Refugees, Migrants – WWI, It Was Belgians

We know that ‘migrants’ from other countries is nothing new. ‘Migrants’ from other countries have been crossing borders in the EU and the UK for several years now, thanks to Merkel’s bleeding heart policy, and it has brought a great load of trouble on the citizens of the countries that these “refugees” (I use that term loosely) have invaded. Some weeks ago, an American student sent a ‘what do I do?’ letter to an advice columnist because she’s in Lyons, France, and a church in her area was bombed by migrants.

But this story is new to most of us as part of the history of World War I. Over 250,000 Belgian citizens and members of the Belgian government fled to the UK in 1914 with the approach of the Kaiser’s Army in western Europe.

From BBC article:   https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28857769

Little could have prepared Folkestone for 14 October 1914. The bustling Kent port was used to comings and goings, but not the arrival of 16,000 Belgian refugees in a single day.

Germany had invaded Belgium, forcing them to flee. The exodus had started in August and the refugees continued to arrive almost daily for months, landing at other ports as well, including Tilbury, Margate, Harwich, Dover, Hull and Grimsby.

Official records from the time estimate 250,000 Belgians refugees came to Britain during WW1. In some purpose-built villages they had their own schools, newspapers, shops, hospitals, churches, prisons and police. These areas were considered Belgian territory and run by the Belgian government. They even used the Belgian currency. – Article

They were also located in Glasgow, Scotland.  https://www.refugeevoicesscotland.com/the-hidden-story-of-belgian-refugees-living-in-glasgow-during-the-great-war/

This  is a podcast report, plus the transcript from it, on those refugees who were housed in Glasgow by the then Glasgow City Council, about 20,000 Belgians, who could not go to coastal cities like Dundee, Aberdeen or Edinburgh because of concerns about too many foreigners near the coast.

Here’s an excerpt from the podcast transcript:   It was seen as a great humanitarian act. And what we see is an overwhelming amount of support for Belgian refugees particularly in the newspapers. They describe the barbarous actions of the German empire and things like that, and poor Belgium and courageous Belgium. There’s really a portrayal of the Belgian refugees as a deserving peasantry who have been treated really badly by Germany.  And that is typical of the reception they receive.

By 1916 what we see is that the government, because of the public pronouncements against Belgian refugees, because of growing hostility towards them, the government actually bans any Media reporting of negative portrayals of Belgian refugees. – Transcript

Some of the hostility was generated by the fact that the young men of Britain were over in Europe, getting shot at and wounded or killed by the Germans. “What are they (Belgians) doing here?” was a commonality.

Does any of that sound familiar? Many of the refugees were middle class and refused to work at jobs that they considered beneath them, living on handouts from the government instead.

With the exception of written records, there are few if any traces of their stay left in the UK. When the Great War was over, the Belgians were sent home quickly. Whether or not they received any kind of aid to rebuild their country is not included here.

Thanks to GDContractor for the tip.

Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", Diversity, Historical