The Exile History Review
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"The Exile History Review" was established in 2021 at the Centre for Research on the History of the Polish Government-in-Exile at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. The yearbook collects articles and materials concerning the European migrations in the 20th century, escpecially political emigrations from East-Central Europe during World War II and the Cold War.
The purpose of the "The Exile History Review" is to publish documents in English about the European migrations in the 20th century. We wish to focus on the issue of political emigration from East-Central Europe during World War II and the Cold War. We believe that this subject requires detailed analysis, and the yearbook could serve as a forum to publish research papers. We would then go on to consider and evaluate inter alia, the attitude of émigré groups from individual countries to the socio-political situation in Europe, also collaboration within those countries. We would finally want to have observations within the academic field regarding the émigré authorities and their relationship to society and international connections. These are just a few of the subjects that we wish to include in the "The Exile History Review".
Editorial Team
Editor-In-Chief
Dr habil. Jarosław Rabiński, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
Members of the Editorial Team
Kamil Świderski, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
Jadwiga Kowalska, Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, UK & John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Dr Beáta Katerbová Blehová, The National Memory Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia
Scientific Council
Arkadiusz Adamczyk, Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce, Poland
Matilde Eiroa, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
Thomas Wegener Friis, University of Southern Denmark
Krystyna Jaworska, Università di Torino, Italy
ĒEriks Jeēkabsons, University of Latvia
Marek Kornat, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Poland
Paul Latawski, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, United Kingdom
Robert Letz, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
Giedre Mileryte-Japertiene, National Museum of Lithuania
Imre Molnar, Hungary
Jacek Piotrowski, University of Wrocław, Poland
Andrzej Suchcitz, The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum, United Kingdom
News
Contact
"The Exile History Review"
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Al. Racławickie 14
20-950 Lublin
Poland
Principal Contact
Kamil Świderski
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
tel. +48 81 445 43 94
e-mail: ehr@kul.pl
"The Exile History Review"
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Al. Racławickie 14
20-950 Lublin
Poland
Principal Contact
Kamil Świderski
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
tel. +48 81 445 43 94
e-mail: ehr@kul.pl
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- ItemA “Clash of Definitions”? Polish Émigré Scholars and the Cold War Discourse of Western Civilization(KUL Publishing House, 2024) Willms, Kai JohannIn the course of the twentieth century, the idea of “the West” as a community of shared cultural values acquired fundamental importance in international politics. What constitutes the identity of this community and how exactly its geographical scope should be defined has often been a matter of debate. This article examines how Polish scholars, who spent part of their academic careers in Cold War America and opposed the communist regime in their homeland, participated in such debates and how they imagined the relationship between Poland and “the West”. Focusing on three individual cases representing different generations of the émigré community, the article shows to what extent Polish émigré scholars’ ideas about the identity of “the West” were compatible with contemporary American discourse, how they were related to concepts of “modernization”, and how they evolved in the context of generational change.
- ItemAntoni Herkulan Wróbel OFM (1934–2023)(KUL Publishing House, 2024) Świderski, Kamil
- ItemBaltic Refugees of World War II and Their Descendants: Resettlement and Adaptation in Four Lands(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Haas, AinAt the end of World War II, an unprecedented burst of politically motivated emigration occurred from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, to escape incorporation into the Soviet Union. This report describes processes of resettlement and adaptation in four lands: Sweden, Canada, Australia, and the United States of America. The analysis examines how refugees’ and descendants’ experiences were shaped by selectivity of evacuation, camps for displaced persons, clustering patterns, and host country policies. The traumas, disruptions, and deprivations experienced during several years of war, foreign occupation, and rootlessness in refugee camps did not prove to create enduring disadvantages, as the second generation more than made up for the ground lost (at least for several years) by their parents. The years long journey of the refugees in finding new homes and new careers turned out to be most conducive to the creation of a global network of cohesive, viable, and interdependent ethnic communities. The Baltic refugees prefer to think of themselves as maintaining the traditions of their homelands, but they learned to do some important things differently on the way to new lands, through a process of social levelling and cooperation within their own local ethnic group, as well as through interacting with other local communities of their own kind, with other Baltic groups, and with their new neighbors in the host countries. Later generations will not continue to do everything like their elders did, but substantial numbers of descendants still show a rather high degree of commitment to maintaining their cultural and even linguistic heritage in some form.
- ItemCare for Civilian and Military Refugees in the South of France 1939-1940. Cooperation between the Polish Consulate in Marseille and the Polish Red Cross - Case Study(KUL Publishing House, 2024) Ambrochowicz-Gajownik, AnnaThe aim of this article is to present the care of civilian and military refugees in the years 1939-1940 with the cooperation of the Polish Consulate in Marseille and the Polish Red Cross (PCK). Providing assistance to refugees was one of the key elements of the work carried out by both the Consulate and the PCK. It required considerable flexibility and action on many levels. Until June 1940, most of the care work was carried out by the Consulate. It was only after the defeat of France and the establishment of the PCK delegation in Marseille that responsibilities were divided. The main concern was to raise funds, set up shelters and provide medical care. It would not have been possible to obtain shelters for refugees if it had not been for the cooperation of the Consulate and the PCK with the local authorities. Until June 1940, the attitude of the French authorities towards Polish refugees was more favorable than after the defeat of France. As of September 1940, the Consulate ceased to function and was replaced by the Polish Office (Biuro Polskie), which began cooperating with the PCK delegation in Marseille.
- ItemCroats in Emigrant Organizations from Central and Eastern Europe during the First Half of the Cold War: International Peasant Union and Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations(KUL Publishing House, 2024) Tepeš, IvanBased on relevant literature, emigrant press and Croatian archival sources, the paper presents and compares the activities and the attitudes of Croatian political emigrants in organizations of emigrants from Central and Eastern Europe in the period of the first half of the Cold War from 1945 to the end of the 1960s. Two main groups were active within the Croatian political emigration at that time. One group was gathered around the leadership of the Croatian Peasant Party, the strongest Croatian pre-war party, while the other group was made up of former members of the Ustaša movement, the Nazi war ally. Members of both groups had to go into exile at the end of the Second World War as opponents of the new communist regime. By coming into exile, they very quickly began to connect with other political emigrants from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on an anti-communist basis. The group gathered around the Croatian Peasant Party found its activities within the International Peasant Union and organizations sponsored by American Free Europe Committee, while the group close to the Ustaša movement found its platform for action in the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the history of Central and Eastern Europe, especially the Cold War activities of political emigrants from that area, through the activities of Croatian emigrants within international emigrant organizations.
- ItemCzechoslovak Refugees in the Displaced Persons Camps in the Early Cold War(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Nekola, MartinThe paper deals with various aspects of the life of Czechoslovakian refugees at the displaced persons camps in Allied–occupied Germany and Austria. About 60,000 people left the country within a few years following the Communist takeover in February 1948. The first steps in the “free world” brought them behind the walls and fences of the camps, where accommodation met only very basic needs. Wooden shacks, former prisoner–of–war camps, military barracks, schools, factories or even more primitive housing, such as tents or train cars. The atmosphere in the camps was extremely tense because of the widespread belief that the Cold War would quickly change into an armed conflict between the USA and the USSR. But as time passed, people remained long months or even years in the camps, sending visa applications, waiting for work permits and transport to a new home. The camps could be likened to a unique microcosm, with prostitution, black market, subversive activities of Communist informants, violent and boozy clashes as well as churches, chapels, libraries, schools, kindergartens, shops, craft workshops, sports associations, scout troops or even the recruitment offices for Western armies. Moreover, the first magazines, brochures and leaflets were published there, and the first seeds of political activity were born. Nevertheless, their existence and everyday operations are almost forgotten by contemporary historiography.
- ItemEuropean Press – Press Organ of the Central European Federal Youth Movement and the Central European Federalists(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Indraszczyk, ArkadiuszEuropean Press was a periodical coming out in the years 1951–1980, published by the Central European Federal Youth Movement (since 1959 the Central European Federalists). It was an organisation of federalists-emigrants from Central European countries who considered it necessary to establish a Central European federation. Such a federation was supposed to be a way to improve the development of Central European countries and also a method to free them from the yoke of communists. European Press was a press organ which propagated this idea. The information contained in the journal remains valid today, especially in relation to the ideological layer of European integration and its political and social foundations.
- ItemExiles on Main Street: The Centrality of Exile in Transatlantic Relations(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Scott-Smith, GilesThis article explores the meaning of exile in political theory and its importance within our understanding of political organization and more specifically transatlantic relations. Attention for the political ramifications of the movement of people across borders is divided among the study of diasporas, forced migration, and cultural transfer, as well as exile. The article covers the definition of the term and its use in the Western political tradition, focusing on its meaning and its relevance for conceptions of political progress under modernity. By examining the use of “exile” in relation to Latin American politics, the article puts forward a contrasting critical sketch of exile in transatlantic relations through the 20th century.
- ItemExotic Diplomacy. Relations between the Polish Government–In–Exile and the Émigré Authorities of the Republic of the South Moluccas(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Gotowiecki, PawełThis article is dedicated to the diplomatic relations between the Polish government–in–exile and the émigré authorities of the Republic of the South Moluccas. It presents the genesis of mutual contacts, their initiation, nature and course. The author discusses the level of joint initiatives and the importance of mutual communication for both emigrations.
- ItemFrom “Exile” to “Diaspora”: The Shift in Self-Identification among Refugee Latvians, 1944-2023(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Plakans, AndrejsThe 175,000- Latvians who fled their northeastern European homeland in the final year of World War II (1944-45) eventually resettled in some four continents and twenty different host societies. Their tasks were many, ranging from “freeing” Latvia among the politically minded to building a new life in their host societies. For some ten years after the war, their official status remained uncertain, as did the terms they used to describe themselves. Eventually, the agreed upon frame of reference became trimda (Eng. exile). It was the rare social, cultural, and political activity that was not discussed within the exile framework, and an impressive cultural superstructure was built upon it from the 1950s to the 1980s. This framework, however, became anachronistic after 1991 and the collapse of the USSR. Western Latvians could no longer claim to be in exile, but relatively few of them showed a willingness to return to the old homeland. Two decades of discussion about identity eventually led the new Latvian government and social-science researchers in Latvia to propose the term diaspora for all Latvians living outside the country’s borders. This term has been generally accepted, even by the still living World War II refugees and their descendants, who now refer to themselves as the vecā trimda (Eng. old exile) component of the diaspora.
- ItemGeorge (György) Schöpflin. “I am a European of Hungarian Issue”(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Kádár-Lynn, Katalin
- ItemHungarian Refugee Students in Belgium after the Revolution of 1956: The Leuven Case(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Csonta, IstvanStudents played a prominent role in the Hungarian revolution of 1956 and after its bloody suppression, many of them emigrated to the West from November of the same year to save their lives. This article presents the fate of a small Hungarian refugee community of the 1956 revolution, focusing especially on those students who arrived in Leuven, Belgium. Since the Catholic University of Leuven gave an outstanding opportunity to those refugee students who intended to pursue their already started studies in Belgium, it is not a coincidence that many have chosen Leuven deliberately. The present article discloses the different institutes and prominent persons who contributed considerably to the success of the refugee students.
- ItemIn Memory of Stanisław Żurakowski(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Kowalska, Jadwiga
- ItemIn Search of “Good Russians”: Ukrainian-Russian Encounters in the United States During the First Cold War(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Kravchenko, VolodymyrThe article is devoted to the topic of Ukrainian-Russian intellectual encounters in exile during the Cold War. The author focuses on Ukraine’s and Russia’s mutual representations in historical narratives in connection with their respective discourses of national identity. The article also describes sporadic attempts at establishing Ukrainian-Russian public dialogue in exile starting in the early 1960s. All of them were initiated and conducted by Ukrainian public activists and intellectuals. The author concludes that participants on both sides ascribed opposing meanings to historical terms. Russian authors, on the one hand, consistently used the modern designation “Ukrainian” as a synonym for “Little Russian,” which automatically situated Ukraine within the “pan-Russian” historical framework. Ukrainian historians, on the other hand, tried to reinterpret “Russian” as a modern national designation rather than an imperial one. Hence the Ukrainian-Russian dialogue had no chance of succeeding unless Russian participants agreed to rethink their discourse of national identity. It is no wonder that many American observers remained confused about the nature of Ukrainian-Russian debates: to them, they looked like a dead-end situation. Thus, rather than trying to find alternative interpretations of Ukrainian and Russian history, most Western specialists followed either one or the other respective national narrative.
- ItemInterpretation of the World by Aleksander Bregman, a Far-Sighted Commentator on International Affairs in Exile, in the London-Based "Dziennik Polski i Dziennik Żołnierza"(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Chwastyk-Kowalczyk, JolantaThe article presents the views and journalistic activities of the foreign-educated doctor of political science, émigré Polish journalist, correspondent, anti-communist Aleksander Bregman, a pioneer of Polish-German reconciliation, who preached the unpopular post-World War II views of German reunification, and the creation of an economic community of European states. This international relations expert was one of the few publicists in exile who managed to make a name for himself outside the circle of the Polish diaspora. Gifted with Benedictine diligence, he left behind countless articles scattered in the émigré press, English, French, Swiss and German journals, as well as many books whose contents are still relevant today. He was also a contributor to Radio Free Europe. Throughout all of his wartime and subsequent exile life in the UK, he was particularly associated with the London-based Dziennik Polski i Dziennik Żołnierza, where he served as editor-in-chief from 1959 to 1962. In Poland, the magazine was completely banned from printing until 1989. Methods used in writing the article: qualitative press content analysis, press, heuristic, historical-critical microbiography.
- ItemJános Kádár’s Government and the Refugees of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Baráth, MagdolnaDuring and following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, approximately 200,000 people fled the country, the majority of them to Austria and others to Yugoslavia. After the suppression of the Revolution, the Hungarian authorities targeted the refugees with two simultaneous measures: on the one hand, they sought to persuade those who were willing and those whom the official propaganda considered as “misguided” to repatriate; and on the other hand, the said authorities did everything in their power to compromise “hostile” emigrant circles and persons, thereby weakening their influence among the refugees. In order to encourage and facilitate the repatriation, Hungary proclaimed amnesty and established a Hungarian–Yugoslav joint committee as well as a repatriation office in Vienna; however, the widespread repatriation propaganda of the Hungarian government was largely unsuccessful. Moreover, those returning after 31 March 1957 were meticulously screened and many repatriation requests were rejected, mostly for fear that Western intelligence might have planted spies among the applicants and repatriates. Initially, Hungarian leaders regarded the emigration of 1956 as a threat for fear that Western propaganda might use the migrants to influence Western public opinion and the foreign policy of other governments towards Hungary; they only changed their stance in the summer of 1958, when the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party established a commission in charge of emigration affairs, which was to pay particular attention to financially supporting the repatriation of certain categories of 1956 emigrants. In 1960, “consular passports” were introduced to enable the relatives of “dissidents” to go abroad for family visits, and under certain conditions, “dissidents” were also allowed to visit Hungary. In 1963, the Hungarian repatriation policy reached a turning point with János Kádár’s proclamation of a general amnesty. From that period onward, maintaining relations with Hungarian emigration became an integral part of government policy, and the political system made concessions with regard to the perception and treatment of emigration circles, which were also showing signs of division.
- Item"Kultura" and Its Forgotten University in Exile(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Durin-Hornyik, VeronikaInstytut Literacki Kultura (ILK) was the core of anti-communist resistance during the Cold War: it promoted independent political thought and understanding among central and eastern European countries while showing resilience against Communist regimes. Although ILK is mostly known for its monthly exile magazine Kultura, edited in Polish, its founder-editor Jerzy Giedroyc had anticipated another project in addition to a Literary Institute after the war. Foreseeing a long period of exile because of the Soviet occupation of Poland, he envisioned setting up a university for young Poles. His idea, which was delayed a few years because of the beginning of the Cold War, developed into a project with Józef Czapski to create a university for young refugees fleeing their communist countries from behind the Iron Curtain. After three years of preparation within ILK, the Free Europe University in Exile and its study center, Collège de l’Europe libre, were established in 1951 under the auspices of the American anti-communist organization National Committee for a Free Europe, yet Giedroyc and Czapski were excluded from its activities. The aim of this article is to trace the history of this essentially unknown initiative of the Polish exile group using archival holdings in Europe and the United States, and to highlight its importance within ILK.
- ItemMercenaries of a Phantom War The “Hostile Emigration” in Yugoslavia’s Globalized Ideology of Insecurity(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Robionek, BerndYugoslav state security services became infamous for organizing dozens of targeted killings against hostile emigrants abroad. What can be regarded as an interlinked chain of violence and counter-violence has more to it. First, there is the experience of external threats (not only) common to Communist leaders. But in the Yugoslav case, the global non-aligned position of the country strengthened the insecurity felt by the leadership. This was caused by a close identification with Third World countries affected by Cold War interventions. Officials and politicians concerned with security matters interpreted the continuing aggression of the “hostile emigration” as part and proof of a subliminal “Special War” against the socialist self-administration system. As a response, the state security stepped up the lethal operations in the host countries of the “hostile emigration”. The study starts with the development of anti-Communist and pro-Soviet exile activism in the post-war period. It traces the reinforcement of the danger posed by hostile émigrés back to the early 1960s, when Yugoslavia became a prominent member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Also, it analyses the roots of the “Special War” and shows how this idea of external intervention was transferred to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The consequences of the adaptation to the Yugoslav conditions are addressed as well as the outcome for the treatment of the “hostile emigration”. A critical assessment of émigré terrorism is followed by the presentation of exemplified cases. This essay seeks for a better comprehension of the mental disposition behind the drastic measures applied by Yugoslav secret services. Therefore, it is focused on the importance of the antagonistic emigration for the concept of the “Special War”.
- ItemNew Tools against the Soviet Union in the Political Work of the Latvian Diaspora in the 1970s-1980s: The Case of Human Rights Violations in the Soviet Union(KUL Publishing House, 2023) Bekere, KristineStarting with, and initiated by, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in the first half of 1970s, the topic of human rights violations in the Soviet Union, and specifically in the Baltic states, became part of the Latvian diaspora’s political argumentation when lobbying against the Soviet Union in host countries. Almost unknown before, this topic was very prominent in the political activities of the 1970s and 1980s up until the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The issue of human rights violations in the political argumentation of the Latvian and Baltic diasporas as a whole has always been inextricably linked to the main political goal of these diasporas – the restoration of the right to political self-determination for the Baltic states. Without self-determination, human rights cannot be realized – this is how the basic principle of the diaspora’s position could be summarized. The diaspora’s rapid focus on human rights violations in particular demonstrates its ability to react quickly to current trends in society and to use issues of current public concern to shape its communication and advance its political cause.
- ItemPrimate and General. Contacts between Cardinal Wyszyński and Władysław Anders in the Light of Their Correspondence – a Contribution to the History of the Polish Independence Emigration(KUL Publishing House, 2022) Łatka, RafałThe article takes a closer look at the relationship between Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and General Władysław Anders between 1957 and 1970. The letters found in the Warsaw Archdiocesan Archives, complex: Secretariat of the Primate of Poland, and in the Archives of the Polish Institute and the Sikorski Museum in London show the close relationship between the Primate and the General. Although contact between them was occasional, we can observe the mutual respect and appreciation of these two leaders of “free Poland”. The former upheld Polish identity in a country ruled by communists, while also defending the independence of the Polish Church. At the same time, the latter acted as the leader of the Polish independence emigration community. Documented communication between Cardinal Wyszyński and General Anders began in 1957. It could not have taken place on a permanent basis, as the Primate feared that such relations could be a pretext for persecuting the Church in Poland – on the charge of maintaining contacts with “reactionary emigration circles”. Nevertheless, the Primate and the General met in person in Rome in May 1963, during Cardinal Wyszyński’s stay in the Holy See. The article is supplemented by an edition of correspondence concerning their mutual contacts. The text should be treated as a complementary contribution to the history of Polish emigration.