Caught between Scylla and Charybdis? Changing orientations of migrant organisations in the era of national states, from 1880 onwards

This article compares the development of organisations among three immigrant groups in the Netherlands - Germans, Poles and Turks - from 1880 to 2005. We endeavour to answer the question: To what extent have nationalism and the activities of countries of origin swayed migrant associations towards or away from the integration processes of their receiving societies? As to efforts by the state to influence ‘its’ migrants, we found a remarkably similar pattern across time, which turned out to be much less of a breach than is often assumed in the literature. The effectiveness of such efforts decreases inevitably as migrants and their offspring develop new opportunities and make different choices. Interestingly, our material suggests that for migrants overall religion or world view is a more persistent force in integration processes than any original national identity. In cases where a specific religion is defined as being an important element of national identity, we see a strong differential effect on migrants and their organisations.