Immigrants in the Netherlands "Second-class Citizens? The Polish Case"

Abstract

This article discusses significant problems faced by Polish citizens who live in the Netherlands and who declare their willingness to remain there for the coming years despite the unfair treatment directed towards them. The author elaborates on the history of Polish immigrants in the Netherlands after the Second World War in order to: (1) highlight the Poles' input into the liberation of the Netherlands during the war and the country’s post-war development; and (2) show mutual, ambivalent Polish Dutch relations between the immigrants and the host society. Based on subject literature, Dutch scientific reports, analyses and surveys, the current situation of Poles is described in the light of unchanging and thus relatively similar problems (despite the passage of time) experienced by Poles living and working in the Netherlands.