Abstract
During the 1980s, amid a domestic crisis, almost a million Poles left their homeland, fleeing a failing socialist economy and a repressive regime. The majority settled in Western Europe, Scandinavia and the United States of America, but some elected to relocate to South Africa. Drawing on Everett Lee’s ‘push and pull theory’, firstly, this article examines factors influencing the migration of Poles to South Africa. Secondly, it examines the formation of a Polish community in the Vaal Triangle and the importance of religion in consolidating the community and preserving a sense of Polish culture. By focussing on the Vaal Triangle during the 1980s, an area that attracted a proportionally higher number of Polish immigrants than other parts of the country, the article addresses the significance of its state industries as a magnet for skilled immigrants.
Contribution: The article draws on South African newspaper coverage of Poland’s crisis as a comparative lens, together with interviews with members of the Polish community in South Africa and archival research.
Keywords: migration; Poland; South Africa; Polonia; 1980s; Vaal Triangle.
Introduction
Writing1 from London in 1981, a few days after the declaration of martial law by the Military Council of National Salvation and the internment of the leaders of the trade union movement Solidarity [Solidarność], South African journalist, Stanley Uys, reminded readers of the Rand Daily Mail that the crisis in Poland was indicative of ‘communism’s failure to deliver a better life.’ Uys cited statistics that ‘one in every six Poles and 40% of the country’s children are living below the poverty line’.2 Between 1980 and 1981, approximately 250 000 Poles left the country for Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries after the imposition of martial law and the ‘political persecution of the Solidarnosc movement’3 with about half of them, however, eventually returning to Poland. Along with the poverty and systemic failure Uys described, the imposition of martial law was imposed with a heavy toll on the people of Poland, with Amnesty International documenting rising abuses.4
This article seeks to explain how South Africa became an attractive destination for Polish refugees fleeing the failing Communist system. This situation offered a boon to the South African government. The prospect of skilled European immigrants was attractive, with the added advantage that they were fugitives from Communism seen, as in the West more broadly, ‘as political refugees, whatever their individual motives’.5 According to the political scientist Arkadiusz Żukowski, most of the Polish community living in South Africa settled in metropolitan and industrial areas, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Port Elizabeth. However, because of the emigration that occurred during the 1980s:
Polish emigrants created new centres in the Vaal Triangle industrial district (Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging, Sasolburg) and in cities situated east-south of Johannesburg (Secunda, Evander, Ermelo, Leandra) and west-south of Johannesburg (Westonaria, Carltonville and Lenasia).6
In addition to analysing the push and pull factors of the migration of Poles to South Africa, this article explores the formation of the Polish community in the Vaal Triangle. By exploring the reasons for the Polish migration to the region, an area that attracted a proportionally higher number of Polish immigrants than other parts of the country, the article also addresses the significance of the industries in the Vaal Triangle in South Africa as a magnet for skilled immigrants.
Firstly, the article briefly explores the comparative scholarship on South Africa and Poland. It then examines the ‘push and pull factors’ within Poland and South Africa, which caused Poles to leave their homeland for South Africa. Secondly, the article examines the consolidation of this wave of Polish immigrants and how that community sought to preserve its cultural heritage. The article draws its insights primarily from interviews conducted with members of the Polish community in the Vaal Triangle, research from South African newspapers of the 1980s and records held in the Polish Association of South Africa Archive in Lyndhurst, Johannesburg.
Poland and South Africa in the 1980s
The political scientist Ursula van Beek has been significant in comparing South Africa’s and Poland’s roads to democracy. Both countries underwent a type of Khunian paradigm shift, Van Beek argued, because of the anomalies that appeared in both the system of communism and apartheid. The core dilemma was the ‘inability of the two ideologies to offer solutions to the mounting problems in the socio-economic and political arena’.7 While the countries are often viewed through the common lens of transition, Kim Christiaens and Idesbald Goddeeris have emphasised the ambivalences and contradictions that existed between the struggles in Poland and South Africa.8 Tom Junes and Adrian Guelke explored the extent of influence the events in Poland had on South Africa.9 Craig Charney would conclude his doctoral study with a comparison of Black Consciousness and Solidarity, recalling his witnessing of African workers in August 1981 in Johannesburg excitedly discussing the emergence of the trade union in Poland and its possible precedent for South Africa.10 This article does not address the comparison between apartheid and communism or the movements of opposition directly but seeks to provide insight into the ways in which these struggles intersected, and the creation of a community as its offshoot.
Emigration from the Polish People’s Republic
Everett Lee is perhaps best known for his ground-breaking theory of migration, also known as the Push and Pull Theory, or ‘Lee’s Theory’; push factors impelled migration out of a certain area, whereas pull factors drew migrants towards another area. He categorised these factors by relating them to the establishment of stream and counter-stream migration, the characteristics of migrants and the volume of migration.11 This theory can be applied quite effectively when studying the Polish migration of the 1980s to South Africa. This section seeks to provide context to analyse what the ‘push’ factors were that encouraged emigration from Poland in the 1980s. The social, political and economic conditions in Poland resulted in multiple ‘push’ factors for those residing in the country. These push factors were primarily economic and political. They confirm Anna Mazurkiewicz’s observation that the decision to leave home and stay abroad was usually both a political and an economic decision.12 In addition, this section uses South African newspaper articles to provide a comparative perspective of the events in Poland and reveal how events behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ were interpreted. Events in Poland were seen through a highly moralised lens that lacked reflective comparison with the reasons for South Africa’s own political crisis at the time.
In an overview of the motives for Polish emigration during the 1980s, the Polish historian Patryk Pleskot notes that it cannot be ‘easily categorized as either political or economic’.13 While most people emigrated from Poland during the 1980s for economic reasons, many migrants left Poland for political reasons, the majority of these being influential Solidarity activists. This research found there were two distinct waves of migrants: the first wave of migrants who came to South Africa in the early and mid-1980s were predominantly political migrants, whereas those who came in the late 1980s were mainly economic migrants.
An added layer of complexity is flagged by Italian political scientist, Laura Zanfrini, who found that ‘the denial of religious rights – in its overall meaning – is one of the main drivers of contemporary (forced) migration, usually in interconnection with other social, political and economic factors’. Zanfrini also found that:
[R]eligious institutions, religious affiliations and religious values are crucial factors not only in structuring migration patterns and practices, but also in supporting the adaptation of newcomers –particularly in the case of (forced) migrants and asylum seekers.14
This article confirms her argument and emphasises the crucial role played by the Roman Catholic church in the consolidation of the Polish community in the Vaal Triangle.
One of the predominant push factors in Poland was the increasing political repression the Communist regime resorted to. The historian Norman Davies breaks up the 1980s in Poland into three distinct phases: 1980–1981, when for a brief period, Solidarity operated legally as a trade union outside of state control, ‘the only independent organisation of its kind in the history of the Soviet Bloc’; 1981–1983 when the communists instituted martial law and attempted to crush Solidarity and finally, the period 1983–1990, when the communists attempted unsuccessfully to create a stable system.15 The rise of Solidarity was intimately connected to a long and persistent struggle against communist domination, which mirrored South Africa’s own struggle against apartheid. As Christiaens and Goddeeris remark, both Poland and South Africa were subjected to an illegitimate government in 1948, resorted to uprisings at Poznań, Radom and Gdańsk, Sharpeville and Soweto, respectively, notable among them being rebellions that took place ‘almost simultaneously’ in June 1976, and both were ‘ruled by martial law in the 1980s’.16
The imposition of martial law in Poland began with a well-coordinated operation over the night of 12–13 December 1981.17 A military council headed by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, known as the ‘Military Council of Nation Salvation’, seized complete control of the country and its citizens. Six thousand Solidarity activists were arrested, including its charismatic leader, Lech Wałęsa. The individuals arrested were taken to internment camps. Social organisations were immediately suspended, and force was used to suppress the strikes that broke out across the country, resulting in the death of nine miners in Katowice. The newspaper Volkstem stated, without any sense of irony, that ‘Once again, the iron fist has tightened its grip on Poland to crush any movement towards freedom’. The article went on to describe the events as ‘a grim record of the ruthlessness of communist control’.18 Jola Chmela, who was in Spain at this time and who elected not to return to Poland, described the country as ‘tightly controlled’ and ‘very restrictive’ for those left behind in Poland during the years of martial law.19
Many Poles who were outside of Poland when martial law was declared similarly chose not to return. A group of Polish sailors jumped ship in December 1981 at Walvis Bay, Southwest Africa (Namibia).20 A total of 79 sailors from six fishing vessels, five trawlers and the mothership, Zulawy,21 were eventually granted asylum in South Africa. While waiting for the authorities to decide their fate, the sailors who claimed to be part of Solidarity and devout Catholics, attended a mass prepared for them by the parish priest of Walvis Bay, Fr. Alfons Quirrenbach. In what would become a broader trend, all the men were taken inland and were offered jobs in either mining, Eskom or Iscor. Iscor alone offered jobs to 29 of the men, as part of their large-scale recruitment strategy. The Rand Daily Mail reported in 1982, there were approximately 500 Poles working in the mining sector, or for Eskom, Iscor or Sasol.22
May 1982 saw the strongest show of public defiance since martial law was declared the previous December, and there were protests in Gdańsk, Szczecin and Warsaw, which were met with water jets and tear gas. Newsweek reported on the strikes and ensuing response that the clash between protestors and militiamen was ‘the ugliest burst of violence since martial law’.23 The Star reported that protesters were met with tear gas and phosphorus flares in the streets, while the deputy prime minister called for ‘social dialogue’.24 While reporting on the same outbreak of violence, the Natal Witness commented that:
[T]he violence provided a forceful reminder to the military rulers that enforcing martial law restrictions while the economic screw was tightened on most households could only be a short-term solution to Poland’s problems.25
With most organisations banned, the Church became the only ‘publicly active autonomous focus of national life [which] expanded in a manner highly reminiscent of earlier troubled periods in Polish history’.26 Despite Solidarity being outlawed, millions of Poles attended church services with Solidarity banners. When the Daily Dispatch asked a French student, who had visited Poland during this period, what he found most impressive about the country, he answered ‘the churches, they are always full’.27 While the Church itself was not directly involved in the political opposition, it often interceded with the authorities. While visiting his home country for the second time in June 1983, John Paul II said to the 10 million Poles who came to greet him that he hoped for the re-legalisation of Solidarity.28
By the mid-1980s, the country had reached a political stalemate. Jaruzelski had retreated from using violent police methods to keep the population in check, but he did not manage to solve the country’s massive economic problems. The Polish foreign debt sat at 40 billion dollars in 1988, and sanctions from the United States of America compounded the situation.29 The standard of living in Poland fell along with industrial production, while prices rose. It was during this time of seeming hopelessness that half a million Poles, mostly young people, left the country in search of better opportunities and a higher standard of living elsewhere. The state released all political prisoners in 1986,30 but the leaders of Solidarity refused to consult with the government. Wałęsa continued to insist on the restoration of political pluralism to solve the grave state of the economy.
Solidarity members went on strike once again in April and May 1988. While the government did not re-introduce martial law, they did not give in to the trade union’s demands either. The Sunday Star stated that ‘nothing has been solved by the Polish regime’s decision to end the strikes by force … one thing which everyone – even the pugnacious government spokesman – agrees’. 31 The Soviet Union was of little help to the regime at this time, as they had their own crisis to resolve. This left the Polish authorities with only two options, to either attempt to regain control of the country and its citizens through force or to come to a compromise with the opposition. Incidentally, the ruling National Party had a similar choice to make.32
On 26 August 1988, during a televised broadcast, General Kiszczak announced his intentions for what would become known as the ‘round-table talks’ and invited the opposition to an open discussion. In response, Wałęsa called off the nationwide strikes and met Kiszczak privately on 31 August. Extremists on both sides were unhappy about this meeting, and it took months of manoeuvring to finally start the talks on 06 February 1989. The talks concluded on 05 April. On 04 June 1989, semi-free elections took place. These elections were the culmination of the ‘round table’ talks, which began in April and lasted 2 months between the government and the opposition.
The elections were disastrous for the Communist Party. Lukowski and Zawadski state they ‘proved to be the first key move in the dismantling of the communist system in east-central Europe’.33 The Solidarity-backed Citizen’s Committee won 99 of the 100 seats in the Senate. South African journalist Patrick Worsnip reported that the communist rulers experienced a ‘crushing defeat’ 34 in the elections. On 03 July 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last leader (1985–1991), made the announcement that Poland was allowed to determine the fate of its own government. A member of the Polish communist politburo was quoted by the Sunday Argus as saying that ‘[the communist party] took a gamble, and lost’. 35
South Africa’s pull factors
While the situation in Poland during the 1980s provided the ‘push’ factors for emigration out of the country, South Africa had ‘pull’ factors that drew Poles to the country. To resolve its self-made problem of a lack of skilled labour, the South African government elected to encourage skilled white labourers from Europe to fill the positions in its industrial sectors. In doing so, they retracted previously tight controls on Eastern European migrants. It is thus necessary to discuss the context of 1980s South Africa, and why despite this decade’s difficulties, Poles still sought to immigrate to the country. This was primarily because of the country’s industrial sector and the need for skilled labour.
The National Party was not initially in favour of mass European immigration to South Africa. They were concerned that the Afrikaner population could either be outnumbered or ‘contaminated’ by unselective immigration.36 However, by the start of the 1960s, there was a projected skilled labour shortage in the country, a direct result of the implementation of Bantu education in 1953. To resolve this self-made problem, the South African government elected not to train the black population but rather to encourage skilled white labourers from Europe to fill the positions in the industrial sectors. Following its change in policy after 1961, the apartheid government launched an immigration drive by encouraging both private and voluntary organisations. These included the 1820 Memorial Settlers Association, concentrating on British immigrants, and the Maatskappy vir Europese Immigrasie (Company for European Migration) for Dutch and German immigrants. The National Party government set a goal to attract 30 000 European immigrants to South Africa per year. The new policy stated that all whites were to be accepted, irrespective of religious and cultural background. These state-aided schemes were successful because of extensive publicity campaigns in Britain and Europe, offering ‘the most generous subsidies and financial aid in comparison to other receiving countries’.37 In addition, South African immigration branches overseas were staffed with helpful and highly sympathetic officials, who offered relaxed regulations. One such recruiter, Hannes Viljoen, an Iscor personnel officer, was stationed in Vienna, where he actively recruited Poles. By January 1982, he had interviewed 360 Poles, 65 of whom he offered employment at Iscor.38 Viljoen reflected that ‘Poland is especially rich in human resources. I find that the standard of education is exceptional’. Viljoen stated that he felt sympathetic to the Polish people he met, and that ‘they are really good workers and their technicians are all very well trained’. This was part of a much wider wave; Christaens and Goddeeris estimate that in 1982 alone 3500 Poles signed contracts and moved to South Africa.39
Since South Africa was in economic and political turmoil in the 1980s, it would seem counterintuitive that it would be an attractive option for emigrating Poles. However, despite the circumstances in South Africa being abhorrent for most, it was ideal for skilled white immigrants. Most who left Poland in the 1980s were qualified, white and anti-communist, three qualities highly desirable in late apartheid-era South Africa. One example was Jacek Fastyn. Born in Kutno in 1947, he attended Łódź Technical University where he studied chemical engineering. In 1981, Fastyn and his family started looking to emigrate because of the situation in Poland, which he described as ‘hardly bearable’. In November 1981, he went to Austria to meet a representative of Sasol, and when he was offered a position at the company, he signed the contract. He was only able to move, however, three years later because of the imposition of martial law.40 It was an irony these workers were employed in state-owned industries, more reminiscent of communism than laissez-faire capitalism. This economic phenomenon was described by Dan O’Meara as volkskapitalisme, an ‘Afrikaner capitalism’ created and nurtured through Afrikaner nationalism.41
Parastatals such as ISCOR (Iron and Steel Corporation) and ESKOM (Electricity Supply Commission) were established in the 1920s. In addition to their significance for South African industrialisation, they were also promoted as a means of addressing the ‘poor white problem’.42 The South African Coal, Oil and Gas Corporation (Sasol) was established in 1950, because of the South African government’s quest for an autarkic energy supply for its industry. Without natural oil reserves, the government deemed this venture necessary for both economic and political reasons, even though producing oil from coal was an incredibly expensive process. According to economists Simon Roberts and Zavareh Rustomjee, both ‘Sasol and Iscor were nurtured as state-owned enterprises by the apartheid state’. This was because the products that these industries produced, specifically steel and liquid fuels, were needed to ensure that ‘the apartheid state could ensure its prolonged life through military and other means’.43 The historian Stephen Sparks offers two explanations for why the apartheid government pushed to be independent of internationally sourced oil.44 The first was ideological in its need to ensure the survival of Afrikaner nationalism. The second was economic. Access to cheaply paid black labour, a cornerstone of the Sasol company, was crucial in maintaining the apartheid state in South Africa. Sasol helped the Afrikaner nationalist government maintain its independence by providing an alternative to importing oil, and the policies regarding the treatment of black workers in South Africa put in place by the nationalist government helped Sasol achieve its goals.
Many of the industries were based in the Vaal Triangle, an area made up of Sasolburg, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging, 60 km south of Johannesburg. While Vereeniging was relatively old, founded in 1892, Vandebirjlpark was established in 1941 and Sasolburg only in 1954. The towns were planned for whites and envisaged as suburban and ordered. Bill Freund notes that ‘The core towns built for whites lay at the apex of the planning exercises.’45 The townships, reserved for Africans, included Evaton, Sebokeng, Boipatong, Bophelong, Sharpeville and Ratanda.
The Polish community in the Vaal Triangle
The wave of Polish immigrants in the early 1980s became known as the ‘Young Polonia’ and added vitality to an already existing, albeit small, Polish community in the Vaal Triangle. There was a large influx of Polish migrants to the area in 1981 directly before the implementation of martial law and in 1982, directly after the implementation of martial law. The importance of established immigrants to the region cannot be overstated, as they welcomed the new arrivals into the area. One such individual was Halina Potgieter née Mazur who was part of the 500 children who came to Oudtshoorn in 1943 during the Second World War.46 Many of these children stayed on and worked in the area. Others, like Halina Potgieter, came to the Vaal Triangle sporadically during the following decades. Another was Leszek Kondal, who came to Vanderbijlpark on 03 January 1967 and who was the first president of the Zjednoczenia Polskiego Vaal-Triangle [Polish Association of the Vaal Triangle (ZPVT)].
Although a Polish union of Johannesburg had existed for many years, in a meeting held on 16 April 1982 in Vanderbijlpark, it was decided that a branch in the Vaal Triangle would be created, the Polish Association of the Vaal Triangle (ZPVT). The meeting was attended by the president of the Polish Association in South Africa, Edward de Virion as well as the president of the Council of Polonia South Africa, Jerzy Wallas. Leszek Kondal was elected as the head of the new branch in the Vaal Triangle. In July 1986, the ZPVT became a separate organisation and was no longer seen as a branch of the Johannesburg Association.47 In an interview, Ryszard Skoczyński emphasised the importance of the ZPVT reflecting that it ‘brought people together, gave each other support, ensured that children were not cut-off from their culture, and that the members of the community felt secure and welcome’.48
While the ZPVT acted as the cornerstone for the Polish community in the Vaal Triangle in an official sense, the Catholic church was just as crucial. Although an exact date of implementation could not be found (members of the community remembered it to be in the early 1980s),49 an archival source in the form of a contract between the ZPVT and the Parish Council of St. Francis Church of Vanderbijlpark outlines the relationship that the two organisations had with each other. The contract was between the church and the ‘Polish Catholic Centre’ (PCC), which was a branch of the ZPVT. The church defined the PCC as ‘a formally established and operating society of Polish immigrants or/and persons of Polish descent’. The document goes on to state that ‘the PCC is held to be and to remain established for the social and cultural benefit of its members operating as a non-profit society and federated to the Polish Association of South Africa’.50
The Catholic Church was of great importance not just for the Polish nation and Solidarity, but also for Polish diasporas (Polonia) in other parts of the world. It acted as the foundation upon which the Polish community of the Vaal Triangle built itself and provided a sense of home and familiarity in a foreign country. Zanfrini argues that:
[R]eligious institutions, religious affiliations and religious values are crucial factors not only in structuring migration patterns and practices, but also in supporting the adaptation of newcomers –particularly in the case of (forced) migrants and asylum seekers.51
Describing immigration to America, Zanfrini describes belonging to a religious group as a ‘bridging’ factor, making it easier to assimilate into American culture. However, in Europe, she argues it is seen as a ‘bonding’ factor, where the immigrants belonging to the religious group are connected to others of the same group, without helping with assimilation into broader society and sometimes even acting as a hindrance. The predominantly Catholic Polish community in the Vaal Triangle experienced both bonding and bridging, as opposed to either one or the other. The church formed the foundation upon which the ZPVT was built and consolidated the Polish community as a whole. It also bridged the Polish community with the South African Catholic community, as the church of Saint Francis in Vanderbijlpark served both Polish and South African communities. The role of the Catholic church in consolidating the Polish diaspora of the Vaal Triangle cannot be overstated. The ZPVT may have been the official organisation which brought the community together, but the church was the actual foundation upon which the community built and defined itself.
While some were active in Solidarity in Poland, departure for South Africa limited what they could do. There was still financial support for Solidarity, with the ZPVT donating the proceeds of the events that it organised to the movement. This mirrored a wider trend Pleskot observed; the majority of Solidarity activists ceased their activism entirely in most cases once arriving in their destination country.52 The Polish community in the Vaal Triangle was also for the most part not involved in South African politics, and most of those in the community had a very limited if not non-existent, understanding of South Africa before emigrating, which was compounded by apartheid’s adroit international public relations. The Anti-Apartheid Movement illustrated this disinformation campaign with a cartoon titled ‘There’s a place for everyone in South Africa’ where an attractive façade of safari parks and beaches with the instruction ‘White Immigrants Turn Right’ obscured a racial ghetto hidden to the left in the background (see Figure 1).53
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FIGURE 1: ‘There’s a place for everyone in South Africa’ (anti-apartheid movement). |
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In response to the growing migration of Poles to South Africa, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) issued a pamphlet titled Letter to Polish Catholics from the Church in South Africa, in October 1982. As Christaens and Goddeeris comment, the letter:
… cautioned … that many black people would regard them with suspicion. The Poles …would be enjoying privileges that were denied to blacks, were filling the need of skilled labour that had been created by neglecting the education of more than 2 million of black unemployed, and were employed in places that had a strategic importance for maintaining apartheid and had therefore been singled out for sabotage by black liberation movements.54
The Letter proved incredibly divisive for the South African Polish community as well as the global Polonia. It posed difficult questions for the relationship between freedom and the Cold War and often brought into high relief the underlying beliefs about civilisation and progress that coloured the view of European colonisation. Once they had learnt more about South African politics, those interviewed said that they had disagreed with the country’s policies surrounding race. However, they all seemed to have the sense that the situation in South Africa was going to be resolved quickly and easily, and they did not see it as severe as the situation in Poland.
The Vaal Triangle was in fact one of the epicentres of violence and popular revolt against the apartheid government. There were several reasons for this, one of which was the simple cost of rent, which compounded a complex set of grievances with their roots in apartheid’s systemic violence. What would later be dubbed ‘the Vaal uprising’, Franziska Rueedi notes, ‘heralded the beginning of the insurrectionary period’, which spread across South Africa making the country’s urban townships ‘ungovernable’.55 The violence in the Vaal Triangle townships was not restricted to just conflict between protesters and the authorities as there was also violence between ANC and Inkatha members.56
The white residents of the Vaal Triangle were largely shielded from the violence in the townships, with most not being particularly aware of the extent of it. This was true of the Polish community in the Vaal Triangle as well although Rueedi notes that ‘the towns of Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging were frequently the scene of violent assaults’ on Africans.57 Most Poles had little to no knowledge of the political situation in South Africa prior to immigrating and were rather driven by their assessment of their potential economic prospects. For example, Ryszard and Bozena Skoczyński came to South Africa in 1988, because they believed the economic collapse of Poland was intractable. Ryszard Skoczyński observed that while they saw ‘Apartheid was coming to an end, the situation in Poland was simply not sustainable’.58
There was limited, if any, interaction between the Polish immigrants and the black population. A member of the community who had come to South Africa with her parents as a child, said that:
…I remember news reports regarding the protests in the townships and the sanctions against South Africa. I remember my parents talking about the fact that Black people were not allowed to be in our suburb after dark and I questioned why and how it would work if every house had a so-called servant’s quarters. I don’t remember the answer that my parents gave. As a child it wasn’t something that I questioned as it was a part of our reality and just the way things were. It was only in High School that I made friends with a girl from a ‘liberal’ family, and I learned about other points of view.59
While unrest was a reality in the Vaal Triangle townships, the Vaal industries were actively courting the Polish community. As such, the Poles who had come to the Vaal Triangle to work for Vaal Industries did not question their choice to relocate, as they were treated exceptionally well. For example, in August 1982, Iscor organised a ‘Polish Evening’ for those who had immigrated from Poland to the Vaal Triangle, indicating that Iscor recognised the importance of the Poles to its operations. Under the direction of Zyta Bąk and Jolanta Grabczan-Grabowska, the ZPVT arranged a small production to be performed for the 340 individuals who attended the event. The income generated from the evening was used to support Poles who still resided in Poland. In November 1983, at the Vaal Triangle Technikon, the ZPVT participated in the ‘International Christmas Table Show’ in which they took second place for their Easter-themed table.60
Conclusion
Today, the ZPVT is still operational, albeit on a smaller scale. The celebration of holidays has been an important identity marker. Among these are Constitution Day (03 May) commemorating the first constitution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the first constitutions in Europe to reflect the values of the Enlightenment; Polish Independence Day (11 November), marking the day in 1918 the country regained its independence following the First World War; and the ‘Warsaw Flights’ (early September), accompanied by placing a wreath at the Monument to the Victims of Katyn in Johannesburg. The monument was erected in 1981 to remember the approximately 22 000 officers of the Polish army executed under the orders of Stalin in the Katyn forest in 1940. The Warsaw Flights have functioned as an important heritage link between South Africa and Poland, with the South African Air Force (SAAF) prominently involved in attempting to supply the Warsaw Uprising in which the airforce suffered significant losses.61
Despite the work of the ZPVT and the Catholic Church, the last decade has shown a notable decrease in such activities and involvement in the community. While there is still a valiant effort being made to sustain this community, it is undoubtedly shrinking and becoming less vibrant. This of course is to be expected, as older members of the community pass away and many of the younger members of the community leave, or alternatively, have been absorbed almost completely into South African culture. It is important to note that while these individuals were united in heritage, language and through the ZPVT, their experiences were unique. This included both how they found themselves in South Africa as well as how they adapted. While many found community and security in the ZPVT, some found a sense of belonging with other expatriates rather than the Polish community.
Skoczynski, who worked as an engineer for Iscor, when asked what he thought of the future of the Polish Union of the Vaal Triangle (ZPVT), sadly remarked that it was ‘becoming history’. With the Vaal industries in economic decline, there were no longer jobs for these migrants’ children, who have left for other parts of the country or the world. This shows the intrinsic link between the Vaal industries and the existence of this community. Without the need for skilled labour in the Vaal industries, Poles seeking to emigrate out of Poland in the 1980s would probably not have chosen to settle there, and as such the community would not exist. It is therefore unsurprising that the decline of the Vaal industrial sector is leading to the demise of this community. Ryszard Skoczyński reflected that while many of those who came in the two waves of migration in the 1980s have since either left or have passed away, the Polish Union of the Vaal Triangle ‘do not want them to die from our fragile and impermanent memory’.62
Despite South Africa experiencing its own political and domestic crisis, there were specific pull factors that made it attractive to Poles in particular. There was a serious skilled labour shortage in South Africa’s industries and highly skilled, white and anti-communist Poles were perfect candidates for these positions. The Poles who left Poland to escape the communist regime, however, came to work in the Vaal industries that were state owned and therefore more reminiscent of communist than capitalist enterprises. The history of Polish migration to South Africa has been long and dynamic, and the Polish influence in South Africa, although mostly unheard-of or overlooked, has helped shape South Africa and has left its mark on its society. The aim of this article was to provide a context to understand Polish migration to South Africa during the 1980s and provide details on how these migrants built their lives and created a new community in a new country. This community is shrinking, with the older generation moving or passing away, and the younger generation either being assimilated into South African culture or leaving the Vaal Triangle or South Africa, for better opportunities elsewhere. It is therefore important to tell the history of this community before it does in fact ‘become history’.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge Jola Chmela, Jacek Fastyn, Ryszard and Bozena Skoczyński for their assistance with the project, as well as those interviewed who requested to remain anonymous. Thanks to the sisters at Mary Immaculate Convent for access to the archives of the Polish Heritage Foundation of South Africa in Linksfield. Michaela van Ingen-Kal would also like to thank all those from the community encountered in a more informal capacity, for their hospitality, enthusiasm and encouragement.
The authors would also like to acknowledge the comments of the reviewers and thank Adam Kochajkiewicz of the Institute of National Remembrance for constructive input into the manuscript.
This article is based on M.v.I-K.’s dissertation entitled ‘Migration in an ‘Age of Uncertainty’: The Creation of a Polish Community in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa (1980-1989) towards the degree of Masters in Social Sciences, University of Pretoria, with supervisor Dr. I. Macqueen. It is available at: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/91877/Van%20Ingen-Kal_Migration_2023.pdf?sequence=3.
Competing interests
The authors reported that they received funding from the University of Pretoria, which may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed publication. The authors have disclosed those interests fully and have implemented an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from their involvement. The terms of these funding arrangements have been reviewed and approved by the affiliated University in accordance with its policy on objectivity in research.
Authors’ contributions
The initial research was conducted by M.v.I-K. under the supervision of I.M. M.v.I.-K. conducted all the interviews and newspaper analysis. I.M. provided additional research and historiographical positioning and was responsible for the final writing and editing of the article.
Ethical considerations
Ethical clearance to conduct this study was obtained from the University of Pretoria Faculty of Humanities Research Ethics Committee (reference no.: HUM011/0122).
Funding information
M.v.I-K. acknowledges the funding of the University of Pretoria’s Postgraduate Bursary for Master’s and Doctoral students. I.M. would like to acknowledge funding received through the University of Pretoria’s University Capacity Development Programme (2019) and Research Development Programme (2018), which made this research possible.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, I.M., upon reasonable request: ‘Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University Libraries. (Tue Sep 17 2024)’; There’s a place for everyone in South Africa, Retrieved from https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/items/24b5d39d-a051-4b67-83c6-6a18356fdc88.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are the product of professional research. It does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated institution, funder, agency or that of the publisher. The authors are responsible for this article’s results, findings and content.
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Footnotes
1. This article draws substantially on Michaela van Ingen-Kal, “Migration in an ‘Age of Uncertainty’: The Creation of a Polish Community in the Vaal Triangle, South Africa (1980–1989)” Master’s thesis, University of Pretoria, 2023. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/91877.
2. ‘Poland’s Crisis: Communism’s Failure to Deliver a Better Life’, Rand Daily Mail, 19 December 1981.
3. Heinz Fassmann and Rainer Munz, ‘European East-West Migration, 1945–1992,’ International Migration Review 28 no. 3 (1994): 527.
4. On 15 February 1982, Amnesty International cited a Reuters report of a petition by 130 Polish intellectuals to the Polish parliament protesting “brutal strike-breaking by the army and the police, against shootings and beatings, against the internment of thousands in prisons and camps … Except for the Nazi occupation and the Stalinist period, there have never been on Polish soil as many crowded prisons and camps as in January 1982”. Warwick Modern Records, MSS.34/4/1/PL/5, ‘Internment in Poland under provisions of martial law proclaimed on 13 December 1981’, 7, Amnesty International, 15 February 1982.
5. Fassmann and Munz, “European East-West Migration, 1945-1992,” 527.
6. Arkadiusz Żukowski, “Contemporary Polish Diaspora in the Republic of South Africa and Its Attitudes Towards Politics,” Polish Political Science 39 (2010): 191–203. See also Arkadiusz Żukowski, “Contemporary Polish Diaspora in the Republic of South Africa and Its Attitude towards Politics’, Polish Political Science, 2010. http://polona.pl/item/32286054; Arkadiusz (1961- ). Żukowski, ‘Polish Community in South Africa: A History of Settlement,” Africana Bulletin (Ed. 1), 1999; Arkadiusz Żukowski, “Polish Relations with and Settlement in South Africa (circa 1500–1835),” Historia 37, no. 1 (1992): 1–8.
7. Ursula Van Beek, “The Emergence of Democracy in South Africa and Poland.” In The Experience of Democratization in Eastern Europe, edited by R. Sakwa (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999), 274–283. See also Ursula Van Beek and Stanisław Cieniuch, eds., South Africa and Poland in Transition: A Comparative Perspective. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1995.
8. Kim Christiaens and Idesbald Goddeeris, “Solidarity or Anti-Apartheid? The Polish Opposition and South Africa, 1976–1989,” In A Global History of Anti-Apartheid: “Forward to Freedom” in South Africa, edited by Anna Konieczna and Rob Skinner (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019), 291–315. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03652-2_10.
9. Adrian Guelke and Tom Junes, “Copycat Tactics in Processes of Regime Change: The Demise of Communism in Poland and Apartheid in South Africa,” Critique & Humanism 40 (2012) 171–92; Adrian Guelke and Tom Junes, “1989 Compared and Connected: The Demise of Communism in Poland and Apartheid in South Africa,” In The Long 1989: Decades of Global Revolution, edited by Piotr H. Kosicki and Kyrill Kunakhovich (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2019), 13–38. Tom Junes, “Oppositional Student Politics in Poland and South Africa: Youth Rebellion as a Factor in the Demise of Communism and Apartheid,” Studia Historyczne 55, no. 3–4 (2012): 389–406.
10. Craig Russell Charney, “Civil Society vs. the *state: Identity, Institutions, and the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa,” (PhD thesis, Yale University, 2000), 708, (304640611). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/civil-society-vs-state-identity-institutions/docview/304640611/se-2?accountid=14717.
11. Everett S. Lee. “A Theory of Migration,” Demography 3, no. 1 (1966): 47–57.
12. Anna Mazurkiewicz, “Political Emigration from East Central Europe During the Cold War,” Polish American Studies 72, no. 2 (2015): 65–82.
13. Patryk Pleskot, “Polish Political Emigration in the 1980s: Current Research, Perspectives, and Challenges,” Polish American Studies 72, no. 2 (2015): 49.
14. Laura Zanfrini, ed. Migrants and Religion: Paths, Issues, and Lenses: A Multidisciplinary and Multi-Sited Study on the Role of Religious Belongings in Migratory and Integration Processes (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 9–10.
15. Norman Davies, Gods Playground. 2, 1795 to the Present, Revised ed. (Oxford: University Press, 2005), 482.
16. Christiaens and Goddeeris, “Solidarity or Anti-Apartheid? The Polish Opposition and South Africa, 1976–1989,” 291–93.
17. “Appeal for ‘massive’ Foreign Help”, The Citizen, 17 December 1981.
18. ‘The Polish Crisis.” Volkstem, 31 January 1982.
19. Jola Chmela, interview with M. van Ingen-Kal, Sasolburg, Vaal Triangle, 12 May 2022.
20. Peter Kenny, “Now 75 Polish Seamen Seek SA Asylum,” Rand Daily Mail, 24 December 1981.
21. Peter Kenny, “It’s a Waiting Game for Defectors,” Rand Daily Mail, 28 December 1981.
22. “Poles apart- in Vanderbijl.” Rand Daily Mail, 28 January 1982.
23. Fay Willey, “Defiant Solidarity Hits the Streets,” Newsweek, 17 May 1982.
24. “The Social Dialogue’ with Gas and Batons,” The Star, 8 May 1982.
25. David Storey, “Polish Peace Now Even More Urgent”, The Natal Witness, 10 May 1982.
26. Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki, A Concise History of Poland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 409.
27. “Religious Revival Which Is the Marvel of Poland,” Daily Dispatch, 05 December 1984.
28. Lukowski and Zawadzki, A Concise History of Poland, 410.
29. Timothy D. Lane, “Inflation Stabilization and Economic Transformation in Poland: The First Year,” 1991, 2.
30. Jackson Diehl, “Poland Declares Amnesty,” Washington Post, 12 September 1986. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/09/12/poland-declares-amnesty/57a5731f-23b7-4864-93b2-b166b8063fbd/.
31. “In Poland, Force is Futile.” The Sunday Star, 15 May 1988.
32. Robert Ross. A Concise History of South Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 123.
33. Lukowski and Zawadzki, A Concise History of Poland, 412.
34. Patrick Worsnip, “Solidarity Win Will Speed Polish Reform,” The Argus, 07 June 1989.
35. “How the party gambled- and lost,” Sunday Tribune, 11 June 1989.
36. Sally Peberdy, Selecting Immigrants: National Identity and South Africa’s Immigration Policies, 1910–2008 (Johannesburg, South Africa: Wits University Press, 2009).
37. Isidore Jack Donsky, “Aspects of the Immigration of Europeans to South Africa 1946-1970,” (MA diss., University of Johannesburg, 1989), 27–28.
38. “Poles Apart- in Vanderbijl,” Rand Daily Mail, 28 January 1982.
39. Christiaens and Goddeeris, “Solidarity or Anti-Apartheid? The Polish Opposition and South Africa, 1976–1989,” 294.
40. Jacek Fastyn, interview with M. van Ingen-Kal, Vanderbijlpark, Vaal Triangle, 02 June 2022.
41. Dan O’Meara. Volkskapitalisme: Class, Capital and Ideology in the Development of Afrikaner Nationalism, 1934–1948 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) (first published 1983).
42. Bill Freund, “White people fit for a new South Africa? State planning, policy and social response in the parastatal cities of the Vaal, 1940–1990 1,” In Rethinking White Societies in Southern Africa: 1930s–1990s, edited by Duncan Money and Danelle Van Zyl-Hermann (Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2020), 78–96.
43. Simon Roberts and Zavareh Rustomjee, “Industrial Policy Under Democracy: Apartheid’s Grown-up Infant Industries? Sasol and Iscor,” Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa 71, no. 1 (2010): 50–75.
44. Stephen Sparks, “Between ‘Artificial Economics’ and the ‘Discipline of the Market’: Sasol from Parastatal to Privatisation,” Journal of Southern African Studies 42, no. 4. (2016): 711–24.
45. Freund, “White People Fit for a New South Africa? State Planning, Policy and Social Response in the Parastatal Cities of the Vaal, 1940–1990 1,” 86.
46. Stefan Szewczuk, “Victims of Russian Aggression-Preliminary Findings on a History of the Polish Children of Oudtshoorn, South Africa,” Zeszyty Naukowe PUNO, no. 1 (2022): 29–43.
47. Biuletyn Polonia ZPVT 1982–2012, pamphlet, unpublished.
48. Ryszard Skoczyński interview with M. van Ingen-Kal, Vanderbijlpark, Vaal Triangle, 26 June 2022.
49. Jacek Fastyn, interview with M. van Ingen-Kal, Vanderbijlpark, Vaal Triangle, 02 June 2022.
50. “Parish Council of St. Francis Church: Vanderbijlpark, Agreement of Tenure: Polish Catholic Centre”, N.d. Polish Association of South Africa Archive, Mary Immaculate Convent, Lyndhurst, Johannesburg: 1
51. Zanfrini, Migrants and Religion, 11.
52. Pleskot, “Polish Political Emigration in the 1980s: Current Research, Perspectives, and Challenges,” 64.
53. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University Libraries. “There’s a Place for Everyone in South Africa,” Posters from the Herskovits Library. https://dc.library.northwestern.edu/items/24b5d39d-a051-4b67-83c6-6a18356fdc88.
54. Kim Christiaens and Idesbald Goddeeris. “Solidarity or Anti-Apartheid? The Polish Opposition and South Africa, 1976–1989,” In A Global History of Anti-Apartheid: “Forward to Freedom” in South Africa, edited by Anna Konieczna and Rob Skinner, 294–95.
55. Franziska Rueedi, The Vaal Uprising of 1984 & the Struggle for Freedom in South Africa (Boydell & Brewer, 2021), 3.
56. Thula Simpson, History of South Africa: From 1902 to the Present (Cape Town, South Africa: Penguin Books, 2021), 275.
57. Rueedi, The Vaal Uprising of 1984 & the Struggle for Freedom in South Africa, 9.
58. Ryszard Skoczyńsk, interview with M. van Ingen-Kal, Vanderbijlpark, Vaal Triangle, 26 June 2022.
59. Anon, interview with M. van Ingen-Kal, Sasolburg, Vaal Triangle, 27 September 2022.
60. Biuletyn Polonia ZPVT 1982–2012, pamphlet, unpublished.
61. “Polish Community Remembers SAAF Sacrifice Over Warsaw - SABC News - Breaking News, Special Reports, World, Business, Sport Coverage of All South African Current Events. Africa’s News Leader,” 2023. https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/polish-community-remembers-saaf-sacrifice-over-warsaw/; Adam Burakowski, “1944 Warsaw Rising: The Critical Role of S African Aircrews,” Daily Maverick, 08 September 2024. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-09-08-1944-warsaw-rising-the-critical-role-of-s-african-aircrews/.
62. Biuletyn Polonia ZPVT 1982–2012, pamphlet, unpublished.
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