The Lithuanian minority in Poland consists of 8,000 people (according to the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2011) living chiefly in the

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province ( pl, Województwo podlaskie, ) is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. The name of the province and its territory correspond to the historic region of Podlachia. The capital and largest cit ...

(mainly in

Gmina Puńsk __NOTOC__ Gmina Puńsk ( lt, Punsko valsčius) is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Sejny County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, on the Lithuanian border. Its seat is the village of Puńsk, which lies approximately north- ...

), in the north-eastern part of Poland. The

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

in Poland notes that there are about 15,000 people in Poland of Lithuanian ancestry.

History

Lithuanians are an

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of the territories of north-eastern

in Poland, being the descendants of the various

Baltic tribes The Balts or Baltic peoples ( lt, baltai, lv, balti) are an ethno-linguistic group of peoples who speak the Baltic languages of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. One of the features of Baltic languages is the number ...

of the region (

Yotvingians Yotvingians (also called: Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians; Yotvingian: ''Jotvingai''; lt, Jotvingiai, ; lv, Jātvingi; pl, Jaćwingowie, be, Яцвягі, ger, Sudauer) were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prus ...

), which merged into the Lithuanian ethnicity in the Middle Ages. Poland first acquired its Lithuanian minority after the

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin ( pl, Unia lubelska; lt, Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the pe ...

in 1569, which transferred the administration of the historical Podlaskie Voivodeship from the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

to the

Polish Crown The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includ ...

(both entities then formed a larger, federated state, the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

). During the next two centuries, the Lithuanian minority, faced with the dominant

Polish culture The culture of Poland ( pl, Kultura Polski ) is the product of its geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to an intricate thousand-year history. Polish culture forms an important part of western civilization and ...

in the region, was subject to

Polonization Polonization (or Polonisation; pl, polonizacja)In Polish historiography, particularly pre-WWII (e.g., L. Wasilewski. As noted in Смалянчук А. Ф. (Smalyanchuk 2001) Паміж краёвасцю і нацыянальнай ідэя� ...

. After the

partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 1 ...

in the late 18th century, the Polish cultural pressure in the region was replaced by that of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, until the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

resulted in the restoration of independent Polish and Lithuanian states.

20th century

During the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

of the 20th century (1920–1939) Lithuanian-Polish relations were characterised by mutual enmity. Starting with the conflict over the city of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, and the

Polish–Lithuanian War The Polish–Lithuanian War (in Polish historiography, Polish–Lithuanian Conflict) was an undeclared war between newly-independent Lithuania and Poland following World War I, which happened mainly, but not only, in the Vilnius and Suwałki regi ...

shortly after the First World War, both governments – in an era when nationalism was sweeping through Europe – treated their respective minorities harshly.Żołędowski, ''Białorusini i Litwini...'', p. 114Makowski, ''Litwini...'', pp.244–303 When Poland annexed the town of

Sejny Sejny ( lt, Seinai) is a town in north-eastern Poland and the capital of Sejny County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the northern border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area ( pl, Pojezi ...

and its surroundings back in 1919, repressions towards the local Lithuanian population started, including Lithuanian being banned in public, Lithuanian organizations (with 1300 members), schools (with approx. 300 pupils) and press being closed, as well as the confiscation of property and even burning of Lithuanian books. Beginning in 1920, after the staged mutiny of

Lucjan Żeligowski Lucjan Żeligowski (; 17 October 1865 – 9 July 1947) was a Polish-Lithuanian general, politician, military commander and veteran of World War I, the Polish-Soviet War and World War II. He is mostly remembered for his role in Żeligowski's M ...

, Lithuanian cultural activities in Polish controlled territories were limited; newspapers were closed down and editors arrested. One editor –

Mykolas Biržiška Mykolas Biržiška (; ; 24 August 1882, in Viekšniai – 24 August 1962, in Los Angeles), a Lithuanian editor, historian, professor of literature, diplomat, and politician, was one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuan ...

– was accused of treason in 1922 and received the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

; only direct intervention by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

spared him this fate. He was one of 32 Lithuanian and Belarusian cultural activists formally expelled from Vilnius on September 20, 1922, and given to the Lithuanian army. When 48 Polish schools were closed in Lithuania in 1927,

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

retaliated by closing many Lithuanian educational establishments in Poland. In the same year 48 Lithuanian schools were closed and 11 Lithuanian activist were deported. In 1931 there were about 80,000 Lithuanians in Poland, the majority of them (66,300) in Wilno Voivodeship. Following Piłsudski's death in 1935, further Polonisation ensued as the government encouraged the settlement of Polish army veterans in disputed regions. About 400 Lithuanian reading rooms and libraries were closed in Poland in 1936–1938. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

put an end to the independent Polish and Lithuanian states. After the war, both former states fell under the

sphere of influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal al ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Poland was shifted westwards, thus giving up most of the disputed territories in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

, those territories were mostly incorporated into the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

, itself one of the

Republics of the Soviet Union The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were National delimitation in the Soviet Union, national-based administrative units of ...

. At the same time, many Poles from the

Kresy Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic, it ...

area were forcibly

repatriated Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

west to the "

Recovered Territories The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands ( pl, Ziemie Odzyskane), also known as Western Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Zachodnie), and previously as Western and Northern Territories ( pl, Ziemie Zachodnie i Północne), Postulated Territories ( pl, Z ...

", and the

Polish minority in Lithuania The Poles in Lithuania ( pl, Polacy na Litwie, lt, Lietuvos lenkai), estimated at 183,000 people in the Lithuanian census of 2021 or 6.5% of Lithuania's total population, are the country's largest ethnic minority. During the Polish–Lithuan ...

(or Lithuanian SSR) was also significantly downsized. Under the eye of the Soviet Union, the various ethnic groups in the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

were to cooperate peacefully in the spirit of

Proletarian internationalism Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...

, and that policy, coupled with the population migrations limiting the size of both minorities in the respective regions, resulted in a lessening of tensions between Poles and Lithuanians. However, in the Sejny and

Suwałki Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki i ...

districts the prohibition against speaking Lithuanian in public lasted until 1950 (and in phone calls until 1990) and it was not until the 1950s that the teaching of Lithuanian was introduced as a subject in schools.

Modern times

Modern Lithuanian minority in Poland is composed of 5,639 people according to the

of 2002, with most of them (5,097) living in the

(

Suwałki Region Suwałki Region ( pl, Suwalszczyzna ; lt, Suvalkų kraštas, Suvalkija, russian: cувалкщина, german: Sudauen) is a small region around the city of Suwałki (known in Lithuanian as ''Suvalkai'') in northeastern Poland near the border wit ...

), particularly in

where they form a majority (74.4% of population). According to the

there are about 15,000 people of Lithuanian ancestry in Poland.Społeczność litewska w Polsce
(Lithuanian community in Poland) on the official site of Lithuanian embassy in Poland 8,000 people declared Lithuanian identity in the Polish census of 2011 (including 5,000 who declared it as their only nationality, and 3,000 who declared it as the second one, after the Polish nationality). There are Lithuanian publications (over 80 books have been published, and there are several magazines, of which the largest is "Aušra" (= "Dawn"

co-sponsored by

Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs The Ministry of the Interior (Polish: ''Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych'', ''MSW'') was a ministry responsible for internal security, law enforcement, civil defence and registry functions in Poland. The current ministry was formed on 18 November ...

). Lithuanian organizations are involved in organizing cultural life of the minority (with libraries, choirs, theatres, etc.). There are also Lithuanian-language programmes on local Radio Białystok and Telewizja Białystok. There are Lithuanian-exclusive schools in Puńsk, both on primary and secondary level, schools with Lithuanian as a teaching language in Sejny, and schools with Lithuanian as a foreign language in the wider region are common. There are 17 Lithuanian schools, attended by over 700 students. The most important of those schools is the

liceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the ...

( Liceum 11 Marca w Puńsku); there are also three gymnasiums ( Gimnazjum „Žiburys” w Sejnach, II Gimnazjum w Sejnach, I Gimnazjum w Sejnach). There are several Lithuanian cultural organizations in Poland. The oldest one is the ''Stowarzyszenie Litwinów w Polsce'' (Association of Lithuanians in Poland), founded in 1992. Others include ''Wspólnota Litwinów w Polsce'' (Lithuanian Community in Poland, 1993), ''Stowarzyszenie Młodzieży Litewskiej w Polsce'' (Associations of Lithuanian Youth in Poland), ''Towarzystwo Kultury Etnicznej Litwinów'' (Association of Ethnic Culture of Lithuanians, 1997), ''Towarzystwo Nauczycieli Litewskich'' (Associations of Lithuanian Teachers). There are several buildings dedicated to Lithuanian minority, including the ''Lithuanian House'' and an ethnographic museum in

. Various Lithuanian cultural activities include the Lithuanian Meeting (''Zlot'') in Pszczelnik, and the Lithuanian Musical Festival ''Sąskrydis''. In 2006 the Lithuanian minority received 1,344,912 zlotys (~$450,000) from Polish government in 2006 (22 out of 27 requests were approved).Protokół z IX posiedzenia Podzespołu ds. Edukacji Mniejszości Narodowych – Puńsk, 13 marca 2006 r.
/ref> However local

Lithuanian World Community The Lithuanian World Community ( lt, Pasaulio lietuvių bendruomenė or PLB) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization established in 1949 that unifies Lithuanian communities abroad. The Constitution of the Lithuanian World Community decla ...

representatives claim there are problems with Lithuanian culture preservation in

region. They argue that Lithuanian heritage is ignored, as currently in Sejny there is not even one street name that would signify presence of prominent Lithuanians. They also note that for more than two years there is no accommodation regarding cemetery where Lithuanian soldiers are buried. Another recent issue is the underfunding of the two Lithuanian gymnasiums in Sejny, which receives only 75% of promised funding.Zestawienie nieuwzględnionych uwag organizacji mniejszości narodowych i etnicznych oraz społeczności posługującej się językiem regionalnym
/ref> Lithuanian is recognized as a

minority language A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) and ...

in Poland, and is a supporting language in

, where, by 20 February 2011, 30 Lithuanian place names were introduced alongside names in Polish ( bilingual signs).''List o minority place names in Poland according to Register of the communes where place-names in minority language are used provided by Ministry of Administration and Digitization as of March 8, 2012.''
pp. 18–19. Lithuanian has been used in Gmina Puńsk as a second language since 2006. Ethnic Lithuanians control the administration in Gmina Puńsk, and they also have elected several representatives in Sejny County.Mniejszości narodowe i etniczne w Polsce
on the pages of

Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration Ministry of the Interior and Administration ( pl, Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji) is an administration structure controlling main administration and security branches of the Polish government. After Parliamentary Election on 9 ...

. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *.

External links

The Lithuanian Language in education in Poland

Konsulat Republiki Litewskiej w Szczecinie * Łukasz Kaźmierczak

(Three percent of different) – article describing results of Polish census 2002 and minorities in Poland, citing census data

* ttp://www.ausra.pl/ "Aušra" informacinis, kultūrinis Lenkijos lietuvių leidinys.
Lithuanian House
in Sejny {{Ethnic groups in Poland Ethnic groups in Poland

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Lithuania–Poland relations