What is restored to the picture by delving into the Tavistock archive?

Lunchtime Talk: Alice White, 13 April.

Thousands of people, many of whom had been living in camps for years, were attempting to settle back in to peaceful, productive, democratic society. What was the best way to facilitate this?
This situation might refer to the refugee crisis we are confronted with today, but it also describes the situation faced by Britain in 1944, as POWs began to be repatriated. The Tavistock group had raised concerns about returning POWs at the beginning of the war years before, but it was only by November 1944 that a pilot unit was created to officially investigate the potential problems of resettlement. After this slow start, work progressed at a rapid pace: by the end of March 1947, more than 19,000 European POWs and around 4,500 Far-East POWs had attended the Civil Resettlement Units (CRUs) that the Tavistock group and the British Army created to aid with repatriation and get men ‘back to Civvy Street.’ Despite the huge scale of this work, it is little-known today and many notable works on Second World War British POWs completely omit any mention of psychological involvement in resettlement.
This seminar’s focus is on what the Tavistock archive restores to our picture of resettlement by providing insight into the people, processes, challenges and opportunities behind the CRUs.
Alice White is an AHRC funded PhD student at the Centre for the History of the Sciences at the University of Kent. She studies the history of management science human relations during the Second World War and in post-war Britain, with an aim to understand how social and cultural factors influenced the creation of a ‘science of management.

Transcript

1. What is restored to the picture by delving into the Tavistock archive? Alice White University of Kent aw419@kent.ac.uk @HistorianAlice
2. Civil Resettlement Units (CRUs) • What was the context? • What happened? How were the CRUs created? • What difference does access to the Tavistock archive make?
3. Context: Back to Civvy Street The Tavistock staff were interested in POWs from 1940: • They repeatedly drew attention to the situation which would arise with the return of over 100,000 men from Germany… and urged that this question be given careful and sympathetic consideration by the appropriate authorities. Ahrenfeldt, p.226
4. The Creation of the CRUs In March 1945, the War Office agreed to proceed with the creation of 20 CRUs. Wellcome Trust, RAMC/801/22/42/46
5. What do other archives tell us?
6. What do other archives tell us? The Guardian, 1944 The Times, 1943 The BMJ, 1944
7. What do other archives tell us?
8. Imperial War Museum, IWM PST 2977
9. Technical Mechanics Business Organising Agriculture Constructional Designing Textile Machinery Tropical Planting Imperial War Museum, IWM PST 13812
10. What does the Tavi archive reveal? • Surprisingly basic information not easily found in other places • How much work went into creating the CRUs (and how much of this was flying-by-seat-of-pants planning!) • The involvement of many invisible actors • Links to WOSBs & Northfield (learning from mistakes…) • The crucial role of communication & the exchange of ideas.
11. Locations of CRUs
12. The Big Battle: Bion vs. Wilson Bion, No. 21 WOSB, Selsdon Court, Surrey Wilson, No. 1 RAMC Barracks, Crookham Wilson, No. 10 Special Reception & Training Unit, Derby, November 1944
13. Invisible Actors… Wellcome Trust, RAMC/801/22/42/46
14. Speedy Planning Box 37765502, Planning Memoranda, ‘CRPM: IV The Rate of Formation of CRUs’, Approx. April 1945
15. Communication & the CRUs Box 37765502, Planning Memoranda, Approx. April 1945
16. Lessons Learned Box 37765502, Planning Memoranda, Approx. April 1945
17. Communication & the CRUs National Archives, Kew LAB 12-352
18. Communication & the CRUs Box 37765502, Papers, Talks, Contributions on PsOW, Displacement, etc., 1945 & 1946 Yorkshire & Leeds Mercury, 1945
19. The Final Taboo? Box 37765502, Planning Memoranda, Approx. April 1945
20. Thank you for listening!