Poles started to identify with Lithuania more than ever

During 20 years, relations of Lithuanian Poles towards Lithuania have changed. More Poles started to identify with Lithuania, writes “Lietuvos žinios” daily paper.

This year, project “Cultural identity of Vilnius people and its development after the restoration of independence by Lithuania” has ended. Studies were done by Lithuanian Centre of sociological researches in order to collate social spirits in year 1993 and 2013.

In 1993, 90 pct. of Lithuanians lived in Vilnius said that their homeland is Lithuania. Poles who identified with Lithuania during that period were 53 pct. However, 22 pct. of Poles said that Vilnius is their homeland.

At that time, there was 39 pct. of Russians identifing with Lithuania and 15 pct. of Russians said that Russia is their homeland.

After 20 years, the relations of ethnic minorities living in Vilnius towards Lithuania have changed. Currently, 79 pct. of Poles consider Lithuania as their homeland. The proportion of Russians with such feeling has grown, but is smaller than among local Poles. 59 pct. of Russians consider Lithuania as their homeland.

There still remains a small group of people in every nation, for whom Vilnius is their homeland: 3 pct. of Lithuanians, 6 pct. of Poles and 9 pct. of Russians.

Census, conducted in 2011, says that in Vilnius there is 63.2 pct. of Lithuanians, 16.5 pct. of Poles, 12 pct. of Russians, Belarusians and a little bit more than 3 pct. of Lithuanian capital residents. Other nationalities do not pass 1 pct. of Vilnius residents.

Source: http://zw.lt/wilno-wilenszczyzna/polacy-bardziej-zaczeli-sie-utozsamiac-z-litwa/

Tłumaczenie by Beata Kanadys w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Beata Kanadys within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.