This blog is about the book I have written called Changing Identities: Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians in Great Britain. Update 2016: I am now writing a second book to be published by Pen and Sword publishers in 2017, called ‘Baltic Refugees: Rebuilding Post-War Britain, 1946-51’.
Changing Identities is available on Amazon.co.uk and on Amazon.com
The book presents the fascinating and untold life histories of Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians, who were displaced from their homelands during the Second World War, and who came to Britain as participants of two European Volunteer Worker (EVW) schemes, from 1946-50: ‘Balt Cygnet’ and ‘Westward Ho!’ Approximately 13,000 Latvians, 6,000 Lithuanians and 5,000 Estonians were recruited by the British government from Displaced Person (DP) Camps in Germany and Austria, to fill post-war labour shortages in Britain. Although the refugees regarded the migration to Britain as temporary, the longevity of the Soviet Union’s occupation of the Baltic States, meant that the overwhelming majority remained in Britain, and only a handful returned following the restoration of homeland independence in 1991. It was the intention of the British Government that the refugees would eventually assimilate into British society, and the EVW schemes were designed and implemented with this goal in mind.
The book uses narrative accounts from interviews with first generation Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians which I carried out between in the mid to late 1990s to chart their life stories. Documentary and other sources are also used to show how Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians integrated, but did not assimilate into British society.
The book also outlines the history of Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians in Great Britain during other periods of history, including the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and more recently since the accession of the Baltic States to the European Union in 2004.
The book will be of interest to Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians in Great Britain and other receiving nations such as the United States, as well as to specialists of British migration history, the Baltic States and identity and immigration theorists.
Emily Gilbert is a freelance writer and researcher based in Devon.
Changing Identities: Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians in Britain 
Hi, I have got in my posesion a E.V.W New Road hostel, Bedhampton wooden box, which has a list of names and dates inside the lid. i am willing to forward forward you a picture. if you are interested ? Regards Guy.
Hi, yes a picture would be great. How did you get it? Many thanks, Emily