What is the attitude of Poles in Poland to émigré Poles?

What is the attitude of Poles in Poland towards their countrymen who were deported in the 40’s either by the Germans or the Soviets and who never made it back home but created a new life abroad? Do they feel that there is a special bond still linking them, or are these foreign Poles simply foreigners who may know something more about the language and the history of Poland than the average foreigner?

Hmm...don't really know, i would say that if this "foreign Poles" say they are Polish, if they are Christians, if they speak Polish (at least a bit), etc...then i guess that they are just Poles from abroad... :P

It depends where they were deported. It's different in case of people from let's say Kazakhstan (who gets some aid from the government and sometimes help when they want to move to Poland - not enough maybe but still something) and those who made It to the west and lived (and still live) there much better than Poles in Poland.


Generally If people were deported or had to escape then It's different than those, who chose to leave but obviously It also depends on that person, who lives abroad - If someone claims to be "100% Polish" can't understand a simple sentence in Polish then It's quite funny.

My mum got out of Kazakhstan in about 1942. Went to Teran, Africa then came to the UK in 1948.

She was from Lwów so could not go back top her bit of Poland.

Yes it does seem a bit odd - but some descendants of the émigré Poles were not very well treated by the people in their "adopted" countries so maybe as children they rejected their Polishness in an effort to blend in with their new surroundings and that led to the rejection of the language too.


Do you mean that Poles from Kazakhstan are better accepted than Poles from the West?

It is sad that how we speak is how you judge our blood. LOL In America we were put down for the same thing. Guess I just felt our homeland would be understanding.

Looks like we were missed.

Hehe ;) If you can say "hello, thank you, bye" in Polish, then it may be enough... ;) Of course the language is not all. I don't, myself, speak a good Polish.

I have an idea that this concept of having been missed is pure romanticism on the part of the émigrés.

Some people feel a bit awkward about them. Although it isn't at all easy for them to 'return' (many conditions have to be satisfied), in some small towns, the town council has bought (modest) houses for them to live in which can irritate their neighbours. I don't think there's open hostility, since just abou everybody believes they should all be able to come back, but the communities they came from, often in Eastern Poland tend to be quite poor places, and many were deported from towns and villages that are now in Belarus. Those people get a rough deal, since it's hard to say where they should go in Poland and of course the generation who were deported along with their parents are now elderly.

Poles from the Ukraine tend not to be hassled if they outstay their visas, especially if they have Polish names and speak the Polish as a mother tongue.

But what about the ones who settled in the West? How are they seen?
Let's put it this way: if Poles from the West start venting their opinions about how Poland should be run, organised etc. is this considered to be "outside" interference . Were these Western Poles to express some criticism would this be accepted or would they be told to go back where they came from? Again I'm speaking only about those who were deported and their descendants - not about those who went of their own free will.

opinions of Poles who have emigrated to west are taken really serious ... two of our current ministers have backed form emigration (forign and finance) a lot of people have familiy in one of western countries ... there is no negative stereotypes ... (I havent heard any) there were some controversions about political choices made by USA emigration (in elections they voted much different than people in country) but you cant find any negative opinions about Polish emigratns form East/West (in Poland )

and Ebi Smolarek whave been born in Holand and is very popular now ;)

maybe Poles who live in East are rather considered as victims of our history (deportation, uprises etc)

There are different types of emigrats ... there are Polish societies with long history (XIX century who recognize theselves Polish) and new much different types of emigratns ...

some people have noticed that Poles are everywhere .... ;) maybe on moon as well ;-)

well hopefully nearly 1 million romanians will migrate to poland to fill jobs then the polish can feel what we british feel.

who let that twat back?

What has this to do with the question?

You can thank Stalin for that. I don't think he ever thought of the tower of babble falling with the use of computers. Just so you know, my grandfather loved his homeland, Poland with all his heart and soul. Although staying would have been his death sentance, Poland never left his heart.

It's funny when I was growing up my girlfriends would not be able to understand my father, to me it was clear as day. I guess, I never thought about why I was called Polock in a negitive way. Being between two country's was so confusing for me as a child. Now for me, I get very hurt when I am told I am not Polish due to being born here. Or wait shouldn't I be part Ukrainian since this is now Ukraine where my father was born? Carol