Polish Emigration Policies as a Mirror of Nationhood

Poland has a long tradition of engaging in policies addressing Polish diaspora. However, there is no academic reflection on such policies that would go beyond the description of governmental actions. This paper makes an attempt to fill this gap in scholarship. It does not focus on the evaluation of different types of policies. Instead it treats policies as a way of expressing understanding the Polish nationhood. I analyse if a Polish national identity is treated by rulers as given or chosen, and what constitutes nation in their eyes: common ancestors, cultural unity, common territory. I analyse the policies toward the Polish emigrants and the members of Polish diaspora from the last 30 years to show how the conception of nation changes over the time but also how conflictual ways of conceptualisation of Polish nation clash and wear down. I do not treat a nation as a unity that has a particular mind but show its internal diversity. I am interested in the ways the Polish nation is conceptualised by rulers, therefore I do not analyse how policies are implemented but just how they are written and interpreted by policy makers. Analysing emigration policies, I present the rulers’ understanding of Polish nation. The results of analysis show that the ethnic and civic conception of nation clash but the ethnic nationalism dominates. The Polish nation is perceived as a group of people that have common ancestors. Living within state borders is an important value but it does not determine national identity. Therefore the state is responsible for well- being of both groups: Poles in Poland and Poles abroad. The civic aspects of Polish nationalism were at some point visible in an attempt to ensure equality of all nation members so that policies aiming at encouraging return do not privilege returning Poles over those living in Poland as well as to keep equal status of all Polish diaspora members with disregard of country they live in and reason of emigration. However, the most recent policies prefer rather ethnic narrative. It if visible in the fact that they tend to favour the Polish diaspora in the East. The Polish diaspora in the East lives in former Soviet Union countries and consists mostly of Poles who were forcibly deported and their ancestors and those who found themselves living outside Poland in result of Polish borders’ change after the Second World War and their ancestors.