Thread: How did both economic and religious factors contribute to polish immigration? How was the Polish influence in?

How did both economic and religious factors contribute to polish immigration? How was the Polish influence in America similar to that of other ? New Immigrants? such as the Italians How was it different?

It depends on which time period you're referring to. There was a large influx of Poles into America in the early 1900s and later on during the 70s and 80s.

In the early 1900s, it was essentially because of the same reason for which all the other immigrants came: America was the land of opportunity. Before World War I, Poland didn't even exist on the map as it was partitioned in the 18th century by Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Only until the early 20th century was the opportunity to immigrate available for the more common people, and by this time almost every Pole hated that their country was run by three different entities.

As for the later-20th century influx, Poland had been subjected to Soviet occupation at the hands of the USSR after World War II. Until the Solidarity movement in the late 1980s, many Polish people fled from their occupied homeland in order to escape their Communist oppressors under Joseph Stalin and all of his successors. Under Communist control, the Polish economy suffered greatly, and religion was basically suspended.

Take what similarities you can see from this. Lots of people were oppressed, and America promised them a new, freer home. As for differences, I'm not as familiar with other ethnicities as I am with the Polish.

What time period are you talking about?
I'll assume that it was during Communism:

So, the economic conditions in Poland were very harsh during that period. Many people escaped Poland in search of the "American Dream" = to make a decent living, and to share it with their family back home.
During Communism, religion was technically legal, but no state officials or anyone who wanted a better position was allowed to be a member of the Church.
Pope John Paul II also had much influence on the people, and eventually government.

At the beginning, Italians and other Southern Europeans were looked down upon and there even existed racism against them. Stereotypes have been developed about them that are still widely known today, and this is also true of Polish people. Like many other immigrant groups, they lived in their own communities, often self-sustainable (with enough institutions that one could move about freely without learning English).

Hope this helps!

very carefullly