You know what’s weird? Sometimes ignorance is informative. Case in point: I never knew any Polish stereotypes growing up. It was only years after I went to Poland that I heard a Polish joke for the first time, and before that, I didn’t even know there was such a thing. I was so ignorant of the stereotypes that I was incapable of stereotyping. Yay!
But then I found out there’s a massive treasure trove of, admittedly, hilarious Polish jokes. Few if any having anything to do with Polish people, of course, but that’s just how it works out. They somehow got stereotyped as being dumb, and people ran with it because they had fun coming up with clever jokes. And plenty of them are awesome.
But that just leads into another question. Are all the Polish stereotypes really true? Are they just a bunch of religious zealots who get blitzed off vodka all day every day? Are they all just unsmiling communist fanatics that want to destroy the bourgeoisie and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat? ARE THEY?!?!
Allow me to share a few points.
Polish stereotypes that aren’t (quite) true
1) Aren’t they all dumb?
This is a good place to get started, right? This is where all those Polish jokes come from, after all.
Well, turns out it’s bullshit. International IQ tests give varying numbers, with Poland scoring almost equal to…or ahead of…the United States.
Sorry, guys. Turns out you’re just making fun of Poland because you’re dumb.
It probably has to do with the fact that most Poles in the US came over during times of horrible Hitler-related awkwardness and were poor, uneducated, and could barely speak English. Of course difficulties will ensue.
But this has nothing to do with smart or dumb, but simple language differences and socioeconomic challenges. Take anyone from anywhere on the planet in a similar position, and you’re likely to get the same result.
Oh, and they’re also responsible for Nicolaus Copernicus, Marie Curie, and Marian Rejewski. Take that.
2) Aren’t they all big drinkers?
So Polish people just guzzle vodka all day long and stumble around haphazardly all the time, right?
Kind of.
Poles make some absolutely spectacular vodka, so clearly they should be getting trashed all the time, but somehow they’re able to hold themselves back so much that they’re currently only the 20th biggest drinkers in the world.
They’re losing out to supposedly civilized countries like Denmark, the UK, France, and Ireland. And that’s to say nothing of their fellow Eastern European neighbors, like Hungary or the Czech Republic, who are totally leaving them behind in their sober dust.
It tends to be concentrated on the male side, though. As with many other countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe, the men (especially those with lower incomes) are doing most of the drinking, and as you might imagine, they can get pretty drunk. A small subsection of the population is doing all the heavy lifting.
But still, as a country, they’re more sober than the UK.
3) Aren’t they all religious zealots?
This one is a little nuanced. Yes, Poland is quite a religious country, with over 90% describing themselves as Catholic, and the former Pope, who was Polish, even has his own TV channel. Oh, and Poland built the world’s tallest statue of Jesus. How’s that for religious?
But on the other hand, it’s not entirely clear how “religious” they are, with one survey showing that only 7% of the population are “strong believers.” Much of the 90% Catholic statistic would thus have more to do with culture than belief.
Public opinion is also rather split on controversial issues such as abortion, with a pro-life majority and restrictive legislation, but nearly half the country expressing support for expanded legalization. So while it’s true that religion plays a significant role in society, it’s not quite as monolithic as you might expect. It’s not much different from Ireland or the US, for example.
4) Don’t they never smile?
This is something of an issue all over Eastern Europe. Stony-faced people never crack a smile no matter how adorable you think you are. In fact they’ll look at you being all smiley and think you’re ridiculous.
I’ve heard two competing theories on this one, perhaps both of which are true; first of all, in many Slavic countries, smiling doesn’t mean hello. Smiling means laughter. If someone’s smiling at you, it means he’s laughing at you.
This makes more than enough sense to me, but I’ve heard this about Eastern Europe in general (particularly in former Soviet countries, especially Russia), rather than Poland specifically, so I can only offer it as a potential explanation.
The other answer is that decades of communist rule put the country into a collective bad mood. Bureaucracy, foreign influence, food shortages, and other (un)fun stuff was quite a lot to handle, and it went on for over 50 years. And even after all that was over, with an open economy and eventual EU membership, life could still be difficult.
That’s probably the reason for the perceived grumpiness and pessimism as well. It’s tough to be happy-go-lucky all the time with all the Hitler they had to put up with.
I’ve only ever found that beneath whatever perceived stony exterior, most Eastern Europeans are happy to go out of their way to help, whether it’s to offer directions, recommend a restaurant, or give you a bottle of vodka. Perhaps several. Maybe it’s just my dashingly handsome good looks and charm, but I prefer to place my faith in humanity as well.
5) Aren’t they all communists?
Nope!
Stalin basically took over the country by installing loyal communist agents in major government positions, and rigged all the elections to get the rest. Not exactly a warm welcome with open arms.
And besides, Poland took down communism from the inside through the Solidarność movement, which led the way for other Eastern Bloc countries to do the same. There was even talk of banning the communist party altogether. How’s that for communist?
Just to put it into perspective, the successor party of the former communists managed to get 8.24% of the vote in the 2011 election, whereas an American poll taken in the same year puts the approval of a communist takeover of the United States at 11%.
That’s right. America is more communist than Poland. HA!
6) Aren’t they all anti-Semitic?
This is a major sticking point for me, because I’ve spent my whole life listening to people say “Many Poles aided the Nazis in the Holocaust.” You know what else they did? Saved Jews from the Holocaust. In numbers greater than any other country on the planet.
And that’s not all. Poland was the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe in which the penalty for helping Jews was capital punishment for the entire family. The whole family. And they did it anyway.
50,000 Poles were executed for helping Jews. And these were just the ones that got caught. All in all, Poles risked their lives to save at least 450,000 Jews from the Holocaust.
Doesn’t sound so anti-Semitic now, does it?
It’s quite a problem for me, because I’ve been exposed to some pretty harsh anti-Polish sentiment, including an older Jewish man that said he refused to visit Poland because it was “bathed in the blood of the Jews.” Well, yeah, but it was also bathed in the blood of Poles saving Jews. And not a single person ever mentioned this while I was growing up. Not once.
As for today? Well, there’s actually stronger anti-Semitic sentiment in Poland than other Western European countries, though it’s often mere stereotyping rather than acts of violence. In fact the desecration of Jewish cemeteries is statistically lower in Poland than other European countries.
And you know what? Of course anti-Semitic sentiment in Poland is alive. Remember what they did with the other ones?
Yeah. No wonder there are so few of them.
So what have we learned?
So hopefully this’ll clear up at least a few Polish stereotypes that might have gotten stuck in the minds of people way off on the other side of the planet that have never visited Poland, or at least give some perspectives on how they got started, or why they might be sorta true in some cases.
It’s interesting to see things change, actually. Now that most Polish-American immigrants have all but assimilated, the jokes will likely disappear as soon as the older generation fades away, whereas blonde jokes will probably stick around forever. And Poland’s economy continues to improve, which means less and less Poles will feel the need to immigrate for better labor markets, like in the UK.
Chances are that in the future, Polish stereotypes will look quite a bit different than just the picture of the working-class immigrants that have provided most of the material. And since Poland is full of fun things to do (with a few quirky attractions worth seeking out) they’ll actually go have fun there and learn a thing or two first-hand.
Over vodka, of course. Na zdrowie!
I figure I may be a bit late (?)
It was a good article and a nice read, you’ve got the view of Poland from my region fairly accurately. I would just like to refer to your 5th point: Currently, there is no communist party in Poland with a seat or more than 37 thousand something votes. Although the SLD party which I believe you are talking about is considered the successive party from the Polish People’s Party, it is very reformist, more than what happened during the Perestroika in USSR, and it’s policies are no longer considered anywhere near communist, just slightly socialist. All in all, the SLD is a centre-left pro-european party with small traces of socialism, probably only stretching as far as being Pro-worker than pro-employer, but nothing major.
Poland is a capitalist country where talk of communism is largely taboo (especially in my area, one of the starting sites for union movements) and traces of communism only trace as far as quite heavy bureaucracy that can be considered to push away some businesses, especially ones to do with the environment. In my area the hate of communism spreads as far as removing public-financed institutions, and in the Polish government privatization is largely welcomed and wins votes. Taxing the rich is not something discussed in Poland, nor is helping the poor, but some compassion is also left from socialism. This may be perhaps because wealth inequality in Poland is very, very low compared to other Western nations with only three people in Poland being richer than $1bn. dollars, and poverty rates in Poland are comparable to counterparts in the west, much lower than other countries who also were under communism at some point.
Overall, I would just like to exclaim that communism in Poland (or my area) is extremely unwelcome and so is socialism, so I believe that argument is purely based on the fact that Poland was once a communist state, not it’s peoples.
I have to agree with your 3rd point though. There is a very large disparity over people considering themselves Catholic and those who actually practice Catholicism, and it can be said that Catholicism is more of a tradition and culture in Poland rather than an actual religion. Although the census is at 91% Catholicism, some sources go as high as claiming a 44% Atheism in Poland, which shouldn’t be hard to believe considering all nations around us are very atheist-heavy, and looking at the fact that although there is a clear catholic majority, liberal-conservative issues such as abortion and euthanasia seem to be divisive around the half-half mark, which is quite contrary to what many people would believe Poland actually is, such as a religious utopia. It’s also worth noting that Poland, officially, has no state religion and religion rights are very liberal in Poland with heavy discrimination fines, making sure that minorities don’t get a worse-off treatment, and unfortunately this goes as far as the Polish government having to legally consider the Flying Spaghetti Monster (heard of it?) an official, state-recognized religion due to it’s constitution.
Another point about religion could be worth nothing as the rise of a political party called “Your Move” (Twoj Ruch in Polish) which is a liberal and heavily anti-clerical party, which gained quite heavy votes becoming the 4th biggest party in Poland, despite the controversial subject of Poland being a Catholic nation.
Thanks for the good read though, hope to see more!
Thanks for the detailed response. I was trying to communicate my impressions to people who hadn’t been to Poland, but it’s even better having the perspective of people who have lived there too.
I would just like to add a brainless and off-topic comment to this scintillating and worthy conversation. It’s this:
I LOVE Polish men! They are (generally speaking) sincere, quiet, gentlemanly, intelligent, manly but sweet. Please can more of you emmigrate to Ireland? Please!
Good article but the funny thing is that a lot of Poles regard Americans as dumb.
That’s true. We also regard that Americans(US) are fat.
You are right! If we are talking about the stereotypes I must say you are right. I am Polish, I visited the States and I also worked there for almost two years. And you know what? I still have this stereotype in my mind.
Maybe it’s because I worked as a waiter, or a casino dealer and I didn’t have any chance to talk with students, with educated people. Most of the time they were immigrants from Mexico. It was also kind a hard for me to make jokes with those people – this is what the article says. Language and culture differences does not make you dumb. BUT – the stereotype is still there:)
I didn’t want to offend anyone, I just wanted to admit that this stereotype exists. At least in my mind and in minds of my friends that I was with in the States.
Nah, not true. NASA, Silicon Valey, scientists and all the research and tech – surely nor dumb. Maybe (some, few) people with no education say that just to boost their egos, but that’s it.
Yes Mike, USA have all of that, but you also have to realize that USA has 8 times bigger population than Poland, so it may be possible that there is more uneducated people in States than in Poland overall.
Secondly, USA has far more better means to develope and do any kind of scientific research. Random american highschool is better equipped than leading polish universities.
And I’ll never forget, how after USA lost to Poland in beach volleyball during London Olimpics, internet was full of comments like ” how could we lost?! Poland doesn’t even has access to sea?!?!” etc. and it wasn’t single comment, and couldn’t they just look for a second at a map? seriously, that do not help fighting any stereotypes.
Thank you so much for writing this article. I think you described the Poles pretty well. I still remember how much it sting when upon finding out that I was Polish a guy told me in anger that “we” were the ones responsible for killing all his people. At the moment I was too dumbfounded to respond, but it hurt me to think that not only was this country destroyed during WW2, its people killed off (Jews & Poles alike),sold off, and oppressed for decades by communism… Now our reputation has is being systematically tarnished. I remember the frustration and hurt I felt. I am not saying that anti-semitism does not exist, I am sure it does to some degree… I will not elaborate my thoughts on this as it would require pages and pages of analysis… But I will say that Jews and Poles lived side by side for centuries until WW2. And we Poles lost a big part of “us” when we lost our Jewish neighboors.
There’s nothing more anti-semitic than jewish teenager urinating on death camp’s barrack where thousands of his fellow people died.
http://i.imgur.com/NCk42ed.jpg
Don’t they ever smile?
I believe there is some merit in that. But it is also not that simple. I find this somehow funny because it is not easy for us as well. So this point if taken from polish point of view could be: Don’t they ever mean their smile?
When I started to work in multinational company, I was warned by ppl who had some more experience:
When someone smiles to you it doesn’t mean a thing!!! When someone is kind to you it doesn’t mean a thing!!! When someone treats you with reverence, which in Poland is usually reserved for good friends, ppl you really like it also doesn’t mean a thing!!! It is just the way they behave and usually there is nothing behind this except of casual behaviour.
All and all. When I meat you and smile I am really happy to see you. If I don’t it doesn’t mean a thing.
So I think it is definitely cultural issue. Hitler doesn’t have anything to do with it. We are not so WW2 abscessed as it may seems. Trust me I dont think about WW2 the moment I wake up.
Anyway, thanks for great post
Please correct point 3. According to Institute of Statistics of the Catholic Church 60.8% of poles describes themselves as catholic Source (translated to English) http://goo.gl/J9cZLp
As a Pole, I must say this article is very accurate.
Thank you for your article! I just wanted to point out one thing regarding #6 that not many people I’ve spoken to realize. It also helps to understand why we’re so angry hearing about “Polish antisemitism”.
There was actually very good reason why Nazi concentration camps were located in Poland: we had the biggest Jewish community in the world – at the end of 16th century, approx 80% of entire Jewish population have lived in Poland. And the reason for this? – from 13th century, Poland was the only country in the Europe that not only did not persecute Jews but also had legislation that guaranteed them religious freedom. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR JEWS IN POLAND IN TIMES, WHEN INQUISITION WAS DOING ITS WORST IN REST OF EUROPE! That’s why Jews banished from Germany (1346), Austria (1420), Spain (1492), Portugal (1497), France (1394), Kiev (1886), Moscow (1891), Hungary (1349-1526 and 1686-1740) ended up in Poland.
One more bare fact at the end: in Yad Vashem institute, on the list of Righteous Among the Nations (people who risked their lives to save Jews during Holocaust), there are 6394 Poles out of 25291 names – biggest number among any other nations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Righteous_among_the_Nations_by_country#By_country_and_ethnic_origin
Thanks for that. And yes, it’s true, the reason the worst of it happened in Poland is because Poland was far more tolerant.
I come from Poland, sorry for my english.
This is one of the worst country in Europe.
Sallary for Java programmer – 600$/month.
Most people earn in Poland about 400-500$/month.
Most of the people working on junk-contracts, they can be fired ad hoc.
Renting an apartment costs here 400$/month.
How to easily calculate most people do not deposited any money.
Around 1 000 000 Poles working abroad to feed his family.
30% of people thinking about leaving the country.
If you do not pay income tax you have to make < 80$/month.
Ouch…Eastern Europe has had some serious challenges…I wish I could say it’ll all be fine someday, but we’ll see.
Actually average salary in Poland is about 850$. But, you know, we Poles love complaining about everything. :P There was even a campaign promoting Poland abroad called “Poland. Come and complain.” https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCHGIzPhbnbhJVwPYJu5tSqw
PS. We’re in Central Europe ;)
Great article, but one thing – there’s no such thing as Pope’s TV channel in Poland. I know that some websites often repeat this information in similar articles but believe me, it’s completely untrue :)