The self-identification and language awareness of poles in Eastern Podolia: survival or decline of "polishness"? (based on the 20th-21st century materials from Grodek Podolski)

The survival of “polishness” is connected in many cases with the rebirth of the language in the youngest generations. There are families where language, culture and traditions (especially concerning Christmas and Easter celebrations) have been transmitted from one generation to another. Nowadays, the middle-aged generation often teaches their children Polish, also considering the “hard” economic situation in Ukraine. That is why the prestige of the language becomes higher and young people more often go to Poland for studying and working. At present elements of the Polish cultureCp. J. Rieger, Czy mozliwejest odrodzenie („rewitalizacja”) polszczyzny kresowej? Konferencja naukowa „Status gwary w jzyku i kulturze”, Krakow 14-15 wrzesnia 2015 r.For a long time after World War II, the unfavorable political situation of minority caused a break in the cultural transmission between generations in many families. are transmitted to those who are interested in learning Polish. As an example, I will present the results of the research conducted by Roman Dzwonkowski and his team in the beginning of XXI century concerning the main reasons for learning the Polish language in Western Ukraine. They are the following: religious reason “because I want to pray in Polish” (36%), national reason “because I am Pole” (28%), understanding the study of Polish as a part of general education (14%), fascination for language (11%), willingness to pass on traditions to the next generation (6 %) (Dzwonkowski and other, 2001, p. 37-38).

Conclusions and prospects for research

The basic factors determining the preservation of the national identity of Poles in Podolia are the transmission of remembrance about the Polish origins of the family, religious awareness (i.e. mass and sacraments in Polish), Polish traditions/rituals and, of course, the Polish language. Therefore, we see that language as a bearer of the sense of identity influences a person's self-presentation, becoming its integral component. Language awareness often coincides with national and ethnic identity.

To say in brief, the Polish population has never stopped to feel as a related part of the entire Polish nation, always kept national traditions, they were faithfully committed to God and the Catholic Church, and sympathize with the Polish state. Though the struggle with Poles started after The November Uprising (1832-1833), when nearly 60 thousand people were resettled from Eastern Podolia (Wielhorski, 1959, p. 88; Kolberg, 1994, p. XI). Other important factor was the obstruction of religious practices by closing churches and monasteries (including the liquidation of Kamieniec Podolski episcopate in 1866) and imposing orthodoxy.

Strong attachment to national and religious values was in conflict with the trends and activities of the Soviet policy. The process of sovietization among Polish population from its very beginning, in the middle of the 1920s, was very slow. Poles began to organize Polish village councils of collective farms (in the Khmelnitsky district there were 15 village councils, which were the most numerous in Ukraine). Poles in Podolia were considered as “class of landowner and kulak”, “the nation's enemy”, “enemies of socialism and leninism”, “counter-revolutionary element” that constantly sabotage the working masses (Stronski, 1998, 177). The period of World War II led to the final “erasure” of Polish civilization in Podolia. The Soviet authorities pursue a policy of depolonization and elimination of the Polish population (particularly in Podolia and Zhytomyr region) by forced collectivization (from 1927), hunger (1932-1933), imprisonment and deportation to eastern parts of the country, Siberia and Kazakhstan (1935-1936), shooting during the “Polish operation” (1937-1938) etc. This painful experience is considerably reflected in the collective memory of informants - some of them were witnesses of these events, others know the history from their parents/grandparents.

A nasze Polacy to oni gdzie, oni wyslani w Kazachstani, oni tam mozna ja wiem ilie setki siemiej, jakie byli zaslani w Kazachstan Polakow, potem na Don, potem jeszcze porozseliane to tut - `Our Poles were exiled to Kazakhstan, hundreds of families were sent into exile to Kazakhstan, later to Russian on the river Don; and also they were settled in other places of UkraineNa Ukrainie tudy w glubinke to styliu nie zabierali, a wsio tut wo Chmiel'nicka oblasl' najwi§cej postradala, represacja byla (...) Nic nie zrobisz, wo tak i my przezyli. [Polakow wysylali?] I Poliakow wysylali, i kogo tyko nu mieli jakies podozrienija wsich wysylali. Liudzie uczone, i razne profesoka, i razne akade- miki to jich co nie gn§bili. A potem naczeni i prostych zabirac MSz36 - `They did not take away people from remote places in Ukraine, but mostly people suffered from the Khmelnitsky oblast, here there was a strong repression (...) We cannot do anything, that's how we survived. [Have the Poles been exiled?] Certainly, the Poles and others if the authorities only had some suspicions, so everyone had been exiled. Firstly, educated people, different professors and academicians were oppressed, and later on, they started to take away ordinary people

A byli takie rodziny, ojciec i matka mlody, i ot w nocy przyszli zabrali ojca, matka sie zostala z malienkim dziecku. Pozniej na drugi noc zabrali i matki, i to dziecko samo placze. To chto jego wospHtowac to boji si, bo to niby wragy naroda byli my WM22 - `There were such young families, and at night they came and took the father, the mother stayed with her little child. Later, on the second night, they took the mothers, and the child is crying alone. So, someone was afraid to bring up a child, because we were considered nation's enemy'

The authorities tried to destroy the national consciousness of Poles by cultivating stereotypical thinking and behavioral patterns of the “soviet man” by means of cultural assimilation and russification.

Despite the Stalinism's repression against Poles, including all the efforts to suppress religion, Polish culture and language, the element of “polishness” survived in Podolia. Many Poles came back from Kazakhstan and Siberia to their native place of birth. Certainly, some people were frightened, some were assimilated and try to adopt for living in Ukrainian reality. Others demonstrated pride, patriotism and courage, especially in struggle for the renewing churches or trying to prove their origin and convince authorities to write down Polish nationality in the passport. Poles generally show a strong sense of national unity. Beginning from the eighties, Poles started to renovate churches, chapels, cemeteries, Polish schools and establish Polish organizations (from 1991); their activity was grown especially in XXI century. It is beyond doubt, that the religiousness of Poles was very high. Moreover, the Roman Catholic Church enjoyed undeniable authority and had a great influence among the inhabitants. The informants often stated, that it was very difficult to survive, e.g. Ciqzko bylo przezywac, alie przezyli, kto wyzyl i cierpial i stal na swoim, i tak do dzisiaj swoje - `It was hard to live through, but we survived; who lived and suffered but stood on their own until now'. In spite of the changing political map and administrative authorities in this region, a Pole always becomes a Pole (this opinion dominates among older informants). Inhabitants declare their national identity, not their state attribution.

However, if we look deeply to the problem of Poles' self-identification in Podolia region in Ukraine, we can see some similarities with other regions in Belarus and Lithuania (e.g. Braslaw and Vilnius regions). On the other hand, the determiners of Polish identification are different in some way, because of various historical, social and cultural aspects that influence greatly on the situation of Polish minority in each country. The article gives an outline of the subject matter being one of the fields of my interest. In prospects, I intend to study these issues more deeply and thoroughly, taking into consideration such components as “identity - language Cp. J. Domitrak, Slownikpolszczyzny Grodka Podolskiego zalozenia metodologiczne [w:] M. Banko, E. Rudnicka i W. Decyk-Ziba (red.), Leksykografia w roznych kontekstach. Tom 2. Biblioteka „Prac Filologicznych” 2020, s. 75-94. The article is concerning the methodological assumptions of preparing dictionary of Polish dialect in Grodek, that allow me to show the status of the Polish language in small towns as an important source for transmission of the knowledge about culture, customs, and history. - culture”.

Allow me to leave you with the words of George R.R. Martin: “Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you”.

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