did not want to live in America
for a long time, keeping the money for families
(to build a house, find a wife, or start one’s own
business). Some people may have taken three
years round-trip (or even multiple round trips).
Therefore, the fate of such people will be a huge
field of interest for future research.
References
1. Archives of New Files (Archiwum Akt Nowych,
AAN): Collection Prezydium Rady Ministrów (hereafter –
PRM): Akta numeryczne, no. 7040/20, Ministry of Labor
to PRM, September 9, 1919, p. 8; PRM, Protocols, no. 123,
p. 497a, meeting (November 22, 1919); MFA to PRM,
September 16, 1919, p. 22.
2. Archives of New Files (Archiwum Akt Nowych,
AAN): Akta numeryczne, no. 15238/19, p. 6, (PRM):
PUJUR to PRM, August 12, 1919, p. 8–9; PUJUR to Ministry
of Treasure, November 19, 1919.
3. Archives of New Files (Archiwum Akt Nowych,
AAN): vol. 895, p. 7, Polish Embassy in Washington Files:
Report of the Emigration Attaché, September 15, 1919 [in
English].
4. Archives of New Files (Archiwum Akt Nowych,
AAN): vol. 922, pp. 5–7, Polish Embassy in London: Protocol
from the Conference on Return Migration from the United
States, October 16, 1919; PRM, Protocols, no. 123, p. 497a
[in English].
5. Archives of New Files (Archiwum Akt Nowych,
AAN): Vol. 7040/20, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
PRM, July 1991.
6. BROŻEK, Andrzej. Polish Americans 1854–1939.
Warsaw: Interpress, 1985, 274 pp. [in English].
7. DYNIEWICz, Władislaw. Gazeta polska dla Polonii
w Ameryce. Gazeta Polska w Chicago, 13th of May 1875 [in
Polish].
8. EHMER, Josef, Annemarie STEIDL, Hermann
zEITLHOFER. Migration Patterns in Late Imperial
Austria. In: Working Paper Nr: 3. KMI Working Paper
Series [online]. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie
der Wissenschaften. Kommission für Migrations- und
Integrationsforschung Commission for Migration and
Integration Research, 2004, 33 pp. Available from:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/kommissionen/
KMI/Dokumente/Working_Papers/kmi_WP3.pdf [in
English].
9. KraSzEWSKI, Piotr. Polska emigracja zarobkowa
w latach 1870–1939: Praktyka i refleksja. Poznan: Polska
Akademia Nauk, 1995, 356 pp. [in Polish].
10. KULA, Witold, Nina ASSORODOBraJ-KULA,
Marcin KULA. Listy emigrantów z Brazylii i Stanów
Zjednoczonych, 1890–1891. Warsaw: Ludowa Spółdzielnia
Wydawnicza, 1973, 591 pp. [in Polish].
11. McKEOWN, Adam. Global Migration, 1846–1940.
Journal of World History, 2004, vol. 15, no. 2 ( June), р. 155–
189 [in English].
12. OLSzEWSKI, Adam. Historia Związku Narodowego
Polskiego w Ameryce. Chicago, 1957, vol. 3, 291 pp. [in
Polish].
13. RYSzka, Franciszek (ed.). Historia państwa i prawa
Polski 1918–1939. Warsaw: PWN, 1962, pt. I, 306 pp. [in
Polish].
14. SARNA, Jonathan D. The Myth of No Return:
Jewish Return Migration to Eastern Europe, 1881–1914.
In: Dirk HOERDER, ed., Labor Migration in the Atlantic
Economies: The European and North American Working
Classes during the Period of Industrialization. Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1985, р. 423–434 [in English].
15. TYL, Josef Kajetán. Lesní Panna aneb Cesta do
Ameriky. Žertovná báchorka se zpěvyatancive čtyřech
odděleních [online]. Prague: Městská knihovna v Praze,
2018, 70 pp. Available from: https://web2.mlp.cz/
koweb/00/04/36/50/43/lesni_panna.pdf [in Czech].
16. WALASzEK, Adam. Wychodźcy, Emigrants
or Poles? Fears and Hopes about Emigration in Poland
1870–1918–1939. AEMI Journal, 2003, vol. 1, рp. 78–93
[in English].
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from Eastern Europe and the Making of the Free World. New
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www.etnolog.org.ua
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| institution | Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
| issn | 0130-6936 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-12-01T12:17:16Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Інститут мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології iм. М.Т. Рильського НАН України |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | Romanenko, O. 2025-06-30T09:46:10Z 2020 A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration / O. Romanenko // Народна творчість та етнологія. — 2020. — № 1. — С. 82–85. — Бібліогр.: 17 назв. — англ. 0130-6936 https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/204183 314.151.3-054.72(71+73=161.2)“1846/1939” https://doi.org/10.15407/nte2020.01.082 Considering the difficulties of the early 20th-century emigrants’ lives and their controversial fate in their own history of emigration, it is worth saying that they did not always end successfully. The period before, during, and after World War I became particularly active in increasing migration policy for both Americas. The Central and Eastern European regions became labor suppliers primarily to the USA and Canada. The article provides an overview of some cases of unsuccessful emigration to North America and unravels the myth, which from the early 19th century until today has been circulating among emigrants: quick enrichment and a better destiny. The examples cited in the article mainly refer to emigrants from the territory of Galicia (first as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later as Poland’s lands during the interwar period). Враховуючи труднощі життя емігрантів початку ХХ ст. та їхню суперечливу долю у власній історії еміграції, варто зазначити, що вони не завжди закінчувалися успішно. Період до, під час і після Першої світової війни став особливо активним у посиленні міграційної політики для обох Америк. Регіони Східної і Центральної Європи стали постачальниками робочої сили, насамперед до США та Канади. Стаття показує деякі випадки неуспішної еміграції до Північної Америки та розвінчує міф, що з початку ХІХ ст. і до сьогодні курсує в середовищі емігрантів: швидке збагачення та краща доля. Приклади, що наведені в статті, переважно відносяться до емігрантів з території Галичини (спочатку як складової частини Австро-Угорської імперії, а пізніше польських земель міжвоєнного періоду). en Інститут мистецтвознавства, фольклористики та етнології iм. М.Т. Рильського НАН України Народна творчість та етнологія Матеріали та розвідки A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration Поїздка в обидва кінці, або «Міф про неповернення» у східноєвропейській міграції Article published earlier |
| spellingShingle | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration Romanenko, O. Матеріали та розвідки |
| title | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration |
| title_alt | Поїздка в обидва кінці, або «Міф про неповернення» у східноєвропейській міграції |
| title_full | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration |
| title_fullStr | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration |
| title_short | A Round Trip or «The Myth of No Return» in Eastern European Migration |
| title_sort | round trip or «the myth of no return» in eastern european migration |
| topic | Матеріали та розвідки |
| topic_facet | Матеріали та розвідки |
| url | https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/204183 |
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