Landeskunde ENG

- foreign born individuals

- foreign nationals

- people who have moved there for a year or more

migration has

- supported the growth of the world economy

- contributed to the evolution of states and societies

- enriched many cultures and civilisations

- dynamic

- entrepreneurial

- willing to take risks

- prepared to do jobs that nationals don't want to do

- (or) able to provide high-value skills that are in short supply in some countries

- voluntary vs forced (latter: usually refugees)

- political (usually refugees) vs economic (labour migrants = low skilled or highly skilled)

- social (often women and children moving to join husbands/fathers)

- legal vs illegal ("irregular" is often preferred)

- 1815-1845: 1.5 million went to Britain or USA

- huge exodus: after the Great Famine in 1845, 1 million died and 1 million emigrated to US, Canada, Australia but also to England

- further major wave of emigration to England from the 1930s to 1960s

first wave 1815-1845: to escape hunger and poverty

- 1. onward journey to USA, 2. seasonal farm work, 3. stay and work, 4. starve in Great Famine

- jobs in industry

- working on the docks

- labouring (Irish navvies): buildings, roads, railways and canals

- women in service / working as street vendors

- jobs in the army or police force

second wave 1930s-1960s: to escape poverty and social and religious oppression; to improve their situation, to see the world

- large families in basic accommodation

- lack of opportunities (jobs and education)

- social and cultural restrictions

- rural life: hand to mouth existence

- political unrest

- take jobs in industry and construction

- train as nurses

- take domestic work (especially women)

- join family/other members of the family had already "taken the boat"

- join ready-made irish communities (Liverpool, Manchester and London)

- become Irish landladies

- go home regularly

- sports and the pub

- parades and festivals

- religion

- dance and music

- literature, drama and art

- comedians and entertainers

first wave: before and after the Famine / second wave: 1930s to 1960s

- typical destinations

- jobs

- housing

- British people's attitudes

- agriculture (seasonal work)

- infrastructure (canals, railways, roads, buildings)

- industrial output (factories and textile mills)

- the docks

- the NHS (nurses and midwives)

- London transport 

- the police force and army

- the arts and enternatinment world

- catholic churches and community centres

- dance halls and pubs

- homelessness (among older single men)

- irish and Northern Irish fleeing danger

- provisional IRA activists / cells

- fear in British population 

- calm since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998

- small minority in Irish society 30'000

- unemplyment rate 84.3%

- fewer older people

- official policy is often to try and settle Travellers

- French Huguenots (1660-1714)

- Jewish settlers (1656-1948)

- wars of religion in France from mid-16th century

- under Louis XIV, large numbers emigrated, approx 50'000 to Britain

- religious freedom in Britain

- markets for their skills in Loondon

- silk weaving, watch making, silversmithing

- 2 main centres in London: East End (Spitalfields) = silk weaving / West End (Soho)= watches

- assimilation and intermarriage with British

- origin of the word refugee -> invented at that time to name French Huguenots immigrants

- 1066: first settlements after the Norman invasion 

- 1290: Jewish community (5'000-15'000 people) expelled by Edward I, he made bankers and moneytenders illegal

- 1656: under Cromwell, Sephardi Jews began to resettle

1881-1914: East European Ashkenazi Jews arrived in large numbers

1933-1939: migrants from Nazi Germany

escaping from Spanish / Portuguese inquistion

mainly wealthy, well-educated merchants

very poor, persecuted

- small but thriving anglo-jewish community of approx 60'000

- most = born in Britain

- part of British life but maintained traditions

- active in social, economic and political life

- Benjamin Disraeli (only jewish PM) / Nathan Rothschild

- life in Russia worsened for the Jews after they were associated with the death of Tsar Alexander II in 1881

- the jews were already subjected to restricitive laws

- the May Laws were introduced in 1882: regulations by new tsar

- persecution incrased

- economic hardship increased

- partitioning of Poland 1770-1795 left most jews living in small towns and villages under Russian rule

- from early 19th century, jews were confined to an area between the Baltic and the Black sea

- until mid-1850s, many Jewish boys were forcibly conscripted into the Russian army for 25 years

- then, in 1882, the May Laws were introduced

- pogroms began

Jews...

- could not live in towns

- could not own or farm land

- could only live and work in certain areas

- could not own mines or work as miners

- were limited to 5% of students at schools and universities

- could not train as or become lawyers

- could not hold government jobs

- driven from agriculture into trades that required strength rather than money

- worked mostly as tailors, but also as shoemakers, carpenters, bakers, butchers and metalworkers

- fierce competition forced wages down

- most jews were living at subsistence level and were constanty threatened by starvation

- their religion and its calendar

- their language (yiddish)

- their dress

- their diet

- their close-knit communities

- their trades (self-employed)

- their willingness to share accommodaton and work long hours 

- accommodation with or near family or Landsleit

- 1817: Jews Free School, London

- 1859: jewish board of guardians

- 1879: jews temporary shelter

- 1885: jewish association for the protection of girls and women

- 1885: Rothschild buildings

- 1887: federation of synagogues

- 1891: russo-jewish committee

- homes for the elderly, orphanages, day nurseries

- Schewzik's Vapour Baths in Brick Lane

- cramped, unsanitary accommodation

- "sweatshop" (tailoring, clothes were being made, live and work there) working conditions

- bad health (fibres/lung conditions)

- long working hours

- high rents and low wages

- 1882-1884: sympathy

- 1884-...: change in some people's attitudes and discussion of the alien question

- growing hostility in East End of London (housing and employment)

- divided opinions within anglo-jewish community

1. was there a need to control immigration? should there be a law to keep out criminals?

2. did aliens contribute to unemployment, poor working conditions and low wages? was British industry generally in need of protection from foreign competition?

3. did aliens affect housing (pushing up rents and producing unsanitary conditions and overcrowding)?

1905

- by conservatives

- appeared to stop those without money or a way of supporting themselves from entering Britain.

- refugees wouldn't be turned away, however

- conservatives lost election, liberal gov operated the law with generosity but did not repeal it (aufheben)

- numbers of jewish immigrants fell after the Act was introduced

- from 1909 to 1914, numbers returned to 5000 a year average of the period before the Act was enforced