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Post by kaima on Dec 30, 2019 13:37:30 GMT -7
Tutejszy (Polish pronunciation: [tuˈtɛjʂɨ]; Belarusian: Тутэйшыя, Tuteyshyya; Ukrainian: Тутешній, Tuteshniy; Lithuanian: Tuteišiai; Latvian: Tuteiši, literally meaning “locals”, “from here”) was a self-identification of rural population in mixed-lingual areas of Eastern and Northern Europe, including Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Latvia, in particular, in Polesie and Podlasie. As a self-identification, it persisted in Lithuania’s Vilnius Region into the late 20th century.[1]
The term entered into the scientific circulation in Poland in 1920-1930s. There are mixed opinions about the reasons, meaning, and implications of this term.[2][3] The Polish census of 1931 asked respondents to identify their mother tongue. “Tutejszy” was included and was chosen by 707,000 respondents.[4] In the Polish census of 1921 38,943 people had identified themselves as “Tutejszy”.[5]
Report on Latvian census of 1930 describes Tutejszy as Catholic inhabitants of Eastern Latvia, who spoke Polish, Latvian and Russian equally and lacked ethnic identity (the Latvian census did not recognize these people as having a separate ethnic identity). The report notes that they could easily change their identity on a whim or after being persuaded by nationalist organizations, producing sharp changes in ethnic composition of some areas, the most noticeable changes being decrease of number of Belarusians in ten years since 1920 from 75,630 to 36,029 and number of Poles increasing more than could be explained with natural growth and immigration, suggesting that some 5,000 Tutejszy had chosen to identify as Poles. In addition uncertain number of them presumably chose to identify as Russians or Latvians.[6]
The group’s speech (język tutejszy) was described in 2003 as “an uncodified and largely undescribed Belarusian vernacular”.[7]
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Post by kaima on Dec 30, 2019 13:40:33 GMT -7
Not So Strange Bedfellows: The Nexus of Politics and Religion in the 21st Century, Edited by Jim Rose and Rob Imre (published 2013) ISBN (10): 1-4438-4800-X, ISBN (13): 1-4438-4800-8 This chapter authored by Des Brennan The Role of Religion in Poland's Relations with its Eastern Neighbors (pgs 92,93) The Polish-Lithuanian Union of Lublin of 1569 eventually led to the nobility and much of the urban population throughout what later became Belarus and western Ukraine becoming Roman Catholic. In these lands, this Catholicisation was also, in large measure, a process of “polonisation”. Within a century of the union, the landed class throughout the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was Polish in language and culture. The Greek Catholic (or Uniate) Church dates from the 1595 Union of Brest, under which much of the Ruthenian church broke away from the Orthodox communion and accepted the Roman Pope as spiritual leader, while retaining eastern Christian religious rites. Until World War II, Judaism was also an important part of the region’s religious picture. Ukraine and Belarus first became independent states—briefly—at the end of World War I. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Ukraine and Belarus gained a more lasting independence. After being partitioned and vanishing from the map of Europe for 123 years, an independent Poland re-emerged in 1918. In the unsettled years after World War I, Lithuania and Poland fought a short war over Vilnius and surrounding regions. In the interwar period, Vilnius and surrounding districts were in Poland. The Vilnius area had a predominantly Polish-speaking population until the deportations of the late 19403, and a large Jewish minority in the city of Vilnius until World War II. In the 19203 and 19303, the Republic of Poland, which included Vilnius, Lviv, and what is now western Belarus within its borders, was a multi-ethnic state, with ethnic minorities amounting to almost a third of the population. While western and central parts of interwar Poland were predominantly Polish (with significant Jewish and German minorities in urban areas), eastern Poland was ethnically mixed. A strip running along the border with Lithuania, including the cities of Grodno and Vilnius, was predominantly Polish. During World War II, Stalin assigned this area to the Lithuanian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics. Today, it is divided between Lithuania and Belarus. The territory south of Lida as far as Brest and the Pinsk marshes—Which now forms most of western Belarus—had a mixed population of Belarusians, Poles, “Tutejsi” (“locals”), and Jews. The Tutejsi were Slavs who lacked a clearly defined national identity. By the mid-20th century, most Tutejsi were Orthodox Christian. Further south, Volyn and eastern Galicia had Ukrainian majorities, but, until the 19403, also had significant populations of Poles and Jews. By the 20th century, religion and nationality had become deeply intertwined, so that Roman Catholics in the area were seen as Poles, While Greek Catholics or Orthodox Christians were considered to be Rusla'e (Ruthenians or, later, Ukrainians). The first half of the 20th century was a time of generally poor relations between Poles and their neighbours, with a low point during the nightmare of World War II, when ethno-religious conflicts turned bloody, particularly between (mostly Roman Catholic) Poles and (Orthodox and Greek Catholic) Ukrainians, in Volyn and Galicia. Volyn, in particular, was the scene of many massacres, mainly of Jews and Poles by Germans and Ukrainians. Most of the Jewish population of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania died during World War II, murdered by the Nazis and their allies. During World War II and its aftermath, borders shifted. Poland’s eastern provinces, which contained most of the country’s Orthodox and Greek Catholic populations, were annexed by the .... Not So Strange Bedfellows: The Nexus of Politics and Religion in the 21st Century, Edited by Jim Rose and Rob Imre (published 2013) ISBN (10): 1-4438-4800-X, ISBN (13): 1-4438-4800-8
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Post by pieter on Dec 31, 2019 1:05:24 GMT -7
This is very interesting. Very different than the West European reality I know in my country, the Benelux, France and Germany. The pillarization and dialectic and regional languages borders over here were very strict. You were either Roman-Catholic, Calvinist or Lutheran or socialist or secular classical liberal. Mixed marriages were seldom over here in our pillarized society.
And old saying in Dutch said: “Two faiths under one pillow, the devil sleeps in between them”.
That Tutejszy phenomenon, and these 700 thousand border people who described themselves this way are unique,
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Post by pieter on Dec 31, 2019 1:14:46 GMT -7
Kai,
I recently found out how refined and subtle border differences can be. In the South Western Zeeland area you have the Zeelandish Flanders over there. We Dutch people consider them to be half Belgians who speak with a Flemish accent. Flemish Belgians however consider them to be as Dutch people. Not Flemish people nor Belgians.
They are borderlanders. The Dutch see them as Flemish people, as Belgians who live in the border region, but Belgians hear their ‘Dutch accent’ and don’t see them as Belgians/Flemish people at all. These Zeelandish Flemish people see themselves as Zeelanders and Dutch people.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on Dec 31, 2019 5:37:52 GMT -7
Tragically the history of the First World War, the Second World War, ethnic tensions and conflicts during the Interwar years (The Interbellum of 1919-1939), the Sovjet Polish conflicts, like the Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 October 1920), the War of Poland and the SovjetUnion in September 1939 as part of the Second World War and the ethnic conflicts between Ethnic Poles and Ethnic Germans in Silesia during the twenties created this vague borderland situations in Poland, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech republic (in the transitionproces of the Habsburg Empire to the independent and sovereign Czechoslovakian republic), the Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. These were bloody ethnic conflicts between Polish and German Paramilitary Frei Korps (Free Corps). My father spoke in communist Poland with a Pole who killed Germans during that conflict with the Germans in Silesia during the twenties. Besides that you had the Polish–Ukrainian War of 1 November 1918 – 18 July 1919 (8 months, 2 weeks and 3 days). This conflict was a conflict between the Second Polish Republic and Ukrainian forces (both the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Ukrainian People's Republic). The conflict had its roots in ethnic, cultural and political differences between the Polish and Ukrainian populations living in the region.
And next to this Polish Sovjet War, the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish-German struggles in Silesia you had the Polish–Lithuanian War which lasted from Spring 1919 until November 29, 1920. The Polish–Lithuanian War was an armed conflict between newly independent Lithuania and Poland in the aftermath of World War I. The conflict primarily concerned territorial control of the Vilnius Region, including Vilnius, and the Suwałki Region, including the towns of Suwałki, Augustów, and Sejny. The conflict was largely shaped by the progress in the Polish–Soviet War and international efforts to mediate at the Conference of Ambassadors and later the League of Nations.
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Post by Jaga on Dec 31, 2019 8:29:01 GMT -7
Hello Kai and Pieter,
very interesting story of tutejszy. Poland was a multi-ethnic country in the past and it was normal then. I remember reading some old geography books from before WWII and being surprised. By then I did not know about ethnic tensions
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