page_title: Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina
section_title: Arrival and integration
hierarchical_section_title: Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Arrival and integration
caption_attribution_description: English: Bosnian Polish farmers at a procession ceremony
context_page_description: Poles are one of 17 constitutionally recognized ethnic minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They arrived during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina and settled mostly in the north of Bosnia proper, bringing new technology and skilled manpower. Their destiny was tied closely to that of the Ukrainian minority, with whom they joined the Yugoslav Resistance after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. After the Second World War, Bosnian Poles faced difficulties with establishing their rights as a minority as well as persecution by local population and remaining fascist collaborators. This forced a vast majority to answer the Polish government's call for repatriation. There were around 30,000 Poles in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1930, while their number today is estimated to be less than a thousand, with communities in the major cities of Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Zenica and Mostar.
context_section_description: History of Poles in Bosnia begins during the Ottoman rule, but a significant influx only took place following the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. The occupying authorities wished to colonize the country with politically reliable people, whom they rewarded with land and benefits. Germans and Hungarians were not considered suitable, while Croatians and Serbians were not desirable. The authorities decided on Poles and Czechs, expecting their Slavic roots to help them acclimatize well among Bosniaks. Official settlement lasted from 1896 until 1906. The Polish settlers were predominantly ethnic Roman Catholic farmers from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a crown land of Austria. Along with them came the Eastern Orthodox Ruthenians. Civil servants, physicians, engineers and lawyers, all driven by expectations of fast career advancement and higher wages, were also among Polish settlers. The farmers were settled in the flatlands of Bosanska Krajina and Posavina, mostly in the vicinity of Prnjavor, Derventa, Bosanska Gradiška, Banja Luka, Bosanski Novi and Prijedor. In the areas surrounding Prnjavor and Bosanska Gradiška, there existed villages inhabited solely by Poles; Poles otherwise lived in villages with Bosnian Serbs or, less commonly, in villages with Bosnian Croat majority. The two largest Polish colonies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rakovac (Polish: Rakowiec) and Novi Martinac (Nowy Martyniec) near Prnjavor, were formed between 1899 and 1901.
  The Bosnian Poles were appraised beekeepers and also left a great mark on the country's agriculture, as they introduced synthetic fertilizers and non-food crops in the regions they inhabited. They also taught Bosnians about cattle breeding. The colonists, in turn, were taught to grow maize by the native population and viticulture by another minority, the Italians. The Poles never integrated into the Bosnian society and functioned as a separate ethnic community even in areas where they had direct contact with the Bosnians, their relations consisting of a varying degree of tolerance. The native Bosnians resented the privileges granted to Polish colonists, which caused many disagreements. These benefits lapsed following the First World War, when Austria-Hungary broke apart and Bosnia and Herzegovina was incorporated into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Some Poles at the time wanted to move to Poland, but its government refused them.
  The 1910 census recorded 10,975 Poles living in Bosnia and Herzegovina; by 1930, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and numbered around 30,000 Poles. In 1934, the Polish writer Maria Dąbrowska spent some time in Bosnia and Herzegovina and wrote a report about the lives of Bosnian Poles for the authorities of the Second Polish Republic. She focused on their economic and political status, the issue of maintaining their ethnic identity and coexistence with indigenous population. Dąbrowska wrote that as much as 80% were pressured into becoming Yugoslav citizens, which deprived them of the right to appeal to Polish consulates and had an adverse effect on their political status. On the other hand, she noted that Bosnian Poles enjoyed better living conditions than villagers in Poland.
caption: Polish farmers in Bosnia at a procession
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