Maczków. A Polish enclave in North Germany

Religious life

Religious life soon developed as a result of the work of Polish clergymen. Maczków was home to the largest Roman Catholic parish in the DP community, and four Polish Catholic priests worked here (the other parishes usually had only one priest). Their duties consisted of two of the clergy celebrating Holy Mass and divine services, giving the Holy Sacraments during religious instruction in the schools attended by the DPs and leading the Sunday School. The fourth provided welfare and pastoral care for the people who were often severely afflicted by their fate.

Work

A major problem for DPs was the lack of employment, especially as they were not allowed to work for German companies. As a result the only places of work were in the DP camps or with the Allied forces, but there were not too many opportunites available here either. Most working people therefore found something to keep themselves busy in the camps, where they did a variety of tasks ranging from administrative duties to garbage collection. Only 10 to 15% of the people in the Emsland were employed in Allied facilities.

In this respect, training and further training courses, supported by the occupation authorities and the social authorities, was an alternative form of employment for the DPs, although this was primarily vocational. In Maczków there were seven craft businesses and workshops, including a tailor, a toy manufacturer and a watchmaker. There was a great demand for employment in the car repair shop, where it was also possible to obtain a driving licence. DPs benefited from a small payment for all the products manufactured in these enterprises.

The activities outside the home, including participation in training courses, allowed people to regenerate psychologically and prepare themselves for an independent life when they left the town. Statistics show that not many citizens in Maczków were able to find work. According to data collected in March 1947, the town had 4,443 inhabitants, of whom 2,876 were capable of work. However, of these only 896 people took up employment, while the remaining 1 980 were jobless, a rate of 68.8%.

Job policies changed in 1947, when the occupation authorities decided to integrate the DPs into the German economy in order to reduce the running costs of their stay and relinquish responsibility for their plight. However, the DPs were very reluctant to accept this new concept, as their earnings were to be paid in DM with no possibility of exchanging it for foreign currency. In addition, they were not allowed to purchase valuables and, in the event of their return home, to export money. Some of the people opposing these regulations were employed for two years by units of the British Army of the Rhine.