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

[Nothingburger]

As a Polish-American, I always thought well of the Ukrainians and it grieves me to know that there has been so much bad blood between the two ethnic groups.

I could say much the same for the Russians.

At some point, Pan-Slavic heritage and shared Christian faith must prevail over both age-old hatred and present-day corruption.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I wish we could get a bunch of them to move here. They understand communism.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

For the most part, Ukrainians are ethnically Germanic, which means, while not a close fit, they will be far better immigrants in the long run than many others.

This being said, there has long been extensive immigration and emigration between Poland and Scotland, of all places. The flow for some years has been from Poland, but with Brexit it may reverse, as there will be a need for many intermediaries with the UK in both places.

[ek_hornbeck]

As a Polish-American, I always thought well of the Ukrainians and it grieves me to know that there has been so much bad blood between the two ethnic groups.

I'd add your statement that it's in the interest of all European nations to put their old rivalries and ethnic hatreds aside in the fact of greater existential threats. Who cares whose grandparents or great grandparents fought on whose side during WWI or II when your countries are being overrun by Middle Easterners and Africans, or when your sovereignty and borders are threatened by unelected EU and UN bureaucrats?

[gr8eman]

Yeah...never figured that one out either, although I will say if I had to be stuck in the Ukraine I’d prefer to be there! That whole Austro-Hungarian thing is ok!

[Cronos]

Ukrainians are not in the least Germanic. They are far from Germanic and their very language is closer to Farsi than yo German

[Cronos]

Ukraine is a mess. The cost of living ia the same as in Poland but salaries are one third.

[dfwgator]

The funny thing is, when Hitler took power, he saw Poland as a potential ally, as he was a great admirer of Marshall Piłsudski, he thought he would join Hitler in the crusade against the Russians, and Germany no doubt would have offered the Poles some of the spoils. When Poland allied with France and Britain, Hitler was so angered, that from that point he vowed to remove the Polish race from the face of the Earth.

But there's another reason Poles were singled out. The perception was that Poles, more than the other Slavs had mixed with the Germanic tribes throughout the centuries, and thus possessed enough Aryan blood to make them good warriors, and thus a threat to Germany. That's why there were no Polish guards at the death camps. The Germans knew what a Pole would do if they got a rifle, they'd shoot the German with it right away.

[doomtrooper99]

Yes, Ukraine was part of Polish Commonwealth. There was an ugly civil war between Poland and Ukraine. Russian Czars eventually took Ukraine over.

[dfwgator]

This being said, there has long been extensive immigration and emigration between Poland and Scotland, of all places

Pretty much the only Catholics left in Ireland are the Poles that moved there.

[vladimir998]

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

Did you read the article?

“At the same time Warsaw rolled out the welcome mat for Ukrainians who sought a better life following the Russian invasion”

Russians invaded to support the pro-Russian uprising in Ukraine and these Ukrainians left.

[Daffynition]

piroshki

pierogi

[Jimmy Valentine]

Yes. Western Ukraine in the Lviv area and the Carpathians were part of Poland.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Corruption is pandemic in Ukraine and the economy is dragging. Ukrainian workers go to Poland for jobs and good money they can send home.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Wrong. The Ukrainian people welcomed the Germans as liberators after the Russian Holodomor. The Germans proceeded to tell the country up. Big mistake.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

My error. I didn’t know of the major evacuation of the Germans towards the end of WWII.

[dfwgator]

Wrong. The Ukrainian people welcomed the Germans as liberators after the Russian Holodomor. The Germans proceeded to tell the country up. Big mistake.

Yep, a "Divide and Conquer" strategy I still maintain would have defeated the Soviet Union easily, had Hitler employed it.

[Cronos]

Even before world war two there were next to no Germans in Ukraine. Poland had a population of 2.2% Germans

[Cronos]

That’s not correct. Hitler referred to Poland in the mein kampf as that abomination and he planned for it to be moved east and its lands taken for liebensraum

[dfwgator]

My understanding is a bit different.....

Hitler meant Russia, more than Poland, for Lebensraum.

Part of the deal probably would have been, that while Germany regained Danzig and the Corridor from Poland, Poland in turn would get some of the lands in Ukraine and perhaps the Baltics, should they have assisted the Germans against the Soviets.

Now it’s true that Hitler felt that Czechoslovakia, in particular was indeed, an abomination, and that was stated in Mein Kampf.