Paper long abstract:

During 1946-49 as the result of the Greek civil war, more than 3,000 Greek children (5-12 years of age) were sent to orphanages, surrogate-care and educational institutions in Poland. For different reasons a number of them have decided to stay in Poland permanently. In my paper I will present findings about this institutional migration at which I have arrived through biographic research. I will pay special attention to the disciplining and surveillance character of the external (and internal) control of the Greek diaspora in Poland maintained by the Polish State through special institutions as it is presented in the narratives of Greek child-refugees. I will examine the categories I have determined in the process of interpreting the biographical interviews that I have collected during my fieldwork and I will try to answer questions concerning the problem of Greek migrants and their adaptation to life in Communist Poland.