Turning Muslims Away, Poland Welcomes Ukrainians

Wall Street Journal ^ | 11 Mar 2019 | Yaroslav Trofimov

[Cronos]

Four and a half years ago, Maryna Karalop packed up and moved from Ukraine to Poland. Since then, so did some two million other Ukrainians—the biggest wave of migration into the European Union in recent times.

Poland’s government has resisted EU quotas to take in asylum-seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea whose arrival has reshaped European politics, fueling populist parties across the continent. At the same time Warsaw rolled out the welcome mat for Ukrainians who sought a better life following the Russian invasion

[Cronos]

I can vouch for this -- we have at least 2 to 3 million Ukrainians in Poland (out of a population of 38 million) and maybe 1.5 million "commute" (here for a week or two and then back home).

It has been good and bad - there is a cultural difference and language difference (it can be irritating when you have to repeat things slowly in polski) and also a "moral worry" in the sense that Polish people in Warsaw get used to servants (a common term for a nanny or a cleaning lady is, not meant to be derogatory, "moja ukrainka" - my Ukrainian)

They work everywhere - from cleaning ladies, barbers right to IT specialists, bankers etc.

There is some integration and some problematic folks as well

Poland's economy is booming thanks to Brexit (more businesses from the UK shifting here).

[dfwgator]

Does this mean Poles can move back to Lwów?

[posterchild]

It’s just a matter of time before they start demanding grocery stores have signs saying ‘piroshki’ instead of ‘pierogi.’

[dfwgator]

Remember how the French were complaining about Polish Plumbers, will Poles now complain about Ukrainian Plumbers?

[dfwgator]

Hopefully Poland will keep the Bandera fans out.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Sounds like Polskis are showing their (by bigots too-often-underrated) strong innate intellect and historical consciousness.

Christian (esp Catholic) Slavs can well learn to love one another. Strong in Christ!

Matka Boska Częstochowska.

[Cronos]

Well there are murmurings about Ukrainians undercutting wages

[Cronos]

There aren’t too many problems besides the accents and sometimes the language disconnect

[StolarStorm]

Wasn’t Ukraine part of the Poland-Lithuanian commonwealth at one time?

[Rurudyne]

Which are much better than the problems we should just get used to, per IIRC the mayor of London.

[Cronos]

Western Ukraine yes. West of Kiev.

[I want the USA back]

Good. Poland will continue to exist, while muzzy-welcoming countries will become the walking dead.

[JME_FAN]

Poland will be around long after Great Britain is nothing but a pile of rotting pig dung - oh, wait, GB already is a pile of rotting pig dung.

[ek_hornbeck]

Mass immigration is rarely without its cultural and political problems, but if you’re going to bring in foreign workers based on a real or perceived dire economic need, you should at least try to find those that stand the best chance of assimilating and being culturally compatible. That seems to be exactly the case here. Poles and Ukrainians aren’t exactly identical, but they’re much more mutually compatible than they are with Syrians or Iraqis who arrive in Europe with Sharia law (and sometimes bombs) in tow.

[McGruff]

Why would Ukrainians want to leave Ukraine after that coup thast kicked out that Russian friendly government?

[Daffynition]

I’m no expert, but aren’t *piroshki* filled puff pastry pockets and
*pierogi* pockets of unleavened dough?

I remember them both distinctly different items. Both very delish. I could be having another memory lapse. :)

[dfwgator]

Poles and Ukrainians aren’t exactly identical, but they’re much more mutually compatible

They sure weren't "mutually compatible" during WWII.

[rightwingcrazy]

“I’m no expert, but aren’t *piroshki* filled puff pastry pockets and
*pierogi* pockets of unleavened dough?”

Europe’s got like a gazillion names for “dumpling”. Are they really different dishes? Not sure.

That being said, I think you’re right: pirozhki are doughy dumplings in Russia and the Ukraine.

[ek_hornbeck]

The US and Britain were at war in the 1770's and 1810's. That doesn't change the fact that I'd rather take 1,000 Englishmen or Welshmen as immigrants to the US than 1,000 Somalis.

You're right about Poland vs. Ukraine during WWII though, and it mostly had to do with the incoherent way in which Nazis treated their eastern conquests. For some reason, Poles (along with Russians and Serbs) were "subhuman Slavs" while equally Slavic Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Croats, and Bosnians were treated like honorary Germans.

[bravo whiskey]

Does this mean Poles can move back to Lwów?

that's funny. in the first hour of my Russian Civil War class I cover all the reasons studying it is more difficult. one slide has Lvov or L'vov or Lviv or Lwow or Lemberg depending on who owned it. Played a role in Russo-Polish War 1920.