Polonization

Polonization (Template:Lang-pl) is the assumption (complete or partial), of the Polish language or another real or supposed Polish attribute. It may be regarded as a subclass of a historically ubiquitous process of assimilation. Such assimilation has commonly accompanied the evolution of empires, broadly construed.

Polonization was especially noted in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or Republic, when Polish drew to itself the upper classes of the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian communities, leading to those classes' lesser or greater alienation from their ethnic roots.

One of the features of Polonization was the promotion of the Roman Catholic Church at the expense of the Orthodox Churches.

As a consequence of the process of Polonization, disputes sometimes occur as to the ethnicities of notable persons such as Tadeusz Kościuszko, Adam Mickiewicz and Ignacy Domeyko, who are claimed as national celebrities by Poles, Belarusians and Lithuanians alike.

Second Polish Republic

During the times of Second Polish Republic, when Poland regained territories of Western Belarus, Western Ukraine and the Wilno region, linguistic assimilation was considered as a major factor of unifying the state. For example, Stanisław Grabski, Polish Minister for Religion and Public Education in 1923-1926 wrote that "Poland may be preserved only as the state of Polish people. If it were a state of Poles, Jews, Germans, Rusyns, Belarusians, Lithuianins, Russians, it would lose its independence again." Some other officials rejected the existence of Ukrainian and Belarusian nations altogether. And Grabski again: "It is impossible to make nation of those who does not have the 'national self-identification', who calls themself "local" (Tutejszy)".

A law issued in 1924 banned usage of any language but Polish in governmental and municipal paperwork. It the area of public education it was postulated that state schools could be only Polish language schools. Local populations could have private local language schools an only in territories "loyal to Polsih state". Specifically with respect to the Western territories (known as Kresy Wschodnie, or ""Eastern Borderlands") it was recognized that "shools can become an instrument of the cultural development in Western lands only if Polish teachers will work there". However in reality it turned out to infeasible for implementation and, in particular, bilingual schools ("szkole utrakwistyczne") were proposed.

See also

• Anti-Polonism
• Bambrzy
• Operation Wisla
• Germanization
• Russification
• Ukrainization

References

• Orest Subtelny, Ukraine. A History, University of Toronto Press (1994)

External links

• The Polonization of the Ukrainian Nobility
• Template:Pl icon Issues of education of Belarusin population in Second Republic