Polish Immigrants

Polish Immigrants

Polish Ethnic Group
Kasey Pociecha
Week 3 Assignment
April 17, 2011
Dr. Heather Caldwell

Polish Ethnic Group
The Three Waves
Polish immigrants came to the United States in three major waves.   Between 1880 and 1930, America opened its doors to numerous immigrants after the needs excessively increased for manpower; this causing the first major wave (Grocholska, 1999). Polish immigrants filled the lower paying jobs because of their illiteracy and unskilled laborers.   The economy was the main proposition that led to the immigration; however, it is not the only reason, as politics and religion also led them to move.   Due to   Poland’s nonexistence of independency, the exact number of Polish immigrants during the first wave remains unknown (Grocholska, 1999).
The second wave began in 1978 after World War II, where the Polish were mostly political refugees rather than economic emigrants.   The postwar political situation forced them to leave their homes against their will, which they were also characterized as political prisoners, dissidents, and intellectuals from refugee camps all over Europe (Grocholska, 1999). During the 1960s and 1970s the acceptance of the abnormality of emigration was not offered by the Communist government, and they very seldom gave a permit to export the country.   “Solidarity Emigration” referred to the third wave of Polish immigration to the United States that occurred between 1978 and 1990 (Grocholska, 1999).   The young, middle-aged immigrants with different backgrounds toward their homeland, continued to risk active professional lives, within a country of new settlement.

COLONIZING
When the three waves of Polish immigrants came to the United States, they settled within the low-income housing available in New York, Chicago, and Detroit. The two biggest cities that the Polish...