The Euromosaic study

Polish in Latvia

1. General information
   1. The language
   2. History, geography and demography
   3. Legal status and official policies
2. Presence and use of the language in various fields
   1. Education
   2. Judicial Authorities
   3. Public Authorities and services
   4. Mass media and Information technology
   5. Arts and Culture
   6. The business world
   7. Language use in family and society
   8. The European dimension
3. Conclusion

1. General information

1.1 The language

As a Slavic language Polish [język polski] is closely related to Kashubian with which it forms the Lechitic branch of West Slavonic. The 16th century is generally considered to be the ‘golden age’ of the Polish literary language. At that time the first Polish grammar of Stojenski-Statorius (Polonicae grammatices institutio, 1568) was written and dictionaries were composed. About 45 million people speak Polish. Most of them (around 37 million) live in Poland.

1.2 History, geography and demography

Poles have inhabited Latvian lands since the second half of the 16th century when they protected the inhabitants from the troops of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible. They mainly exerted cultural influence in the Riga, Vidzeme, Kurzeme and Latgale regions of the country. At the end of the 19th century there were about 65,000 Poles in Latvia. By the beginning of the 20th century most Poles resided in Riga (some 45,500). With the outbreak of World War I Polish cultural life in Latvia was paralysed. The Polish male population was forced to conscription and Polish workers were deported to remote Russian provinces. Only in the first Republic of Latvia did Polish cultural life start flourishing again. This period was halted by World War II, following which a period of “Russification”, assimilation, repression and collectivisation started. In the years after World War II the number of Polish inhabitants in Latvia remained fairly constant. In 1959 about 52,800 Poles resided in Latvia. In 1989 their number had slightly increased to 60,400. The second period of Latvian independence starting in 1991 made it possible for the Poles to resume their cultural, social and political activities again.

Polish is spoken in Latvia above all in the cities of Daugavpils, Rīga, Kraslava, Rēzekne and Jelgava.

According to the 2004 Civil Data Register there currently are about 56,800 Poles in Latvia, making up approx. 2.5% of the population.

1.3 Legal status and official policies

According to the Latvian language law Polish is one of the ‘foreign languages’. Only when translation into Latvian is ensured Polish can be used in state and local government institutions, courts and institutions constituting the judicial system, State or local government undertakings, and companies in which the greatest share of capital is owned by the State or a local government. Also employees of private institutions, organizations, undertakings (companies), and self-employed persons have to use the official language if they perform specific public functions and in record-keeping and documents if their activities affect the lawful interests of the public (public security, health, morality, health care, protection of consumer rights and employment rights, safety at the work place and public administration supervision).

Still, Art. 114 of the Latvian Constitution gives Poles the right to preserve and develop their language and their ethnic and cultural identity. Out of the 100 members of the Saeima there are 3 ethnic Poles.

2. Presence and use of the language in various fields

2.1 Education

In the last ten years a network of Polish Sunday Schools has been created. In pre-primary education Polish is taught in a school in Riga and another in Daugavpils. In Latvia there are 5 Polish minority schools in basic education. There are three Polish secondary schools (in Riga, Daugavpils and Rēzekne). The implementation of Polish in education has received and still receives strong support from the state, regional and local government. Judging on figures from the Latvian Institute the number of pupils in Polish minority schools increased from 1,169 in the school year 1999/2000 to 1,272 in the school year 2000/2001. At university level Polish is taught at Rīga and at the pedagogical university in Daugavpils.

2.2 Judicial authorities

General information on the use of languages in Latvian courts is provided in the Latvia country profile. No detailed information is available on the specific situation of Polish.

2.3 Public authorities and services

With the exception of some emergency situations (that lack any definition) the official language has to be used in communication with public authorities. Documents in Polish (and other foreign languages) can only be accepted when a notary-certified translation into the state language is attached. It is not clear to what extent Polish is used in oral communication with public authorities.

2.4 Mass media and information technology

No daily or weekly newspapers are published in Polish in Latvia. There is, however, one weekly newspaper “Nasz Czas” created in Vilnius (Lithuania) that is also read by Poles in Latvia. Two magazines are written in Polish in Latvia: “Polak na Lotwie” (Pole in Latvia) is published fortnightly by the Latvian Polish Society, has about 32 pages, is distributed to 650 persons and/or societies and is preparing a web edition; and the Daugavpils branch of the Latvian Polish Society publishes the local monthly magazine “Słowo Polskie” (the Polish word), that has about 4 pages.

Public radio stations in Latvia do not broadcast entirely in Polish. They do offer part of their programmes in Polish: a 30-minute weekly Polish programme “Nasz Głos” (our voice) is broadcast by Radio 4, and is transmitted (like every other minority programme on Latvian Radio 4) at 2.15 p.m. In Daugavpils a local 30-minute Polish programme, “Glos Mlodych Polakow” (Voice of the Polish Youth) is broadcast monthly by the private radio station Alise Puls for a fixed fee. Since no radio stations in Latvia offer Polish programmes on a daily basis, many people who can pick it up also listen to the first programme of Polish national radio.

Polish public television in Latvia does not exist. And no private television stations broadcast entirely in Polish. There is, however, a private television station (Millions) that twice a week broadcasts a popular 20 minutes Polish programme in the Daugavpils region (again for a fixed fee). Currently the Polish community is lobbying to start up a Polish programme for the whole of Latvia.

2.5 Arts and Culture

The ‘Latvian Polish Society’, an institution that actively strives for the preservation of the Polish language and cultural identity, has thirteen regional branches. It supports theatres and choirs, and local branches participate in local festivals such as the festival of Polish culture in Pasiene and the festival of Polish folklore and light music in Riga.

2.6 The business world

Polish does not play a significant role in Latvian business life and is as good as absent in advertisements.

2.7 Family and social use of the language

According to provisional 2000 statistics about 19% of persons belonging to the Polish minority have Polish as their mother tongue, 58% have Russian, 20% have Latvian and 3% have another language. Latvian Polish Society research, however, has shown that about 40,000 of the ethnic Poles have a certain knowledge of Polish. According to this society about 1/3 of the Latvian Poles use Polish in communication with their offspring. The number has increased since 1989 when Polish started to be used more overtly in cultural societies, school and the press in Latvia. Although a certain cultural dynamic can be witnessed in the Latvian Polish community since 1989 the situation of Polish remains far from bright. Mainly interested in the maintenance, vitality and the future of Polish within Latvia is an enthusiastic minority within the minority that stresses the importance of Polish in education.

2.8 The European dimension

There is an agreement between Latvia and Poland on cooperation in culture, education and science (July 1, 1992).

3. Conclusion

Together with Ukrainians and Belarusians the Poles belong to the smaller Latvian minorities. They constitute approx. 2.2% of the population. The Poles in Latvia display a heterogeneous linguistic behaviour. Over half of the Poles (approx. 58%) have Russian as their first language (mother tongue), a smaller part (19%) claims the ‘ethnic language’ to be their first language and yet another part (20%) claims Latvian to be their first language. Most of the persons who don’t have Russian as their first language possess Russian language skills. Despite efforts of the Latvian government in stimulating activities that are meant to encourage Polish/Latvian bilingualism, the number of persons having knowledge of Latvian among the Poles is only growing slowly. With the ethnic integration programme the Latvian government hopes to create favourable circumstances that will help people in maintaining their own ‘ethnic language’, and that will encourage them to learn Latvian instead of the process of “Russification” they have experienced hitherto. At present only a minority within the minority takes up the task to foster the minority language. Polish is used on radio and television, in written press and in some cultural organisations. Polish parents start sending their children to Polish minority schools but the number of pupils attending these minority schools in general remains rather small. A major obstacle to the revitalization of Polish is the existence of interest groups who are more in favour of further Russification or the maintenance of Polish culture without necessarily having to maintain the Polish language. They tend to counter the minority within the minority that is interested in the revitalization of the Polish language. This poses identity problems within the minorities themselves that urgently need to be studied from a qualitative point of view focusing on language attitudes and language awareness.