Poles in France form one of the largest Polish diaspora communities in Europe. Between 500,000 and one million people of Polish descent live in France, concentrated in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, in the metropolitan area of Lille, the coal-mining basin (''Bassin Minier'') around Lens and Valenciennes and in the Ile-de-France. Prominent members of the Polish community in France have included king Stanisław Leszczyński,

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

, Adam Mickiewicz, Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, Aleksander Chodźko, Marie Curie, Michel Poniatowski,

Raymond Kopa Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional footballer, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three Eu ...

, Ludovic Obraniak, Edward Gierek (who was raised there),

Matt Pokora Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

and singer Jean-Jacques Goldman and Rene Goscinny. Maison Stanislas

History

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Close ties between the Kingdom of France and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were cemented in the 16th century, when emissaries from Poland persuaded French Prince Henri de Valois to stand for election as King of the Commonwealth. Valois won and reigned for two years in Poland but abdicated after he inherited the French throne as Henri III. The queen consort of Louis XV and grandmother of several of his successors was Marie Leszczyńska (1703-1768).

French Revolution and Napoleonic wars

Many members of the Polish

Szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

fled to France during the rule of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

when 100,000 Poles tried to throw off Russian rule in Poland early in the 19th century. Many had enlisted to fight in the

Grande Armée ''La Grande Armée'' (; ) was the main military component of the French Imperial Army commanded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1804 to 1808, it won a series of military victories that allowed the French Empi ...

, like Józef Antoni Poniatowski,

Ludwik Mateusz Dembowski Ludwik Mateusz Dembowski, also known as Louis-Mathieu Dembowski (1768, Dębowa Góra, Poland - 1812, Valladolid, Spain), was a Polish general and traveler. After the fall of the Kościuszko Uprising went to France. He served in Polish Legions ...

Polish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars and Polish legionnaires.

Great Emigration (1831-1870)

Bibliothèque polonaise de Paris, 30 June 2011

The so-called Great Emigration was the flood of exiles in the aftermath of both the 1830-1

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

, and a generation later, the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

, made up of political élites mainly from the Russian Partition of Poland-Lithuania between 1831–1870 who settled in France. Paris - Avenue de Friedland Handelskammer2

Paris - Avenue de Friedland Handelskammer2

Interwar period

Another wave of Polish migration, this time in search of manual work, took place between the two World Wars, when they were hired as contract workers to work temporarily in France. After the outbreak of World War II Polish refugees also fled Nazi or Soviet occupation.

Polish resistance during the Nazi occupation in France

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, a specific Polish Resistance group, ''Polska Organizacja Walki o Niepodleglosc – Organisation Polonaise de Lutte pour l’Indépendance'' (POWN), was created on September 6, 1941 by the Polish general consul in Paris, A. Kawalkowski (code name ''Justyn''), and fought alongside the French Resistance. There were also other Polish Resistance movements in France, most notably former soldiers from the Jaroslaw Dabrowski Brigade who had fought in the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

during the Spanish Civil War went on in their struggle against Fascism in the

FTP-MOI The Francs-tireurs et partisans – main-d'œuvre immigrée (FTP-MOI) were a sub-group of the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP) organization, a component of the French Resistance. A wing composed mostly of foreigners, the MOI maintained an arm ...

. Since 1941 PPS activists in Northern France had also founded two resistance movements, ''Organisation S'' and ''Orzel Bialy'' (White Eagle). In 1944 Polish Committees for National Liberation (PKWN) were set up to support the Communist Polish army. There were clashes between POWN resistants, under the authority of the London-based

Polish government in exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

, and the Communist FTP-MOI resistants.

French Poles after WWII

When the Communists took power in Poland, several thousand French Poles decided to go and live in the "Socialist paradise", as some Armenians in France moved to the

Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

. There are estimates of 100,000 to 200,000 Poles living in Paris, and many EU program guest workers live in regions of the south, including Arles, Marseille and

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

From the year 2012

The number of new Poles who migrated to France has multiplied, many are students and traders and other percentage are displaced workers who come from Poland to work in France. Poles are well integrated into French society. The number of new Polish citizens in France amounts to 350,000 in 2012.

Notable people

References

External links

List of Polish associations in FranceRadio Polonaise in ParisPoles in FrancePoles in FrancePoles in all France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polish Minority In France European diaspora in France France–Poland relations France Immigration to France by country of origin