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Polonia
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Polonia, the name for Poland in Latin and many other languages, refers in modern Polish to the Polish diaspora: people of Polish origin who live outside the country's borders.
There are roughly 15 to 20 million people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland, making the Polish diaspora one of the largest in the world. Reasons for this displacement vary from border shifts, to forced resettlement, to political or economic emigration.
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Encyclopedia
Polonia, the name for Poland in Latin and many other languages, refers in modern Polish to the Polish diaspora: people of Polish origin who live outside the country's borders.
There are roughly 15 to 20 million people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland, making the Polish diaspora one of the largest in the world. Reasons for this displacement vary from border shifts, to forced resettlement, to political or economic emigration. Major populations of Polish ancestry can be found in Germany, France several other European countries, the United States, Brazil, and elsewhere in the Americas.
A large proportion of the Polish citizens who migrated in the early twentieth century were Polish Jews, and these also make up part of the Jewish diaspora. As late as 1938, a decade before the establishment of Israel, Poland was home to the world's largest Jewish population. Over three million Polish Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and most of the survivors emigrated. Today only about 25,000 Jewish people live in Poland.
Europe
Belarus
There are presently 396,000 Poles living in Belarus (according to the official 1999 Census; the estimates are higher according to various NGO organizations).They form the second largest ethnic minority in the country after Russians. The majority of Poles live in the western regions of Belarus (including 294,000 in Hrodna region).
Many Catholic Belarusians and descendants of the Belarusian nobility historically identified themselves as Polish, though this is becoming less and less common as the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus undergoes the process of self-depolonization.
During the Second World War the Soviet Union forcibly resettled large numbers of Belarusian Poles to Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Few Belarusian Poles live in Siberia and the Russian Far East and some of those who managed to survive resettlement returned to Poland after 1956.
Czech Republic
The Polish community in the Czech Republic is concentrated in Cieszyn Silesia (so-called Zaolzie), in the north-east of the country. It traces its origins to post-First World War border changes that partitioned the area between Poland and what was then Czechoslovakia, leaving many Poles on the Czech side of the border. The Polish population numbered 51,968 at the 2001 census.
Denmark
It is estimated that around 40,000 Poles live in Denmark, the majority of them in Copenhagen. Perhaps the most famous Dane with Polish roots is a retired soccer goalkeeper Peter Boleslaw Schmeichel.
Faroe Islands
Poles make up 0.2% of the population of the Faroe Islands (followed by Norwegians). They mainly live in the capital of the islands, Tórshavn.
Finland
The history of the Polish community in Finland dates back to the early 19th century, when a number of Poles from Russian-controlled part of the country settled there. In 1917, there were around 4,000 Poles in Finland, mostly soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army, and almost all returned to their homeland by 1921. Finland has never been a major destination for Polish immigrants, and currently around 3,000 Poles live there, most of whom are well-educated. Around half of this population lives in Helsinki, and the biggest Polish organization there is the Polish Association, founded on April 3, 1917.
France
About one million people of Polish descent live in France, concentrated in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, in the metropolitan area of Lille and the coal-mining basin (bassin minier) around Lens and Valenciennes. Prominent members of the Polish community in France have included Frédéric Chopin, Adam Mickiewicz (temporarily), Rene Goscinny, Marie Curie, Raymond Kopa, Edward Gierek (who was raised there) and Matt Pokora. Large numbers of Poles settled in France during the rule of Napoleon when 100,000 Poles fled Russian rule of Poland in the early 1800s. Many enlisted to fight in the French army. Another wave of Polish migration took place between the two World Wars, when many were hired as contract workers to work temporarily in France. Polish refugees also fled Nazi or Soviet occupation (1940s). There are estimates of 100,000 to 200,000 Poles living in Paris and many E.U. program guest workers in regions of the south (including the cities of Arles, Marseille and Perpignan).
Germany
The second largest Polonia in the world, and the largest in Europe, is the Polish German community. As many as three million people living in Germany may be of Polish descent, although the vast majority of these identify themselves as Germans. The main Polonia organization is . Polish surnames are very common in Germany.
Hungary
The Polish minority in Hungary numbers around 20,000 and has a long history of Polish inhabitation for over a thousand years. The Polish-Lithuanian Union has included large portions of Hungarian territories, same goes to the Austrian-Hungarian empire (1867-1918) had the Polish sector of Galicia. The Polish-Hungarian relationship was strong and positive, best described in the poem: Pole, Hungarian, two good friends about the fraternal sense of commonality of Polish and Hungarian cultures. Budapest is home to a large Polish community, but more ethnic Polish are in the northern part of the country facing Slovakia and Ukraine to the east. Most Polish-Hungarians are practicing Roman Catholics, but many are members of the Uniate, Eastern (Polish-Carpathian or Carpato-Ukrainian) and Greek Catholic churches.
Iceland
Polish minority in Iceland is a fresh phenomenon, though the number of Poles living there rises year by year. According to the official statistics, there are almost 8500 Poles in Iceland , and they form the largest ethnic minority in the country. However, according to Polish sources, the number of Poles in Iceland is higher, Polityka weekly put it at around 17,000, which is almost 5.5% of the whole population.
Ireland
After Poland joined the European Union in 2004, Ireland was one of three existing EU members to open its borders and welcome Polish workers as relatively cheap qualified labour (the others being the United Kingdom and Sweden). Ireland quickly became a key destination for young Poles seeking work outside the country. According to the 2006 Census, there are 63,090 Poles living in Ireland, constituting the largest ethnic minority, after British nationals, in the country. These figures reflect official numbers of Poles who have settled permanently in Ireland and is likely to be an underestimation of the total number of Poles actually living in Ireland, whether officially and permanently or otherwise.
Italy
The Polish minority in Italy numbers around 100,000. The majority of Polish residents are recently arrived immigrants in the late 20th century drawn to the stellar economy of Italy in need for imported labor. Large Polish immigrant sections/communities are found such as Rome, Milan, Venice, Naples and Palermo. Also the location of the Holy See (Vatican city) where Polish native John Paul II was pope (1979-2005). Polish immigration to Italy might continue while the EU contract labor program between the two countries remains in place.
Lithuania
The Polish minority in Lithuania numbers 234,989 persons and, at 6.74% of the population of Lithuania, forms the largest ethnic minority in modern Lithuania. Poles are concentrated in the Vilnius region, and form the majority of population in Vilnius district municipality and alcininkai district municipality. People of Polish ethnicity have lived on the territory of modern Lithuania for many centuries.
Latvia
Norway
Norway has recently experienced an influx of Polish migrant workers. According to the Polish Embassy in Oslo, around 120,000-200,000 Poles work in Norway, however, with the Poles living and working there illegally, there may be some 50 000 Poles more in Norway . Estimates of number of Poles in Norway are varied, as Norway's state statistics bureau SSB put the number at just 12,000 registered Poles as of January 1, 2006. However, SSB officials noted that workers from Poland make up the group that's growing the fastest in Norway .
Romania
According to the 2002 census, 3,671 Poles live in Romania, mainly in the villages of the Suceava region . There are even three exclusively Polish villages: Nowy Soloniec (Solonetu Nou), Plesza (Plesa) and Pojana Mikuli (Poiana Micului). Poles in Romania form an officially recognised national minority, having one seat in the Chamber of Deputies of Romania (currently held by Ghervazen Longher) and access to Polish elementary schools and cultural centres (known as "Polish Houses").
Russia and former Soviet Union
During the Second World War, the Soviet Union annexed large parts of Poland's former eastern territories of Kresy. Many Poles were expelled, but a significant number remained in what are now parts of Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities also forcibly resettled large numbers of Poles to Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The following post-Soviet countries retain significant Polish minorities:
Slovakia
According to the 2002 Slovakian census, there are 2,602 Poles living in Slovakia . Compared to the Hungarian census of 1910, it is a significant decrease, as then there were 10.569 Polish-language speakers in the territory of present Slovakia.
Spain
The Polish minority in Spain numbers between 45,000 and 60,000. Most of the Polish population consists of guest workers drawn into Spain's economic boom during the 1990s. Main sections of the Polish population are in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, San Sebastian and Valencia. Polish minority in Spain is relatively young, 74% of Spanish Polonia is made by persons between 20 and 49 years of age .
Sweden
The Polish minority in Sweden has been estimated to be around 40,000 people, although the number may have grown to over 200,000 in the early 2000s. The majority of them are guest workers invited to Sweden since 1990 in contracts with the Swedish government. Most Polish residents live in Stockholm and the rest farther south towards the Baltic Sea. Historically, Poland and Sweden had some cultural exchange with each other and the Swedish Empire's occupation of the Polish Baltic Sea coast (Gdansk and Pomerania) in various times from the 13th to 18th centuries.
Turkey
In 1842 Prince Adam Czartoryski founded a village of Adampol, for Polish immigrants who came to Turkey after the failed November Uprising. The village, still existing and now called Polonezkoy, is the main center of the small but historic Polish community in Turkey.
Ukraine
According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, there were 144,130 Poles residing in the country.
Poles began settling in the territory of present Ukraine in the 14th century, after Red Ruthenia had become part of the Kingdom of Poland. The number of Poles in Ukraine gradually increased over the centuries, but after World War II it drastically decreased as a result of Soviet mass deportation of the Poles in Ukraine to Siberia and other eastern regions of the USSR as well as a campaign of ethnic cleansing, carried out in the early 1940s by Ukrainian nationalists in western part of the country (see: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia). There was a Polish Autonomous District, located near Zhytomyr, created in 1926, but it was disbanded in 1935 and its Polish inhabitants were either murdered or deported to Kazakhstan. The majority of those who survived the war in the Ukraine moved to the Former eastern territories of Germany after Poland was shifted to the West by the Allied Potsdam Agreement after World War II.
United Kingdom
Polish people have travelled to the United Kingdom throughout the centuries for a variety of reasons. In the 16th century Polish travellers came as traders and diplomats. In the 18th century a small number of Polish Protestants arrived as religious refugees due to the Counter-Reformation in Poland. In the 19th century, due to the collapse of the November Uprising of 1831, many Polish fighters came to Britain in search of sanctuary.
However, it was only after the First World War that Poles settled in large numbers in London – many from the London Polish Prisoner of War camps in Alexandra Palace and Feltham. During the Second World War many Poles came to the United Kingdom as political émigrés and to join the Polish Army being recreated there. When the Second World War ended, a Communist government was installed in Poland. Many Poles felt betrayed by their wartime allies and were extremely reluctant to return home. Many soldiers refused to return to Poland, and around 200,000, after occupying resettlement camps, later settled in UK. The Polish Government in London was not dissolved until 1991, when a freely elected president took office in Warsaw.
Following Poland's entry into the European Union in May 2004, Poles gained the right to work in some other EU countries. While France and Germany put in place controls to curb Eastern European migration, the United Kingdom (along with Sweden and the Republic of Ireland) did not impose restrictions. Many young Poles have come to work in UK since then. Estimates vary between 300,000 and 800,000 moving to the UK since May 2004.
Estimates for the total number of people living in the UK and born in Poland, or of Polish descent vary significantly. The figure has been quoted as 600,000 (February 2007) and "well over a million" (October 2007), but more recently it is reported that the numbers are decreasing. Other than London, Poles have settled in Manchester, Bolton, Bury and Chorley in Lancashire, and there are also concentrations in Nottingham, South Yorkshire, South Wales, Rugby, Banbury, Slough and Swindon.
The economic crisis in the UK and the growing economy in Poland reduced the economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK. By the last quarter of 2008, approximately half of those that had come to the UK to work had returned home.
North America
The United States and Canada were the major focus of Polish political and economic immigration after 1850.
Canada
There are about 850,000 Polish Canadians. The Canadian Polish Congress is an umbrella organization founded in 1944 by Polish-Canadians in Canada to coordinate the activities and to articulate the concerns of the Canadian Polish community on public policy issues.
United States
There are around 10 million Americans of Polish descent. Chicago bills itself as the largest Polish city outside of Poland, and there are approximately 185,000 Polish speakers in Chicagoland. Chicago's Polish presence is felt in the large number of Polish-American organizations located here beginning with the Polish Museum of America, the Polish American Association, the Polish National Alliance and the Polish Highlander's Alliance of North America. Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Baltimore and New Britain, Connecticut also have very large Polish populations. Older Polish Americans are rapidly migrating to the Southeast (Florida), Southwest (Arizona) and the West Coast (California), but also destinations for Polish immigrants from Poland in the 1990s.
The only city to have official Dyngus Day celebrations inspired by the popular Polish Custom of Smigus Dyngus is Buffalo. The major U.S. Polonia organization is the Polish American Congress. provided by Polsort. Also check out brought to you by from (Chicago).
Latin America
There has been political and economic migration of Poles to Latin America since the mid-19th century. The largest number went to Brazil, followed by Argentina, Mexico and Panama.
Argentina
In Argentina Poles are one of the most significant minorities, numbering around 450,000. The Parliament of Argentina has declared June 8th Polish Settlers' Day.
Brazil
The number of people of Polish descent in Brazil is estimated at between 1 million and 1.8 million. Most Polish Brazilians are Catholic, with a significant Jewish minority. The majority of them are concentrated in the South of Brazil, especially in the state of Paraná.
Chile
A small number of Poles came to Chile, with first of them coming during the Napoleonic wars. In early 20th century, there were around 300 Poles in Chile, but considered Germans. After World War II , around 1500 Poles, mostly former soldiers, settled in Chile and in 1949 the Association of Poles in Chile was founded. Most live in Santiago. One of the notable Polish Chileans is Ignacy Domeyko.
Asia, Africa and Oceania
In addition to the countries mentioned above, Poles have settled in smaller numbers in Asia, Africa and Oceania as economic migrants or as part of Catholic missions.
Australia
The first Polish settlers arrived in South Australia in 1856. After World War II, large numbers of displaced persons migrated to Australia, including soldiers from the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade (the "Rats of Tobruk").
There are now approximately 160,000 – 200,000 Polish Australians.
New Zealand
In 1944, several hundred Polish children, survivors of forced resettlement of Poles to Soviet Siberia, and their caregivers were temporarily resettled at a refugee camp at Pahiatua, New Zealand. It was originally planned for the children to return to Poland after World War II ended, but they were eventually allowed to stay in New Zealand with the onset of the Cold War.
South Africa
According to the Council of Polonia in South Africa, some 25,000-30,000 Poles live there. The Polish community in South Africa dates to World War II, when the South African government agreed to the settlement of 12,000 Polish soldiers as well as around 500 Polish orphans, survivors of forced resettlement of Poles to Soviet Siberia. More Poles came in the 1970s and 1980s, with several of them specialists, coming for contracts and deciding to stay there.
See also
External links
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- Polonia in the Washington metropolitan area
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- (Polish Business Community in US & Canada)
- (Polish Physicians Directory in the United States and Canada)
- (Polish Lawyers Directory in the United States and Canada)
- (Polish community in the United States)
- Polish Businesses and Organizations in the United States
- (Forum Polonijne)
- (Free Polonia - Poles Directory)
- English speaking forum related to all things Polish
- (Polish language)
- (Community for Polish families in the US; bilingual)
- (polish community in the UK)
- (information about Poles in Western Europe and other countries; Polish language)
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- (Polish language)
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- (Free Polish Directory in UK)
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- History of Polish London with objects and images
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