Being Polish and loyal to Britain

By Lucy Wilkins
BBC News Online

As Poland's president begins a state visit to Britain as the leader of one of the 10 new members of the European Union, BBC News Online asks an old Polish soldier what his life has been like in his adopted homeland of Britain and what the future holds.

Mieczyslaw Jarkowski has no regrets about staying in Britain

"I consider myself a Pole. I'm a loyal British subject, but I'm not English," says Mieczyslaw Jarkowski.

The 88-year-old former soldier has spent almost two-thirds of his life in England, having fought against Germany during World War II.

In 1946 he was 30 when he arrived in Britain as part of the Polish 2nd Corps under British command.

He had survived capture by the Gestapo and time as a prisoner of war, eventually being freed by US forces in May 1945.

Within a year of arriving he married an English wife and later had a son and a daughter. He went to college, qualified as a technician, improved his English, and went to work in a textile factory in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

He laughs heartily when asked why he did not want to return to Poland.

He says: "You like to live standing up, but you don't like to live kneeling.

There are similar conditions now as after the war. Britain needs low-skilled men to work in restaurants, pubs, etc. They are not coming as asylum seekers, but to improve their lives. Mieczyslaw Jarkowski

"We would have had to agree to live under communism and under Stalin."

He made his first journey back to Poland in 1974 - 28 years after leaving - with his wife, Doreen, who wanted to see his family roots.

But first he had to get a British passport as he had no travel documents. He had secretly destroyed his Polish documents - themselves false - when he was held by the Gestapo.

His five-week trip included a visit to Auschwitz, journeying to the mountains as well as visiting the graves of his parents - "it was a very sentimental journey".

He said: "It was quite a shock at first. I had expected what would happen there, so I tried to avoid policemen, tried not to register as I was meant to.

"The population was very supportive. At some camp grounds they didn't take any fees from me, particularly in villages where as a soldier I had fought. They were sentimental too."

This is no longer a closed island, English people travel, they eat differently now, they meet other people, they are much more tolerant Mieczyslaw Jarkowski

He has no regrets about not returning permanently: "It would have been futile to go back. My colleagues found themselves in prison. With my sharp tongue I would not have lasted more than a few days."

Life in Britain was very hard when he first arrived. Rationing meant he often left the army mess still hungry, but otherwise "conditions were good".

"There was plenty of employment for the lower ranks. Even if you had no skills it was easy to get jobs, but they were restricted to agriculture," he said.

The authorities presumed that as most of the Poles came from villages, they would want to work on the farms. The opposite was true, says Mr Jarkowski.

History repeats

"A factory worker would work from 7am to 5.30pm, but a farm worker would have to be up at 3am and not get to bed until 10pm. As I spoke reasonably good English, I had to explain to some very irritated farmers why nobody wanted to work on the farms," he says.

With Poland in the early days of EU membership, Mr Jarkowski offers some historical perspective.

He says: "There are similar conditions now as after the war. Britain needs low-skilled men to work in restaurants, pubs, etc. They are not coming as asylum seekers, but to improve their lives.

"Poles have proved themselves to be good workers. Whenever I meet people who have used Poles as roofers, decorators, builders, they have been satisfied. "

At the other end of the scale, British doctors and nurses seeking better jobs overseas will leave vacancies that Polish medical professionals, once their English is fluent, will be keen to fill, Mr Jarkowski predicts.

"The main point is to get out of Russian domination, which still equals communist domination.

English tolerance

"It's like a weed and there's still some of it in Poland. You can weed it out, but traces of it stay on and on and on."

Despite some minor incidents of being treated poorly, Mr Jarkowski says the post-war Poles were accepted in Britain - a situation he expects to continue with any new arrivals.

"Generally English people are very polite and very kind. This is no longer a closed island, English people travel, they eat differently now, they meet other people, they are much more tolerant."

While he benefited from British government help, he is guarded in his full support.

"The British government had some obligations to us - they had promised us military help and it didn't come. And we were fighting on two fronts - not just against the Russians but fighting for the good of the British Empire. "