MIĘDZY TEORIĄ A PRAKTYKĄ POLITYKI WOBEC MNIEJSZOŚCI NARODOWYCH W POLSCE
BETWEEN THE THEORY AND THE PRACTICE MINORITIES POLICY IN POLAND

Summary/Abstract: The situation of national and ethnic minorities in social life of Poland varied within the 20th century. The period prior to 1989 was heterogeneous – World War II is a dividing line in the period. Before World War II the national minorities were numerous and noticeable (about 30% of Polish society). World War II caused a drastic decrease of minority groups (a few per cent of the society) because of the extermination of some minority groups, the change of the borders and migrations. The post-war minorities policy was under the influence of Marxist ideology and was assimilated by power. The situation changed significantly after 1989. Political changes gave an opportunity of creating a civil society with regard to the equal place of minorities in it. The policy on nationalities has constituted a tool for the realisation of this aim. However it was not possible to establish uniform institutional solutions in the policy on nationalities coordination during the first transformation period. The most durable structures appeared to be the ones dependent on Sejm (the Commission of National and Ethnic Minorities) and on the department of culture (team, office and than department of minorities’ culture). The period after 1989 presented the research of legal protection of the possibility to preserve the cultural identity of the minorities. The acceptance of the basic international standards (above all Convention on National Minorities of Council of Europe and European Regional Minority Languages Charter) was accompanied by the creation of Polish legal solutions protecting the rights of the minorities (including appropriate entries in the constitution and an act on national and ethnic minorities and on regional language).

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