Poles

Poles

ETHNONYM: Polak (fem. Polka, pl. Polacy)

Orientation

Identification. The Poles are a Western Slavic people who, for hundreds of years, have inhabited territory in what is now the western part of the former Soviet Union. The Poles became incorporated into Russia, and later into the former USSR, by the annexation of territory from neighboring Poland. The Soviet Poles include persons of ethnic Polish descent and Polonized Ukrainians, Belarussians, and Lithuanians.

Location and Demography. The exact number of Poles in the former USSR is a matter of controversy. According to the official 1979 census, there were 1,151,000 Poles in the USSR; however, even government sources agree that this figure is too low, and they suggest that 1.5 million is more accurate. Most Soviet Poles live in the western republics of the former USSR, in areas that were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Second Polish Republic. According to the 1979 census, 247,000 lived in Lithuania, 403,000 in Byelorussia, 247,000 in the Ukraine, 63,000 in Latvia, and 99,800 in Russia. Although the Polish population in these areas was locally concentrated (especially in Byelorussia and the Ukraine), Poles constituted only small proportions of the republics' populations (7.3 percent in Lithuania, 4-2 percent in Byelorussia, and 5 percent in the Ukraine).

There is also a sizable Polish community in Kazakhstan, estimated at 61,000. This community is descended from Poles who were deported from the western republics in the 1930s. The Poles in Kazakhstan live among a number of other ethnic groups, including Germans and Russians. Additionally, Poles remain in Siberia, where many were deported in the 1930s, but the exact number is not available. Many of the deportees to Siberia were repatriated to Poland immediately after the end of World War II.

Linguistic Affiliation. The two most important markers of Polish identity among Soviet Poles are the Polish language and Roman Catholicism. Polish belongs to the Western Branch of the Slavic Language Family and thus is more closely related to Czech and Slovak than to Russian, Ukrainian, or Belarussian. Written Polish uses the Latin alphabet. Under the encouragement of the Leninist nationalities policy in the 1920s, Polish-language publishing flourished in the western republics, but virtually all publishing in the Polish language in the Soviet Union was halted in the 1930s. At this time elementary and secondary education in Polish was suspended, and the Polish language was subject to severe repression. Children, for example, were completely prohibited from using Polish in school. The Soviet Polish population has become largely bilingual since 1945. Polish is spoken within the community, but Russian is generally used in situations of contact with other ethnic groups and for official purposes, except in Lithuania, where Lithuanian is used. As Russian has displaced Polish as the contact and administrative language in these areas over the past two centuries, Polish has become an ethnic marker of a minority community. Today there are only a few small-circulation Polish newspapers, based in Vilnius.

History and Cultural Relations

Possession of the territories that constitute Lithuania, western Belarus, and the western Ukraine, where most Poles of the former Soviet Union live, has been contested for centuries between the Polish and Russian states. This region, along with a substantial portion of eastern Poland, came under Russian rule in the various partitions of the Polish Commonwealth in the eighteenth century. When the Polish republic was restored following World War I, much of this territory was returned to Poland. At the conclusion of World War II, a large portion of eastern Poland was again transferred to the Soviet Union.

The history of Poles in the former USSR included periods of cultural autonomy and repression. In the 1920s, under Lenin's policy of cultural toleration, two Polish autonomous regions were established, one in Byelorussia and one in the Ukraine. Polish was the official administrative language in these areas and education and publishing in the Polish language proliferated throughout the western republics. There was considerable official toleration of the Catholic church.

In the 1930s the mostly rural Polish population was highly resistant to the collectivization of farms, and this brought them into direct conflict with the Soviet leadership. The autonomous regions were liquidated, hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan, and cultural expression was severely limited. The use of the Polish language in schools and in the press was restricted, and churches were closed. During World War II the eastern half of Poland also came under Soviet occupation, in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Many Poles in the occupied lands, particularly intellectuals and business leaders, were deported to Siberia. Thousands of Polish army officers were massacred in the Katyn forest by their Soviet captors/allies.

After World War II the Soviet Union gained additional territory from Poland. Some of the Poles in the USSR, particularly those in the newly acquired areas and those who had been exiled to Siberia, were repatriated to Poland, but the overall population of Poles in the Soviet Union did not decrease.

From the end of the war, the Soviet authorities generally suppressed Polish cultural expression, although forcible population transfers ceased. Visiting across the Polish-Soviet border was strictly limited until the latter 1980s. There is evidence that Poles are becoming assimilated into local populations; the percentage of the population speaking Polish as a first language is declining.

As a result of the long history of conflict between Russians and Poles, ethnic relations between the two peoples are rather tense. Poles associate Russians with the atheist Soviet state. Although there is some intermarriage between these two groups, the practice is strongly discouraged.

In the western republics, the relationship between Poles and the majority ethnic groups is more complex. There are strong economic and cultural pressures for assimilation. In these regions, however, which were formally parts of the Polish state, the Soviet central government at times encouraged Polish cultural expression and efforts to gain local autonomy in order to counter the nationalist aspirations of these republics. This had been particularly true in Lithuania and the Ukraine. Currently, in Lithuania, the Polish minority has proposed the addition of Polish language, history, and culture to the school curriculum as a means of making the Poles an equal partner in the new Lithuanian state.

Economy and Settlements

The Soviet Polish population, like the population of Poland, was overwhelmingly rural in the past and, strongly attached to the land, has been slow to urbanize. Soviet Poles were primarily landowning farmers until the 1930s, when the Soviet state began collectivization. These farms were mostly small (many only a few hectares), and generally consisted of scattered plots rather than consolidated holdings. The farms were usually nonspecialized peasant farms on which tenants grew vegetables and grains and raised some livestock; labor was provided by family members, who used horses for plowing.

In spite of the deportations of the 1930s, the attachment of many Poles to their land and to their particular locality remains powerful. Many Poles have remained in their native regions, where they continue to work the land.

Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Kinship. Polish kinship is reckoned bilaterally. Most kin terms have both formal and informal forms. The informal forms are becoming more commonly used, which is one indication of a shift in the power structure of the family. Whereas the familiar term babcia for "grandmother" has been historically common, there has been a shift in the term used to address the father, from the formal ojciec to the informal ojca.

There is reciprocity in affinal kin terms, which can also be extended to more distant affines. The terms for mother's brother (wujek ) and for father's sister (ciotka ) can also be used to refer to any aunt or uncle. Terms like bratniec (brother's son) can also be extended to refer to the brother's son's child.

With the exception of cousins, kinship terminology distinguishes kin related through women from those related through men in the case of lateral relatives (i.e., mother's brother), but not in the case of strictly lineal relatives (i.e., grandparents). The terms for various lateral (but not lineal) affines also distinguish between those related by the marriage of a woman and those related by the marriage of a man.

Marriage. Soviet Poles do not form an endogamous marriage community. There is evidence, however, that marriage with other Poles is preferred to marriage with members of other ethnic groups, particularly Russians. There is a widespread belief that marriages to Russians are certain to end in divorce. If children marry members of another ethnic group, it is preferred that they marry other Catholics, for example Germans or Lithuanians.

Domestic Unit. Polish households often consist of a three-generation family: parents, children, and grandparents. The alternative household structure is that of a nuclear family. Both types were found throughout history among Poles, although the three-generation family was the more common until the twentieth century. In the past thirty years three-generation family households have become more common, as housing is in short supply. The power structure of the modern family differs from the traditional patriarchal family, however. Women generally work outside the household. Relations among family members are more informal. The emotional functions of the family have been intensified. Furthermore, the authority of the family is no longer vested in the grandparental generation, although grandparents may make significant contributions to the running of the household. Grandmothers often play an important role in the socialization of children, caring for them while the parents work. Statistics suggest that the older generations are more likely to use Polish as their major or exclusive means of communication; grandparents, therefore, may help to preserve the status of Polish as a primary language.

Socialization. Other significant sources of socialization are the church and the school. The Catholic church is an institution that teaches national as well as religious identity. (Religious instruction also occurs at home, especially in times of increased repression.) The state-run schools, in which Russian was spoken, were sources for the assimilation of Polish children into Soviet society. Of even greater concern to the Polish community, these schools were run on atheistic principles. Polish children attended these schools along with children of other ethnic groups. Until recently, the use of Polish was rigorously suppressed, and Polish children suffered discrimination in discipline.

Sociopolitical Organization

Poles have a long political tradition of aristocratic democracy. The Polish nobility (szlachta ), one of the most numerous and diversified in Europe, developed from a warrior caste rather than from a landed nobility. The szlachta valued their military role as well as the democratic nature of the Polish state. These are Polish political values that have endured to the present.

Since the dissolution of the Polish autonomous regions, Soviet Poles have had no formal ethnic political representation. The focus of Polish independent political organization is the Catholic church. From the 1950s, political conflict with Soviet authorities centered on freedom to practice the Catholic religion as the epitome of Polish cultural expression. The struggle was for cultural autonomy within the confines of the Soviet Union.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The Catholic church is both an important element of Soviet Polish identity and a point of sociopolitical conflict in the former Soviet republics. Polish Catholicism strongly emphasizes the cult of Mary, who is venerated as a suffering, worrying, and bereaved mother rather than as a virgin. Devotion to Mary has significant political implications in this context. The most important icon in the Polish church, that of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, is a primary symbol of Polish sovereignty. According to legend, this icon saved the Polish kingdom from the invading Swedish army in the Middle Ages.

Polish Catholicism is also linked to a romantic nationalist philosophical tradition exemplified by the works of the nineteenth-century poet Adam Mickiewicz. In this philosophy, the suffering of the Polish state will bring restoration of sovereignty, and Poland, as a figure of Christ, will play a messianic role among nations. In this manner, Catholicism continues to play an important role in Polish nationalism.

Most homes have corners in which religious material is displayed. The most common examples are icons of the Black Madonna and portraits of Pope John Paul II, which are hung on the wall. Icons of saints may also be displayed. In general, Polish Catholic practice has a strong orientation toward icons. Icons are displayed not only in homes and churches but in religious processions as well.

Religious Practitioners. The Catholic church in the former USSR suffers from a severe shortage of priests, which influences the nature of religious practice. Most priests serving Catholic Poles are either Lithuanians or elderly Poles who remained in the former USSR after the territorial shifts. The shortage is particularly acute in Belarus and Kazakhstan, where the Catholic church has suffered more persecution. Because of religious repression, Mass is often celebrated in parishioners' homes (even when it is possible to register legal churches), rotating through the homes of the congregation. Some priests allow lay Catholics in remote areas to administer the sacrament when they are unable to do so themselves. The practice of lay baptism is quite common; the baptism is often administered by old women, who form an important local religious authority in the absence of a priest. The lack of priests is perceived as a serious problem by practicing Catholics. Some of the Catholic congregations are multiethnic. This is particularly true in Lithuania, which is a largely Catholic republic, and Kazakhstan, where congregations are often mixed German and Polish.

Ceremonies. Religious weddings, funerals, and baptisms are important ceremonies to Polish Catholics. Infant baptism is strongly emphasized. In regions where a priest is available, Mass is usually celebrated at least once a week. Many Polish Catholics, however, cannot partake of Holy Communion more than once a year.

Christmas, Easter, and All Saints' Day are important holidays. In addition to holy days associated with the Virgin Mary, saints' days and name days are celebrated. Christmas is an important holiday, celebrated with religious ceremonies and feasting. One important ritual of Christmas is the oplatek (wafer) ceremony, which takes place on Christmas Eve. This ancient ceremony (dating from the tenth century) is based on the model of the Last Supper. As soon as the first star becomes visible after dusk on Christmas Eve, the oldest person present or the head of the family begins the ritual, in which unleavened bread blessed by a priest is passed around the gathered company, along with hugs and best wishes for the fulfillment of one's personal dreams.

Polish Catholic religious holidays often include pre-Christian Slavic folk practices. For example, Easter is celebrated by attending Mass, and the ritual dinner includes bread blessed by a priest, but the holiday also includes the elaborate and colorful decoration of eggs. Egg decoration is a widespread Slavic practice that Poles claim to have originated.

Arts. There are numerous Polish arts, including painting, prose, poetry, and theater (the Polish tradition is particularly rich in historical and absurdist theater). Two of the most significant arts are poetry and folk sculpture. Poets, like Mickiewicz, are national heroes. Like poetry, folk sculpture is often religiously based. Two of the most popular figures depicted in art (both sculpture and icon reproduction) are the Black Madonna and Christ, particularly the worrying Christ and the crucified Christ. These arts are intimately connected with notions of Poland's special position as an "outpost" of Western Christianity.

Bibliography

Armstrong, John (1990). "Policy toward the Polish Minority in the Soviet Union, 1923-1989." Polish Review 35(1): 51-65.

Bukowski, Wladyslaw (1984). "The Life of a Polish Priest in Kazakhstan." Translated by Janet Curtis. Religion in Communist Lands 12.

Kadziewicz, Stanislaw (1989). "The Lost Tribe: Poles in the Soviet Union." Studium Papers 12(1): 13-15.

Kurzowa, Zofia (1983). "Jezyk Polski w ZSRR: Historia, dtan obecny, potrzeby badawcze" (Polish language in the USSR: History of research, present status of research, and needs for future research). Przeglad Polonijny 1(27): 19-38.

Kurzowa, Zofia (1985). "Sytuacja językowa Polskiej ludnosci Wiejskiej w Litewskiej i Bialoruskiej SSR" (The situation of the language of the Polish peasants in Lithuania and the Byelorussian SSR). Przeglad Polonijny 6(3): 5-20.

Lossawski, Piotr (1989). "Sajudis a Polacy" (Sajudis and Poles). Tygodnik Powszechny 43(6): 4.

Lysakowski, Richard (1990). Siberian Odyssey. New York: Vantage Press.

Mirski, Jozef (1988). "Polacy w Kazachstanie" (Poles in Kazakhstan). Kultura 6(489): 30-37.

"Polonia Sowiecka" (Soviet Poles) (1983). Kultura 1-2:496.

"The Situation of a Roman Catholic Church in Byelorussia" (1982). Religion in Communist Lands 10 (Autumn).

Thomas, W., and F. Zaniecki (1984). The Polish Peasant in Europe and America. Edited by E. Zaretzky. Urbana: University Illinois Press.

Walicki, Andrzej (1982). Philosophy and Romantic Nationalism: The Case of Poland. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

KRISTI EVANS