Polish Immigrant Organizations in Germany examines the situation of Polish immigrant organizations in Germany. Based on in-depth, mixed-method research consisting of surveys, case studies, and interviews with immigrants, representatives of institutions involved in the implementation of integration strategy and those responsible for Polish diaspora policy, it develops the notion of the transnational opportunity structure, which analyses the major factors shaping the situation of immigrant organizations. With attention to the characteristics of the migration process and the immigrant community, the country of residence, the country of origin, and bilateral relations between the two countries—which are in turn moderated by both global factors and micro factors—this book offers a multi-faceted analysis of diverse processes of developing diaspora groups and their organizations. It will therefore appeal to scholars of sociology, political science, security studies, and public policy with interests in migration and Diaspora studies, as well as intra-European mobility.

The history of Polish associations in Germany is an example that demonstrates - amongst others - growth and expansion. This book is intended to fill, to a certain extent, the gaps in the sociological literature on Polish organisations in Germany. It aims at describing the situations in which nongovernmental organizations that associate Poles residing in Germany find themselves.

A comparative study of Polish migrants in the Ruhr Valley and in northeastern Pennsylvania, The Borders of Integration questions assumptions about race and white immigrant assimilation a hundred years ago, highlighting how the Polish immigrant experience is relevant to present-day immigration debates.

The economic consequences of migration are hotly debated and a main topic of recent political movements across Europe. We analyze Polish immigration in the context of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union and find a positive and significant spillover effect of the immigrants on the number of local inventors in German counties in 2001-2010. For causal identification, we exploit a historical episode in the Polish migration history to Germany before the fall of the Iron Curtain and construct a shift-share instrument. Our results differ from findings for high-skilled migration to the United States, which is particularly interesting as Polish immigration to Germany was not based on selection by qualification in our period of analysis.

In her endeavour to overcome the established methodological, conceptual, and empirical dualism of mobility and migration, Anna Xymena Wieczorek develops a "mobilities perspective" by combining migration studies theories with approaches of the mobility studies. With the help of rich empirical data gathered among young adults of Polish heritage in Germany and Canada, Wieczorek conceptualizes three patterns of (im)mobility which illustrate the diversity of immigrants' geographical movements after their initial migration. She thus reveals the different social configurations promoting or hindering the development, maintenance or shifting of each pattern in migrants' biographical trajectories.

This title was first published in 2001. The first comprehensive, combined socio-economic and political analysis of the trends and mechanisms of international migration from and into Poland since 1945, from the point of view of the forthcoming enlargement of the European Union.

This book concentrates on the migration experiences of Polish legal and undocumented migrants in four European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom). It explores why and how immigrants leave their homes, how they develop network ties with fellow nationals or natives, how they seek to improve their living and working conditions, if and how they adapt to the host country, and/or how they move on returning to Poland or elsewhere.

The end of World War II found a devastated Poland under Soviet occupation. Many Poles--those displaced to work camps in Germany, those in German concentration and P.O.W. camps, and those still in Poland made the decision to immigrate to the United States. Their journey, however, would not be easy. The rigors of the war had affected America as well, and immigration laws were strict. Fortunately, many Polish refugees received help from the Polish American Immigration and Relief Committee (PAIRC). Founded in 1947 to help Polish citizens displaced by World War II, the committee continued its work as the postwar period became the Cold War era and Poles continued to flee the communist regime. This study of the PAIRC and its work includes both the broad history of the committee and stories of specific individuals, which add detail and lend insight into the plight of the refugees and the importance of the advocacy that the committee provided. Drawing on information from committee archives and firsthand consultations with prominent members, this book covers such topics as American immigration law, aid for the Polish Republic, and the effect of political change in Poland itself. It also discusses how the downfall of the communist government transformed Poland into a country that opened its own arms to the world's refugees.