Analysis of basic terms related to the history of immigration (the case of France)

The aim of this paper is to explain the terminology used in the field of history of immigration and for referring to foreigners, by means of defining the terms, studying the relationship between them and identifying essential factors that differentiate their meanings. The studied terms are: emigration, economic and political emigration, foreigner, émigré, immigrant, foreign worker, refugee, exile, stateless person, asylum seeker, displaced person, repatriation. The analysis refers to the case of France – which, from the historical perspective, was the first European country of immigration and not of emigration - in the interwar and immediate postwar period and to the case of the large Polish immigrant community settled in France since the interwar period. The practice of application of each of the above mentioned terms was inscribed into a logic of the politicization of the issue of the presence of foreigners. Nowadays, the situation at this point seems to be the same.