11 - The end of mass emigration

Summary

Emigration in 1914 was at record levels but for obvious reasons there was little further emigration during the First World War. It picked up after the war, but never returned to its pre-war level in any country. This was most apparent in eastern Europe. Between 1925 and 1939, there were only 1,100,000 emigrants from the eastern European countries, very few of whom went overseas. This compared with 5 million emigrants to the United States alone between 1900 and 1925 (Zubrzyski, 1958, 227). The fall in the rate of emigration had important effects in eastern Europe. Most of these countries remained predominantly agricultural in the 1920s but still had a high rate of population growth. Emigration had been an important safety valve.

There were several reasons why emigration rates fell. In the first place, the First World War had changed the international economy. For example, overseas investment in the regions of recent settlement was reduced together with their access to the European market (Foreman-Peck, 1983, 191–4, 198–205). The most immediate change was the introduction of restrictions on both emigration and immigration which was connected with a rise of economic and political nationalism, the force of which had been increased by the First World War. The first sign of the new politics was the enforced redistribution of population following the Versailles settlement, including the relocation of 1 million Germans.