Softsong
15 Feb 2011
History / If Poland didn't exist, how did citizens become Polish? [57]
Zimmy, that could have something to do with it. Her surname was Schmidt, but her given name was Ludwika. My maternal grandfather's sister's background was mainly German though, other than their grandmother had the surname Wilk, which I believe is wolf in Polish.
I do have family that are probably mixed. My German grandmother on my father's side also was from Russian-Poland. Her father was a Witzke, and her mother a Laskowska. But I believe Laskowska was a Polonized version of an earlier German name.
And the German grandfather who became American in 1928, married an ethnic Polish lady in America. Both sides of her family were Polish, (Poznan), but they had German nationality. My mother grew up speaking Polish. Her father spoke Polish, Russian and Low German. My father grew up speaking German.
With the existence of the partitions and my Poles being from Prussia, and my Germans from Russian-Poland, answering the common American question of what are you has always been somewhat of a challenge for me! :-D
Zimmy, that could have something to do with it. Her surname was Schmidt, but her given name was Ludwika. My maternal grandfather's sister's background was mainly German though, other than their grandmother had the surname Wilk, which I believe is wolf in Polish.
I do have family that are probably mixed. My German grandmother on my father's side also was from Russian-Poland. Her father was a Witzke, and her mother a Laskowska. But I believe Laskowska was a Polonized version of an earlier German name.
And the German grandfather who became American in 1928, married an ethnic Polish lady in America. Both sides of her family were Polish, (Poznan), but they had German nationality. My mother grew up speaking Polish. Her father spoke Polish, Russian and Low German. My father grew up speaking German.
With the existence of the partitions and my Poles being from Prussia, and my Germans from Russian-Poland, answering the common American question of what are you has always been somewhat of a challenge for me! :-D