scholarly journals Mniejszości narodowe w Polsce – zarys historyczno-prawny

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-142
Author(s):  
Weronika Kundera

Poland has a centuries long tradition of being a tolerant country, manifested as well by the symbolic offi cial name: Poland of Both Nations (1569–1795). Poles, Lithuanians and numerous national minorities lived side by side in the territory of the Polish Republic and today their descendants are Polish citizens. During the time of partitions Poles maintained strong national community feelings, which subsequently helped in the building of the Second Polish Republic. The reborn Poland was again a multi-national state, however, certain nationalistic feelings started to emerge. After World War II as a result of the extermination of minorities and mass resettlements, the historical multinational character disappeared and the minimal set of rights granted to minorities in the Constitution of 1952 had led to their ethnic exclusion. After March 1968, the rights of minorities had become drastically limited. This continued till the Third Republic of Poland when the policy of the Communist authorities promoting the building of Poland for the Poles had been abandoned and the new government pursued to preserve and protect national and ethnic minorities. Today, members of minorities have the same rights as ethnic Poles, and their rights are guaranteed in the Constitution of 1997 and other legislative acts including the most important one, i.e. the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and the Regional Language of 2015, which defi nes national and ethnic minorities and determines the competences of the State bodies in the area of enforcing minorities rights. These solutions have secured Poland an opinion of a model state when it comes to the protection of minorities rights. There are nine national minorities offi cially recognised in Poland. Each has a diff erent situation resulting from historical conditions, circumstances, national stereotypes, relationship with the States of their origin and the position of the Polish minority in this State. Two main problems which minorities in Poland are facing today is their shrinking populations and threats to their culture from the Polish and global cultures. Immigration might be a possible remedy but low economic attractiveness of Poland fails to attract new immigrants which means that in the future Poland may practically become a one-nation state.

1964 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
George A. Theodorson

The presence of large, often dissident, minority populations has been one of the most serious problems facing many of the nations which have attained independence since the close of World War II. This paper will examine the minority situation in Burma, where the problem has been of serious proportions, posing a threat to national unity and in some cases resulting in armed insurrection. There are at present an estimated 11,000 insurgents in Burma, most of whom represent ethnic minorities.


1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-81
Author(s):  
Stephen Fischer-Galati

The national minorities question in Romania has been one of crises and polemics. This is due, in part, to the fact that Greater Romania, established at the end of World War I, brought the Old Romanian Kingdom into a body politic (a kingdom itself relatively free of minority problems), with territories inhabited largely by national minorities. Thus, the population of Transylvania and the Banat, both of which had been constituent provinces of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, included large numbers of Hungarians and Germans, while Bessarabia, a province of the Russian empire, included large numbers of Jews. While the Hungarian (Szeklers and Magyars), Germans (Saxons and Swabians), and Jewish minorities were the largest and most difficult to integrate into Greater Romania, other sizeable national minorities such as the Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, Serbians, Turks, and Gypsies also posed problems to the rulers of Greater Romania during the interwar period and, in some cases, even after World War II.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5(160) ◽  
pp. 221-228
Author(s):  
Paweł Gotowiecki

The reviewed publication contains post-conference materials, presented during the conference held in 2016 in Warsaw, entitled “The Deposit of Independence. National Council of the Republic of Poland in Exile (1939–1991)”. The volume consists of 18 articles, published in chronological and topical order, devoted to the selected issues of the history of the Polish parliamentarianism in exile during World War II and in the post-war period. The authors of the articles discussed various aspects of the activities of the National Council of the Republic of Poland in Exile, such as the participation of national minorities in the work of the quasi-parliament, biographies of the chosen parliamentarians, or the selected elements of “parliamentary practices”. This publication is not a synthesis but it supplements and develops the current state of research on the activities of the Polish quasi-parliamentary institutions in exile.


Bastina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 363-376
Author(s):  
Bajram Haliti

World War II is considered to be the largest and longest bloody conflict in recent history. It began with the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939. The war lasted six years and ended with the capitulation of Japan on September 2, 1945. The consequences of the war are still present in many countries today. "German, Italian and Japanese fascists waged a war of conquest with the aim of dividing the world and creating a New Order in which it would have economic, political and military domination, establish a rule of terror and violence and destroy all forms of human freedom, dignity and humanism. Only a few thousand Roma in Germany survived the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps. Trying to rebuild their lives, after losing so many family members and relatives, and after their property was destroyed or confiscated, they faced enormous difficulties. The health of many was destroyed. Although they have been trying to get compensation for that for years, such requests have been constantly denied Based on established facts, eyewitnesses, witnesses, historical and legal documents, during the Second World War, the crime of genocide against Orthodox Serbs, Jews and Roma of all faiths except Islam was committed. The attempt to exterminate the Roma during the Second World War must not be forgotten. There was no justice for the survivors of the post-Hitler era. It is important to note that the trial in Nuremberg did not mention the genocide of the Roma at all. The Nuremberg trial is basically the punishment of the losers by the winners. This is visible even today because these forces rule the world. Innocent victims, primarily Roma, have not received justice, satisfaction or recognition from the world community. The Roma were further humiliated because they were not given a chance to speak about the few surviving witnesses about the victims and the horrors they survived. The Roma for the Nuremberg International Military Court and the Nuremberg judges simply did not exist, which called into question the legal aspect of the process, which has not been corrected to date. The Roma national community is committed to revising history, to reviewing the work of the Nuremberg tribunal.


2020 ◽  
pp. 21-90
Author(s):  
Stevan K. Pavlowitch

This chapter begins with the German Supreme Command's announcement of the end of operations on the 'Serbian theatre.' Following World War II, the chapter covers the various categories of prisoners of war who were coming home: those who opted for Croatia, those who originated from the annex territories and from Montenegro, those who belonged to ethnic minorities, and the sick. Almost all the Jews who remained in German captivity, including some 400 officers, survived the war. The chapter also demonstrates how Adolf Hitler wanted to destroy the 'Versailles construct' that was Yugoslavia. Serbs were to be punished; Croats brought over to the Axis; Slovenes Germanised or dispersed. It highlights the dominion of Germany in economic position, communication lines and mineral deposits. Ultimately, the chapter discusses the irrevocable decision of the Führer to carve up Greece and Yugoslavia.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Bazyler ◽  
Kathryn Lee Boyd ◽  
Kristen L. Nelson ◽  
Rajika L. Shah

Romania was allied with Germany for most of World War II. Extensive “Romanianization” (akin to Germany’s Aryanization) of Jewish property took place. More than 400,000 Romanian Jews died during the Holocaust. After switching sides in the war, Romania promptly enacted legislation to reverse the theft of property. Little was done, however, to act on these commitments during the Communist regime (1945–1989). Instead, widespread nationalization resulted in a second wave of confiscation. Restitution only began to take place after 1989. However, restitution laws have not been effectively applied, and to date only limited restitution has taken place in Romania. A 2013 restitution law was recognized by the European Court of Human Rights as providing, in theory, an accessible and effective framework for the restitution of nationalized or confiscated property. In the post-Communist period, Romania has enacted a number of laws relating to the restitution of communal property belonging to religious organizations and national minorities. These laws chiefly cover communal property taken during the Communist era. Romania endorsed the Terezin Declaration in 2009 and the Guidelines and Best Practices in 2010.


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