Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

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Art
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#196

Post by Art » 19 Oct 2018, 12:09

wm wrote:
18 Oct 2018, 01:04
Those people don't live in Moscow or St. Petersburg.
Of all Russian regions Moscow and St.Petersburg have the largest Polish population (3122 and and 2647 according to the 2010 census). The idea that all 47 000 people who identified themselves as Poles in the Russian census are descendants of deportees living in some godforsaken villages in Siberia is not quire correct to put it softly. They are actually spread all across Russia.

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thorwald77
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#197

Post by thorwald77 » 19 Oct 2018, 14:03

They could move from Siberia to Moscow or St.Petersburg and get a higher paying job. In any case there is no truth or justice for the Poles in Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine. It is sad that Kaczynski and his crowd are so cheap.


Art
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#198

Post by Art » 19 Oct 2018, 18:19

thorwald77 wrote:
19 Oct 2018, 14:03
They could move from Siberia to Moscow or St.Petersburg and get a higher paying job.
Or could live there for a long time. January 1939 census registered more than 600 000 Poles in the Soviet Union, including almost 150 000 living on the present-day Russian territory. In the last group the largest concentration was in Leningrad (St.Petersburg).

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wm
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#199

Post by wm » 19 Oct 2018, 19:20

Art wrote:
19 Oct 2018, 12:09
Of all Russian regions Moscow and St.Petersburg have the largest Polish population (3122 and and 2647 according to the 2010 census).
That's nice but in Russia, there are about thirty three regions with substantial Polish minorities. As result, Moscow Oblast and Leningrad Oblast have in total maybe about 10 percent of all Poles.
And the majority of them lives in God forgotten, mostly Asiatic, regions including such nice places like Magadan Oblast. Even the European Archangielsk or Murmansk regions aren't such a paradise.

thorwald77 wrote:
19 Oct 2018, 14:03
They could move from Siberia to Moscow or St.Petersburg and get a higher paying job.
That reminds me of the ancient Beavis and Butthead show. They both watch starving Africans on TV and wonder why don't those idiots get themselves credit cards and buy lots of food.

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thorwald77
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#200

Post by thorwald77 » 19 Oct 2018, 20:19

Good point Art, the Poles in Russia are descendants of persons living in Russia since the Czarist era. According to Polian 389,382 Polish citizens were exiled in the Soviet Union in 1941. According to IPN data Polish nationals from the second republic were allowed to leave the USSR to Poland in 1943(119,752 Anders army, 24,660 Berling army) and 258,990 civilians after the war from 1945-49 ) From 1955-59 according to Andrzej Gawryszewski LUDNOŚĆ POLSKI W XX WIEKU Poles also emigrated from the USSR (not including former 2nd republic regions) to Poland 20,461 from Russia, 1,152 from central asia and 74 from the Caucasus. Do the math, there are few if any people left in Russia to take advantage of Kaczynski's offer, it is a publicity stunt.

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henryk
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#201

Post by henryk » 19 Oct 2018, 21:03

https://visegradinsight.eu/a-card-for-t ... -diaspora/
A Card for the Polish Diaspora
It gives its holders the chance to be in contact with Europe and the West.

Lorenzo Berardi 27 kwietnia 2016

At a first glance it may look like a Polish ID card, but in fact it is not. The background colours are different, with pale shades of yellow and blue replacing the standard soft tones of white and red. The coat of arms of the Republic of Poland is on the top left corner of the card, but instead of a field for “parents’ given names” there is one for “nationality”.

They called it “Karta Polaka”, which translates into “Card of the Pole”, “Pole’s Card”, or “Polish Charter”. It is a document given to citizens from 15 different countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union and who can either prove their Polish roots or demonstrate that they promoted Polish language and culture in their home countries.

Karta Polaka (KP) was approved by the Polish parliament with a bill called “Act on the Pole’s Card” on 7th September 2007. It was the brainchild of the Law and Justice (PiS) party – the leader of the current Polish government – when they were in power. Signed by then president Lech Kaczyński on 22nd September 2007, the law came into force on March 29th 2008 under a new government, led by the Civic Platform (PO).

Eight years later, how many foreigners applied for the Karta Polaka remains unknown. In autumn 2015, the Council for Poles in the East (Rada do Spraw Polaków na Wschodzie) – a public authority overseeing decisions concerning Karta Polaka and the Polish diaspora abroad – looked into this data.

However, since the Council is not required to publish any yearly reports, its findings have not been disclosed. In 2007, the Polish government estimated that between 200,000 and 400,000 people could have been entitled to apply for the KP. What is known is that about 170,000 people are now Karta Polaka holders; among them, 76,000 Belarusians and about 70,000 Ukrainians.

As written on the website of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “The Card of the Pole is a document stating adherence to the Polish nation. The Card holder is entitled to all of the benefits detailed in the bill passed by the Polish parliament.”

Among the benefits given to a Karta Polaka holder: the possibility of obtaining a long-term visa granting multiple entry into Poland and taking up legal employment without having to obtain a work permit. Moreover, those holding a KP can operate a business in Poland on the same conditions as Polish citizens, benefit from the Polish education system free of charge, and receive public healthcare just as Poles do. Additionally, they are able to visit state-operated museums free of charge and to be among the first to apply for financial support to help Polish citizens abroad.

However, Karta Polaka is not to be confused with a residence permit, nor can it substitute for Polish citizenship, as the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes clear on their website.

The easiest way to acquire a KP is to be certified as a person of Polish descent in accordance with the provisions of the Repatriation Act of November 9, 2000. Karta Polaka can also be issued to a person who is, at the time of the application, a citizen of one of the 15 states formerly a member of the USSR, or a stateless person in one of these countries, and satisfies the following three conditions.

First, the applicants need to demonstrate their connection with the nation of Poland, proving at least a basic knowledge of Polish, which they “view as their mother tongue,” as well as “knowledge and cultivation of Polish traditions and customs.” Then, they have to sign a declaration stating that they belong to the Polish nation in the presence of the Polish consul in their country of origin.

Last but not least, they need to demonstrate that at least one parent or grandparent, or two great grandparents, are or were of Polish nationality. Alternatively, they need to present “a certificate from an authorised organization of Poles living abroad in the country of residence confirming active involvement in activities promoting the Polish language and culture or benefiting the Polish national minority for a period of at least the preceding 3 years.”


Helping Poles living beyond the Eastern border

When representatives of the Polish diaspora visited the lower house of the Polish parliament (Sejm) on December 28th 2015, Prime minister Beata Szydło told them that “The Polish state will do everything to ensure that the community of Poles is built all over the world.” . On the same occasion, the speaker of the Sejm, Marek Kuchciński, stated that the parliament has already taken actions aimed at supporting Poles beyond the Eastern border: Karta Polaka is certainly one of them.

Paweł Hut, a Professor at Warsaw University’s Institute of Social Policy co-author with Łukasz Żołądek of ‘Repatriacja i polityka repatriacyjna’ (Repatriation and repatriation politics), and an expert on Karta Polaka and the Polish diaspora explained that the card “gives its holders the chance to be in contact with Europe and the West and that it was created because some countries of the former Soviet Bloc started discriminating against certain ethnic groups after ’91.”

He states how, for example: “Lithuania has been fighting the Polish language in public spaces with an institution called ‘State Language Inspectorate’ (Valstybinė kalbos inspekcija) which forbids writing names in native languages fining those who do it. Thus, the Polish government decided that it had the constitutional responsibility to look after the Poles abroad by creating KP.”

Since the approval of the ‘Act on the Pole’s Card’ in 2007, Karta Polaka has been implemented. In fact, the very first version of the card didn’t offer many privileges to its holders. As explained by Hut: “During the preparation of the ‘Act on the Pole’s Card’ the Polish government wanted to make sure that nobody could accuse it of “bribing” citizens of other countries.”

Recent amendments to the KP were inspired by the information provided by Polish communities in the former USSR made in order to improve the functioning of the original law. It is because of this that “due to the changes happening within the post-Soviet countries Karta Polaka holders were allowed to move to Poland,” says Professor Hut.

In 2015 the Polish parliament was about to consider further amendments that would allow KP holders to acquire Polish (and EU) citizenship after living in Poland for only one year. The possibility of giving some KP holders a grant of about €5,400 per family member to cover adaptation costs as well as professional and language training was also under discussion.

Hut confirms that amendments are in the pipeline and “will also focus on some extra expenses from the Polish Treasury to cover adaptation costs.” He explains that this is due to “the difference between the average Polish income and the average income in post-Soviet countries. Once this amendment is approved, the financial support given to some card holders will be much higher than what it is now.”

...................................
The support of the Polish diaspora aside, Poland also seems interested in welcoming students and skilled workers from the neighbouring East. So much so that today people coming from six former USSR countries – Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine – are entitled to be employed in Poland without holding a work permit or a Karta Polaka for up to six months under the Oświadczenia o zamiarze powierzenia pracy cudzoziemcowi.

This temporary work permit doesn’t apply to nine of the post-Soviet countries covered by the Karta Polaka law, but it does include Belarus and the Ukraine which, when combined, make up for 85% of the current card holders. As summarised by Valentyna N: “the Polish government shows a very open policy towards economic migrants, at least towards some of them.”

Lorenzo Berardi is a freelance journalist based in Warsaw. He is a contributor for Lettera43, Rassegna Est, V4 Revue, New Eastern Europe, The Varsovian.

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thorwald77
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Re: Polish claims on Wilno/Vilnius

#202

Post by thorwald77 » 20 Oct 2018, 00:05

Thanks Henryk for taking the time to post this information. You have clarified the issue for me, the story I heard in Brooklyn was incorrect. Thanks again

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