National minority, ethnic minority, ethnic majority : introduction

Abstract

The book, which I have the pleasure to introduce to the readers, is one of the first collections of sociological studies which take comprehensively — though by no means in an exhaustive way — the problems of national and ethnic minorities in Poland, as well as their relations with the national and ethnic majority of the population of the country in question. The issues dealt with in this book are of great importance both in their cognitive and practical aspect. In the history of Poland, its most recent chapter included, multinationality and — connected with it to some extent — multi-religion never were matters of marginal significance, however marginalized they were from time to time for political reasons. According to the data obtained in the 1931 census: “Poles constituted 68.9% of the society, the Ukrainians made 13.9%, Jews 8.6%, Belarussians 3.1%, Germans 2.3%, while other nationalities the remaining 3.2% of the population of Poland” (Lodziriski, 1995). (fragment tekstu)