Poland 1944-1950: selected social problems of the reconstruction period after World War II

As a result WW II, Poland's population shrank from over 35 m (in 1939) to just under 24 million in 1946. There was a glaring imbalance between men and women, especially noticeable in towns. The war also bequethled a million-strong army of widows, orphans and invalids. Single women, mothers bringing up children in incomplete families, sought work. With the end of the war came a compensatory demographic cycle lasting more or less till 1952: in 1945-1947 there were presumably 14-15 marriages per thousand people. In consequence of war there was vast-scale destruction of housing stock to contend with. Cumulatively, in towns and rural areas, about 1.6 million residential properties had been destroyed which constituted 22 - 24 per cent of the 1939 housing stock figure in the territory of the state within its new borders. Another consequence of war was the change in the territorial shape of the country and the intensification of migration traffic. It is estimated that in 1945-1950, over 1,600,000 people were repatriated from Germany, nearly 300,000 from other European countries, and 8,000 from beyond Europe. in total, this figure came close to 1,950,000 people. The Poles at that time were a society on the move, literally living out of their suitcases. Their deracination from their traditional local environments had significant impact on their social behaviour. The phenomena of advancement from the rural to the urban environment, in conjunction with the inter-regional resettlement of people of varying social status, was conducive to conformising attitudes towards the authorities. Seeking for acceptance, the Polish communists used different strategies and methods (anti-German propaganda and legislation, mechanism of social advancement). World War II had important ethnic consequences (the disapperance of the Germans from the western territories and Jews after Holocaust).