Postwar settlers

Still Here: A Polish Odyssey RADIO Radio 4 Monday 6 August

The story of immigration to the UK from Poland is one often approached from the perspective of the expansion of the European Union. Yet as writer and documentary-maker Jane Rogoyska tells us here, it’s also a story that dates back to the Second World War, when thousands of displaced Poles escaped the USSR – and life in prison camps or on collective farms – via Iran.

Unlike those who escaped the Nazis, and the pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain, many of these newcomers were treated with suspicion by those who saw their presence as a threat to jobs. The descendants of some of those who escaped help tell their forebears’ stories in this new documentary.