vannroxy
11 Feb 2021
Genealogy / Am I of Polish or German descent? [10]
I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In that city is an area known as "Polish Hill". There is where I grew up. Everyone considered themselves Polish because everyone descended from Polish relatives. Our families spoke Polish in the homes (though us younger generations did so very poorly), we maintained Polish traditions, and we all watched and followed the events in Poland in the 1980's. So we're Polish-American's right?
Not so fast...
You are ONLY of Polish descent if you can trace your relatives to Poland when it existed as a nation. Not to the geographical region that is now, today, Poland.
I have traced my relatives to a small rural village known as Schwekatowo West Prussia (Świekatowo) and then they moved to Pinschin, West Prussia, Germany; now Pinczyn and surrounding area in Starogard district, Gdańsk, Poland. My family left that region in 1884, and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland where they became Americans and they moved to Pittsburgh to work in the steel factories there.
I have been desirous of obtaining a secondary citizenship based upon my heritage. Being an American today isn't all that great. I have lived outside the USA for two decades, and have a home, and family inside China. When I compare China to America it is like comparing a scene from the television show "The Jetsons" with "Married with Children" or "Standford & Son". Now it is time for me to renew my passport and in big bold letters the documentation says that the United States can pull or deny me my passport of a host of reasons. If they do, my life, my family and everything will absolute collapse. Yikes!
Nothing that drastic has happened. But I owe it to my children to be prepared. So I have been looking to obtain heritage-based passports were the USA continues it's slow slide into insanity.
So my question is this, what heritage am I?
Unless I can prove that my parents, great grandparents or great, great grandparents obtained Polish citizenship after 1920, then I am not considered to be of Polish descent. At least not officially in the eyes of the law. Instead, I am considered to be of West Prussian - German heritage. Is there any other options to establish Polish heritage available to me? Does anyone have any ideas?
I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In that city is an area known as "Polish Hill". There is where I grew up. Everyone considered themselves Polish because everyone descended from Polish relatives. Our families spoke Polish in the homes (though us younger generations did so very poorly), we maintained Polish traditions, and we all watched and followed the events in Poland in the 1980's. So we're Polish-American's right?
Not so fast...
You are ONLY of Polish descent if you can trace your relatives to Poland when it existed as a nation. Not to the geographical region that is now, today, Poland.
I have traced my relatives to a small rural village known as Schwekatowo West Prussia (Świekatowo) and then they moved to Pinschin, West Prussia, Germany; now Pinczyn and surrounding area in Starogard district, Gdańsk, Poland. My family left that region in 1884, and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland where they became Americans and they moved to Pittsburgh to work in the steel factories there.
I have been desirous of obtaining a secondary citizenship based upon my heritage. Being an American today isn't all that great. I have lived outside the USA for two decades, and have a home, and family inside China. When I compare China to America it is like comparing a scene from the television show "The Jetsons" with "Married with Children" or "Standford & Son". Now it is time for me to renew my passport and in big bold letters the documentation says that the United States can pull or deny me my passport of a host of reasons. If they do, my life, my family and everything will absolute collapse. Yikes!
Nothing that drastic has happened. But I owe it to my children to be prepared. So I have been looking to obtain heritage-based passports were the USA continues it's slow slide into insanity.
So my question is this, what heritage am I?
Unless I can prove that my parents, great grandparents or great, great grandparents obtained Polish citizenship after 1920, then I am not considered to be of Polish descent. At least not officially in the eyes of the law. Instead, I am considered to be of West Prussian - German heritage. Is there any other options to establish Polish heritage available to me? Does anyone have any ideas?