A town in Brazil has made Polish its official language, alongside the national tongue of Portuguese, in recognition of its large ethnic Polish community. It is the first decision of its kind in Brazil, but diaspora groups hope that other places with large Polish populations will follow suit.
Áurea, a municipality in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, was founded in 1906 by Polish immigrants and still today over 90% of its population of around 3,600 are of Polish origin. Polish symbols and traditions remain widespread there.
Last week, the Polish Community Association – an NGO operating under the patronage of Poland’s Senate that is dedicated to strengthening ties with the Polish diaspora – announced that Polish has been legally recognised as an official language in Áurea.
Local authorities will now support the use of Polish and its transmission to future generations, including through language courses, cultural, artistic and educational events, and in public and private signage.
The “unprecedented” decision “is recognition of the contribution of our countrymen to the social and cultural development of Brazil”, said the association’s president, Dariusz Bonisławski.
🇧🇷🇵🇱 Język polski dołączył do grona języków urzędowych w Gminie #Aurea w stanie Rio Grande do Sul – informuje @WspolnotaPolska. Ma to być dowód uznania dla wkładu Polaków w rozwój społeczny i kulturalny #Brazylia.
👉 https://t.co/Ri6IDY0alK #BrasPol #LatAm #culture pic.twitter.com/aS4FXJGy2z
— La Perspectiva. Wiadomości z Ameryki Łacińskiej (@perspectiva_pl) July 31, 2022
The move was initiated by Fabricio Vicroski – an activist who represents the Polish community on Rio Grande do Sul’s Collegiate of Linguistic Diversity – and supported by the Polish Community Association, Braspol (the central body representing Brazil’s Polish community), and the Polish Language Institute (IJP).
They now plan to use the process undertaken in Áurea as a model for similar initiatives in other parts of Brazil that have large populations of Polish descent. There are also efforts underway to have the Polish language recognised as part of Brazil’s intangible cultural heritage.
It is estimated that there are around three million people of Polish descent in Brazil. Their ancestors began to arrive in the 19th century, at a time when Poland had been wiped off the map by Russia, Austria and Prussia, who had partitioned Polish lands between themselves.
Despite being “distant from their country, Poles have never forgotten their roots”, said Bonisławski in a letter presented to Áurea municipal council. “Though many of them no longer speak Polish, this does not prevent them from maintaining Polish identity, culture and religion.”
Bonisławski’s association notes that a “nationalisation” campaign in Brazil during the first half of the 20th century had a “devastating effect on the languages of cultural heritage”, with schools closing down and the bilingual press repressed.
That resulted in Polish being used largely in the private sphere, but also led it to die out in many families. The recognition of Polish in Áurea is a “form of social justice that aims to correct the linguistic violence of the past”, says the association.
It is estimated that between 18 and 20 million people of Polish descent live in 80 countries around the world, with the largest diasporas found in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Brazil.
Main image credit: PM Áurea/Facebook
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
