Stereotypes tend to be based on some truth, as is the case with the one regarding Poles’ well-known dislike of Russia, but notable exceptions do indeed exist such as the views of Lithuania’s Polish minority. That country’s Justice Minister shared some interesting insight into this subject during an interview with Poland’s Rzeczpospolita newspaper. Ewelina Dobrowolska surprisingly claimed that “The problem of Russification of Poles in Lithuania really existed, it still exists to some extent”, but has allegedly declined.
According to her, restrictions on Russian media and the growth of Polish-language ones in Lithuania combined to reduce Russian influence on her country’s Polish minority, though she didn’t share any data in support of her observations either way. Nevertheless, the fact that she as an ethnic Pole acknowledged this so-called “problem” and confirmed that “it still exists to some extent” is worthy of further reflection, especially since it bucks the stereotype of Poles’ well-known dislike of Russia.
The Russian Ambassador to Poland said in early April in an interview with RT that he “can count on one hand the cases when such a negative attitude (towards Russia) was expressed towards me personally”, which importantly clarified that there exists a difference between political and ethnic Russophobia there. Many Poles dislike the Russian state and the USSR for historical reasons, and sometimes personal ones if they have an ancestor who was a victim of their repressions, but few hate the Russian people.
Lithuania’s Polish minority used to live in the interwar Second Polish Republic and only found themselves in that country as a result of the Soviet Union’s post-World War II regional territorial revisions. The capital of Vilnius and its surroundings, while being ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the Commonwealth period and having earlier been a cradle of that polity’s statehood, eventually came to have Polish majorities. It doesn’t matter how one feels about this since it’s an historical fact.
“Population transfers” of Lithuanians in Poland and Poles in Lithuania after the war reshaped the local demographics, but Poles still constitute approximately 6.6% of the Lithuanian population and therefore represent its largest minority, with most still residing where their ancestors historically did for centuries. They’re nowadays represented by the “Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance” (EAPL-CFA), which mostly fights against Lithuania’s de-Polonization and liberal-globalist policies.
The state-run “Lithuanian National Radio and Television” smeared the party and its leader Waldemar Tomaszewski, who’s also a Member of the European Parliament, as “Sovietized Poles” in an article last August which implied that they’re Russia’s useful idiots functioning as a suspected fifth column. The reality is altogether different since their so-called “Soviet nostalgia” is a just a call among some for fairer economic policies to benefit rural Poles while their dislike of the EU is driven by it ignoring their plight.
Lithuania has systematically fought to force these people to speak Lithuanian instead of Polish, which even the historian cited in the aforesaid article who smeared this community as “Sovietized Poles” with all the innuendo that entails was forced to admit in order to retain some credibility. According to them, “Lithuania’s policy in the Vilnius Region is still stupid, based on a false linguistic nationalism. If it had been otherwise, I think the [party] would have disappeared some 10 or 15 years ago.”
Justice Minister Dobrowolska hopes to introduce a national minorities bill into parliament in the coming future which “proposes conducting the education process in the languages of national minorities in cases where educational programs are implemented” in order to safeguard the Polish language. That would be a positive development if it happens, but more work is still required since not all Poles can spell their names using their national language’s diacritical marks, some of which like ł aren’t allowed.
Even in the best-case scenario that Lithuania’s state repression of Poles finally ends, some members of this minority might still retain their socio-economic and political views that resulted in them being smeared as “Russified” and “Sovietized” with all that dangerously implies in the current context about their loyalty. Their critical views aren’t due to “Russian propaganda”, but their own personal experiences as Poles in Lithuania, which shaped how they perceive the world with all its inherent hypocrisies.
Precisely because they’re patriotic Poles, however, Lithuania and even some of the Polish elite fear the influence that this community could have on accelerating the shift in Polish society’s views towards Ukraine and the EU that were documented in two surveys this year that were analyzed here and here. That’s why both of them are smearing this group as “Russified” and “Sovietized”, which Poland’s state-run “TVP” just lent false credence to by reporting on that part of Dobrowolska’s latest interview.
Their article was headlined “Russification of Lithuanians of Polish origin decreasing: Lithuania’s Justice Minister”, which falsely suggests that these patriotic Poles abandoned the national traditions that their ancestors worked so hard to preserve over the centuries in favor of adapting Russian ones. It also fuels the false innuendo that they’re Russia’s useful idiots functioning as a suspected fifth column. The reality is that this diaspora’s conservative-nationalist identity is more Polish than many Poles’ living in Poland.
After all, a liberal-globalist coalition won last fall’s elections, following which they comprehensively subordinated Poland to Germany. This foreign policy as well as their policies towards abortion, LGBT, and illegal immigrants embody everything that patriotic Poles hate about the EU, and the growing “counter-revolution” against them could benefit from the ideational contribution of Lithuania’s Polish minority. No objective observer can question their patriotism, which is precisely why they’re being smeared yet again.
Lithuania hates that its Polish minority shines a light on Vilnius’ repressive policies, which discredit its claims to abide by Western notions of “human rights”, while some of the Polish elite are afraid that their patriotic compatriots in that neighboring country will accelerate the shift in Polish society’s views. That’s why they’re working hand-in-hand to discredit them as “Russified” and “Sovietized” so that nobody in the West takes their words seriously, but those who know better see what devious game they’re playing.
