De aantrekkingskracht van steenkool

De arbeidsmigratie van Poolse mijnwerkers en hun gezinnen naar Kerkrade en de directe omgeving, 1906-1919

Samenvatting

The attraction of coal. The labor migration of Polish miners and their families to Kerkrade and the surrounding area, 1906-1919

This article examines the migration history and demographic profile of Polish coal miners and their families in 6 municipalities in the Eastern Mining District of the Netherlands, focusing on one specific period: 1906–1919. Exploring the municipal population registers of these mining municipalities, this study identifies more than 2.500 individuals of Polish origin who settled in the region before 1920; significantly more than previously estimated. The cohort, primarily consisted of experienced underground miners from the Ruhr area, was characterized by highly mobile, older (averaging 30–34) individuals, and their families. Over 97 percent were married, with an average of 3–3.5 children. By 1909, 6.1 percent (951 individuals) of the local population in Kerkrade was Polish; in Schaesberg, this share was 25 percent by 1920. Most migrants stayed less than 3 years, reflecting the Wandervögel pattern of labor mobility. This study challenges the assumed religious homogeneity among these Polish migrants. Specifically, 25 percent of the first cohort who came between 1906 and 1919 were Protestant, mainly Evangelical Lutherans from East and West Prussia.
This research contributes to the historiography of labor migration by offering a systematic demographic analysis of Polish miners and highlighting long-standing Polish migration to the Netherlands. It calls for further comparative studies on other migrant groups and regions within the Dutch mining sector. At the end of this article, the results were compared with what is known from the literature about a second group of coal miners, actively recruited by Dutch authorities post-World War II, consisted largely of single men aged 20–30, including 1.400 Polish veterans and displaced individuals. By 1950, 28 percent of foreign miners in the Netherlands were Polish, declining to 13 percent by 1958.