Emigration from Poland

Most of the emigration from Poland occurred in the late 1800s to early 1900s but there was a small amount before then. The very first Polish craftsmen arrived in the United States in 1608. They were admired for their work ethic. When the three partitions of Poland occurred (1772--1795) with other countries taking parts of Poland, small numbers of people left. They were not the peasants but rather gentry and nobles who fought against the invading countries and left for political reasons or because their land had been confiscated. After various uprisings against this situation in the 1830s, again some nobles, military officers and intellectuals left.********* Large numbers of Poles left the Prussian area in the 1850s and it was for economic reasons along with social discrimination, high taxes, forced conscription into a foreign army and epidemics of cholera. Polish peasants were free to leave their land beginning in the early 1800s but also then lacked support from the landowners. Also, the lack of industrial development by the invading countries resulted in poverty. Farming was the main way to support a family and there wasn’t enough land available for all the sons in a family to inherit. New laws required the use of Russian rather than the Polish language as well as conversion to Orthodox Catholicism and high taxes. A 1863 uprising in the Russian partition was done by nobility and peasants trying to restore cultural and religious freedom but was defeated. This resulted in many deaths, deportations to Siberia and many people emigrating. After the uprising, Russia began moving its factories out of Poland resulting in even more poverty. At the same time in the Prussian partition, elimination of the Polish culture and “Germanizing” the area was the goal. Landowners of large parcels were given support to improve farming which reduced the need for day laborers so many families left because they could not feed their family.********** In 1883, in the Russian area, the Peasant Bank was established to help some peasants buy farmland which kept some people in Poland but many still needed to leave. The government also encouraged workers to move to industrial centers in Russia such as Siberia. Practicing their religion was allowed in the Austrian area but in 1880 began the period known as “Galician Misery.” Small farmers lost their lands to more wealthy nobles and there were no large cities to go to for work. Military reasons to leave were also important. Military service was mandatory and the Polish were put in separate groups who were sent in first to battles and suffered the highest casualties.********** In the 1880s leaving from the Russian and Austrian partitions began to occur at a high rate. Younger sons who would not have any land was a frequent reason. If working on a large manor farm, the reduction of a need for workers due to the increasing use of farm machinery. Some left to earn money with the plan to return to buy land in Poland. Factors that drove them out in the late 1800s to the early 1900s were poverty, a shortage of land, the military draft, political or cultural repression and religious discrimination. The factors that pulled them to the other countries were the promise of jobs, cheap farmland and chain migration--where migrants from a certain town follow others to a new location. ********** After World War I things changed. Many Poles returned to Poland. Immigration to the United States was at a reduced rate. The United States established quotas on maximum numbers from each country in 1921. ************ From Szabados, Stephen. Polish Immigration to America: When, Why, How and Where. 2016, pp 1-18. (Image from Ancestry)