Minority In Poland Research Articles

Transferability of vaccination interventions from a community perspective: One size does not fit all

Abstract Background Removing health system barriers to childhood vaccination is an urgent matter in the migrant community in Greece, the Turkish and Moroccan communities in the Netherlands, the Ukrainian minority in Poland, and the marginalized Roma community in Slovakia. The objective of this study was to select and adapt potentially transferable evidence-based interventions for HPV and MMR vaccine uptake in partnership with the underserved communities. Methods Using a participatory approach, we assessed transferability of six pre-selected interventions with the Population, Intervention, Environment and Transfer (PIET-T) models: All countries investigated two interventions with trained community members to support vaccination as health promoters. Greece and the Netherlands included a school-based vaccination program. The Netherlands added two interventions addressing providers’ HPV vaccine communication, and Slovakia a multilevel intervention. Results We identified barriers and facilitators for successful intervention transfer in each of the target contexts. The transferability analysis showed that an intervention with health promoters is potentially transferable with adaptations in all countries. Principles of trust in the educator, tailored and trustworthy information, help in navigating the health system for vaccination and easy access at no cost are transferable key elements in all contexts. Adaptations refer to the intervention elements that need to be tailored to specific contextual needs. School-based vaccination was nowhere transferable. Health provider training needs to be culturally sensitive and adapted to the Dutch system. The multilevel intervention in Slovakia is not fully transferable. Conclusions Participatory transferability analysis was essential for decision-making and intervention adaptation. All countries independently selected a health promoter intervention as having potential to remove the identified health system barriers in the respective context.

8.N. Scientific session: Transferability and adaptation of vaccination interventions: Learning from underserved communities

Abstract Removing barriers in the health system that make it difficult for cultural, religious or ethnic minorities to access vaccinations is an urgent concern in order to prevent infectious diseases in the future. Childhood vaccine uptake for MMR and HPV in most underserved communities is lower than in the general population. The project RIVER-EU (Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European region - Engaging Underserved communities) engages the migrant community in Greece, females with a Turkish or Moroccan migration background in the Netherlands, the Ukrainian minority in Poland and marginalized Roma communities in Slovakia to remove health system barriers to vaccination. Barriers include, e.g., lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate information, financial barriers, insufficient capacities, coordination and delivery of health care. Based on a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach we selected and adapted potentially transferable evidence-based interventions in partnership with the communities. First, we pre-selected 6 useful interventions from a realist review on 36 effective vaccine uptake interventions. Second, we assessed them in depth for their transferability. Building a bridge between evidence on interventions and community needs is not an easy task: We involved various stakeholders in a longitudinal process under consideration of contextual conditions in the primary intervention context and the context of the respective underserved community. We co-created knowledge through 25 workshops and 39 interviews or focus groups for decision-making and determining need for adaptation of selected interventions. The aim of this workshop is to present the results of this co-creative process in each country. Special attention is payed to facilitators and barriers for transferability of evidence-based interventions from the perspective of underserved communities, and contextual commonalities and differences that lead to a specific intervention tailoring. This workshop will contribute to an improved understanding of how to consider contextual needs underserved communities have to remove health system barriers to vaccination on the one hand and suitable evidence on interventions to improve their situation on the other hand. The workshop will include five presentations of eight minutes and a questions and answers session to involve the audience. First, an introductory presentation on transferability of interventions for HPV and MMR vaccine uptake to underserved communities in specific contexts will be given. Then each country will present the intervention(s) to address health system barriers adapted to their context. Thereby, we will underline common key elements that have potential for transferability in all countries. After all presentations, we will discuss the need for context-based decision-making on evidence-based interventions and intervention tailoring to improve vaccine uptake for cultural, religious or ethnic minorities. Key messages • Improving vaccine uptake in underserved communities requires local solutions with tailored interventions. Trusted partnerships with various stakeholders are key to reducing health system barriers. • Participatory approaches to evidence-informed decision-making build bridges between evidence on interventions and needs of underserved communities to understand the transferability of interventions.

Life on the Margins

Abstract This article examines a group of Polish, Jewish, and Polish Jewish women who volunteered in the auxiliary forces of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. They traveled to Spain from various west European states, such as Belgium and France, and from Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Palestine. Although only a small percentage of these women traveled directly from Poland, in official documents they were categorized as Polish regardless of what country they traveled from. The article compiles the available fragments of historical knowledge on these women, addressing the various routes, reasons, and circumstances that led them to Spain. Their participation in the war was not an obvious outcome, but the discrimination and poverty they experienced in Poland made them more open to global leftist movements that encouraged their service in the International Brigades. These women represented the margins of many communities, as women, as representatives of the Jewish minority in Poland who had a complicated relationship with the Polish state, and as members or sympathizers of various left-leaning groups. Their lives were marked by multiple borders and often open hostilities that they encountered on their way to and from Spain. Their stories – as stories of people from the margins who left behind only fragmentary sources – remain largely forgotten and unclaimed by historiographies of the Spanish Civil War. This article aims to piece together fragments of the existing documents to begin telling their story.

‘Coat Thieves’ and Bandits? Belarusian Counter-Memory of the ‘Cursed Soldiers’

In the article, we analyse attitudes of representatives of the Belarusian minority in Poland towards the armed anti-communist underground operating in the Podlasie region after 1944 (the so-called ‘cursed soldiers’). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with various Belarusian actors, as well as on observations made during field research in the Podlasie region in June 2021, we are able to illustrate a clash between official commemorative practices and the local and communicative memory of the Belarusians. We analyse the role played by the collective memory of the underground among the Belarusian minority in Podlasie against the backdrop of the hegemonic politics of memory that glorifies the ‘cursed soldiers’ as national heroes. The analysis of counter-hegemonic memory accounts and their relation to dominant narratives uncovers the emotions generated by the hegemonic politics of memory among representatives of the Belarusian minority, who generally regard it as depreciating their experience and evoking a sense of endangerment. We show that Belarusian memory is perceived as incompatible with the ideological assumptions of the hegemonic Polish memory; therefore, we want to give voice to the marginalised representatives of the Belarusian minority. However, the Belarusian minority should not be perceived as a homogenous group – our analysis points to the fact that various actors various actors negotiate the hegemonic politics of memory in various ways when faced with the pressure of assimilation.

Challenged Reciprocity: The German Minority in Poland and the Polish Minority in Germany

Challenged Reciprocity: The German Minority in Poland and the Polish Minority in Germany

Changes of Polish Democracy and their Impact on Polish Belarusians

Abstract The Belarusian minority in Poland is the second largest national minority, almost entirely concentrated in Podlasie. Qualitative research conducted by our team in 2020 allowed diagnosis of the reasons for the “invisibility” of Belarusians. The Polish state’s policy has always influenced the mood of Belarusians who, despite being passive in creating their own political representation, are often identified as the electorate of left-wing parties. Currently, eight years after the 2015 elections won by the PiS party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, Law and Justice), Podlaskie Voivodeship is sometimes referred to as a “bastion of the right”, especially of extreme right-wing forces. The aim of the paper is to determine the impact of the current political situation on the sense of identity of the Belarusian minority by referring to the results of the National Census of 2002 and 2011, as well as the circumstances and results of the 2021 census. The analysis pays attention to factors such as historical policy, religion, and axiology, which determine the “borderland identity”. The research method used is primarily a comparative method, but we also applied the results of interviews based on scenarios, conducted in selected Podlasie municipalities with at least 50% of Polish Belarusians.

Sytuacja Romów w Polsce w opiniach Komitetu Doradczego i Komitetu Ekspertów Rady Europy

The main objective of this article is to analyze the situation of the Roma minority in Poland, by presenting its economic situation, access to education, implementation of language rights and the degree of implementation of the principles of equal treatment and prohibition of discrimination in relation to this community. The basis for this is the analysis of the opinions of the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the reports of the Committee of Experts on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The main thesis of the work is the statement that in the analyzed period there was an improvement in the situation of the Roma minority in terms of access to education, living conditions and the implementation of language rights. However, the Roma minority is still perceived negatively in Polish society and there are cases of discrimination against it.

7.O. Workshop: A participatory approach to identifying vaccine uptake interventions with underserved communities

Abstract Resilient and equitable health systems should respond to the needs of their populations and remove barriers specific to cultural, religious, or ethnic minorities. Vaccination should be accessible to all in order to prevent infectious diseases. The EU funded project ‘Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European region - Engaging Underserved communities’ (RIVER-EU) aims to improve access to childhood vaccination in the migrant community in Greece (focus on MMR and HPV), the Turkish females and Moroccan females in the Netherlands (focus on HPV), the Ukrainian minority in Poland (focus on MMR and HPV), and marginalized Roma communities in Slovakia (focus on HPV). Considerable health system barriers to vaccination were identified in all underserved communities, such as a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate information, insufficient capacities, coordination and delivery of health care, and financial costs. Based on a realist review, 36 publications on evidence-based interventions that aim at increasing vaccination coverage of MMR and HPV in underserved communities were considered in RIVER-EU. In order to identify useful and transferable interventions that tackle the health system barriers perceived by underserved communities, an in-depth understanding of context is needed. Moreover, it is of essential importance to involve various stakeholders of the underserved communities to investigate which interventions have the potential for sustainable improvement of access to vaccination. RIVER-EU relies on the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to identify and develop interventions in partnership with underserved communities. The building of trustful collaboration with stakeholders for intervention identification and decision-making often remains a black box in the literature. This is, however, a prerequisite for overcoming health system barriers to vaccination. For participatory transferability analysis, we conducted an assessment of evidence-based interventions, interviews and focus groups with various stakeholders. The aim of this workshop is to open the black box on developing trustful relationships with stakeholders from underserved migrant communities and ethnic minorities to identify potentially transferable interventions. We aim to discuss strategies on how to involve underserved communities, barriers and enablers to the involvement of the different stakeholders and lessons learned. The workshop will be structured into 5 presentations of 10 minutes, including moderated questions and answers sessions involving the audience to share their experiences. After all presentations, there will be a moderated concluding discussion on common elements of relationship building in the different contexts, and on contextual particularities when co-creating knowledge with the underserved communities. Key messages • Trustful knowledge co-creation with underserved communities for identification, selection and adaptation of interventions is crucial to tackle health system barriers to vaccination. • Participatory transferability analysis is a structured approach to face complexity of context and guide a decision-making process on interventions. It builds a basis for successful implementation.

Participatory transferability analysis of vaccination interventions with underserved communities

Abstract Background The Horizon 2020 project RIVER-EU will remove health system barriers to childhood vaccination in the migrant community in Greece, the Turkish and Moroccan communities in the Netherlands, the Ukrainian minority in Poland, and the marginalized Roma community in Slovakia. In order to identify transferable vaccination interventions for HPV and MMR, our aim was to establish a collaboration with various stakeholders from these communities. Methods For the transferability analysis, we used the participatory action approach (PAR) to stimulate meaningful participation of different key stakeholder groups in discussing evidence-based interventions and the specific contextual conditions of the underserved communities. Based on the PIET-T models, we collaboratively explored characteristics of the populations (P), interventions (I), environments (E) as well as options for intervention transfer (T) to understand transferability (T), need for intervention adaptations or new interventions. Results Six interventions were pre-selected for decision-making. These addressed elements of involving community members to support vaccination, education in schools, providers’ vaccine communication, and educational videos. All partners co-created knowledge through their expertise: Community members contributed through their experiences with vaccination services, provided valuable arguments for or against interventions, as well as ideas for improvement. Country coordinators in each context were mediators for knowledge-co-creation between all partners involved. Transferability researchers guided the process and analysed the results of discussions through workshops, interviews and focus groups. Conclusions Establishing trust between partners was a key issue in all contexts. Participatory transferability analysis required the consideration of a complex interplay between understanding content of interventions, context, and the specific characteristics and contributions of stakeholders.

Ukrainian Organisations and Associations That Shape the Image of the Ukrainian Minority in Poland

The aim of the article is to analyse Ukrainian organisations, associations, and festivals that shape the image of the Ukrainian minority in Poland. Results. Consideration of the topic of the article, and specifically the research process requires reference to a number of basic assumptions, the basis of which is certainly the conviction that every person, regardless of his nationality, is a social being who, assigned to a particular group, functions as a community, forming more or less permanent ties with it. Various theories and methodological assumptions are used to properly present the issues contained in the article, including the normative approach, the discourse around the functioning of national minorities, the historical approach, as well as the functional approach, especially concerning the subject of assimilation of cultures and the mutual interpenetration of what is Ukrainian and Polish, come to the fore. The scientific novelty of the article is a comprehensive study of Ukrainian organisations and associations in Poland, shaping the image of the Ukrainian minority in Poland (on the example of 1991–2019), both in terms of successful cooperation and existing problems. Conclusions. The construction of good-neighbourly relations between nations rests on two pillars: the activities of state institutions and direct relations between citizens of neighbouring states. Negligence in either of these spheres is reflected on the nature of such relations. Lack of action on the part of the authorities in this regard can negatively affect the activity of citizens, in turn, stopping only at the declarations of politicians, in the absence of grassroots initiatives makes such relations, only an empty form without substance. One of the most important examples of grassroots initiatives are various types of organisations, associations, which are created, among other things, to work for the preservation of the cultural identity of the Ukrainian community in Poland and the development of cooperation between Poland and Ukraine.

Na drodze ku przełomowi. Cerkiew greckokatolicka w Polsce lat 80. XX w.

TOWARDS A BREAKTHROUGH: GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH IN POLAND IN THE 1980s The 1980s brought certain policy changes towards the Greek Catholic Church in the communist-run People’s Republic of Poland. While the communist government never recognized this community (this occurred only after the free elections in June 1989) de jure, during the 1980s, the activities of the Greek Catholic clergy began to be tolerated to some degree. This lenient treatment also included some tolerance for the activities of the laity and official contacts with representatives of the hierarchy in exile. Furthermore, the last decade of Polish communist rule in Poland brought substantial changes among the Greek Catholics,or, more broadly, within the Ukrainian minority in Poland. During this time, a new generation of lay activists and young clergymen became active. In addition, Ukrainians in Poland expanded their relations with the Polish majority, including contacts with the democratic anti-communist opposition, among others. As a result, Ukrainian themes appeared in the so called second circuit (samizdat) publications distributed in Poland. These changes coincided with other phenomena and events of the decade, such as the creation of an active Greek Catholic laity or the celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ in 1988. All of these changes resulted in strengthening the Greek Catholic Church in Poland, which was swiftly reborn as an independent community after the fall of communism.

Матывы яблыка і Бога ў паэтычным зборніку "Чацвёртая стража" (2004 года выдання) Галіны Тварановіч

This article is aimed at the contextualization and analysis of, first and foremost, Halina Tvaranovic as a researcher and poet in the circles of the Belarusian borderland tradition within the territory of the Polish Republic and, secondly, of the motifs of the apple and God in the context of representing plants and religious symbols and concepts that are prominent in her work, most especially, in her third poetry collection, The Fourth Guard. In order to achieve this goal, we have selected a series of elements that shape the poetry in the aforementioned book, considered the author’s semantics, style, and background, and evaluated the literary and culturally significant of these elements in their context. We have taken into account the parallels and links present within the book, as well as their relationship to the poet’s other works and their connections to other poets within the literary processes of the Podlasie region and Belarusian-language literature in a broader scope. Our analysis has shown us that nature and divinity come together in Halina Tvaranovic’s poetry, forming a holistic picture that can be extrapolated to the concept of the Homeland (both big, in an all-Belarusian sense, and small, in a regional meaning), which the poet, we conclude, has adopted from the literary tradition of the Belarusian minority in Poland.

The “Other” in Court: Islam and Muslims in Polish Judicial Opinions Published Online

Muslims are a marginal minority in Poland, but research shows that they are often subject to negative perceptions and hostility from the majority. Orientalist stereotypes about Islam and the people associated with it are widespread and often reproduced in the media. Research from North America and the European Court of Human Rights suggests that such prejudices can affect the adjudication of cases involving Muslims. It may be presumed that Poland is no exception to that, and this assumption was the starting point for our empirical study. To date, there have been no studies on the perception of Muslims and Islam in the Polish legal system. This article presents the results of a qualitative thematic analysis of 57 judicial opinions issued by the common courts in Poland and published online, in which Islam or being Muslim was mentioned. The cases were categorised and texts of the judicial opinions closely analysed (with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software) to identify recurring themes. The findings of this first exploratory study show that stereotypical representations and the “‘Othering” of Muslims do indeed occur in Polish courts, with some judges repeating Orientalist tropes that have become normalised in Polish society.

Drifting borders, anchored community: re-reading narratives in the semiotic landscape with ethnic Lithuanians living at the Polish borderland

ABSTRACT Everyday lives at the borders have lately been of interest in academic research. Drawing on visual elicitation interviews, this study analyses how ethnic Lithuanians living on the Polish borderland interpret images of the landscape which they inhabit. The aim of this analysis is to understand how these borderlanders position themselves vis-à-vis socio-spatial borderland realities, and how visual materials can instigate extensive plotted narratives. The results demonstrate that the Lithuanian minority in Poland not only challenges or accepts the public narratives, but that they also use them as props to create a unified narrative about their identification and belonging, which transgresses time, place and situated events.

РУБРИКА «УКРАЇНІКА В ПОЛЬСЬКІЙ ПРЕСІ» У ГАЗЕТІ «НАШЕ СЛОВО» (Варшава, 1990–1993 рр.) ЯК ПЛАТФОРМА УКРАЇНСЬКО-ПОЛЬСЬКОГО МЕДІАДІАЛОГУ

The article analyzes the content of the «Ukrainika v polskii presi» column, which functioned in the Warsaw newspaper «Nashe Slovo» (published from 1956 to the present day). The author focuses on the materials published in 1990–1993. Interest in the specified period is because at that time Ukraine and Poland were transitioning to a democratic model of social relations, which stimulated the liberation of the media space of both countries from the control of the totalitarian Soviet system. At this period Ukraine and Poland were entering a new stage of communication, discussing complex topics and problems and trying to find ways to solve difficult situations. The research on this experience is valuable because it allows the current generation not to repeat the mistakes of the past and to resist provocations and manipulations. Based on the conducted analysis, it was found out that the column’s materials are focused on covering various aspects of Ukrainian-Polish relations. The main problem areas of these publications were determined: 1) objective coverage of the events of the second half of the 1940s in the history of both nations; 2) the rights of Ukrainians as representatives of the national minority in Poland; 3) cooperation between Ukrainians and Poles in the political, scientific, cultural spheres and the role of the media; 4) Polish mass media about the restoration of state independence of Ukraine and Ukrainian-Russian relations. It is emphasized that the main task of the column was not only to inform recipients of the interest of Polish media in Ukrainians and Ukraine but also to report multipolar views of Polish journalists, publicists, and socio-political and cultural figures to readers. The degree of study of the problem is clarified, and it is found out that in the proposed context the content of the newspaper «Nashe Slovo» has not considered before. The conclusions are drawn, and the perspectives are determined. In particular, it is noted that a comprehensive scientific study of the newspaper «Nashe Slovo» has not yet been conducted. This opens a wide field for research activities on the study of the history of this publication, its functions, structure and content, place and role in preserving the national identity of Ukrainians in Poland as a source of information about various social, cultural, political, etc. processes. Keywords: the newspaper «Nashe Slovo», the column «Ukrainika v polskii presi», the press, media dialogue, Ukrainian-Polish relations, role of printed media.

Rys historyczny z krótkiej działalności powszechnej szkoły karaimskiej w Trokach (1918–1923)

The aim of the scientific article on the general Karaite school in Trakai in 1918–1923 is to discuss five years of the only Karaite school that operated in the first years after Poland regained independence. Karaims are currently the smallest ethnic minority in Poland, which has retained its cultural identity, partly due to the importance of knowledge and science as superior religious values. The word karaim itself means the reader, which is why the schools in which the skills of reading the scriptures were so important. The first official information about the Karaite school in Trakai comes from 1576. The activities of the school were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War and the hostilities forced the Karaims to leave Trakai. The history of the Karaite school in Trakai appears again in archival documents from the interwar period. The article was prepared on the basis of archival documents kept in the Lithuanian Central State Archives, in the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius in the document collection of the Archives of the Karaim Clerical Administration in Trakai and in the Lithuanian Central State Archive in Vilnius in the fond of the Vilnius School District Board in the files of the school inspectorate of the Trakai district. This text discusses the activity of the Karaim general school in Trakai (1918–1923), taking into account school conditions, organizational and structural changes, the curriculum, methods and forms, and the composition of teachers and students, and shows the importance of the Karaite school for Karaims and the Trakai community. The short years of operation of the Karaite school in Trakai testify to its phenomenon, because it was the only school of a religious minority in the period in question, which constituted the basis for the development and preservation of their cultural identity for the Karaims.

International legal determination of the national minorities’ status in the Central and Eastern European countries within the Versailles system

Peculiarities of the international legal status determination of the national minorities within the Versailles system have been studied using the example of a number of Central and Eastern European countries. The governments of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary were asked, based on the norms of international law, to develop appropriate provisions for the protection of the rights of national minorities in order to prevent new conflicts and threats to peace.
 The system of treaties, declarations and agreements, which were supposed to ensure the observance of the rights of national minorities and whose guarantor was the League of Nations, has been analyzed. In practice, this was embodied in giving minorities the right to submit petitions to the Council or Assembly of the League of Nations, as well as in the activities of the Permanent Chamber of International Justice. The right to submit petitions was used at different times by representatives of the Ruthenian minority in Czechoslovakia, the Russian minority in Eastern Galicia, the Jewish minority in Hungary, the German minority in Poland, etc.
 The weaknesses of this system have been identified, which prevented the creation of effective international mechanisms for the protection of the rights of national minorities in the specified regions of Europe. In particular, it has been emphasized that the majority of treaties, conventions, treatises, etc. were openly sabotaged by the countries that were supposed to fulfill them. The governments of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe considered the proposed system unequal, because its conditions did not apply to a number of other multinational states that had similar problems. Conflict situations surrounding the problem of national minorities continued to arise. They were caused by various factors: from divided loyalties and irredentist movements to manifestations of governmental and social discrimination.

Language and Identity of the German Minority in Poland According to a Language Biographical Study Conducted in Pomerania and Warmia-Masuria Regions

This paper provides an insight to the language use and identity construction of the German minority inhabiting northern parts of Poland, studied through their language biographies. The border shift after World War II changed the lives of millions of people. For the Germans who decided or were forced to stay in Poland, it meant learning a new language and culture. This study examines the influence of language management on the language biographies and identity constructions of German minority members living in northern parts of Poland. This study uses the tools of discourse analysis and aims to answer the following questions: How did language management at the macro level (primarily the post-war language policy) influence the language biographies of the interviewees regarding their language use? How do the interviewees define their identity and what patterns do they use? The language use amongst the German minority varies greatly, ranging from speakers who are competently bilingual and still use both languages in everyday communication to people who have lost the ability to speak German. One of the factors that influenced this is language management at the macro level, especially the post-war language policy, which not only affected the linguistic situation of Germans in Poland but also contributed to the creation of three different identity patterns.

An ethnicity discussed: Legal status and the realization of language rights among Kashubians in Poland

This article is focused on the study of the current legal status of the Kashubian minority in Poland. The Kashubians are a West Slavic minority ethnic group that was recognized as a regional language community in 2005. Based on the materials collected during a long-term ethnographic fieldwork in places of compact settlement of ethnic Kashubians, the author analyzes the experience of realization of language rights among Kashubians and the community’s perception of the state ethnic policy. As this study will show, language recognition, which has been perceived initially by regionalists in Kashubia as a victory, is now criticized more and more by members of the ethnic group. The processes of rapid language assimilation among Kashubians provoke ethnic activists to rethink their current legal status and seek to increase it by recognizing the Kashubians as a separate people or ethnic minority in Poland. As the materials of this article show, today the possibility of such recognition is hotly debated by the Kashubians and causes disputing attitudes both inside and outside the community. At the same time, the analysis of the sociolinguistic status of the Kashubian language presented in the article shows that language remains a key marker of Kashubian ethnic self-determination, though the regional activist community is gradually debating a possible change in the conceptualization of Kashubian society, its transformation from linguistic to the cultural community. Meanwhile the ideology of the Kashubian language revival coexists with bilingual or predominantly Polish-speaking practices of ethnic activism.

Russian Minority in Ukraine – Current Challenges

The aim of this paper is to attempt to present challenges faced by the Russian minority residing in Ukraine from the Polish perspective. The presence of national minorities in various countries throughout the world is not an isolated phenomenon. However, looking at problems that they must face shows that national minorities do not have it easy anywhere. Union laws and other national and international regulations on the one hand emphasize care for minorities and their rights. On the other hand, a lot of challenges can be observed that minorities need to address depending on many different factors. This is an important element of cultural security of representatives of individual minorities but also of the cultural security of the majority. The basic issue discussed in the paper is current challenges faced by the largest national minority in Poland’s neighbour. It tries to present both the historical context and the identity determinants associated with language or religion. The Crimea context has also become an important aspect, which is crucial to perceiving the Russian minority in Ukraine. The presented contexts are modern challenges that the Russians in Ukraine need to tackle in the face of cultural security of the state in which they are currently located and their own cultural security. The scholarly novelty of the paper involves looking at the issue of the Russian minority in Ukraine from the Polish perspective. The specific feature of this article consists in a presentation of i.a. an analysis of statistical data and opinions on the Russians residing in Ukraine but seen from the perspective of Poland as their neighbour. Conclusions. The specific situation occurring in Ukraine has shown that Ukraine’s national identity cannot be based on solely ethnic contexts. Ukraine’s identity needs to be looked at from a broader perspective, going deeper into territorial and civil criteria. It is them that determine and will continue to determine Ukraine’s self. The numbers of the Russian minority in Ukraine still impact the latter’s identity. Therefore, it needs to be observed and explored to understand and better shape relations between the majority and the minority. The context of cultural security, the aim of which is to examine the country’s future in the context of its coherent functioning, is also not unimportant.