Polish diaspora
Substantial populations of Polish ancestry can be found in their native region of Central and Eastern Europe and many other European countries as well as in the Americas and Australia.
Vast numbers of Poles left the country during the Partitions of Poland for economic and political reasons as well as the ethnic persecution practised by Russia, Prussia and Austria.
Most survivors subsequently migrated to Mandate Palestine since Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah without visas or exit permits at the end of the war.
[6][7] Many remaining Jews, including Stalinist hardliners and members of security apparatus,[8][9] left Poland during the 1968 political crisis, when the Polish United Workers' Party, pressured by Leonid Brezhnev, joined the Soviet "anti-Zionist" campaign that was triggered by the Six-Day War.
[12] A recent, large emigration of Poles took place after Poland acceded to the European Union and opening of the EU's labour market.
During the Second World War, the Soviet Union forcibly resettled large numbers of Belarusian Poles to Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
[27] They are concentrated in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, the metropolitan areas of Lille and Paris and the coal-mining basin (Bassin Minier) around Lens and Valenciennes.
Prominent members have included Frédéric Chopin, Adam Mickiewicz, René Goscinny, Marie Curie, Michel Poniatowski, Raymond Kopa, Ludovic Obraniak and Edward Gierek.
[37][not specific enough to verify] After Poland joined the European Union in 2004, Ireland immediately opened its borders and welcomed Polish workers as relatively cheap qualified labour (only the United Kingdom and Sweden did the same).
[46] There are even three exclusively Polish villages: Nowy Sołoniec (Soloneţu Nou), Plesza (Pleşa), and Pojana Mikuli (Poiana Micului).
Following the Partitions of Poland, Russia annexed the largest portion of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and afterwards many Poles were either deported eastwards as political prisoners or were conscripted to the Russian Army, and some migrated voluntarily.
[53] Also, Nazım Hikmet Ran's mother, Ayşe Celile Hanım, was a descendant of Mustafa Celaleddin Pasha, who was born as Konstantin Borzecki in 1826.
While France and Germany put in place temporary controls to curb Central European migration, the United Kingdom (along with only Sweden and Ireland) did not impose restrictions.
According to the UK Office for National Statistics, Poland had overtaken India as the most common overseas country of birth for foreign-born people living in the United Kingdom in 2015.
[55] The United States and Canada were the major focus of Polish political and economic migration since 1850 up until the fall of the Iron Curtain and Poland's accession into the EU.
Pittsburgh, Toledo, Cleveland, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Britain also have very large Polish populations.
Older Polish Americans are rapidly migrating to the Southeast (Florida), the Southwest (Arizona) and the West Coast (California) but also to Poland itself since the 1990s.Buffalo is seen as Polonia's second city in the US, as it is also home to many Polish-Americans.
The major Polonia organization is the Polish American Congress, whose purpose is to continue steady relations with Poland and its government on behalf of Polish-Americans.
During World War II, Mexico received thousands of refugees from Poland, primarily of Jewish origin, who settled in the states of Chihuahua and Nuevo León.
After World War II, many displaced persons migrated from Poland to Australia, including soldiers from the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade (the "Rats of Tobruk").
Eventually, Poles made contributions in the fields of medicine and healthcare, developed infrastructure and industry, introduced sugar beet cultivation to China and established the country's first brewery.
[73] The Indian maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, following the news of Poland being divided by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany at the World War II, had welcomed a large number of Polish refugees, mostly children.
Many Jews of Polish origin had prominent roles in building up the Yishuv, the autonomous Zionist-oriented Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine from which Israel developed.
The first Pole to travel to Kazakhstan was probably Benedict of Poland, sent as part of the delegation of Pope Innocent IV to the Khagan Güyük of the Mongol Empire.
Later on, other Poles came to the Philippines but mostly they were Polish Americans, including Michael Sendzimir, a second lieutenant who worked in the 98th Infantry Division during World War II.
[85] A number of Polish missionaries worked in Senegal, starting with Jan Krzyżanowski, who lived there from 1932 until his death in 1963, making efforts to discover cures for yellow fever and other tropical diseases.
[citation needed] During World War II, 6,631 Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union, including 671 men (mostly elders), 3,255 women and 2,705 children, were admitted in the Tanganyika Territory (as of December 1944).
[73] During World War II, 6,443 Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union, including 704 men (mostly elders), 2,833 women and 2,906 children, were admitted in the Protectorate of Uganda (as of December 1944).
[73] During World War II, Polish refugees escaping the Soviet Union were admitted in Southern Rhodesia, mostly in Rusape and Marondera.
[73] 2010 American Community Survey Self-reported[96][97] See History of the Poles in the United States [98] [62] [64] [99] [65] [100] [101][102] [103] (2021 census)[22][a] [105] They make them the biggest minority ethnic group in Iceland, including second-generation immigrants.
