The hidden Polish history of the Windrush generation

In WWII, the Soviets seized their farm and sent Anna and her daughter Irinka to a labour camp in Siberia. This was the fate of many Poles who refused to give up their Polish passport for a Soviet passport. Sadly, Irinka sadly died of typhoid during while in the labour camp.

After two years, a deal was struck between the Allies and the Soviets, and 110,000 Poles – including women and children – were evacuated to Iran, India, Palestine, New Zealand, British colonies in Africa and Mexico.

Anna was one of the 10,000 Poles released to a Red Cross camp in León, Mexico.

Chris’ grandfather Stanislaw was already in Britain, stationed with the Allied Army in Scotland, and his father was in Palestine with the Free Polish Army.

“My grandparents only knew that they and their surviving child – my dad – was alive, and where they were thanks to letters circulated by Catholic priests,” Chris explains.

In 1948, Anna made her way to Britain aboard the Windrush, after learning about the ship due to make its journey across the Atlantic. The ship’s stops included Mexico, Bermuda and Jamaica on its journey to Britain.

Chris believes it is likely the Red Cross was able to secure a spot for Anna on the Windrush ship to reunite with her husband Stanislaw thanks to these letters which proved her husband was in Britain.

The family – separated in 1940 when the Soviets seized their farm – did not reunite till the Windrush arrived in Essex in 1948.

The Polish experience of postwar Britain

Chris, who grew up in his grandparents’ house in Reading, recalls that their initial years in Britain were marked by hardship and a sense of displacement.

“They never really integrated with the British population,” he said. “They became a sort of émigré population within Britain. They didn’t understand the language, and their social interactions were largely confined to the Polish community, which was centred around the local Catholic church.”

It was a life marked by survival rather than integration—a story shared by many refugees of that era.

Despite the difficulties they faced, Chris’ grandparents were entrepreneurial, making a living in Britain in ways that reflected their earlier lives in Poland. They grew their own vegetables, raised chickens and rabbits, and rented out rooms to other Eastern European migrants.

“They were small business owners in Poland, and they brought that spirit with them to Britain,” Chris notes.

From these humble beginnings, their grandson was able to progress to a professorship and build an esteemed career in cultural sociology.

The topic of British cultural identity is one that has interested Chris through his career, and he authored the book Brit-Myth: Who the British think they are? (FOCI, 2007).

How the Caribbean and Polish experiences differed

Caribbean migrants who arrived on the Windrush were often met with hostility and prejudice, experiencing racism in their daily lives as they sought to make a new home in a country that had invited them to come and help rebuild.

While Chris’ grandparents also faced a sense of alienation, he acknowledged that the barriers faced by Caribbean migrants were marked by racism.

“I’m conscious of the fact that the Black community faced far greater challenges in terms of racism and integration,” he said. “They were living in places like Brixton, which back then was cut off from the rest of London, and they often had to build their own communities because Britain wasn’t welcoming.”

Britain and its legacy of migration

Chris believes that understanding the full diversity of the Windrush experience—including the stories of Polish and other migrant communities—could broaden our understanding of Britain’s post-war history.

His discovery that his grandmother was among the Polish refugees on the Windrush ship has added a new layer to his own identity.

His family’s experience, which was marked by displacement, survival, and eventually integration, serves as a reminder that the Windrush generation, and the long shadow of the Empire, is a much more complex and multifaceted story than is often acknowledged.

The migration experiences of those who came to Britain in the aftermath of World War II have transformed the nation in profound ways.

For Chris, this newfound connection to the Windrush story offers an opportunity to reflect on the resilience of his own ancestors, as well as the ongoing importance of understanding migration’s role in shaping the cultural fabric of modern Britain.