Polish minority in Lithuania

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Concentration of the Polish minority in Lithuania
Polish parade in Vilnius

The Polish minority in Lithuania ( Polish Polacy na Litwie ) is an autochthonous population group that has lived there for centuries and is the largest minority in the Baltic state. According to censuses, around 213,000 Lithuanians identified themselves as Poles in 2011, which corresponds to a percentage of around 6.6% of the total Lithuanian population. In some districts, ethnic Poles still make up the majority, for example in the municipalities of Vilnius (Polish: Wilno ) and Šalčininkai ( Soleczniki ). The Polish dialect in Lithuania is known as Lithuanian Polish .

The Polish side has repeatedly criticized alleged discrimination against the minority, and their legal position is often the cause of tension between Poland and Lithuania. Lithuania has not yet ratified or signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages .

history

Polish populations have lived in Lithuania for several centuries. The strong influence of Polish culture in Lithuania began in 1569 with the Union of Lublin , in which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland , previously linked through a personal union, became a common state, Poland-Lithuania (aristocratic republic or I. Rzeczpospolita) , merged. In the period that followed, large parts of the Lithuanian nobility increasingly adopted Polish culture and tradition. Parts of the Lithuanian rural population also allowed themselves to be Polonized in a process that crept over centuries , and there was also the establishment of Polish settlers on Lithuanian territory. When the Polish-Lithuanian aristocratic republic collapsed in the course of the partition at the end of the 18th century, a large part of today's Lithuania was predominantly Polish-speaking, including Vilnius and Kaunas , which is now the second most populous city in Lithuania.

Polish remained the predominant language in many regions of Lithuania, Vilnius ( Wilno in Polish ) remained an important Polish cultural center. The Polish freedom fighter Joachim Lelewel and the Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz studied at the university there .

German troops briefly occupied Lithuania in 1916 during the First World War and carried out a census there. For example, this resulted in a Polish population of over 50% for the city of Vilnius, 43.5% Jews, many of them also Polish-speaking, and only 2.6% Lithuanians.

The spread of the Polish language in Lithuania in 1929, according to a contemporary Polish map

After the First World War, Poland and Lithuania became independent states again. Vilnius and other predominantly Polish-speaking areas were then added to the Lithuanian state. Shortly thereafter, the Polish-Lithuanian War broke out , as a result of which Poland annexed the capital Vilnius and the proclaimed Litwa Środkowa .

The Polish minority remaining on Lithuanian territory was exposed to severe discrimination in some cases. The Second Polish Republic , which existed in the interwar period from 1918 to 1939, also pursued a partially restrictive polonization policy towards non-Polish minorities on its territory.

A Polish census from 1931 showed that the city of Vilnius had a Polish population of almost 66%, 28% Jews and only 0.8% Lithuanians.

After the Second World War , Poland had to cede a large part of its eastern national territory to the Soviet Union . Hundreds of thousands of Poles were forcibly resettled and some of them settled in the former German eastern regions. A part of "Central Lithuania" with Vilnius had already been assigned to Lithuania in 1939 (from 1940: Lithuanian Soviet Republic ). Although numerically weakened, Poles partly made up the majority there too. In 1959, 8.5% of the total Lithuanian population identified as Poles. The government of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic tried several times to ban the use of the Polish language, but was prevented from doing so by the Soviet central government in Moscow .

With the collapse of the Soviet Union , Lithuania regained its independence, although the Polish minority was skeptical of independence, also out of fear of a re-emerging “Lithuanian policy”. In the 1990s there were active movements for an autonomous region of the Poles living in Lithuania and, in isolated cases, secessionist tendencies. In 1990, Polish activists founded a "National Territorial Polish Region" and temporarily exercised control over larger areas that were mostly inhabited by Poles. This de facto autonomous region was partially supported by Moscow until the August coup of 1991 , but was found illegal by Lithuania. It was dissolved in 1991.

Todays situation

In independent Lithuania, Poland now makes up almost 7% of the population. Poles form a majority in two administrative units : in the district of Vilnius (52.1%, Polish Wilno ) and around Šalčininkai (77.8%, Soleczniki ). There are also significant Polish minorities in the district of Trakai (30.1%, Polish Troki ), in Švenčionys (26%; Polish Święciany ) and in the capital Vilnius itself (16.5%).

The Polish dialect in Lithuania is known as Lithuanian Polish . The University of Białystok also has a branch in Vilnius where members of the Polish minority can study in Polish. There are several Polish-language newspapers in Lithuania, including Kurier Wileński .

The Polish side continues to repeatedly criticize discrimination against the minority. In 2008 the umbrella association of Polish organizations in Lithuania published an open letter in which it pointed out systematic discrimination against the Polish minority and called for better treatment of minorities in Lithuania. Last names of non-Lithuanian origin must be “Lithuanized” in passports. In addition to the Polish minority, this also applies to the Russian minority in Lithuania .

Despite the large minority, the Polish language has no official position in Lithuania. It is not allowed to put up bilingual street signs or shop labels. In 2014, for example, a regional politician was sentenced to a fine of around 12,500 euros after allowing bilingual street signs to be displayed in a predominantly Polish-speaking town.

With Polonija Wilno there is a well-known Lithuanian football club that sees itself as a representative of the Polish minority. With the “ Election Action of the Poles of Lithuania ” there is also a separate minority party, which is represented in parliament with almost 6% of the votes in the 2012 election. She has been working with the Russian minority party led by Sergei Dmitriev for several years .

Known members of the minority

athlete

Musician

Politician

Lawyers-politicians

Lawyers

See also

Web links


Commons : Polish minority in Lithuania  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lithuanian Census 2011 ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / db1.stat.gov.lt
  2. ^ A b Lithuania - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. In: state.gov. February 23, 2001, accessed December 31, 2014 .
  3. ^ European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In: coe.int. Accessed December 31, 2014 .
  4. ^ Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom IV. In: icm.edu.pl. Accessed December 31, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Michał Eustachy Brensztejn (1919). Spisy ludności m. Wilna za okupacji niemieckiej od. 1 listopada 1915 r. Biblioteka Delegacji Rad Polskich Litwy i Białej Rusi, Warsaw
  6. ↑ James D. Fearon, Laitin, David D .: Lithuania (pdf; 253 kB) Stanford University. S. 4. 2006. Retrieved on June 2, 2008: “The nationalizing Lithuanian state took measures to confiscate Polish owned land. It also restricted Polish religious services, schools, Polish publications, Polish voting rights. Poles were often referred to in the press in this period as the "lice of the nation". "
  7. ↑ "Drugi Powszechny Spis Ludności z dnia 9 XII 1931 r". Statystyka Polski D (34). 1939.
  8. ↑ Eberhardt, Piotr. "Liczebność i rozmieszczenie ludności polskiej na Litwie
  9. ↑ Dovile Budrytė: Taming Nationalism ?. Ashgate, 2005, ISBN 9780754642817 , p. 149. Limited preview in Google Book Search
  10. ^ Winston A. Van Horne: Global Convulsions. SUNY Press, 1997, ISBN 9780791432358 , p. 253. Limited preview in Google Book Search
  11. ↑ Horne, Winston A. Van (1997). Global convulsions: race, ethnicity, and nationalism at the end of the twentieth century. SUNY Press. pp. 253-254. ISBN 0-7914-3235-1 .
  12. ↑ 2011 m. gyventojų ir būstų surašymas ( Memento from March 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ gaw: Polacy atakowani w mediach. In: rp.pl. Accessed December 31, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Posted by editor: Seimas votes against original foreign surnames in passports again - The Lithuania TribuneThe Lithuania Tribune. (No longer available online.) In: lithuaniatribune.com. July 9, 2014, archived from the original on March 1, 2012 ; accessed on December 31, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lithuaniatribune.com
  15. ↑ Kara powyżej 40 tys. litów za dwujęzyczne tabliczki - Wilnoteka. In: wilnoteka.lt. Accessed December 31, 2014 .