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{{Short description|Adoption or imposition of Polish culture}} | |||
''' Polonization ''' ({{lang-pl|polonizacja}}) is the acquisition or imposition of elements of ], especially the ], experienced by the non-Polish population of the territories controlled by Poland or with a significant Polish influence, in different historical periods. Polonization is often compared to other ] policies carried out at times by other European powers that aspired to the regional domination (e.g. ], ] or ]), or to policies carried out by reconstituted countries which wanted to increase the role of their language in their societies (eg. ]). | |||
{{distinguish|Pollenization}} | |||
{{Time-context|article|that is ongoing but the article covers only the subject and events until the year 1947|date=November 2020}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} | |||
{{Infobox event | |||
| title = Polonization | |||
| image_name = Borders of Polish states and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (union state of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania).png | |||
| caption = Poland's and the Commonwealth's historical borders | |||
| image_size = 320px | |||
| duration = 1569–1945 | |||
| place = ] | |||
| blank_label= Borders | |||
| blank_data= | |||
{{Leftlegend|yellow|Yellow – 1000}}{{Leftlegend|khaki|Khaki – 1569}}{{Leftlegend|silver|Silver – 1939}}{{Leftlegend|pink|Pink – 1945}} | |||
}} | |||
'''Polonization''' or '''Polonisation''' ({{langx|pl|polonizacja}})<ref name="Polszczenie">In Polish historiography, particularly pre-WWII (e.g., L. Wasilewski. As noted in Смалянчук А. Ф. (Smalyanchuk 2001) Паміж краёвасцю і нацыянальнай ідэяй. Польскі рух на беларускіх і літоўскіх землях. 1864–1917 г. / Пад рэд. С. Куль-Сяльверставай. – Гродна: ГрДУ, 2001. – 322 с. {{ISBN|978-5-94716-036-9}} (2004). Pp.24, 28.), an additional distinction between the Polonization ({{langx|pl|polonizacja}}) and self-Polonization ({{langx|pl|polszczenie się}}) has been being made, however, most modern Polish researchers do not use the term ''polszczenie się''.</ref> is the acquisition or imposition of elements of ], in particular the ]. This happened in some historic periods among non-Polish populations in territories controlled by or substantially under the influence of ]. | |||
Polonization was especially noted in the history of the ] (1569-1795) and the ] (1918-1939), although it must be noted that because of strong differences between these two widely separated historical periods, the process of Polonization was quite different in each. In the times of the Commonwealth, the ], itself influenced by ], drew to itself the ]es of the ] (]ian and ]) and ]n communities leading to those ]es' lesser or greater ] from their ] roots. | |||
Like other examples of ], Polonization could be either voluntary or forced. It was most visible in territories where the Polish language or culture was dominant or where their adoption could result in increased prestige or social status, as was the case with the ] of ] and ]. To a certain extent, political authorities have administratively promoted Polonization, particularly during the ] and in the ]. | |||
Polonization was sometimes closely related to conversion to the ] faith, as in some areas and in some historical periods being Polish culturally and Roman Catholic by religion was almost the same, although the correlation was by no means universal. The promotion of the ] at the expense of the ] was the aspect of Polonization most resented by Belarusian and Ukrainian masses{{fact}}. In contrast the Lithuanians, who were mostly Catholic, were in danger of losing their cultural identity as a nation, but that didn't become evident for the wide masses of Lithuanians until the ] in the middle of the ]. | |||
Polonization can be seen as an example of cultural assimilation. Such a view is widely considered applicable to the times of the ] (1569–1795), when the ] and ] upper classes were drawn towards ] with the adoption of Polish culture and the political and financial benefits of such a transition, as well as, sometimes, by the administrative pressure exerted on their own cultural institutions, primarily the ]. Conversion to the ] (and, to a lesser extent, ]) faith was often the single most important part of the process. For Ruthenians at that time, being Polish culturally and Roman Catholic by religion was almost the same. This diminishing of the Orthodox Church was the part most resented by the Belarusian and Ukrainian masses. In contrast, the Lithuanians, who were mostly Catholic, were in danger of losing their cultural identity as a nation, but that was not realized by the wide masses of Lithuanians until the ] in the middle of the 19th century. | |||
In the twentieth century the ]'s Polonization policies were aimed at achieving an ethnically homogeneous Poland over the entire territory of the Republic while over one third of the Poland's population was non-Polish. These policies mainly relied on emphasizing the Polish language in education and official use, while discriminating against other languages. The proponents of this policy hoped that it would result in the Polish language becoming dominant over the continuum of a few generations. Given the short time span in which they were applied, these policies, applied with varying intensity, fell far short of their aim, but contributed to increased ethnic tensions which led to large scale violence during ]. | |||
On the other hand, the Polonization policies of the ] in the interwar years of the 20th century were again twofold. Some of them were similar to the mostly forcible ] policies implemented by other European powers that have aspired to regional dominance (e.g., ], ]), while others resembled policies carried out by countries aiming at increasing the role of their native language and culture in their own societies (e.g., ], ], ]). For Poles, it was a process of rebuilding Polish national identity and reclaiming Polish heritage, including the fields of education, religion, infrastructure and administration, that suffered under the prolonged ] of ], ], and ]. However, as a third of recreated Poland's population was ethnically non-Polish and many felt their own nationhood aspirations thwarted specifically by Poland, large segments of this population resisted to varying degrees the policies intended to assimilate them. ] emphasized the need for the long-term ethnic and cultural homogeneity of the state. However, the promotion of the Polish language in administration, public life and especially education, were perceived by some as an attempt at forcible homogenization. In areas inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians, for example, actions of the Polish authorities seen as aiming at restricting the influence of the Orthodox and the ] caused additional resentment and were considered to be closely tied to religious Polonization. | |||
==Historic periods of Polonization== | |||
===Poland of Piasts=== | |||
Between the ] and the ] centuries many Polish towns were accorded the, so called, ] that promoted the towns' development and ]. The right were usually granted on the occasion of the arrival of the colonists from ]. After the years of living between Polish majority of western and central Poland those groups were Polonized. Similar way of Polonization took place in case of merchants that settled in those areas, especially ] and ], they adopted most aspects of Polish culture but kept their Orthodox faith. Since the middle ages, Polish culture, influenced by the West, in turn radiated east, begining the long and uneasy process of ].<ref name="Mikos">], ''Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century. A Bilingual Anthology'', Warsaw: Constans, 1999. </ref> | |||
== Medieval Poland == | |||
===Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth=== | |||
],'' 1888 oil painting by ] depicting the ] laying for the first Roman Catholic church in ] by ] of Poland]] | |||
In the ] the minorities (especially ] and ]) found themselves under strong cultural and religious pressure of ].<ref name=Kost_Poland_Cathlolic>"Due to his marriage converted into the Catholicism and became an ardent proponent of the newly accepted religion and, gratifying the Poles, patronized both the spread of the Catholic religion through the Ruthenian lands and the implementation of the Polonization of Ruthenia. At this time, the embryo was put that for the following centuries defined the relationship between Ruthenia and Poland. The notion of religion became indistinguishable from the notion of the ethnicity. Who was the Catholic, was the Pole already. Who considered himself a Ruthenian, was an Orthodox and Belonging to the Orthodox Church was the defining sign of the belonging to the Ruthenian people."<br>{{Ru icon}} ], ''Russian History in Biographies of its main figures'', section '''' (])</ref> The Polish rule of the territory started from the 1569 ], when many of the territories formerly controlled by largely Ruthenized<ref name=EB_UA1>"Within the grand duchy, the Ruthenian lands initially retained considerable autonomy. The pagan Lithuanians themselves were increasingly converting to Orthodoxy and assimilating into Ruthenian culture. The grand duchy's administrative practices and legal system drew heavily on Slavic customs, and Ruthenian became the official state language. Direct Polish rule in Ukraine since the 1340s and for two centuries thereafter was limited to Galicia. There, changes in such areas as administration, law, and land tenure proceeded more rapidly than in Ukrainian territories under Lithuania. However, Lithuania itself was soon drawn into the orbit of Poland."<br>from ''Ukraine''. (2006). In ]. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service: </ref><ref name=KostRuth>"The son of Gediminas, the Grand Prince Olgerd expanded the Ruthenian lands he inherited from his father: he attached the Polish lands to his state expelling the Tatars out. The Ruthenian lands under his sovereignty were divided between princes. However, Algirdas, the person of a strong character, controlled them. In Kiev, he installed his son, Vladimir, which started the new line of Kiev princes that reigned there for over a century and called commonly the Olelkoviches, from Olelko, Aleksandr Vladimirovich, the grand-son of Algirdas. Algirdas himself, married twice with Ruthenian princesses, allowed his sons to baptise into Ruthenian religion and, as the Ruthenian Chronicles speak, had himself baptised and died as a monk. As such, the princes that replaced the St. Vladimir's line in Ruthenia, became as Ruthenian by religion and by the ethnicity they adopted, as the princes of the line that preceded them. The Lithuanian state was called Lithuania, but of course it was purely Ruthenian and would have remained Ruthenian if only the successor of Algirdas in the Great Princehood, the Jagiello wouldn't have married in 1386 to the Polish queen Jadwiga"<br>Kostomarov, ''"Ostrozhski"''.</ref> ] were absorbed into ], and formally ended by the 1795 ], while in reality it continued well into the 19th century as the ] peasantry and huge estates were left in the ] and ] Empires under the control of the ], or the Polonized ones, virtually indistinguishable from the former. | |||
Between the 12th and the 14th centuries, many towns in ] adopted the so-called ] that promoted the towns' development and ]. The rights were usually granted by the king on the occasion of the arrival of migrants. Some integrated with the larger community, such as merchants who settled there, especially ] and ]. They adopted most aspects of Polish culture but kept their Orthodox faith. In Western Poland, many townspeople were Germans. Initially, trade guilds had been exclusively German-speaking. However, this began to change by increasing Polonization in the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref> {{cite book|editor=LOthar Dralle|author= Franciszek Bujak|chapter= Deutsche Siedlung in den Westgebieten Polens|title= Preussen, Deutschland, Polen im Urteil polnischer Historiker: eine Anthologie|publisher=Colloquium-Verlag|year= 1983}}</ref> | |||
Since the Middle Ages, Polish culture, influenced by the West, in turn radiated East, beginning the long process of ].<ref name="Mikos2">], ''Polish Literature from the Middle Ages to the End of the Eighteenth Century. A Bilingual Anthology'', Warsaw: Constans, 1999. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927020417/http://staropolska.gimnazjum.com.pl/ang/renaissance/Mikos_renaissance/index.html |date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> | |||
== Polish–Lithuanian Union (1385–1795)== | |||
In the climate of the ] of Ruthenian lands by the ],<ref name="EB_Colonize">"Transferred as a result of the Union of Lublin from the grand duchy of Lithuania to the more ethnically homogeneous Crown, Ukraine was “colonized” by both Polish and Ukrainian great nobles. Most of the latter gradually abandoned Orthodoxy to become Roman Catholic and Polish. These “little kings” of Ukraine controlled hundreds of thousands of “subjects”"<br>from ''Wladyslaw IV Vasa'' in "Poland, history of". (2006). In ]. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from ] Premium Service: </ref> persecution <ref name="Columbia">"Ukraine had flourished under Lithuanian rule, and its language became that of the state; but after the organic union of Poland and Lithuania in 1569, Ukraine came under Polish rule, enserfment of the Ukrainian peasants proceeded apace, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church suffered persecution."<br>from "Ukraine". The ], Sixth Edition. 2001-05.</ref><ref name="EB_UA2">"The Uniate church was unsuccessful in gaining the legal equality with the Latin church foreseen by the agreement. Nor was it able to stem the process of Polonization and Latinization of the nobility. At the same time, the Union of Brest caused a deep split in the Ruthenian church and society. This was reflected in a sizable polemical literature, struggles over the control of bishoprics and church properties that intensified after the restoration of an Orthodox hierarchy in 1620, and numerous acts of violence. Efforts to heal the breach in the 1620s and '30s were ultimately fruitless."<br>from ''Ukraine''. (2006). In '']''. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service: </ref> and even an attempted ban<ref name="EB_Unia">In 1596 the Union of Brest-Litovsk subordinated the Eastern Orthodox church of the Commonwealth to the papacy by creating the Eastern-rite (Uniate) church. Politically, this was intended to cement the cohesion of the state vis-à-vis Moscow; instead it led to internal divisions among the Orthodox. The new Eastern-rite church became a hierarchy without followers while the forbidden Eastern Orthodox church was driven underground. Wladyslaw's recognition of the latter's existence in 1632 May have come too late. The Orthodox masses—deprived of their native protectors, who had become Polonized and Catholic—turned to the Cossacks.<br>from ''Wladyslaw IV Vasa'' in "Poland, history of". (2006). In '']''. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from '']'' Premium Service: </ref> of the ] in the ] following ] to convert the Ruthenian peasantry <ref name="EB_Unia"/> into the ], pressures of Polonization <ref name="Kost_Concl">"The higher class in Poland was omnipotent and, of course, if the Ruthenia nobility was firm in their religion and firmly stood by the religion of their forefathers, no intrigues of the king and the Jesuits would have been able to subvert it. But this was the very misfortune that the Ruthenian nobility, this very Ruthenian higher class who was benefiting from being under the power of Poland, was not able to hold to its own from the moral oppression, that was burdening the Orthodox religion and the Ruthenian ethnicity. Entering into the relations with the Polish ], adopting the Polish language and Polish habits, the Ruthenian people were not powerful enough to hold on to their forefathers' religion. Catholicism was supported by the eye catching shine of the Western enlightenment. In Poland, the Ruthenian religion and the Ruthenian ethnicity were looked down at: everything resembling Ruthenian seemed to the eye of the Polish society as rustic, vulgar, savage, ignorant, something an educated and upstanding citizen should be ashamed of. Catholics had much better means for education and, therefore, the children of the Orthodox nobility were taught by the Catholics. Stirred up by their teachers, who indoctrinated them with the reverence to Catholicism, entering the court, where they in the prevailing propaganda spirit only heard about the same reverence, the Ruthenian youths inevitably adopted the same attitude towards the religion and the ethnicity of their forefathers, as usually common for those who draw on the alienation under the full conviction that the alien is the sign of education and gives the honor and respect in the everyday life which they are to be part of. The converted to the Catholicism descendants of the noble families, looking back at the morality of their forefathers found themselves in the same mood, as their ancestors who abandoned the Paganism and adopted the Christianity many centuries prior to that. One after the other they adopted the new religion and felt ashamed of the previous one. True, as it always is in the transitional periods, so was in the period of Catholicization of the Ruthenian nobility, for as long as half-a-century, or sometimes even longer, there were remaining adherents of the old tradition and they made themselves heard, but those were becoming very few and far between, and finally there were none. In the Polish Ruthenia the person that belonged by blood and by position to the high society became unthinkable other than with the Roman-Catholic religion, with Polish language and with Polish views and perceptions. From the times of Unia there appeared a new aspiration to raise the Ruthenian Church and the Ruthenian ethnicity, to form Ruthenian education, at least the religious one for a start. But this aspiration came too late for the upper class of the Ruthenian lands connected with Poland. This upper class didn't need anything Ruthenian anymore and viewed it with disgust and aversion. It appeared the Unia, thought to be a bait for the Ruthenian upper class, was for it as unnecessary. The nobles became pure Catholics without it. The Unia remained only as a means of destruction among the commoners of the signs of the Orthodox religion and the Ruthenian ethnicity. To accept the Unia meant for a Ruthenian to become a Pole, or at least, semi-Pole. This direction revealed itself from the start and persisted without deviation for times to come until the end of Unia. Despite in the beginning the Pope, in agreement with the 15th century Council of Florence affirmed the sanctity of the Eastern Rite, already in early-17th century the Uniate clerics started to alter the church service and introduced different customs, peculiar for the Western church and non-existing in the Eastern one, or even the repudiated by the latter Becoming close and closer to the Catholicism, Unia seized being an Eastern Church and started something intermediate but remaining the feature of the commoners: in the country were the commoners reached the total degree of enslavement, the religion, the existed for those people could not have enjoyed the equal honor with the religion preached by the superiors; therefore the Unia in Poland became the inferior religion, that of the common people, not worthy of the higher class. As for the Orthodoxy, in the eyes of the society it became the Religion rejected, the lowest one Worthy of the utmost contempt. It was not just the religion of the low-lives in general, like Unia, but the religion of the outcasted low-lives, the different ones and unable in their barbarity and obduracy to raise on a somewhat a higher stage of the religious and societal development. It was no more than a pity affiliation of the despicable half-believers, which will not get any salvation even in the next life.<br>{{Ru icon}} Kostomarov "''Knyaz Kostantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky''"</ref> on ] and cultural elite resulted in almost complete abandonment of ], traditions and the ] by the Ruthenian higher class.<ref name=Kost_Concl/> | |||
] ] (in ]), dedicated to ], ], 1766]] | |||
=== Grand Duchy of Lithuania === | |||
The Polish king ] (reigned 1386-1434) built many Roman Catholic churches and provided them generously with estates, gave out the lands and positions to the Catholics, settled the cities and villages by the Poles and gave those settlements the ] privilleges that consisted of many allowances. These rights were given only to the settlements dominated by the Poles and the Germans but not to Ruthenian settlements whose residents were fully taxed. The noble Ruthenians were also freed from many payment obligations and their rights were equalized with those of the Polish Szlachta but only when they adopted the Catholicism. Then they were provided with compensation for the military service, while those who remained Orthodox received none. As such, the entire population of Ruthenia was split into the privileged and non-privileged ones, and the latter were the Orthodox people of Ruthenia.<ref name=KostOstGen>Kostomarov, ''"Ostrozhski"''</ref> | |||
Poles reached Lithuania long before the union of the two countries. In a letter to the German Franciscans, Grand Duke Gediminas asked them to send monks who spoke Samogitian, Ruthenian or Polish. Other sources mention Polish slave carers and educators of children. This indicates the presence of Poles, probably prisoners of war or their descendants.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=544}} Polish influence increased considerably after the ] (1386). The Lithuanian Grand Duke ] was offered the Polish crown and became ] (reigned 1386–1434). This marked the beginning of the gradual, voluntary Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility.<ref>Thomas Lane. ''Lithuania stepping westwards''. ], 2001. p. 24. {{Verify quote|date=January 2017}}</ref><ref>David James Smith. ''The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania''. ]. 2002. p. 7.</ref><ref>Romuald J. Misiunas, Rein Taagepera. ''The Baltic States, years of dependence, 1940–1980''. ]. 1983. p. 3.</ref> Jagiełło built many churches in ] Lithuanian land and provided them generously with estates, gave out the lands and positions to the Catholics, settled the cities and villages and granted the biggest cities and towns ] in their Polish variant.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=549}} | |||
Lithuanian nobles were granted privileges modeled on those held by the Polish nobility. 47 families of Lithuanian families were adopted by 45 Polish families and endowed with Polish coats of arms. Lithuania adopted Polish political solutions and institutions. The offices of voivodes and castellans appeared, and the country was divided into ]s and ]s.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=546-547}} There was also a representation of the nobility, called Sejm, following the Polish model. However, unlike the Polish Sejm, the magnates had the deciding vote, and the petty and middle nobility only approved the decisions of the magnate's council.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=547}} Since the late 15th century marriages between Lithuanian and Polish magnates became more frequent. This brought the Lithuanians even closer to Polish culture. The first such marriage was the one between {{Ill|Mikołaj Tęczyński|pl}} and the daughter of ] in 1478.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=322}} | |||
Under Jagiełło's successor ] (reigned 1434-1444) the Polonization which earlier took place more by force than by other means<ref name=KostWladJagello>"The new Polish king, the son of Jagello, Vladislav named in history "of Varna" due to his death in the battle with Turks at Varna in 1444) curbed significantly the aspirations of Svidrigello by his attitude to the Ruthenian people and the Ruthenian religion. Until that day the Poles captured power in Ruthenia by force . Jagiello's succerror, Wladyslaw (reigned from 1434), acted differently than his father, although with the same goals in mind. He expanded the privileges and liberties formerly available only to the Ruthenian nobles of the Latin religion to all Ruthenian nobles without exception. This marked the beginning of the reconciliation between Ruthenia and Poland...</ref> attained a certain degree of subtlety. Wladyslaw III introduced some more liberal reforms. He expanded the privilleges to all Ruthenian nobles, irrespective of their religion, and in 1443 he signed a bull equalizing the Orthodox church in rights with the Roman Catholicism thus alleviating the relationship with the Orthodox clergy. These policies continued under the next king ]. Still, the mostly cultural expansion of the Polish influence continued since the Ruthenian nobilty were attracted by both the glamour of the Western culture and the Polish political order where the ] became the unrestricted rulers of the lands and serfs in their vast estates. | |||
Polish influence intensified in the period preceding the Union of Lublin. The royal court took steps to make the political and economic system of Lithuania more similar to Poland. An important step was the introduction of the hide system (] – {{langx|pl|reforma włóczna}}), based on the Polish model. The reform was introduced by specialists from Poland, mainly from Mazovia, headed by {{ill|Piotr Chwalczewski|pl}}. ''Włóka'' was a Polish measure of land (in Ruthenian ''volok''), and in Lithuania, it became the basis for land measurement. At the same time, Polish measures of area and distance were introduced, as well as a model of farming based on the ] and ].{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=548}} | |||
Some Ruthenian magnates like ], ] and ], resisted the cultural Polonization for several generations, with the ] family being one of the most prominet examples. Remaining generally loyal to the Polish state, the magnates, like Ostrogskis, stood by the religion of their forefathers, and supported the Orthodox Church generously by opening schools, printing books in Ruthenian language (the first four printed ] books in the world were published in Cracow, in 1491<ref name="Mikos">], ''Polish Renaissance Literature: An Anthology''. Ed. Michael J. Mikoś. Columbus, Ohio/Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica Publishers. 1995. ISBN 0-89357-257-8, </ref>) and giving generously to the Orthodox churches' construction. However, their resistance was gradually waining with each subsequent generation as more and more of the Ruthenian elite turned towards Polish language and Catholicism. | |||
During the Reformation, voices were raised that Latin should be the language of the Lithuanians, due to the alleged proximity of the two languages and the legendary origin of the Lithuanian nobility from the Romans. However, this intention failed and Latin never reached the same position as in the Polish Crown.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=33}} Instead, Polish quickly took the place of the official language. At the beginning of the 17th-century instructions and resolutions of ]s were written down in Polish. In the period 1620–1630, the Polish language supplanted Ruthenian in the books of the ].{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=33}} When in 1697 the Sejm of the Commonwealth passed a resolution to replace ] by Polish in all official actions, it only approved the long-standing status quo.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=555}} In addition to Polish, Latin was also used in the documents of the Lithuanian chancellery referring to the Catholic Church, cities under Magdeburg Law, ] and foreigners.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=34}} | |||
Still, with most of the educational system getting Polonized and the most generously funded institutions being to the west of Ruthenia, the Ruthenian indigenous culture further deteriorated. In the Polish Ruthenia the administrative paperwork language started to gradually shift towards the gradual Polish domination. By the 16th century we find the peculiar official language, a mix of the older ] with the ] of the commoners with the ] with the influence of the latter gradually increasing. It soon became mostly like Polish language superimposed on the Ruthenian phonetics. The total confluence of Ruthenia and Poland was seen coming.<ref name=KostOstGen>Kostomarov, ''"Ostrozhski"''</ref> | |||
Already at the beginning of the 16th century, Polish became the first language of the Lithuanian magnates. In the following century, it was adopted by the Lithuanian nobility in general. Even the nobility of Žemaitija used the Polish language already in the 17th century.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=554}} At the beginning of the 18th century, the Polish language was adopted by the entire nobility of the Grand Duchy – Lithuanian, Ruthenian, German and Tatar.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=33-34}} The Polish language also penetrated other social strata: the clergy, the townspeople, and even the peasants.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=34}} | |||
As the ] ] Church originally created to accommodate the Ruthenian, initially Orthodox, nobilty, ended up unnecessary to them as they converted directly into the ] Catholicism en masse, the Church largely became an hierarchy without followers. The Greek Catholic Church was then used as a tool aimed to split even the peasantry from their Ruthenian roots, still mostly unsuccessfully.<ref name="EB_Unia"/> The commoners, deprived of their native protectors, sought protection through the ],<Ref name="EB_Unia"/> who, being fiercely Orthodox, tended also to easily turn to violence against those they perceived as their enemies, particularly the Polish state and what they saw as its representatives, the Poles and generally the ]s , as well as the Jews.<ref name=KostKhmeln>{{Ru icon}} "''Little Russian Hetman Zinoviy-Bogdan Khmelnytsky''" (]) in "]'s, "Russian History in Biographies of its main figures", </ref> | |||
Linguistic Polonization did not always mean full Polonization in the state or ethnic sense. The Lithuanian nobility felt united with the Polish nobility as part of one political nation of the Commonwealth, enjoying privileges, freedom and equality.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=34}} In this sense, they often referred to themselves as "Polish nobility" or outright "Poles". At the same time, separatism and the defense of Lithuanian national separateness within the federation state were very strong. The Lithuanian nobility was strongly attached to the laws, traditions and symbols of the Grand Duchy.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=34}} Moreover, the Lithuanian separateness was also defended by the members of ethnically Polish families settling in Lithuania.{{sfn|Rachuba|2010|p=34}} | |||
After several ], especially the fateful ], and foreign invasions (like ]), the Commonwealth, increasingly powerless and falling under the control of its neighbours<ref name="Bullitt">], ''The Great Globe Itself: A Preface to World Affairs'', Transaction Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1-4128-0490-6, </ref> <ref name="Adams">], ''The Political Writings of John Adams'', Regnery Gateway, 2001, ISBN 0-89526-292-4, </ref>, started to decline, the process which eventually culminated with ] in the end of the ] for the next 123 years. | |||
==== Church and education ==== | |||
While the Commonwealth's ] is widely considered an example of an unprecedented ] for its time<ref name="UNESCO">, part of the ] project at ].</ref>, the oppressive policies of Poland towards its Eastern Orthodox subjects is often cited as one of the main reasons that brought the state's demise.<ref name=Bushkov>Aleksandr Bushkov, Andrey Burovsky. ''Russia that was not - 2. The Russian Atlantis", ISBN 5-7867-0060-7, 5-224-01318-6</ref> <!---the ref doesn't speak anything about Russia using this as justification which it might have. the author claims that had Poland been tolerant, its orthodox people would have stood up for rather than against it.---> | |||
The spread of Polish culture was channelled through the Catholic Church. A large part of the Lithuanian clergy were Poles, either of Polish descent or from Polish families settled in Lithuania. Of the 123 known canons of Vilnius, only slightly more than half (66) were ethnic Lithuanians, and most of the others were of Polish origin.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=317}} The role of the church was important because it had a monopoly on teaching. By 1550, 11 schools were established in the Samogitian diocese and 85 in the Vilnius diocese.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=318}} In 1528 the diocese of Vilnius decreed that the language of instruction of religious texts should be Polish and Lithuanian. {{sfn|Frost|2015|p=318}} Latin was taught exclusively in Polish, so children who did not know this language were taught Polish first.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=553}} Lithuanians went to Kraków to study, in 1409 professor of theology founded a dormitory for students from Grand Duchy{{sfn|Suchecki|1983|p=60}} Overall 366 Lithuanian students studied in Kraków between 1430 and 1560.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=318}} In the 16th-century students from Lithuania were coming to Kraków already considerably Polonized. In 1513, Lithuanian students were accused of mocking the plain Polish speech of their colleagues from Mazovia before the university court.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=552}} | |||
Polish had the advantage over Ruthenian and Lithuanian that its vocabulary, being influenced by Latin, allowed more abstract thoughts to be expressed. Moreover, its proximity to the Ruthenian language made its adoption all the more natural.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=318-319}} The Reformation, on the one hand, accelerated the development of literatures in Lithuanian, on the other hand, it contributed to an even faster spread of the Polish language. The Calvinist magnate ] published in ] a ] of the Bible for the use of Lithuanian Calvinists.{{sfn|Trimonienė|2006|p=554}} | |||
During all time of existing of Commonwealth Polonization in western part of country referred to rather small groups of colonists, like ] in ]. | |||
=== |
==== Royal court ==== | ||
The second important channel for the spread of the Polish language and culture was the royal and grand ducal court. After 1447, only for short periods there was a separate grand ducal court in Vilnius. But even then the Polish influence was strong. Already Grand Duke Vytautas employed Polish secretaries to run his Latin chancellery.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=319-320}} The Krakow court was dominated by Poles who travelled with the king to Lithuania. The Lithuanian nobles who joined the court were therefore greatly influenced by Polish culture. Casimir Jagiellon was the last grand duke to know Lithuanian.{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=320}} From the time of Zygmunt August, correspondence with the Lithuanian elite was conducted almost exclusively in Polish,{{sfn|Frost|2015|p=320}} since the knowledge of Latin in Lithuania was too weak.{{cn|date=March 2023}} | |||
Polonization also occurred during times when a Polish state didn't exist, e.g. by mixed marriages between Poles (especially Polish women). This process was most prevalent during the ] when relatively large numbers of French soldiers resided in Polish lands. | |||
=== Ruthenian lands === | |||
Another situation where polonization took place was in the ] partition, where as a reaction to the persecution of Roman Catholicism during the ], German Catholics living in areas with a Polish majority voluntarily integrated themselves within Polish society, affecting approximately 100,000 Germans in the eastern provinces of Prussia<ref name="Thomas"> by ]. </ref>. It should be noted that during the same period, the German state was engaged in a state-enforced program of ] targeting the Polish minority<ref name="Thomas"/> (and similarly, the Russian state was engaged in forced ]). | |||
Jogaila's successor ], who reigned in 1434–1444, expanded the privileges of the nobles to all Ruthenian nobles irrespective of their religion, and in 1443 signed a bull equalizing the Orthodox church in rights with the Roman Catholicism thus alleviating the relationship with the Orthodox clergy. These policies continued under the next king ]. Still, the most cultural expansion of the Polish influence continued since the Ruthenian nobility were attracted by both the glamour of the Western culture and the Polish political order where the ] became the unrestricted rulers of the lands and serfs in their vast estates.<ref>Ulčinaitė E., Jovaišas A., </ref> | |||
In the 1569 ], the Ukrainian territories controlled by the ] were transferred to the ],{{sfn|Stone|2014|p=62}} and thus found themselves under the direct influence of the ] and ]. | |||
===Second Polish Republic=== | |||
Ukrainian lands of Kyiv and Braclav voivodeship were rather sparsely populated and attracted a lot of settlers, mostly from Volhynia, but also from central Poland. One of the reasons was that serfdom was not introduced there.{{sfn|Magocsi|1996|p=145}} Among the settlers was also a petty nobility. Ruthenian, just like Lithuanian, nobility was attracted by the Polish culture, which at that time flourished. Many of them adopted the Polish language and customs, even converted to Roman Catholicism. Even for those who remained faithful to the Orthodox Church and Ruthenian language, Polish political identity became very important, as they were inspiring to be part of ''szlachta'' – a ruling, privileged elite.{{sfn|Magocsi|1996|p=149}} It was at that time when the concept of ''gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus'' (a Poles of a Rus' religion{{sfn|Magocsi|1996|p=149}}) was born. It all resulted in the almost complete abandonment of ], traditions and the ] by the Ruthenian higher class.{{sfn|Subtelny|2009|p=95-96}} | |||
By the times of ] (1918-1939) much of the territories controlled by Poland over a century ago (at the Commonwealth's time), that were historically mixed (partly Ruthenian and partly Polish), had the Ukrainian and Belarusian majority.<ref name="Cienciala">. University of Kansas, lecture notes by professor ], 2004. Last accessed on 2 June 2006. Quote:"there were large Polish minorities in what is today western Belarus, western Ukraine and central Ukraine. According to the Polish Census of 1931, Poles made up 5,600,000 of the total population of eastern Poland which stood at 13,021,000.* In Lithuania, Poles had majorities in the Vilnius and Suwałki areas, as well as significant numbers in and around Kaunas ."</ref> Following the post-] rebirth of the Polish statehood, these lands became again disputed but the Poles were more successful than the nascent ] in the ]. Thus, in the wake of the Poland's elimination of Ukrainian statehood attempt in ] and ] followed by the ] which the ] succeeded to deter only to a degree, these territories ended up under the Polish control. As such, Poland had to deal with the problems it brought upon itself by expanding into non-Polish populated territories as the approximately one third of new state's population was non-Polish and non-Catholic.<ref name=Roshwald_p144>"Poland one third of population consisted of non-Poles, many of whom felt bitterly alienated from a state that had forcibly incorporated them into itself... he Polish government felt it had little reason to negotiate terms of autonomy with minorities upon which it had already imposed its rule."<br>{{cite book | last = Roshwald | first = Aviel | authorlink = | title = Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires: Central Europe, the Middle East and Russia, 1914-1923 | url = http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0415242290&id=qPyer6Pks0oC&vq=bitterly+resisted&dq=%22Peace+of+Riga%22 | edition = | year = 2001 | publisher = Routledge (UK) | location = | id = ISBN 0-415-24229-0 | pages = | chapter = | chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=ISBN0415242290&id=qPyer6Pks0oC&pg=PA164&lpg=PA164&dq=%22Peace+of+Riga%22&vq=%22imposed+its+rule%22&sig=O-9FXzZz2mDsX8Gm9U7QwcCYO2s| quote =}}</ref> | |||
The creation of the Greek Catholic Church, following the 1596 ] which sought to break the relations between Orthodox clergy in the Commonwealth and the Patriarchate in Moscow, put the Ruthenian people under stronger influence of Polish culture.<ref name="EB_Unia">Staff writer, '']'' (2006). </ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=БЕРЕСТЕЙСЬКА ЦЕРКОВНА УНІЯ 1596 Р. |url=http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?Z21ID=&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Berestejska_uniia_1596 |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=resource.history.org.ua}}</ref> The unia was supported by the Polish authorities. In addition to the Unia itself, the eventual ] of the Unia was one of the components of Polonization.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nowakowski |first=Przemysław |title=Statuty synodu zamojskiego 1720 roku: Nowe tłumaczenie z komentarzami |year=2020 |location=Cracow |pages=382–390}}</ref> The unia was accompanied by the spread of the Roman Catholic Church in the Ruthenian lands. Dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church were established as early as the 14th and 15th centuries by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. After the Union of Lublin Jesuit schools were established by Ruthenian magnates.{{sfn|Subtelny|2009|p=94}} | |||
The Ukrainian territories of ] and ] had different backgrounds, different late histories and different dominant religions. Until the First World War, Galicia with its largely ] Ukrainian population, was controlled by the ] whose local policies were relatively pro-Ukrainian (Ruthenian) in an attempt to cement the Austrian control over the territories and prevent the political trends of population's leaning towards the rest of Ukrainians controlled by the ]. Such policies resulted in much stronger national self-perception among the Galicia Ukrainians. On the other hand, the Ukrainians of Volhynia, formerly of the ], were largely ], and were influenced by the strong ] trends. Therefore, while the ] (UGCC), which functions in ] with the ] Catholicism, could have hoped to receive a better treatment in Poland, where the leadership saw the Catholicism as one of the main tools to unify the nation, the Poles saw the Greek Catholic Galicia Ukrainians as even less reliable than the Orthodox Volhynia Ukrainians seen as good candidates for the political assimilation. As such the Polish policy in Ukraine initially was aimed at keeping "bad" Greek Catholic Galicians from influencing "good" Orthodox Volhynians.<ref name="Snyder">], ''The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999'', Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10586-X</ref> | |||
Some Ruthenian magnates like ], ] and Kisiel, resisted the cultural Polonization for several generations, with the ] family being one of the most prominent examples. Remaining generally loyal to the Polish state, the magnates, like Ostrogskis, stood by the religion of their forefathers, and supported the Orthodox Church generously by opening schools, printing books in Ruthenian language (the first four printed ] books in the world were published in Cracow, in 1491<ref name="Mikos">], ''Polish Renaissance Literature: An Anthology''. Ed. Michael J. Mikoś. Columbus, Ohio/Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica Publishers. 1995. {{ISBN|0-89357-257-8}}, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105200217/http://staropolska.gimnazjum.com.pl/ang/renaissance/Mikos_renaissance/Literary_r.html |date=5 January 2009 }}</ref>) and giving generously to the Orthodox churches' construction. However, their resistance was gradually waning with each subsequent generation as more and more of the Ruthenian elite turned towards Polish language and Catholicism. Still, with most of the educational system getting Polonized and the most generously funded institutions being to the west of Ruthenia, the Ruthenian indigenous culture further deteriorated. In the Polish Ruthenia the language of the administrative paperwork started to gradually shift towards Polish. By the 16th century the language of administrative paperwork in Ruthenia was a peculiar mix of the older ] with the ] of the commoners and the ]. With the Polish influence in the mix gradually increasing it soon became mostly like the Polish language superimposed on the Ruthenian phonetics. The total confluence of Ruthenia and Poland was seen coming.<ref name=KostKhmeln>"], '''' "Little Russian Hetman Zinoviy-Bogdan Khmelnytsky." {{in lang|ru}}</ref> | |||
Due to the region's history the ] attained a strong Ukrainian national character, and the Polish authorities sought to weaken it in various ways. In 1924, following a visit with the Ukrainian Catholic believers in North America and western Europe, the head of the UGCC was initially denied reentry to Lviv until after a considerable delay. Polish priests led by their bishops began to undertake missionary work among Eastern Rite faithful, and the administrative restrictions were placed on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church <ref name=Magosci>{{cite book| author=Magosci, P. | title=Morality and Reality: the Life and Times of Andrei Sheptytsky| location= Edmonton, Alberta | publisher= Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta | year = 1989| }}</ref>. | |||
=== Royal Prussia === | |||
With respect to the Orthodox Ukrainian population in eastern Poland, the ] initially issued a decree defending the rights of the Orthodox minorities. In practice, this often failed, as the ], also eager to strengthen their position, had official representation in the ] and the courts. Any accusation was strong enough for a particular church to be confiscated and handed over to the Roman Catholic church. 190 Orthodox churches were destroyed (some of the destroyed churches were abandoned<ref name="BP">''The Impact of External Threat on States and Domestic Societie'', ] in ''Dissolving Boundaries'', Blackwell Publishers, 2003, ISBN 1-4051-2134-3, </ref> and 150 more were forcibly transformed into Roman Catholic (not Greek Catholic) churches<ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book | first= Orest| last= ] | title=Ukraine: A History | location= Toronto | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=1988 | id=ISBN 0-8020-5808-6 }}</ref>. Such actions were condemned by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, ] ], who claimed that these acts would "destroy in the souls of our non-united Orthodox brothers the very thought of any possibility of reunion."<ref name=Magosci>{{cite book| author=Magosci, P. | title=Morality and Reality: the Life and Times of Andrei Sheptytsky| location= Edmonton, Alberta | publisher= Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta | year = 1989| }}</ref> | |||
Since Teutonic times the language of the Prussian elite and administration has been German. This did not change after the incorporation into the kingdom of Poland. It was only from the beginning of the 16th century that the role of the Polish language began to increase. Since 1527 there have been complaints from representatives of large cities that some council members use Polish, although they know German. In 1555, a canon of ] delivered a speech to the Prussian Sejm in Polish, without the help of an interpreter. In the second half of the 16th century, royal decrees were issued in Polish, debates in the Landtag were held in Polish. Great Prussian families Polonized their names: the Baysen to Bażyński; the Zehmen to Cema; the Dameraw to ], and the Mortangen to Mortęski, the Kleinfelds to Krupocki. | |||
==Partitions (1795–1918)==<!-- This section is linked from ] --> | |||
How to deal with the non-Polish minorities was a subject of intense debate within the Polish leadership. Two ideas of Polish policy clashed at the time - a more tolerant and arguably less assimilationist approach advocated by ],<ref name="Brzez">] in his introduction to Wacław Jędrzejewicz’s “Pilsudski A Life For Poland” wrote: ''Pilsudski’s vision of Poland, paradoxically, was never attained. He contributed immensely to the creation of a modern Polish state, to the preservation of Poland from the Soviet invasion, yet he failed to create <u>the kind of multinational commonwealth, based on principles of social justice and ethnic tolerance, to which he aspired in his youth</u>. One may wonder how relevant was his image of such a Poland in the age of nationalism...''. Quoted from .</ref> <ref name="Polonica">. Polonica.net article by ]</ref> whose project of creating a ] ] with other states failed in the ], clashed with the eventually prevailing strictly nationalist and assimilationist approach advocated by ], a minister of foreign affairs, and ], a minister of religion and education. Dmowski and Grabski saw the solution of the "minorities problem" in imposing "Polish values" (Polish language and the Catholic Church) on the minorities to achieve "national assimilation", i.e. to make them "Polish" within the "next generation".<ref name="Snyder"/> On the other hand, ], a Polish ] who also controlled the army, supported "state" rather than "national" assimilation as a more practical approach. | |||
] | |||
Polonization also occurred during times when a Polish state did not exist, despite the empires that ] applied the policies aimed at reversing the past gains of Polonization or aimed at replacing Polish identity and eradication of Polish national group.<ref name="Thomas"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050904150707/http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Thomas/Thomas_1913.html |date=4 September 2005 }} by ].</ref><ref name="Wandycz">Various authors, ''The Treaty of Versailles: a reassessment after 75 years'', Cambridge University Press, 1998, {{ISBN|0-521-62132-1}}, </ref><ref name="Suss_Cubb">], Paul Cubberley, ''The Slavic Languages'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, {{ISBN|0-521-22315-6}}, </ref> | |||
The Polonization took place in the early years of the ]n partition, where, as a reaction to the persecution of Roman Catholicism during the ], German Catholics living in areas with a Polish majority voluntarily integrated themselves within Polish society, affecting approximately 100,000 Germans in the eastern provinces of Prussia.<ref name="Thomas" /> | |||
As most of the Polish government was initially controlled by ], leader of '']'' and a strong proponent of polonization,<ref name="BFG">], ], ], ''The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment After 75 Years'', Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-521-62132-1, </ref> the policies that based on his views were implemented. Dmowski, quoted to have said ''Wherever we can multiply our forces and our civilizational efforts, absorbing other elements, no law can prohibit us from doing so, as such actions are our duty.''<ref name =DmQuote>Tomaszewski J. ''Kresy Wschodnie w polskiej myśli politycznej XIX i XX w.//Między Polską etniczną a historyczną. Polska myśl polityczna XIX i XX wieku.''—T.6.—Warszawa, 1988.—S.101. (Cited through: Oleksandr Derhachov (editor), "Ukrainian Statehood in the Twentieth Century: Historical and Political Analysis", 1996, Kiev ISBN 966-543-040-8)).</ref> engineered the policies of "Endecja", that alienated the minorities in Poland to such an extent that even when Piłsudski gained power in 1926 his attempted modest reforms did not affect the attitude of the minorities to the Polish state formed by ''endecja'' policies.<ref name="Snyder"/> | |||
According to some scholars{{Who|date=June 2011}} the biggest successes in Polonization of the non-Polish lands of former Commonwealth were achieved after the Partitions, in times of persecution of Polishness (noted by ]) (1917<ref>Wasilewski L. (Wasilewski 1917) Kresy Wschodnie. – Warszawa: T-wo wydawnicze w Warszawie, 1917. p. VII as cited in (Smalyanchuk 2001), p.24.</ref>), ] (1926<ref>(Dovnar 1926) pp.290–291,298.</ref>). Paradoxically, the substantial eastward movement of the Polish ethnic territory (over these lands) and growth of the Polish ethnic regions were taking place exactly in the period of the strongest Russian attack on everything Polish in Lithuania and Belarus.<ref>"In times of Myravyov the Hanger", as noted in (Wasilewski 1917), p. VII as cited in (Smalyanchuk 2001), p.24. See also the note on treatment of Polonisation as self-Polonisation.</ref> | |||
When the territories of ], ] and the ] were incorporated by Poland after the ], Poland rejected its international obligations to grant the autonomy to ]{{ref|Stakhiv}} which Poland never intended to follow anyway.<ref name=Roshwald_p144/> The linguistic assimilation was considered as a major factor of "unifying the state" by ]. For example, ], Polish Minister for Religion and Public Education in 1923 and 1925-1926 wrote that ''"Poland may be preserved only as the state of Polish people. If it were a state of Poles, Jews, Germans, Rusyns, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Russians, it would lose its independence again"'' and that ''"it is impossible to make a nation of those who do not have the 'national self-identification', who calls themselves "local" (])"''{{fact}}. Grabski also said that the aim of Polish policy should be "the transformation of the Commonwealth into Polish ethnic territory".<ref name="Reid">], ''Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine'', Westview Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8133-3792-5, </ref> <ref name="Brub">], ''Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the New Europe'', Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-521-57649-0, </ref> Some other officials rejected the existence of Ukrainian and Belarusian nations altogether{{fact}}. | |||
The general outline of causes for that is considered to include the activities of the ]<ref>As noted in (Wasilewski 1917), p.42 as cited in (Smalyanchuk 2001), p.24. Also noted by Halina Turska in 1930s in "O powstaniu polskich obszarów językowych na Wileńszczyźnie", p.487 as cited in (Smalyanchuk 2001), p.25.</ref> and the cultural influence exacted by the big cities (], ]) on these lands,<ref>As noted in (Wasilewski 1917), p.42 as cited in (Smalyanchuk 2001), p.24.</ref> the activities of the Vilna educational district in 19th century–1820s,<ref>(Dovnar 1926) pp.290–291,293–298.</ref> the activities of the local administration, still controlled by the local Polish or already Polonized nobility up to the 1863–1864 ],<ref name="Smal-28-Dov-26">(Smalyanchuk 2001), p.28, (Dovnar 1926), pp.303–315,319–320,328–331,388–389.</ref> secret (Polish) schools in second half nineteenth to the beginning of the 20th century (''tajne komplety'')<ref name="Smal-28-Dov-26" /> and the influence of the land estates.<ref name="Smal-28-Dov-26" /> | |||
A law issued in 1924 banned usage of any language but ] in governmental and municipal paperwork{{fact}}. It the area of public education it was postulated that state schools could be only Polish language schools<ref name="Snyder"/>. Local populations could have private local language schools, but only in territories "loyal to the Polish state"{{fact}}. Specifically with respect to the Eastern territories (known as '']'', or "Eastern Borderlands") it was recognized that ''"schools can become an instrument of the cultural development in Eastern lands only if Polish teachers will work there"''{{fact}}. It turned out to be infeasible for implementation and, in particular cases, bilingual ("utraquist") schools were proposed, while in reality those schools were functionally the Polish language ones.<ref name="Snyder"/> | |||
] complaint to the ] regarding the usage of the Polish language in the ], 1906]] | |||
In internal politics, Piłsudski's reign marked the much needed stabilization and improvements in the situation of ], which formed almost a third of the population of the Second Republic. Piłsudski replaced ''endecja's'' 'ethnic assimilation' with the 'state assimilation' policy: citizens were judged by their loyalty to the state, not by their nationality.<ref name="Snyder"/> The years 1926-1935 were favourably viewed by many ], whose situation improved especially under the cabinet of Piłsudski’s appointee ].<ref name="Cieplinski">], ''Poles and Jews: The Quest For Self-Determination 1919-1934'', Binghamton Journal of History, Fall 2002, Last accessed on 2 June, 2006.</ref> However a combination of various reasons, from the ]<ref name="Snyder"/>, through the Pisłudski's need for support from parties for the parliament's election<ref name="Snyder"/> to the ] of terrorist attacks by ] and government pacifications<ref name="Davies_GP2-407">Davies, God's Playground, op.cit., </ref> <ref name="Snyder"/> meant that the situation continued to degenerate, despite Piłsudski's efforts. The attitude of Ukrainians of that time is well shown in the statements by a contemporary Soviet and Ukrainian historian ], who noted negative influence of Polish policies on the ]: "the four centuries of Polish rule had left particularly destructive effects (...) economic and cultural backwardness in ] was the main "legacy of historical Poland, which assiduously skimmed everything that could be considered the cream of the nation, leaving it in a state of oppression and helplessness".<ref>C. M. Hann, Paul Robert Magocsi. ''Galicia: A Multicultured Land''. University of Toronto, 2005. ISBN 080203781X. .</ref> | |||
Following the ] in the end of the 18th century, the Polonization trends initially continued in Lithuania, Belarus and Polish-dominated parts of Ukraine as the initially liberal policies of the Empire gave the Polish elite significant concessions in the local affairs. Dovnar-Zapolsky notes<ref name="Dovnar">Довнар-Запольский М. В. (]) История Белоруссии. – 2-е изд. – Мн.: Беларусь, 2005. – 680 с. {{ISBN|985-01-0550-X}}, {{LCCN|2003500047}}</ref> that the Polonization actually intensified under the liberal rule{{citation needed|date=August 2007}} of ], particularly due to the efforts of Polish intellectuals who led the ] which was organized in 1802–1803 from the Academy in Vilna (''Schola Princeps Vilnensis''), vastly expanded and given the highest ''Imperial'' status under the new name ] (''Imperatoria Universitas Vilnensis'').<ref name=Venc /> By the Emperor's order, the Vilna education district overseen by ], a personal friend of Alexander, was greatly expanded to include the vast territories in the West of the ] stretching to Kiev in south-east and much of the Polish territory and the development of the university, which had no rival in the whole district, received the highest priority of the Imperial authorities which granted it significant freedom and autonomy.<ref name=Venc>], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623222449/http://www.lituanus.org/1981_2/81_2_01.htm |date=23 June 2021 }}, ''Lituanus'', Volume 27, No.1 – Summer 1981</ref> With the effort of Polish intellectuals who served the ] of the university, Hieronim Strojnowski, ], Szymon Malewski, as well as Czartoryski who oversaw them, the university became the center of Polish patriotism and culture; and as the only University of the district the center attracted the young nobility of all ethnicities from this extensive region.<ref name=Venc /><ref name=Yla>Rev. Stasys Yla, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710102223/http://www.lituanus.org/1981_2/81_2_03.htm |date=10 July 2021 }}, ''Lituanus'', Volume 27, No.1 – Summer 1981</ref> | |||
With time, the traditional Latin was eliminated from the university and by 1816 it was fully replaced by Polish and Russian. This change both affected and reflected a profound change in the Belarusian and Lithuanian secondary schools systems where Latin was also traditionally used as the university was the main source of the teachers for these schools. Additionally, the university was responsible for the textbook selection and only Polish textbooks were approved for printing and usage.<ref name=Yla /> | |||
The land reform designed to favor the Poles<ref name="Snyder146">Snyder, ], </ref> in mostly Ukrainian populated Volhynia, the agricultural territory where the land question was especially severe, brought the alienation from the Polish state of even the Orthodox Volhynian population who tended to be much less radical than the Greek Catholic Calicians.<ref name="Snyder"/> | |||
Dovnar-Zapolsky notes that "the 1800s–1810s had seen the unprecedented prosperity of the Polish culture and language in the former Great Duchy of Lithuania lands" and "this era has seen the effective completion of the Polonization of the smallest nobility, with further reduction of the areal of use of the contemporary ].<ref name=Dovnar290>Dovnar-Zapolsky, pp.290–298.</ref> also noting that the Polonization trend had been complemented with the (covert) anti-Russian and ] trends.<ref name="Dovnar_p293">Dovnar-Zapolsky, pp.293–296.</ref> The results of these trends are best reflected in the ] in previously non-Polish territories. | |||
After the ], Belarusian representation in the ] was reduced and since the early 1930's the Polish government started to introduce policies intended to Polonize the minorities{{fact}}. In ] about 100 abandoned<ref name="BP"/>Orthodox churches were destroyed or converted to ] in the eastern parts of Poland<ref name="mironowicz">], ''"Białoruś"'', Trio, Warszawa, 1999, ISBN 83-85660-82-8, p. 109</ref>. The use of ] was discouraged. There wasn't a Belarusian school in the spring of ], and only 44 schools teaching Belarusian language existed in Poland at the beginning of ]{{fact}}. | |||
Following the Polish ] aimed at breaking away from Russia, the Imperial policies finally changed abruptly.{{cn|date=August 2023}} | |||
=== Post World War II === | |||
Ethnic Germans still living in the western territories gained by Poland (determined by ] by ] in the aftermath of World War II - e.g. Silesia) were denied the use of their language in public by the Communist regime and they had to adopt the Polish language and citizenship to evade discrimination, expropriation and insult. Some 180,000 were sent to forced work camps like camp Tost, camp Potulice or camp Lambsdorf.<ref name="WB_HL">], ], ''Unsere Heimat ist uns ein fremdes Land geworden... Die Deutschen östlich von Oder und Neiße. Dokumente aus polnischen Archiven'', Herder Institut, Marburg 2000, ISBN 3-87969-283-1, {{de icon}}</ref> Their situation improved in 1950 with the ] between Poland and the ]. Western Germany however did not recognize this agreement. Until 1953 there were 55 German basic schools and 2 higher German schools in Poland. Unlike the Poles in Germany, the Germans enjoy a formally recognized status of an ethnic minority in modern Poland. | |||
In the 19th century, the mostly unchallenged Polonization trend of the previous centuries had been met staunchly by then "]" ] policy, with temporary successes on both sides, like Polonization rises in mid-1850s and in 1880s and Russification strengthenings in 1830s and in 1860s.<ref name="Dovnar_p303">Dovnar-Zapolsky, pp.303–315,319–320,328–331.</ref> Any Polonization of the east and west territories (Russian and German partitions) occurred in the situation were Poles had steadily diminishing influence on the government. Partition of Poland posed a genuine threat to the continuation of Polish language-culture in those regions.<ref name="Suss_Cubb" /> As Polonization was centered around Polish culture, policies aimed at weakening and destroying it had a significant impact on weakening Polonization of those regions. This was particularly visible in Russian-occupied Poland, where the Polish culture fared worst, as Russian administration gradually became strongly ].<ref name="Suss_Cubb" /> After a brief and relatively liberal early period in the early 19th century, where Poland was allowed to retain some autonomy as the ] ],<ref name="Harold Nicolson">], ''The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity: 1812–1822 '', Grove Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-8021-3744-X}}, </ref> the situation for Polish culture steadily worsened. | |||
During ] in ], the Ukrainian and ] populations were forcibly resettled from their historic territories in the south-east of Poland to northern areas of the ] awarded by ] to Poland in the post-war settlement. According to the order of the Ministry of ] ''"the main goal of the relocation of settlers "W" is their assimilation in a new Polish environment, all efforts should be exerted to achieve those goals. Do not apply the term "Ukrainians" towards the settlers. In cases when the intelligentsia element reaches the recovered territories, they should by all means be settled separately and away from the communities of the "W" settlers."''<ref name="Дрозд">Роман Дрозд </ref> | |||
=== Lithuanian and Belarusian lands === | |||
==Ethnicity of notable figures== | |||
A complicated linguistic situation developed on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Polish speakers used a "Kresy" variant of Polish (]) that retained archaic Polish features as well as many remnants of ] and some features of ].{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=42}} Linguists distinguish between official language, used in the Church and cultural activities, and colloquial language, closer to the speech of the common people. Inhabitants of a significant part of the ] used a variant of the Belarusian language, which was influenced mainly by Polish, but also by Lithuanian, Russian and Jewish. This language was referred to as "simple speech" ({{langx|pl|mowa prosta}}), and was treated by many as a dialect variety of Polish. In fact, it was a kind of "mixed language" serving as an interdialect of the cultural borderland.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=43}} This language became a gateway to the progressive Slavization of the Lithuanian population. | |||
As a consequence of the process of cultural Polonization, disputes occur as to the ethnicity of some notable persons such as ], ] and ], who are claimed as national celebrities by ], ] and ] alike. | |||
The knowledge of Slavonic intedialect made it easier for Lithuanians to communicate with their Slavic neighbors, who spoke Polish, Russian, or Belarusian. The attractiveness and cultural prestige of the Polish language and its common use in church caused the process to continue and lead to the full adoption of the Polish language. Among the Belarusian population, the usage of Polish was limited to official relations, while at home, the local language was still spoken.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=44}} As a result, the Lithuanian language retreated under the pressure of Polish faster than Belarusian. This led to the formation of a compact Polish language area between the Lithuanian and Belarusian language areas, with Vilnius as the center.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=45}} After some time, especially in the Vilnius region, ignorance of the Polish language was considered a lack of cultural savvy. In ceremonial situations it was advisable to use Polish. This gradually limited the use of simple speech to everyday life situations, and gave rise to a sense of contempt for it and Belarusian as the language of work, cursing, but also more emotional and impetuous.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=54}} | |||
In the Belarusian territories, the Polonization processes were intensified by the struggle of the Russian authorities against the ]es. The liquidation of the ] and forced conversions to Orthodoxy provoked resistance among the local community. The Russian authorities opposed the Catholic Church, called the "Polish faith", to the Orthodox Church, called the "Russian faith". As a result, referring to oneself as a "Pole" was the same as referring to oneself as a "Catholic."{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=57}} After Latin, Polish was considered the second language of worship, so attempts to replace it with Russian or local languages were resisted by local population.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=57–59}} | |||
The spread of Polish language and culture, and eventually Polish national consciousness, was fostered not only by its prevalence among the upper classes, but also among the impoverished, declassed nobility. Their representatives regarded the nobility's traditions, inextricably linked with Polishness, as a marker of prestige, so they cultivated their attachment to the Polish national tradition. And due to the lack of an impassable property and cultural barrier, they exerted influence on the surrounding peasantry.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=48–49}} Paradoxically, this was fostered by the anti-Polish and anti-] Russian policy, which gave relief to peasants for the purchase of land. As a result, the property gap between the petty gentry and the peasantry decreased, which resulted in the appearance of mixed marriages, which in turn led to the spread of Polish culture among the peasants.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=49–51}} | |||
The emergence of the ] in the 1880s slowed down the process of Polonization of the ethnically Lithuanian population, but also cemented a sense of national identity among a significant portion of the Polish-speaking Lithuanian population. The feeling of a two-tier Lithuanian-Polish national identity, present throughout the period, had to give way to a clear national declaration. Previously, every inhabitant of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been considered a Lithuanian, but in the face of the emergence of the Lithuanian national movement, which considered only those who spoke Lithuanian as Lithuanians, Polish-speaking residents of Lithuania more and more often declared themselves as Poles.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|p=56}} The dispute over the auxiliary language of services (Polish or Lithuanian) in the churches on the eastern border of ethnic Lithuania, which heated up from the end of the nineteenth century, influenced the formation of Polish consciousness and the adoption of the Polish language among those believers whose ancestors had abandoned Lithuanian for plain speech.{{sfn|Januszewska-Jurkiewicz|2010|pp=78–79}} | |||
The Lithuanian historian Vaidas Banys has said the following about Polonization within the Catholic Church of Lithuania in the 19th century:<blockquote>"The 'Polonomaniacs' announced that the Catholic Church in Lithuania is a Polish church and no other national manifestations are welcome in it. Lithuanian religious services were obstructed, while there was whistling during Lithuanian singing and even fistfights. One event resounded throughout all of Lithuania in 1901, when a jubilee cross with a Lithuanian inscription was thrown away from ]'s church. So-called 'Lithuanomaniacs' ({{Langx|pl|litwomany}}) priests were punished, moved to poorer parishes, or humiliated in their ministry."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jakubauskienė |first=Rasa |date=2021-06-04 |title=Kėdainiai – (ne)draugiškas miestas religinėms mažumoms? |url=https://rinkosaikste.lt/kedainiai-nedraugiskas-miestas-religinems-mazumoms/ |website=rinkosaikste.lt |language=lt}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
==Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)== | |||
According to the ] ethnically Polish population constituted about 69% of the population of the reborn state. The largest minorities in ] were Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians and Germans. The Polish government's policy toward each minority varied, and also changed over time. In general, during the first period of democratic rule dominated by ], there was a tendency to restrict the rights of minorities and pursue Polonization. This changed with the ] and the assumption of power by ]. Policies became more liberal and minority autonomy increased. However, this began to change for the worse a few years before the start of ]. | |||
Assimilation was considered by ] to be a major factor for "unifying the state". They hoped that the attractiveness of Polish culture, above all to Slavic minorities, would help to make rapid peaceful assimilation without much resistance.{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=154}} The centrist and leftist parties pointed out that the nation-building processes in the eastern lands could not be reversed. They called, therefore, for conducting so-called state assimilation, that is, granting broad cultural and territorial autonomy, in exchange for loyalty to the Polish state.{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=154-155}}<ref name="Snyder" /> Such policy was partially conducted by the Sanation regime, especially under leadership of Józef Piłsudski in years 1926–1935. | |||
Polonization also created a new educated class among the non-Polish minorities, a class of intellectuals aware of the importance of schooling, press, literature and theatre, who became instrumental in the development of their own ethnic identities.<ref>Eugenia Prokop-Janiec, "Polskie dziedzictwo kulturowe w nowej Europie. Humanistyka jako czynnik kształtowania tożsamości europejskiej Polaków." Research group. Subject: The frontier in the context of Polish-Jewish relations. CBR grant: Polish cultural heritage in new Europe. Humanism as a defining factor of European identity of Poles. </ref>] | |||
=== Belarusians === | |||
Belarusians in Poland were a poorly educated group, 90% of them making their living by farming. The aspiration of the Belarusians was to achieve cultural autonomy, as well as fair ].{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=158}} The maximum number of people of Belarusian nationality in interwar Poland was about 2 million. It is difficult to determine a definite number because for the most part, they did not have an established sense of their national identity; they described their language as "]" "simple speech" ({{langx|pl|mowa prosta}}) or "]" (in Polesia).{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=79}} What's more, Catholic Belarusians naturally leaned toward Polish culture and often referred to themselves as "Poles" even though they spoke Belarusian.{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=79}} | |||
The Polish state's policy toward them was not consistent. Initially, during the period of fighting over the eastern border, the activities of Belarusian activists were tolerated. However, this changed after the peace came. In 1924, the Law on Minority Education led to the closure of a huge part of the approximately 350{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=158-159}} (or 514<ref name="BelSTU">{{cite web |last=Kosliakov |first=Vladimir |title=In the struggle for the reunification of the Belarusian people |script-title=ru:В борьбе за единство белорусского народа |url=http://www.belstu.by/about/history/vossoedinenie-zapadnoj-belarusi-s-bssr.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821201946/http://www.belstu.by/about/history/vossoedinenie-zapadnoj-belarusi-s-bssr.html |archive-date=21 August 2016 |access-date=26 July 2016 |work=к 75-летию воссоединения Западной Беларуси с БССР |publisher=Белорусский государственный технологический университет / Belarusian State Technological Institute |language=ru |df=dmy-all}} </ref>) existing Belarusian schools, opened mostly during the ]. A 19 bilingual schools and just three elementary Belarusian schools remained.{{Sfn|Kaczmarek|2010|p=158-159}}{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=182}} Officials prevented the creation of new schools, despite meeting formal conditions.{{Sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=63}} | |||
The change came after the ]. Despite the abolition of the Belarusian ], for its contacts with the ], there was a period of liberalization of educational policy. The new Minister of Education, Gustav Dobrotsky, ordered the dismissal of officials blocking the establishment of new schools, allowed new schools to open in Catholic communities as well, and organized Belarusian language courses for elementary school teachers. As a result, four Belarusian grammar schools and a dozen elementary schools were opened.{{Sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=69-70}} The results, however, were poor. In 1928, there were only 69 schools with Belarusian language, all of them in ] and ], very small number in comparison with 2 164 Polish schools existing there.{{sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=72|ps=: "W najpomyślniejszym dla szkolnictw a białoruskiego roku 1928 istniało w Polsce 69 szkół w których nauczano języka białoruskiego. Wszystkie te placów ki ośw iatow e znajdow ały się w w ojew ództw ach w ileńskim i now ogródzkim, gdzie funkcjonowały 2164 szkoły polskie. Szkoły z nauczaniem języka białoruskiego, głównie utrakw istyczne, stanow iły niewiele ponad 3 procent ośrodków edukacyjnych na tym obszarze"}} The reversal of this policy came quickly, and after 1929 the number of Belarusian schools began to decline again. Of the Belarusian gymnasiums existing in ], ], ] and ], only the Vilnius gymnasium had survived to 1939.{{Sfn|Shved|Grzybowski|2020|p=182}} Belarusian schools often conducted classes in Russian, this was especially true of gymnasiums. This resulted from the significant ] of the Belarusian ].{{Sfn|Walasek|2021|p=74}} The Polish officials often treated any Belarusian demanding schooling in Belarusian language as a Soviet spy and any Belarusian social activity as a product of a communist plot.{{sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=93}} | |||
] also faced discrimination in interwar Poland.<ref name="BarGU">{{Cite web |url=http://bargu.by/3132-zahodnyaya-belarus-pad-uladay-polshchy-19211939-gg.html |title=Учебные материалы » Лекции » История Беларуси » ЗАХОДНЯЯ БЕЛАРУСЬ ПАД УЛАДАЙ ПОЛЬШЧЫ (1921—1939 гг.) |access-date=3 August 2016 |archive-date=20 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820033446/http://bargu.by/3132-zahodnyaya-belarus-pad-uladay-polshchy-19211939-gg.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> This discrimination was also targeting assimilation of Eastern Orthodox Belarusians.<ref name="tutby8mif">{{cite web | url =http://news.tut.by/society/415857.html | title =8 мифов о "воссоединении" Западной и Восточной Беларуси | last1 =Hielahajeu | first1 =Alaksandar | date =17 September 2014 | language =ru | trans-title =8 Myths about the "reunification" of West Belarus and East Belarus | access-date =26 July 2016 | archive-date =8 August 2016 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160808003344/http://news.tut.by/society/415857.html | url-status =dead }}</ref> The Polish authorities were imposing ] in Orthodox church services and ceremonies,<ref name="tutby8mif" /> initiated the creation of Polish Orthodox Societies in various parts of West Belarus (], ], ], ]).<ref name="tutby8mif" /> | |||
Belarusian Roman Catholic priests like Fr. ]<ref name=tutby8mif/> who promoted Belarusian language in the church and Belarusian national awareness were also under serious pressure by the Polish regime and the leadership of the Catholic Church in Poland.<ref name=tutby8mif/> The Polish Catholic Church issued documents to priests prohibiting the usage of the ] rather than ] in Churches and Catholic Sunday Schools in West Belarus. A 1921 Warsaw-published instruction of the Polish Catholic Church criticized the priests introducing the Belarusian language in religious life: ''They want to switch from the rich Polish language to a language that the people themselves call simple and shabby''.{{sfn|Mironowicz|2007|p=45}} | |||
The Belarusian civil society resisted Polonization and mass closure of Belarusian schools. The Belarusian Schools Society ({{langx|be|Таварыства беларускай школы}}), led by ] and other activists, was the main organization promoting education in Belarusian language in West Belarus in 1921–1937. | |||
Compared to the (larger) ] living in Poland, Belarusians were much less politically aware and active. Nevertheless, according to Belarusian historians, the policies by the Polish government against the population of West Belarus increasingly provoked protests<ref name=BarGU/> and armed resistance. In the 1920s, Belarusian partisan units arose in many areas of West Belarus, mostly unorganized but sometimes led by activists of Belarusian left wing parties.<ref name=BarGU/> In the spring of 1922, several thousands Belarusian ] issued a demand to the Polish government to stop the violence, to liberate ] and to grant autonomy to West Belarus.<ref name=BarGU/> Protests were held in various regions of West Belarus until mid 1930s.<ref name=BarGU/> | |||
The largest Belarusian political organization, the ] (or, the Hramada), which demanded a stop to the Polonization and autonomy for West Belarus, grew more radicalized by the time. It received logistical help from the Soviet Union,<ref name="kresy24.pl">{vn|August 2016}{{cite web |url=http://kresy24.pl/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Glos_znad_Niemna_7-2011.pdf |title=Białostocki ulubieniec Stalina |publisher=Głos znad Niemna (Voice of the Neman weekly), Nr 7 (60) |work=Ogólnokrajowy tygodnik SZ "Związek Polaków na Białorusi" (Association of Poles of Belarus) |date=June 2011 |access-date=24 May 2014 |author=Andrzej Poczobut, Joanna Klimowicz |format=PDF file, direct download 1.79 MB |pages=6–7 of current document}} <!-- kresy24 is an irredentist nationalist website, hardly a credible source --></ref> and financial aid from the ].<ref name="Savchenko">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmld75blKCwC&q=%22stated+goals+of+the+Hramada%22 |title=Belarus: A Perpetual Borderland |publisher=BRILL |author=Dr Andrew Savchenko |year=2009 |pages=106–107 |isbn=978-9004174481}}</ref> By 1927 Hramada was controlled entirely by agents from Moscow.<ref name="kresy24.pl"/> It was banned by the Polish authorities,<ref name="kresy24.pl"/> and further opposition to the Polish government was met with state-imposed sanctions once the connection between Hramada and the more radical pro-Soviet ] was discovered.<ref name="kresy24.pl"/> The Polish policy was met with armed resistance.<ref name="EtnoDictionary">''An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires''. Edited by James S. Olson. Page 95.</ref> | |||
=== Ukrainians === | |||
] of ] (Volhynia), Jan Krzakowski: "On language in the ]", establishing ] as the official language in accordance with the 1921 ] after the ] in which the frontiers between Poland and the ] had been defined. Written in ]]]Interwar Poland was inhabited by 4-5 million Ukrainians. They lived primarily in the areas of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=626}} Until the First World War, Galicia with its large Ukrainian ] population in the east (around Lviv) was controlled by the ].<ref name="Snyder" /> On the other hand, the Ukrainians of Volhynia, formerly of the ] (around Rivne), were largely ], and were influenced by strong ] trends.<ref name="Snyder" /> National self-identification was much stronger among the Galician Ukrainians, | |||
==== Religion ==== | |||
{{See also|Recovery of Orthodox Churches in the Second Polish Republic}} | |||
While the ], which is in ] with the ], hoped to receive a better treatment in Poland where the leadership saw Catholicism as one of the main tools to unify the nation – the Poles under ] saw the restless Galician Ukrainians as less reliable than the Eastern Orthodox Volhynian Ukrainians,<ref name="Snyder" /> seen as better candidates for gradual assimilation. That's why the Polish policy in Ukraine initially aimed at keeping Greek Catholic Galicians from further influencing Orthodox Volhynians by drawing the so-called "Sokalski line".<ref name="Snyder">], ''The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999'', Yale University Press, {{ISBN|0-300-10586-X}} See instead: {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819003258/http://jivebelarus.net/files/books/Snyder-The-Reconstruction-of-Nations.pdf |date=19 August 2011 }}</ref> | |||
Due to the region's history the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church attained a strong Ukrainian national character, and the Polish authorities sought to weaken it in various ways. In 1924, following a visit with Ukrainian Greek Catholics in North America and western Europe, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was initially denied reentry to Lviv for a considerable amount of time. Polish priests led by their bishops began to undertake missionary work among ], and the administrative restrictions were placed on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.<ref name=Magocsi>{{cite book|author=Magocsi, P. |title=Morality and Reality: the Life and Times of Andrei Sheptytsky|location=Edmonton, Alberta |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta |year=1989}}</ref> | |||
With respect to the Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian population in eastern Poland, the ] initially issued a decree defending the rights of the Orthodox minorities. In practice, this often failed, as the Catholics, also eager to strengthen their position, had official representation in the ] and the courts. Any accusation was strong enough for a particular church to be confiscated and handed over to the Catholic Church. The goal of the two so called "]" was to reverse the gains of the Orthodox Church from the ] and to return to the Catholics those churches that had been converted into Orthodox churches by the Russian authorities.{{Sfn|Magocsi|1996|p=596}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Piotrowski |first1=Tadeusz |title=Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 |date=1998 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786403714 |page=182 |quote=Under Tsarist rule the Uniate population had been forcibly converted to Orthodoxy. In 1875, at least 375 Uniate Churches were converted into Orthodox churches. The same was true of many Latin-rite Roman Catholic churches}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kloczowski |first1=Jerzy |title=A History of Polish Christianity |date=2000 |publisher=] |isbn=9780521364294 |page=272 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ecdye8hk_tgC&pg=272}}</ref> 190 Orthodox churches were destroyed, some of the destroyed churches were abandoned,<ref name="BP">Manus I. Midlarsky, "The Impact of External Threat on States and Domestic Societie" ''Dissolving Boundaries'', Blackwell Publishers, 2003, {{ISBN|1-4051-2134-3}}, </ref> and 150 more were forcibly transformed into Roman Catholic (not Greek Catholic) churches.<ref name=Subtelny>{{cite book |first= Orest|last=Subtelny |title=Ukraine: A History |location= Toronto |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-8020-5808-6 |author-link=Orest Subtelny}}</ref> Such actions were condemned by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, ] ], who claimed that these acts would "destroy in the souls of our non-united Orthodox brothers the very thought of any possible reunion."<ref name="Magocsi"/> | |||
==== Education ==== | |||
The Polish administration closed many of the ] reading rooms. The number of reading rooms declined from 2,879 in 1914 to only 843 in 1923. The decline can be partially explained by the war devastation.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=631}} | |||
In the independent Poland educational was centralized, provincial school administration was abolished, as it happened with Lviv-based separate Ukrainian representation.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=631}} In 1924 the law was passed, which set up bilingual Ukrainian and Polish schools. As a result, number of Ukrainian unilingual schools declined, and they were replaced by bilingual schools. This affected Eastern Galicia most severely, where before the war there were 2,400 Ukrainian elementary schools, and during the existence of the West Ukrainian People's Republic their number increased to about 3,000. After the region was annexed to Poland, the number began to decline, in 1923 it was 2453, in 1925 it was still 2151, but after the introduction of bilingual schools there was a rapid decline to 648 schools in 1930 and 352 in 1938. At the same time, the number of bilingual schools grew from 9 in 1925 to 1,793 in 1930 and to 2,485 in 1938. The number of Polish schools also declined from 2,568 schools in 1925 to 2,161 in 1938. | |||
The principle of "numerus clausus" had been introduced following which the Ukrainians were discriminated when entering the ] (not more than 15% of the applicants' total number, the Poles enjoying not less than the 50% quota at the same time).<ref name="National University of L'viv"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513221016/http://www.lnu.edu.ua/general/about.htm|date=2013-05-13}}</ref> | |||
==== Land reform ==== | |||
The land reform was designed to favor ethnic Polish population.<ref name="Snyder146">Snyder, ], </ref> By 1938 some 800,000 hectares had been redistributed within Ukrainian-inhabited areas. The redistribution did not necessarily help the local Ukrainian population, however. In 1920 in Volhynia and Polissia 39 percent of the allotted land (312,000 hectares) had been awarded to Polish war veterans. In Eastern Galicia 200,000 hectare had been given to Polish peasants from the western provinces of the country. By the 1930s the number of Poles living within contiguous Ukrainian ethnographic territory had increased by about 300,000.{{Sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=629}} | |||
=== Lithuanians === | |||
] ] with Polish ]s of ], made in 1920]] | |||
During the ] of the 20th century (1920–1939), ] were characterized by mutual enmity. As a consequence of the conflict over the city of ], and the ], both governments – in the era of nationalism which was sweeping through Europe – treated their respective minorities harshly.<ref name="Żołędowski114"/><ref name="Makowski244"/><ref name="stanford">{{cite web |url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/ethnic/Random%20Narratives/LithuaniaRN1.3.pdf |title=Lithuania |access-date=2007-06-18 |last=Fearon |first=James D. |author2=Laitin, David D. |year=2006 |publisher=Stanford University |pages=4 |archive-date=15 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015092055/http://www.stanford.edu/group/ethnic/Random%20Narratives/LithuaniaRN1.3.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1920, after the staged mutiny of ], Lithuanian cultural activities in Polish controlled territories were limited and the closure of Lithuanian newspapers and the arrest of their editors occurred.<ref name="Čepėnas">{{cite book |last=Čepėnas |first=Pranas |author-link=Pranas Čepėnas | title=Naujųjų laikų Lietuvos istorija |year=1986 |publisher=Dr. Griniaus fondas |location=Chicago |pages=655, 656}}</ref> 33 Lithuanian and Belarusian cultural activists were formally expelled from Vilnius on 23 January 1922 and deported to Lithuania.<ref name="Čepėnas"/> In 1927, as tensions between Lithuania and Poland increased, 48 additional Lithuanian schools were closed and another 11 Lithuanian activists were deported.<ref name="Żołędowski114">Żołędowski, Cezary (2003). ''Białorusini i Litwini w Polsce, Polacy na Białorusi i Litwie'' (in Polish). Warszawa: ASPRA-JR. {{ISBN|8388766767}}, p. 114.</ref> Following ] death in 1935, the ] again became an object of Polonization policies with greater intensity. 266 Lithuanian schools were closed after 1936 and almost all Lithuanian organizations were banned. Further Polonization ensued as the government encouraged ] in the disputed regions.<ref name="stanford" /> About 400 Lithuanian reading rooms and libraries were closed in Poland between 1936 and 1938.<ref name="Makowski244">Makowski, Bronisław (1986). ''Litwini w Polsce 1920–1939'' (in Polish). Warszawa: PWN. {{ISBN|83-01-06805-1}}, pp. 244–303.</ref> Following the ], Lithuania re-established diplomatic relations with Poland and efforts to Polonize Lithuanians living in Poland decreased somewhat.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=February 2023}} | |||
==Post–World War II== | |||
{{main article|Recovered Territories}} | |||
]. Also visible is the changing of the name Karl into the Polish Karol]] | |||
During ] of 1947, the Soviet-controlled Polish communist authorities removed the support base for the still active in that area ] by forcibly resettling about 141,000 civilians residing around ] and ] to northern areas of the so-called ] awarded by ] to Poland in the post-war settlement. The farmers received financial help from the Polish government and took over homes and farms left behind by the displaced Germans, in most cases improving their living conditions due to the increased size of the newly reassigned properties, brick buildings, and running water.<ref name="Palski2008"/> Dr Zbigniew Palski from IPN explains that an identical operation was performed in Ukraine by the ] at exactly the same time. It was dubbed Operation West. Both operations were coordinated from Moscow; however, there was a shocking difference between their outcomes.<ref name="Palski2008">{{cite book | url=http://www.ipn.gov.pl/download.php?s=1&id=16410 | title=Operacja Wisła: komunistyczna akcja represyjna, czy obrona konieczna Rzeczypospolitej? | publisher=Nasz Dziennik, ] | work=Dodatek historyczny IPN Nr. 5/2008 (12) | date=30 May 2008 | access-date=12 July 2015 | author=Dr Zbigniew Palski | at=pp. 6–7 (3–4 in PDF) | url-status=bot: unknown | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229100110/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/download.php?s=1&id=16410 | archive-date=29 December 2016 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> | |||
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==Bibliography== | ||
* {{cite book | first= |
* {{cite book | first=Norman | last=Davies | title=God's Playground: A History of Poland, Vol. 1: The Origins to 1795 | publisher=Columbia University Press | year=2005 | isbn=0-231-12817-7 | author-link=Norman Davies | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/godsplaygroundhi00norm_0 }} | ||
* {{cite book| first= Robert I.| last=Frost| title=The Oxford History of Poland-Lithuania. The Making of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, 1385—1569| volume=1| location=Oxford| year=2015| author-link= Robert I. Frost}} | |||
* {{cite book| first= Joanna| last=Januszewska-Jurkiewicz| title=Stosunki narodowościowe na Wileńszczyźnie w latach 1920–1939| location=Katowice |trans-title=National Relations in the Vilnius Region in the Years 1920–1939 | year=2010}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Kaczmarek |first=Ryszard |title=Historia Polski 1914-1989 |year=2010 |location=Warsaw}} | |||
* ]. 2013. Germanization, Polonization, and Russification in the Partitioned Lands of Poland–Lithuania (pp 815–838). ''Nationalities Papers''. Vol 41, No 5. | |||
* Litwin Henryk, , ''BUM Magazine'', 2016. | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Magocsi |first1=Robert Paul |title=A History of Ukraine |date=1996 |publisher=] |isbn=0802078206 |page=596 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t124cP06gg0C&pg=596}} | |||
* {{Cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul Robert |title=A History of Ukraine. The Land and Its Peoples |year=2010 |edition=2nd |location=Toronto}} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Mironowicz |first=Eugeniusz |url=http://kamunikat.org/usie_knihi.html?pubid=2006 |title=Białorusini i Ukraińcy w polityce obozu piłsudczykowskiego |date=2007 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Uniwersyteckie Trans Humana |isbn=978-83-89190-87-1 |language=pl |trans-title=Belarusians and Ukrainians in the policies of the Pilsudski party}} | |||
* {{cite conference |last1=Ostrówka |first1=Małgorzata |title=Polszczyzna w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim. Aspekt arealny i historyczny |author-link1=Małgorzata Ostrówka |publisher= |book-title= Kultura i języki Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego |pages=103–116 |location=Kraków |date=2005 }} | |||
* {{cite book |last=Rachuba |first=Andrzej |editor-last1=Kopczyński |editor-first1=Michał |editor-last2=Tygielski |editor-first2=Wojciech |date=2010 |title=Pod wspólnym niebem. Narody dawnej Rzeczypospolitej |trans-title=Under a Common Sky. Peoples of the former Commonwealth |chapter=Litwini |language=Polish |location=Warsaw |publisher= |isbn=978-83-11-11724-2}} | |||
* {{cite book | first= Timothy| last= Snyder | title=The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999| publisher=Yale University Press | year=2004 | isbn=0-300-10586-X | author-link= Timothy D. Snyder }} | |||
* {{cite book| last= Subtelny| first= Orest | title=Ukraine: A History | location= Toronto | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=1988 | isbn=0-8020-5808-6 | author-link= Orest Subtelny }} | |||
* {{Cite book |last1=Shved |first1=Viachaslau |title=Historia Białorusi. Od czasów najdawniejszych do roku 1991 |last2=Grzybowski |first2=Jerzy |publisher=WUW |year=2020 |location=Warsaw |language=pl |trans-title=History of Belarus. From the earliest times to 1991}} | |||
* {{cite conference |title=Polonizacja |last1=Trimonienė |first1=Rita |author-link1=Rita Trimonienė |publisher= |book-title=Kultura Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego. Analizy i obrazy |pages=544–560 |location=Kraków |date=2006 }} | |||
* {{Cite journal |last=Walasek |first=Stefania |date=2021 |title=Szkolnictwo dla mniejszości narodowych w II Rzeczpospolitej na przykładzie kuratoriów okręgów szkolnych: lwowskiego i wileńskiego |trans-title=Education for national minorities in the Second Polish Republic on the example of school boards of school districts: Lviv and Vilnius |journal=Przegląd Historyczno-Oświatowy |volume=64 |issue=3–4}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 04:50, 31 October 2024
Adoption or imposition of Polish culture Not to be confused with Pollenization.This article is about an event or subject that is ongoing but the article covers only the subject and events until the year 1947. Please help improve it to include this information. The talk page may contain suggestions. (November 2020) |
Poland's and the Commonwealth's historical borders | |
Duration | 1569–1945 |
---|---|
Location | Poland throughout history |
Borders | Yellow – 1000 Khaki – 1569 Silver – 1939 Pink – 1945 |
Polonization or Polonisation (Polish: polonizacja) is the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular the Polish language. This happened in some historic periods among non-Polish populations in territories controlled by or substantially under the influence of Poland.
Like other examples of cultural assimilation, Polonization could be either voluntary or forced. It was most visible in territories where the Polish language or culture was dominant or where their adoption could result in increased prestige or social status, as was the case with the nobilities of Ruthenia and Lithuania. To a certain extent, political authorities have administratively promoted Polonization, particularly during the Second Polish Republic and in the period following World War II.
Polonization can be seen as an example of cultural assimilation. Such a view is widely considered applicable to the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), when the Ruthenian and Lithuanian upper classes were drawn towards Westernization with the adoption of Polish culture and the political and financial benefits of such a transition, as well as, sometimes, by the administrative pressure exerted on their own cultural institutions, primarily the Orthodox Church. Conversion to the Roman Catholic (and, to a lesser extent, Protestant) faith was often the single most important part of the process. For Ruthenians at that time, being Polish culturally and Roman Catholic by religion was almost the same. This diminishing of the Orthodox Church was the part most resented by the Belarusian and Ukrainian masses. In contrast, the Lithuanians, who were mostly Catholic, were in danger of losing their cultural identity as a nation, but that was not realized by the wide masses of Lithuanians until the Lithuanian national renaissance in the middle of the 19th century.
On the other hand, the Polonization policies of the Polish government in the interwar years of the 20th century were again twofold. Some of them were similar to the mostly forcible assimilationist policies implemented by other European powers that have aspired to regional dominance (e.g., Germanization, Russification), while others resembled policies carried out by countries aiming at increasing the role of their native language and culture in their own societies (e.g., Magyarization, Romanianization, Ukrainization). For Poles, it was a process of rebuilding Polish national identity and reclaiming Polish heritage, including the fields of education, religion, infrastructure and administration, that suffered under the prolonged foreign occupation by the neighboring empires of Russia, Prussia, and Austria-Hungary. However, as a third of recreated Poland's population was ethnically non-Polish and many felt their own nationhood aspirations thwarted specifically by Poland, large segments of this population resisted to varying degrees the policies intended to assimilate them. Part of the country's leadership emphasized the need for the long-term ethnic and cultural homogeneity of the state. However, the promotion of the Polish language in administration, public life and especially education, were perceived by some as an attempt at forcible homogenization. In areas inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians, for example, actions of the Polish authorities seen as aiming at restricting the influence of the Orthodox and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church caused additional resentment and were considered to be closely tied to religious Polonization.
Medieval Poland
Between the 12th and the 14th centuries, many towns in Poland adopted the so-called Magdeburg rights that promoted the towns' development and trade. The rights were usually granted by the king on the occasion of the arrival of migrants. Some integrated with the larger community, such as merchants who settled there, especially Greeks and Armenians. They adopted most aspects of Polish culture but kept their Orthodox faith. In Western Poland, many townspeople were Germans. Initially, trade guilds had been exclusively German-speaking. However, this began to change by increasing Polonization in the 15th and 16th centuries. Since the Middle Ages, Polish culture, influenced by the West, in turn radiated East, beginning the long process of cultural assimilation.
Polish–Lithuanian Union (1385–1795)
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Poles reached Lithuania long before the union of the two countries. In a letter to the German Franciscans, Grand Duke Gediminas asked them to send monks who spoke Samogitian, Ruthenian or Polish. Other sources mention Polish slave carers and educators of children. This indicates the presence of Poles, probably prisoners of war or their descendants. Polish influence increased considerably after the Union of Krewo (1386). The Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila was offered the Polish crown and became Władysław II Jagiełło (reigned 1386–1434). This marked the beginning of the gradual, voluntary Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility. Jagiełło built many churches in pagan Lithuanian land and provided them generously with estates, gave out the lands and positions to the Catholics, settled the cities and villages and granted the biggest cities and towns Magdeburg rights in their Polish variant.
Lithuanian nobles were granted privileges modeled on those held by the Polish nobility. 47 families of Lithuanian families were adopted by 45 Polish families and endowed with Polish coats of arms. Lithuania adopted Polish political solutions and institutions. The offices of voivodes and castellans appeared, and the country was divided into voivodeships and powiats. There was also a representation of the nobility, called Sejm, following the Polish model. However, unlike the Polish Sejm, the magnates had the deciding vote, and the petty and middle nobility only approved the decisions of the magnate's council. Since the late 15th century marriages between Lithuanian and Polish magnates became more frequent. This brought the Lithuanians even closer to Polish culture. The first such marriage was the one between Mikołaj Tęczyński [pl] and the daughter of Alekna Sudimantaitis in 1478.
Polish influence intensified in the period preceding the Union of Lublin. The royal court took steps to make the political and economic system of Lithuania more similar to Poland. An important step was the introduction of the hide system (Volok Reform – Polish: reforma włóczna), based on the Polish model. The reform was introduced by specialists from Poland, mainly from Mazovia, headed by Piotr Chwalczewski [pl]. Włóka was a Polish measure of land (in Ruthenian volok), and in Lithuania, it became the basis for land measurement. At the same time, Polish measures of area and distance were introduced, as well as a model of farming based on the folwark and three-field system.
During the Reformation, voices were raised that Latin should be the language of the Lithuanians, due to the alleged proximity of the two languages and the legendary origin of the Lithuanian nobility from the Romans. However, this intention failed and Latin never reached the same position as in the Polish Crown. Instead, Polish quickly took the place of the official language. At the beginning of the 17th-century instructions and resolutions of sejmiks were written down in Polish. In the period 1620–1630, the Polish language supplanted Ruthenian in the books of the Lithuanian Metrica. When in 1697 the Sejm of the Commonwealth passed a resolution to replace Ruthenian language by Polish in all official actions, it only approved the long-standing status quo. In addition to Polish, Latin was also used in the documents of the Lithuanian chancellery referring to the Catholic Church, cities under Magdeburg Law, Livonia and foreigners.
Already at the beginning of the 16th century, Polish became the first language of the Lithuanian magnates. In the following century, it was adopted by the Lithuanian nobility in general. Even the nobility of Žemaitija used the Polish language already in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Polish language was adopted by the entire nobility of the Grand Duchy – Lithuanian, Ruthenian, German and Tatar. The Polish language also penetrated other social strata: the clergy, the townspeople, and even the peasants.
Linguistic Polonization did not always mean full Polonization in the state or ethnic sense. The Lithuanian nobility felt united with the Polish nobility as part of one political nation of the Commonwealth, enjoying privileges, freedom and equality. In this sense, they often referred to themselves as "Polish nobility" or outright "Poles". At the same time, separatism and the defense of Lithuanian national separateness within the federation state were very strong. The Lithuanian nobility was strongly attached to the laws, traditions and symbols of the Grand Duchy. Moreover, the Lithuanian separateness was also defended by the members of ethnically Polish families settling in Lithuania.
Church and education
The spread of Polish culture was channelled through the Catholic Church. A large part of the Lithuanian clergy were Poles, either of Polish descent or from Polish families settled in Lithuania. Of the 123 known canons of Vilnius, only slightly more than half (66) were ethnic Lithuanians, and most of the others were of Polish origin. The role of the church was important because it had a monopoly on teaching. By 1550, 11 schools were established in the Samogitian diocese and 85 in the Vilnius diocese. In 1528 the diocese of Vilnius decreed that the language of instruction of religious texts should be Polish and Lithuanian. Latin was taught exclusively in Polish, so children who did not know this language were taught Polish first. Lithuanians went to Kraków to study, in 1409 professor of theology founded a dormitory for students from Grand Duchy Overall 366 Lithuanian students studied in Kraków between 1430 and 1560. In the 16th-century students from Lithuania were coming to Kraków already considerably Polonized. In 1513, Lithuanian students were accused of mocking the plain Polish speech of their colleagues from Mazovia before the university court.
Polish had the advantage over Ruthenian and Lithuanian that its vocabulary, being influenced by Latin, allowed more abstract thoughts to be expressed. Moreover, its proximity to the Ruthenian language made its adoption all the more natural. The Reformation, on the one hand, accelerated the development of literatures in Lithuanian, on the other hand, it contributed to an even faster spread of the Polish language. The Calvinist magnate Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł published in Brest a Polish translation of the Bible for the use of Lithuanian Calvinists.
Royal court
The second important channel for the spread of the Polish language and culture was the royal and grand ducal court. After 1447, only for short periods there was a separate grand ducal court in Vilnius. But even then the Polish influence was strong. Already Grand Duke Vytautas employed Polish secretaries to run his Latin chancellery. The Krakow court was dominated by Poles who travelled with the king to Lithuania. The Lithuanian nobles who joined the court were therefore greatly influenced by Polish culture. Casimir Jagiellon was the last grand duke to know Lithuanian. From the time of Zygmunt August, correspondence with the Lithuanian elite was conducted almost exclusively in Polish, since the knowledge of Latin in Lithuania was too weak.
Ruthenian lands
Jogaila's successor Władysław III of Varna, who reigned in 1434–1444, expanded the privileges of the nobles to all Ruthenian nobles irrespective of their religion, and in 1443 signed a bull equalizing the Orthodox church in rights with the Roman Catholicism thus alleviating the relationship with the Orthodox clergy. These policies continued under the next king Casimir IV Jagiellon. Still, the most cultural expansion of the Polish influence continued since the Ruthenian nobility were attracted by both the glamour of the Western culture and the Polish political order where the magnates became the unrestricted rulers of the lands and serfs in their vast estates.
In the 1569 Union of Lublin, the Ukrainian territories controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were transferred to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, and thus found themselves under the direct influence of the Polish culture and language.
Ukrainian lands of Kyiv and Braclav voivodeship were rather sparsely populated and attracted a lot of settlers, mostly from Volhynia, but also from central Poland. One of the reasons was that serfdom was not introduced there. Among the settlers was also a petty nobility. Ruthenian, just like Lithuanian, nobility was attracted by the Polish culture, which at that time flourished. Many of them adopted the Polish language and customs, even converted to Roman Catholicism. Even for those who remained faithful to the Orthodox Church and Ruthenian language, Polish political identity became very important, as they were inspiring to be part of szlachta – a ruling, privileged elite. It was at that time when the concept of gente Ruthenus, natione Polonus (a Poles of a Rus' religion) was born. It all resulted in the almost complete abandonment of Ruthenian culture, traditions and the Orthodox Church by the Ruthenian higher class.
The creation of the Greek Catholic Church, following the 1596 Union of Brest which sought to break the relations between Orthodox clergy in the Commonwealth and the Patriarchate in Moscow, put the Ruthenian people under stronger influence of Polish culture. The unia was supported by the Polish authorities. In addition to the Unia itself, the eventual Latinization of the Unia was one of the components of Polonization. The unia was accompanied by the spread of the Roman Catholic Church in the Ruthenian lands. Dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church were established as early as the 14th and 15th centuries by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. After the Union of Lublin Jesuit schools were established by Ruthenian magnates.
Some Ruthenian magnates like Sanguszko, Wiśniowiecki and Kisiel, resisted the cultural Polonization for several generations, with the Ostrogski family being one of the most prominent examples. Remaining generally loyal to the Polish state, the magnates, like Ostrogskis, stood by the religion of their forefathers, and supported the Orthodox Church generously by opening schools, printing books in Ruthenian language (the first four printed Cyrillic books in the world were published in Cracow, in 1491) and giving generously to the Orthodox churches' construction. However, their resistance was gradually waning with each subsequent generation as more and more of the Ruthenian elite turned towards Polish language and Catholicism. Still, with most of the educational system getting Polonized and the most generously funded institutions being to the west of Ruthenia, the Ruthenian indigenous culture further deteriorated. In the Polish Ruthenia the language of the administrative paperwork started to gradually shift towards Polish. By the 16th century the language of administrative paperwork in Ruthenia was a peculiar mix of the older Church Slavonic with the Ruthenian language of the commoners and the Polish language. With the Polish influence in the mix gradually increasing it soon became mostly like the Polish language superimposed on the Ruthenian phonetics. The total confluence of Ruthenia and Poland was seen coming.
Royal Prussia
Since Teutonic times the language of the Prussian elite and administration has been German. This did not change after the incorporation into the kingdom of Poland. It was only from the beginning of the 16th century that the role of the Polish language began to increase. Since 1527 there have been complaints from representatives of large cities that some council members use Polish, although they know German. In 1555, a canon of Gniezno delivered a speech to the Prussian Sejm in Polish, without the help of an interpreter. In the second half of the 16th century, royal decrees were issued in Polish, debates in the Landtag were held in Polish. Great Prussian families Polonized their names: the Baysen to Bażyński; the Zehmen to Cema; the Dameraw to Działyński, and the Mortangen to Mortęski, the Kleinfelds to Krupocki.
Partitions (1795–1918)
Polonization also occurred during times when a Polish state did not exist, despite the empires that partition Poland applied the policies aimed at reversing the past gains of Polonization or aimed at replacing Polish identity and eradication of Polish national group.
The Polonization took place in the early years of the Prussian partition, where, as a reaction to the persecution of Roman Catholicism during the Kulturkampf, German Catholics living in areas with a Polish majority voluntarily integrated themselves within Polish society, affecting approximately 100,000 Germans in the eastern provinces of Prussia.
According to some scholars the biggest successes in Polonization of the non-Polish lands of former Commonwealth were achieved after the Partitions, in times of persecution of Polishness (noted by Leon Wasilewski) (1917), Mitrofan Dovnar-Zapolsky (1926). Paradoxically, the substantial eastward movement of the Polish ethnic territory (over these lands) and growth of the Polish ethnic regions were taking place exactly in the period of the strongest Russian attack on everything Polish in Lithuania and Belarus.
The general outline of causes for that is considered to include the activities of the Roman-Catholic Church and the cultural influence exacted by the big cities (Vilna, Kovno) on these lands, the activities of the Vilna educational district in 19th century–1820s, the activities of the local administration, still controlled by the local Polish or already Polonized nobility up to the 1863–1864 January uprising, secret (Polish) schools in second half nineteenth to the beginning of the 20th century (tajne komplety) and the influence of the land estates.
Following the demise of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the end of the 18th century, the Polonization trends initially continued in Lithuania, Belarus and Polish-dominated parts of Ukraine as the initially liberal policies of the Empire gave the Polish elite significant concessions in the local affairs. Dovnar-Zapolsky notes that the Polonization actually intensified under the liberal rule of Alexander I, particularly due to the efforts of Polish intellectuals who led the Vilnius University which was organized in 1802–1803 from the Academy in Vilna (Schola Princeps Vilnensis), vastly expanded and given the highest Imperial status under the new name Vilna Imperial University (Imperatoria Universitas Vilnensis). By the Emperor's order, the Vilna education district overseen by Adam Czartoryski, a personal friend of Alexander, was greatly expanded to include the vast territories in the West of the Russian Empire stretching to Kiev in south-east and much of the Polish territory and the development of the university, which had no rival in the whole district, received the highest priority of the Imperial authorities which granted it significant freedom and autonomy. With the effort of Polish intellectuals who served the rectors of the university, Hieronim Strojnowski, Jan Śniadecki, Szymon Malewski, as well as Czartoryski who oversaw them, the university became the center of Polish patriotism and culture; and as the only University of the district the center attracted the young nobility of all ethnicities from this extensive region.
With time, the traditional Latin was eliminated from the university and by 1816 it was fully replaced by Polish and Russian. This change both affected and reflected a profound change in the Belarusian and Lithuanian secondary schools systems where Latin was also traditionally used as the university was the main source of the teachers for these schools. Additionally, the university was responsible for the textbook selection and only Polish textbooks were approved for printing and usage.
Dovnar-Zapolsky notes that "the 1800s–1810s had seen the unprecedented prosperity of the Polish culture and language in the former Great Duchy of Lithuania lands" and "this era has seen the effective completion of the Polonization of the smallest nobility, with further reduction of the areal of use of the contemporary Belarusian language. also noting that the Polonization trend had been complemented with the (covert) anti-Russian and anti-Eastern Orthodox trends. The results of these trends are best reflected in the ethnic censuses in previously non-Polish territories.
Following the Polish November uprising aimed at breaking away from Russia, the Imperial policies finally changed abruptly.
In the 19th century, the mostly unchallenged Polonization trend of the previous centuries had been met staunchly by then "anti-Polish" Russification policy, with temporary successes on both sides, like Polonization rises in mid-1850s and in 1880s and Russification strengthenings in 1830s and in 1860s. Any Polonization of the east and west territories (Russian and German partitions) occurred in the situation were Poles had steadily diminishing influence on the government. Partition of Poland posed a genuine threat to the continuation of Polish language-culture in those regions. As Polonization was centered around Polish culture, policies aimed at weakening and destroying it had a significant impact on weakening Polonization of those regions. This was particularly visible in Russian-occupied Poland, where the Polish culture fared worst, as Russian administration gradually became strongly anti-Polish. After a brief and relatively liberal early period in the early 19th century, where Poland was allowed to retain some autonomy as the Congress Poland puppet state, the situation for Polish culture steadily worsened.
Lithuanian and Belarusian lands
A complicated linguistic situation developed on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Polish speakers used a "Kresy" variant of Polish (Northern Borderlands dialect) that retained archaic Polish features as well as many remnants of Belarusian and some features of Lithuanian. Linguists distinguish between official language, used in the Church and cultural activities, and colloquial language, closer to the speech of the common people. Inhabitants of a significant part of the Vilnius region used a variant of the Belarusian language, which was influenced mainly by Polish, but also by Lithuanian, Russian and Jewish. This language was referred to as "simple speech" (Polish: mowa prosta), and was treated by many as a dialect variety of Polish. In fact, it was a kind of "mixed language" serving as an interdialect of the cultural borderland. This language became a gateway to the progressive Slavization of the Lithuanian population.
The knowledge of Slavonic intedialect made it easier for Lithuanians to communicate with their Slavic neighbors, who spoke Polish, Russian, or Belarusian. The attractiveness and cultural prestige of the Polish language and its common use in church caused the process to continue and lead to the full adoption of the Polish language. Among the Belarusian population, the usage of Polish was limited to official relations, while at home, the local language was still spoken. As a result, the Lithuanian language retreated under the pressure of Polish faster than Belarusian. This led to the formation of a compact Polish language area between the Lithuanian and Belarusian language areas, with Vilnius as the center. After some time, especially in the Vilnius region, ignorance of the Polish language was considered a lack of cultural savvy. In ceremonial situations it was advisable to use Polish. This gradually limited the use of simple speech to everyday life situations, and gave rise to a sense of contempt for it and Belarusian as the language of work, cursing, but also more emotional and impetuous.
In the Belarusian territories, the Polonization processes were intensified by the struggle of the Russian authorities against the Catholic Churches. The liquidation of the Uniate Church and forced conversions to Orthodoxy provoked resistance among the local community. The Russian authorities opposed the Catholic Church, called the "Polish faith", to the Orthodox Church, called the "Russian faith". As a result, referring to oneself as a "Pole" was the same as referring to oneself as a "Catholic." After Latin, Polish was considered the second language of worship, so attempts to replace it with Russian or local languages were resisted by local population.
The spread of Polish language and culture, and eventually Polish national consciousness, was fostered not only by its prevalence among the upper classes, but also among the impoverished, declassed nobility. Their representatives regarded the nobility's traditions, inextricably linked with Polishness, as a marker of prestige, so they cultivated their attachment to the Polish national tradition. And due to the lack of an impassable property and cultural barrier, they exerted influence on the surrounding peasantry. Paradoxically, this was fostered by the anti-Polish and anti-szlachta Russian policy, which gave relief to peasants for the purchase of land. As a result, the property gap between the petty gentry and the peasantry decreased, which resulted in the appearance of mixed marriages, which in turn led to the spread of Polish culture among the peasants.
The emergence of the Lithuanian national movement in the 1880s slowed down the process of Polonization of the ethnically Lithuanian population, but also cemented a sense of national identity among a significant portion of the Polish-speaking Lithuanian population. The feeling of a two-tier Lithuanian-Polish national identity, present throughout the period, had to give way to a clear national declaration. Previously, every inhabitant of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania had been considered a Lithuanian, but in the face of the emergence of the Lithuanian national movement, which considered only those who spoke Lithuanian as Lithuanians, Polish-speaking residents of Lithuania more and more often declared themselves as Poles. The dispute over the auxiliary language of services (Polish or Lithuanian) in the churches on the eastern border of ethnic Lithuania, which heated up from the end of the nineteenth century, influenced the formation of Polish consciousness and the adoption of the Polish language among those believers whose ancestors had abandoned Lithuanian for plain speech.
The Lithuanian historian Vaidas Banys has said the following about Polonization within the Catholic Church of Lithuania in the 19th century:
"The 'Polonomaniacs' announced that the Catholic Church in Lithuania is a Polish church and no other national manifestations are welcome in it. Lithuanian religious services were obstructed, while there was whistling during Lithuanian singing and even fistfights. One event resounded throughout all of Lithuania in 1901, when a jubilee cross with a Lithuanian inscription was thrown away from Šėta's church. So-called 'Lithuanomaniacs' (Polish: litwomany) priests were punished, moved to poorer parishes, or humiliated in their ministry."
Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)
According to the Polish census of 1921 ethnically Polish population constituted about 69% of the population of the reborn state. The largest minorities in interwar Poland were Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians and Germans. The Polish government's policy toward each minority varied, and also changed over time. In general, during the first period of democratic rule dominated by national democracy, there was a tendency to restrict the rights of minorities and pursue Polonization. This changed with the 1926 coup and the assumption of power by Sanation. Policies became more liberal and minority autonomy increased. However, this began to change for the worse a few years before the start of World War II.
Assimilation was considered by National Democrats to be a major factor for "unifying the state". They hoped that the attractiveness of Polish culture, above all to Slavic minorities, would help to make rapid peaceful assimilation without much resistance. The centrist and leftist parties pointed out that the nation-building processes in the eastern lands could not be reversed. They called, therefore, for conducting so-called state assimilation, that is, granting broad cultural and territorial autonomy, in exchange for loyalty to the Polish state. Such policy was partially conducted by the Sanation regime, especially under leadership of Józef Piłsudski in years 1926–1935.
Polonization also created a new educated class among the non-Polish minorities, a class of intellectuals aware of the importance of schooling, press, literature and theatre, who became instrumental in the development of their own ethnic identities.
Belarusians
Belarusians in Poland were a poorly educated group, 90% of them making their living by farming. The aspiration of the Belarusians was to achieve cultural autonomy, as well as fair land reform. The maximum number of people of Belarusian nationality in interwar Poland was about 2 million. It is difficult to determine a definite number because for the most part, they did not have an established sense of their national identity; they described their language as "Tutejszy" "simple speech" (Polish: mowa prosta) or "Poleshuk" (in Polesia). What's more, Catholic Belarusians naturally leaned toward Polish culture and often referred to themselves as "Poles" even though they spoke Belarusian.
The Polish state's policy toward them was not consistent. Initially, during the period of fighting over the eastern border, the activities of Belarusian activists were tolerated. However, this changed after the peace came. In 1924, the Law on Minority Education led to the closure of a huge part of the approximately 350 (or 514) existing Belarusian schools, opened mostly during the German occupation. A 19 bilingual schools and just three elementary Belarusian schools remained. Officials prevented the creation of new schools, despite meeting formal conditions.
The change came after the May Coup of 1926. Despite the abolition of the Belarusian Belarusian Social Democratic Party, for its contacts with the Comintern, there was a period of liberalization of educational policy. The new Minister of Education, Gustav Dobrotsky, ordered the dismissal of officials blocking the establishment of new schools, allowed new schools to open in Catholic communities as well, and organized Belarusian language courses for elementary school teachers. As a result, four Belarusian grammar schools and a dozen elementary schools were opened. The results, however, were poor. In 1928, there were only 69 schools with Belarusian language, all of them in Wilno and Nowogródek voivodeships, very small number in comparison with 2 164 Polish schools existing there. The reversal of this policy came quickly, and after 1929 the number of Belarusian schools began to decline again. Of the Belarusian gymnasiums existing in Vilnius, Navahrudak, Kletsk and Radashkovichy, only the Vilnius gymnasium had survived to 1939. Belarusian schools often conducted classes in Russian, this was especially true of gymnasiums. This resulted from the significant Russification of the Belarusian intelligentsia. The Polish officials often treated any Belarusian demanding schooling in Belarusian language as a Soviet spy and any Belarusian social activity as a product of a communist plot.
Orthodox Christians also faced discrimination in interwar Poland. This discrimination was also targeting assimilation of Eastern Orthodox Belarusians. The Polish authorities were imposing Polish language in Orthodox church services and ceremonies, initiated the creation of Polish Orthodox Societies in various parts of West Belarus (Slonim, Białystok, Vaŭkavysk, Navahrudak).
Belarusian Roman Catholic priests like Fr. Vincent Hadleŭski who promoted Belarusian language in the church and Belarusian national awareness were also under serious pressure by the Polish regime and the leadership of the Catholic Church in Poland. The Polish Catholic Church issued documents to priests prohibiting the usage of the Belarusian language rather than Polish language in Churches and Catholic Sunday Schools in West Belarus. A 1921 Warsaw-published instruction of the Polish Catholic Church criticized the priests introducing the Belarusian language in religious life: They want to switch from the rich Polish language to a language that the people themselves call simple and shabby.
The Belarusian civil society resisted Polonization and mass closure of Belarusian schools. The Belarusian Schools Society (Belarusian: Таварыства беларускай школы), led by Branisłaŭ Taraškievič and other activists, was the main organization promoting education in Belarusian language in West Belarus in 1921–1937.
Compared to the (larger) Ukrainian minority living in Poland, Belarusians were much less politically aware and active. Nevertheless, according to Belarusian historians, the policies by the Polish government against the population of West Belarus increasingly provoked protests and armed resistance. In the 1920s, Belarusian partisan units arose in many areas of West Belarus, mostly unorganized but sometimes led by activists of Belarusian left wing parties. In the spring of 1922, several thousands Belarusian partisans issued a demand to the Polish government to stop the violence, to liberate political prisoners and to grant autonomy to West Belarus. Protests were held in various regions of West Belarus until mid 1930s.
The largest Belarusian political organization, the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union (or, the Hramada), which demanded a stop to the Polonization and autonomy for West Belarus, grew more radicalized by the time. It received logistical help from the Soviet Union, and financial aid from the Comintern. By 1927 Hramada was controlled entirely by agents from Moscow. It was banned by the Polish authorities, and further opposition to the Polish government was met with state-imposed sanctions once the connection between Hramada and the more radical pro-Soviet Communist Party of Western Belarus was discovered. The Polish policy was met with armed resistance.
Ukrainians
Interwar Poland was inhabited by 4-5 million Ukrainians. They lived primarily in the areas of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia. Until the First World War, Galicia with its large Ukrainian Greek Catholic population in the east (around Lviv) was controlled by the Austrian Empire. On the other hand, the Ukrainians of Volhynia, formerly of the Russian Empire (around Rivne), were largely Orthodox, and were influenced by strong Russophile trends. National self-identification was much stronger among the Galician Ukrainians,
Religion
See also: Recovery of Orthodox Churches in the Second Polish RepublicWhile the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which is in communion with the Catholic Church, hoped to receive a better treatment in Poland where the leadership saw Catholicism as one of the main tools to unify the nation – the Poles under Stanisław Grabski saw the restless Galician Ukrainians as less reliable than the Eastern Orthodox Volhynian Ukrainians, seen as better candidates for gradual assimilation. That's why the Polish policy in Ukraine initially aimed at keeping Greek Catholic Galicians from further influencing Orthodox Volhynians by drawing the so-called "Sokalski line".
Due to the region's history the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church attained a strong Ukrainian national character, and the Polish authorities sought to weaken it in various ways. In 1924, following a visit with Ukrainian Greek Catholics in North America and western Europe, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was initially denied reentry to Lviv for a considerable amount of time. Polish priests led by their bishops began to undertake missionary work among Eastern Catholics, and the administrative restrictions were placed on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.
With respect to the Eastern Orthodox Ukrainian population in eastern Poland, the Polish government initially issued a decree defending the rights of the Orthodox minorities. In practice, this often failed, as the Catholics, also eager to strengthen their position, had official representation in the Sejm and the courts. Any accusation was strong enough for a particular church to be confiscated and handed over to the Catholic Church. The goal of the two so called "revindication campaigns" was to reverse the gains of the Orthodox Church from the partitions period and to return to the Catholics those churches that had been converted into Orthodox churches by the Russian authorities. 190 Orthodox churches were destroyed, some of the destroyed churches were abandoned, and 150 more were forcibly transformed into Roman Catholic (not Greek Catholic) churches. Such actions were condemned by the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, who claimed that these acts would "destroy in the souls of our non-united Orthodox brothers the very thought of any possible reunion."
Education
The Polish administration closed many of the Prosvita reading rooms. The number of reading rooms declined from 2,879 in 1914 to only 843 in 1923. The decline can be partially explained by the war devastation.
In the independent Poland educational was centralized, provincial school administration was abolished, as it happened with Lviv-based separate Ukrainian representation. In 1924 the law was passed, which set up bilingual Ukrainian and Polish schools. As a result, number of Ukrainian unilingual schools declined, and they were replaced by bilingual schools. This affected Eastern Galicia most severely, where before the war there were 2,400 Ukrainian elementary schools, and during the existence of the West Ukrainian People's Republic their number increased to about 3,000. After the region was annexed to Poland, the number began to decline, in 1923 it was 2453, in 1925 it was still 2151, but after the introduction of bilingual schools there was a rapid decline to 648 schools in 1930 and 352 in 1938. At the same time, the number of bilingual schools grew from 9 in 1925 to 1,793 in 1930 and to 2,485 in 1938. The number of Polish schools also declined from 2,568 schools in 1925 to 2,161 in 1938.
The principle of "numerus clausus" had been introduced following which the Ukrainians were discriminated when entering the Lviv University (not more than 15% of the applicants' total number, the Poles enjoying not less than the 50% quota at the same time).
Land reform
The land reform was designed to favor ethnic Polish population. By 1938 some 800,000 hectares had been redistributed within Ukrainian-inhabited areas. The redistribution did not necessarily help the local Ukrainian population, however. In 1920 in Volhynia and Polissia 39 percent of the allotted land (312,000 hectares) had been awarded to Polish war veterans. In Eastern Galicia 200,000 hectare had been given to Polish peasants from the western provinces of the country. By the 1930s the number of Poles living within contiguous Ukrainian ethnographic territory had increased by about 300,000.
Lithuanians
During the interwar period of the 20th century (1920–1939), Lithuanian–Polish relations were characterized by mutual enmity. As a consequence of the conflict over the city of Vilnius, and the Polish–Lithuanian War, both governments – in the era of nationalism which was sweeping through Europe – treated their respective minorities harshly. In 1920, after the staged mutiny of Lucjan Żeligowski, Lithuanian cultural activities in Polish controlled territories were limited and the closure of Lithuanian newspapers and the arrest of their editors occurred. 33 Lithuanian and Belarusian cultural activists were formally expelled from Vilnius on 23 January 1922 and deported to Lithuania. In 1927, as tensions between Lithuania and Poland increased, 48 additional Lithuanian schools were closed and another 11 Lithuanian activists were deported. Following Piłsudski's death in 1935, the Lithuanian minority in Poland again became an object of Polonization policies with greater intensity. 266 Lithuanian schools were closed after 1936 and almost all Lithuanian organizations were banned. Further Polonization ensued as the government encouraged settlement of Polish army veterans in the disputed regions. About 400 Lithuanian reading rooms and libraries were closed in Poland between 1936 and 1938. Following the 1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania, Lithuania re-established diplomatic relations with Poland and efforts to Polonize Lithuanians living in Poland decreased somewhat.
Post–World War II
Main article: Recovered TerritoriesDuring Operation Vistula of 1947, the Soviet-controlled Polish communist authorities removed the support base for the still active in that area Ukrainian Insurgent Army by forcibly resettling about 141,000 civilians residing around Bieszczady and Low Beskids to northern areas of the so-called Recovered Territories awarded by the Allies to Poland in the post-war settlement. The farmers received financial help from the Polish government and took over homes and farms left behind by the displaced Germans, in most cases improving their living conditions due to the increased size of the newly reassigned properties, brick buildings, and running water. Dr Zbigniew Palski from IPN explains that an identical operation was performed in Ukraine by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic at exactly the same time. It was dubbed Operation West. Both operations were coordinated from Moscow; however, there was a shocking difference between their outcomes.
References
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Under Tsarist rule the Uniate population had been forcibly converted to Orthodoxy. In 1875, at least 375 Uniate Churches were converted into Orthodox churches. The same was true of many Latin-rite Roman Catholic churches
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Bibliography
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Januszewska-Jurkiewicz, Joanna (2010). Stosunki narodowościowe na Wileńszczyźnie w latach 1920–1939 [National Relations in the Vilnius Region in the Years 1920–1939]. Katowice.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Kaczmarek, Ryszard (2010). Historia Polski 1914-1989. Warsaw.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Tomasz Kamusella. 2013. Germanization, Polonization, and Russification in the Partitioned Lands of Poland–Lithuania (pp 815–838). Nationalities Papers. Vol 41, No 5.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Mironowicz, Eugeniusz (2007). Białorusini i Ukraińcy w polityce obozu piłsudczykowskiego [Belarusians and Ukrainians in the policies of the Pilsudski party] (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Uniwersyteckie Trans Humana. ISBN 978-83-89190-87-1.
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- Subtelny, Orest (1988). Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6.
- Shved, Viachaslau; Grzybowski, Jerzy (2020). Historia Białorusi. Od czasów najdawniejszych do roku 1991 [History of Belarus. From the earliest times to 1991] (in Polish). Warsaw: WUW.
- Trimonienė, Rita (2006). "Polonizacja". Kultura Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego. Analizy i obrazy. Kraków. pp. 544–560.
- Walasek, Stefania (2021). "Szkolnictwo dla mniejszości narodowych w II Rzeczpospolitej na przykładzie kuratoriów okręgów szkolnych: lwowskiego i wileńskiego" [Education for national minorities in the Second Polish Republic on the example of school boards of school districts: Lviv and Vilnius]. Przegląd Historyczno-Oświatowy. 64 (3–4).
External links
- Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage
- The Polonization of the Ukrainian Nobility
- (in Polish) Założenia programowe głównych obozów politycznych wobec szkolnictwa dla ludności białoruskiej w II Rzeczypospolitej
- Culture of Poland
- Early modern history of Lithuania
- Ruthenians in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Western Belorussia (1918–1939)
- Belarusian language
- History of the Lithuanian language
- Lithuania–Poland relations
- Social history of Ukraine
- History of Eastern Europe
- Cultural assimilation
- Slavicization
- Rusyn history