Ethnic minorities in Poland


After centuries of relative ethnic diversity, the population of modern Poland has become nearly completely ethnically homogeneous Polish as a result of altered borders and the Nazi German and Soviet or History of [Poland |Polish Communist] population transfers, expulsions and deportations during and after World War II. Ethnic minorities remain in Poland, however, including some newly arrived or increased in number. Ethnic groups include Germans, Ukrainians and Belarusians.

Historic

Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Although the concept of an ethnic minority is mostly used about a modern period, Poland has historically been a multi-ethnic country. The early influx of Czechs, Hungarians, Slovaks, and Germans was particularly notable, and they formed significant minorities in urban centers. Walloons migrated to Poland probably since the 12th century, however, the first written mention of Walloon immigrants in Wrocław comes from. Armenians and Scots, who formed notable communities, lived in Poland since the 14th century. After the late-14th-century Polish–Lithuanian union and the Union of Lublin, which established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, Lithuanians and Ruthenians became part of the population.
A 1493 estimate listed the combined population of Poland and Lithuania at 7.5 million, broken down by ethnicity:
In 1618, after the Truce of Deulino, the Commonwealth's territory increased and its population reached 12 million. Its inhabitants could be roughly divided into:
At that time, the szlachta were 10 percent of the population and the burghers 15 percent.
With the population and territorial losses of the mid- and late 17th century, the 1717 population of the Commonwealth had declined to nine million in the following ethnic groups:
According to the 1921 Polish census, 30.8 percent of the population were ethnic minorities. This increased due to the Polish victory in the Polish-Soviet War and the large territorial gains in the east as a consequence. According to the 1931 Polish census, 68.9 percent of the population was Polish, 13.9 percent were Ukrainians, about 10 percent Jewish, 3.1 percent Belarusians, 2.3 percent Germans and 2.8 percent other groups. There were also smaller communities of Russians and Romani people. The minority situation was complex and fluid during the period.
Poland was also a nation of many religions. In 1921, 16,057,229 Poles were Roman Catholics, 3,031,057 were Eastern Rite Catholics, 2,815,817 were Greek Orthodox, 2,771,949 were Jewish, and 940,232 were Protestants. Poland had the world's second-largest Jewish population by 1931: one-fifth, about 3,136,000.

People's Republic and Third Republic

Polish People's Republic

Before World War II, one-third of Poland's population belonged to ethnic minority groups. Poland's minorities were mostly gone after the war, however, due to the 1945 revision of borders and the Holocaust. Under the National Repatriation Office, millions of Poles were forced to leave their homes in the eastern Kresy region and settle in territories regained from Germany in the west. About five million remaining Germans were similarly expelled from those territories to Allied-occupied Germany in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities found themselves now mostly within the borders of the Soviet Union; those who opposed this new policy were suppressed by the end of 1947 in Operation Vistula.
The Jewish population of Poland, the largest Jewish community in pre-war Europe at about 3.3 million people, was almost completely destroyed by 1945. Approximately three million Jews died of starvation in ghettos and labor camps, or were slaughtered in Nazi extermination camps or by Einsatzgruppen death squads. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Polish Jews survived the Holocaust in Poland, another 50,000 to 170,000 were repatriated from the Soviet Union, and 20,000 to 40,000 came from Germany and other countries. There were 180,000 to 240,000 Jews in Poland at the country's postwar peak, settled mainly in Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków and Wrocław.

Third Polish Republic rights

The rights of ethnic minorities in Poland are guaranteed in article 35 of the 1997 Constitution:
  1. The Republic of Poland shall ensure Polish citizens belonging to national or ethnic minorities the freedom to maintain and develop their own language, to maintain customs and traditions, and to develop their own culture.
  2. National and ethnic minorities shall have the right to establish educational and cultural institutions, institutions designed to protect religious identity, as well as to participate in the resolution of matters connected with their cultural identity.
The Act on Ethnic and National Minorities and on the Regional Language of 6 January 2005 stipulates that to be recognized as an ethnic or national minority, a group must reside in Poland for at least 100 years; this excludes minorities recognized by the Communist regime, such as the Greeks. There are three categories of recognized minorities in Poland: nine national minorities, four ethnic minorities, and the regional Kashubian linguistic minority.
Poland ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 12 February 2009:
  1. Minority languages: Belarusian, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Karaim, Kashubian, Lithuanian, the Lemko dialects, German, Armenian, Romani, Russian, Slovak, Tatar and Ukrainian
  2. Regional language: Kashubian
  3. National-minorities languages: Belarusian, Czech, Hebrew, Yiddish, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian
  4. Ethnic-minority languages: Karaim, Lemko, Romani and Tatar
  5. Non-territorial languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, Karaim, Armenian and Romani
Minorities have a number of rights, including street signs and education in their native language, cultural development and non-assimilation. In municipalities where they constitute more than 20 percent of the population, they have the right to official communications in their native language. Such municipalities must be included on the official register of municipalities where an additional language is used, and incentives exist for officials of these municipalities to learn the regional language.

Demographics

In the Polish census of 2002, 96.7 percent claimed Polish nationality and 97.8 percent said that they speak Polish at home. In the 2011 census, 1.44 percent of Poland's 39 million inhabitants said that they had an ancestry other than Polish. That figure included 418,000 who identified as Silesian and 17,000 Kashubians. Recognized minorities were 0.3 percent of the population: 49,000 Germans, 36,000 Ukrainians, 7,000 Lemkos, 37,000 Belarusians, 12,000 Roma people, and 8,000 Russians ; 0.2 percent of the population were foreign citizens.
In Poland, the following minorities are recognized as national minorities: Belarusian, Czech, Lithuanian, German, Armenian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian and Jewish, and as ethnic minorities: Karaim, Lemko, Roma and Tatar.
2002 census:
  • 38,230,080 – Total population of Poland
  • 36,983,720 – Polish
  • 774,885 – Nationality not specified
  • 471,475 – Non-Polish or multi-ethnic
Polish census of 2011:
  • 38,512,000 – Total population of Poland
  • 36,157,000 – Polish ethnicity
  • 951,000 – Nationality not specified
  • 1,404,000 declared non-Polish ethnicity first or second; 842,000 declared Polish and non-Polish ethnicity ; 640,000 declared non-Polish nationality first ; 802,000 declared non-Polish ethnicity second.
Polish census of 2021:
  • 38,036,118 – Total population of Poland
  • 36,620,217 – Only Polish ethnicity
  • 974,852 – Polish and non-Polish ethnicity
  • 397,848 – One non-Polish ethnicity
  • 32,073 – Two non-Polish ethnicities
  • 11,128 – Ethnicity not specified
Major regions of originPopulation sizeMost numerous ethnic groups included
North American ethnic groups33,786Americans, Canadians, Afro-Americans, etc.
West Asian ethnic groups19,704Armenians, Karaites, Turks, Arabs, Georgians, etc.
South Asian ethnic groups16,266Romani people, Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalis, etc.
Southeast Asian ethnic groups6,677Vietnamese, Filipinos, Thai, Indonesians, etc.
Central Asian ethnic groups6,598Tatars, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, etc.
Northeast Asian ethnic groups6,263Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Mongols, etc.
Latin American ethnic groups4,462Brazilians, Mexicans, Peruvians, Colombians, etc.
Oceanian ethnic groups4,260Australians, New Zealanders, Papuans, Maoris, etc.
Sub-Saharan African ethnic groups4,064Nigerians, Ethiopians, Asante, Congolese, Zulus, etc.
North African ethnic groups3,887Egyptians, Algerians, Tunisians, Moroccans, etc.
North Caucasian ethnic groups1,310Chechens, Circassians, Balkars, Ingush, etc.
Caribbean ethnic groups602Cubans, Dominicans, Haitians, Jamaicans, etc.
Total non-European ethnic groups107,879

List of minorities