Poland's indigenous ethnic minorities and the census of 2002

Abstract

This article seeks to investigate aspects of the returns of the Polish census of April, 2OO2.The census, which was completed by a total of 38,230,100 respondents, constituted further evidence of the continued societal and political transition of Poland away from authoritarian norms and practices. This was evident in the fact that for the first time since 1931 the state authorities sought to establish the nature and number of Poland's (indigenous) ethnic minorities. As we shall see, the answers provided confounded the predictions of minority activists, the political authorities, and the wider academic community that engages in research in this area. In light of these findings, we offer various potential explanations for these apparent discrepancies.