Polish Tatars: A Dash of Orient in the
Homogeneous Polish Society
Katarzyna JĘDRZEJCZYK-KULINIAK
Dr., The General Tadeusz Kosciusko Military Academy of Land Forces,
Department of National Security Affairs
T
Summary
his paper presents the Tatars as a unique ethnic and cultural
group which can be a bridge between the world of Islam and
Christianity. The context of functioning of Muslims within
Christian communities gains particular significance in the age of
globalization, when the threat of religious fundamentalism of Muslim nature is real. Poles perceive this group as their own, rooted in
the tradition, as opposed to migrant followers of Islam. This may
be due to the fact that the Tatars have been living in Polish territories for 600 years. This group is considered to be one of the oldest
sedentary Muslim groups in Europe. The Polish Tatars, due to their
customs and rites, have preserved their sense of religious separateness. Their vivid Muslim tradition enriches the Polish culture, introducing a special element of mystery and Orient. The Tatar culture is relatively unknown, yet it is unquestionably very interesting.
Today, approx. 5 thousand Tatars are living in Poland, although
377
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
official records significantly underestimate these data. Most of them
are concentrated around the Muslim Religious Union in Poland
and the Union of Tatars of the Republic of Poland. For the centuries
of their presence in the Polish-Lithuanian lands, Tatars have been
creating the image of Islam as an unorthodox religion. The Tatar
identity is intertwined with the Muslim identity and inseparably
connected with it. However, this in no way collides with their functioning in the Polish society. The Tatars consider themselves Polish
citizens in a broad meaning of this word, attached to their country,
not only through institutional bonds by also through the sense of
common culture and the memory of the common history. The attachment to tradition and defense of religious values allows Muslim
societies to preserve the sense of separateness. The form of a given
culture depends on the adopted system of values, what is considered
to be the core values, what are the relations between values, and,
above all, what place is determined for the spheres of the sacred
and the profane, and, as a consequence, for religion in the culture.
On the other hand, religion is a certain division of a given culture.
Simultaneously, it is something going beyond the culture, especially
by enriching the view of the world and human with supernatural
elements, through showing the context of human life, its goal. The
modern identity is constantly subject to various redefinitions due
to the lack of unambiguous and durable value models. A notion
of identity crisis, relativization of identity models occurs. It can be
observed in boundary situations between two worlds, two cultures,
or in view of invasion of a strange culture. Such situations can cause
a tendency for a sharpened sense of identity, for search thereof, and
often for its crisis and decomposition. This article fits into a broader
discussion, so strongly accented in modern Europe, concerning familiarity and strangeness, the place of religion in the social system,
and construction of identity on the basis of religious values; the
ongoing discussion of who should be considered an European, who
is worthy of this name, and who will be treated as a stranger. Will
otherness, manifested through religious belonging, always mean
strangeness? Finally, the presented content tries to emphasize the
necessity to protect the tradition and customs as the elements ensuring cultural safety of specific groups, which is significant in the
aspect of the complex, pluralist reality of the age of globalization,
due to which we can observe a tendency to homogenize cultural
patterns.
378
Polonyalı Tatarlar: Homojen Polonya
Toplumunda Bir Tutam Doğu
I
Özet
şbu makale, İslam ve Hıristiyanlık dünyası arasındaki bir köprü olabilen Tatarları eşsiz etno-kültürel grubu olarak göstermektedir. Hıristiyan topluluklar arasındaki Müslümanların
yaşam bağlamı, küreselleşen bir dünyada özel bir önem kazanır
çünkü İslam dininin köktendincilik tehdidi bir gerçektir. Söz konusu grup, Polonyalılar tarafından geleneklere uyum göstermiş ve
göç eden Müslümanların aksine kendi grubu olarak görülür. Belki
de bu etki Tatarların Polonya topraklarında 600 yıldır yaşadıklarından kaynaklanmaktadır. Bahsedilen grup, Avrupa’ya yerleşen en
eski gruplardan biri olarak kabul edilir. Polonyalı Tatarlar adetler ve
gelenekler sayesinde din farklılığının bilincini korumuştur. Canlı
İslami gelenekleri Polonya kültürünün içine gizemlilik ve Orient
parçasını katarak onu zenginleştirir. Tatar kültürü çok az bilinen bir
kültürdür ama şüphesiz çok ilginçtir. Bugünlerde Polonya’da yaklaşık 5 bin Tatar yaşamakta fakat resmi nüfus sayımına göre işbu
379
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
veriler daha düşük olarak gösterilmektedir. Bunların çoğu Polonya
Müslümanları Birliği ve Polonyalı Tatarlar Birliği’nde toplanmaktadır. Yüzyıllardır Polonya-Litvanya topraklarındaki Ortodoks olmayan bir din olarak İslam’ın imajını Tatarlar oluşturmuştur. Tatar
kimliği, Müslüman kimliği ile karışır ve onunla ayrılmaz bir şekilde
bağlantılıdır. Ancak, hiçbir şekilde Polonya toplumunun içinde yaşamı engelleyemez. Tatarlar, bu sözcüğün geniş anlamıyla, kendilerini Polonya vatandaşları olarak görür, sadece kurumsal bağları ile
değil, ama ortak kültürel topluluk duygusu ve ortak tarih hatıralarıyla kendi ülkelerine bağlıdırlar. Geleneğe bağlılık, dini değerleri
koruması, Müslüman toplumların farklılık duygusunun korunmasını sağlamaya yardımcı olur. Bir kültürün şekli, kabul edilen değer
sistemine, ana değerler olarak görülen şeylere, değerler arasındaki
belirlenen ilişkilere ve öncellikle sacrum ve profanum âleminde ayıran yerlere, dolayısıyla kültürde dine ayıran yere bağlıdır. Öte yandan, din bir kültürün belirli bir bölümüdür.
Aynı zamanda insan yaşamı ve amacına bağlamını göstererek, olağanüstü unsurların dünyaya ve insana bakış açısı ile kültür ötesinde
bir şeydir. Çağdaş kimlik, net ve sabit değer kalıpları olmadığından
sürekli yeniden tanımlanmasına tabidir. Kimlik krizi, kimlik modellerinin relativizesi kavramı ortaya çıkar. İki alem, iki kültür veya
yabancı kültürün istilası arasında durumlarda görülür. Bunun gibi
durumlar, aşırı kimlik duygusu, kimlik keşfi, kimlik krizi veya çürümesi gibi eğilimlerine neden olabilir. İşbu makale çağdaş Avrupa’da
aşırı derecede vurgulanan yakınlık ve yabancılık, sosyal sisteminde din yeri ve dini değerlerine dayalı kimlik oluşturması ile ilgili
geniş bakış açıları içerir. Avrupalı kim sayılır, Avrupalı sıfatı kime
ait, yabancı olarak kim kabul edilecektir? Başka bir dine mensup
olmakla açığa çıkmak her zaman yabancılıkla alakalıdır? Son olarak
makalede sunulan fikirler, kültür modellerinin homojenik yapma
eğilimlerine neden olan karmaşık küreselleşme çağının plüralist gerçekliği açısından önemli olan, belirli grupların kültür güvencesini
sağlama parçası olarak gelenek ve göreneklerini koruma ihtiyacını
vurgulamaya çalışır.
380
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
Introduction
The modern world experiences an increasing problem of relations between the
Western and the Islamic civilization, which is clearly expressed by scholarly studies and media messages alike. Various questions arise, concerning, among others,
the nature of Islam as a religious and social system, its reformability, as well as
inter-cultural relations. In the sea of questions concerning the issue of coexistence of members of both civilizations in Europe, a strongly emphasized are the
differences and violence in mutual relations, supported with examples of action
of Islamic fundamentalists or immigrants of Islamic origin in Europe. Islam is
still perceived as a hostile element, strange to the Western culture. Yet it is worth
taking a look at the history of many centuries of peaceful coexistence of Muslims
and Christians in Poland to draw a conclusion that understanding between these
two groups is possible, and the so-called “war of civilizations” is not the only one,
inevitable scenario of relations. The Muslims of Tatar descent, despite being an
exotic cultural element, are a minority permanently connected with the Polish
history and tradition. They can constitute a peculiar platform of understanding
between civilizations, showing the tradition of multiculturalism and tolerance
which had characterized the Polish lands for centuries.
The former territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth used to be a
cultural mosaic. Beside Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, Greeks,
Armenians, Germans and Karaites, they were also inhabited by the Tatars1. Historically, the beginnings of their settlement go back to the era of Grand Duke
Vytautas. The first to mention the Tatars in his chronicle was Jan Długosz, mentioning the year of 1397 as the beginning of their settling in the Lithuanian territory. However, constant settlement, confirmed by land bestowals by the dukes,
only began at the turn of the 14th and 15th century. Afterwards, in the period
of emigration, lasting several centuries, Tatar villages (often inhabited until the
present day) have been developed in the territory of the modern-day borderland of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Later, successive Polish kings would bring
this valiant people for the purpose of military service under the colours of the
Commonwealth from as far away as the Golden Horde, the Volga khanates and
Crimea, granting them the privilege of erecting wooden mosques and organizing
pilgrimages to the holy places of Islam: Mecca and Medina. The Tatars, having
become subjects of the Polish king, formed their own military forces and fought
in every major war of Poland against the Teutonic Order, Sweden, Russia, and
even Turkey2. In the later period, they had also moved to the Crown territories,
becoming not only warriors but also tanners, horse breeders and Cartwrights, due
to which these professions became associated with the Muslim minority.
1
2
See: Piotr Borkowski, Aleksander Dubiński, Tatarzy polscy. Dzieje, obrzędy, legendy, tradycje, Warszawa,
Wydawnictwo Iskry, 1986, pp. 5-23.
Ali Miśkiewicz, Tatarzy polscy u schyłku naszego stulecia. Na pograniczu dwóch tożsamości, in: Maria
Bobrownicka (ed.) Symbioza kultur słowiańskich i niesłowiańskich w Europie Środkowej, Kraków, TAiWPN
Universitas, 1996, p. 256.
381
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
The reason why the Tatars settled in Polish and Lithuanian lands was their
search for peace and escape from religious persecution encountered by the Muslim minority in Europe, especially in the territories controlled by Muscovy, later
Russia. Although Poles considered their country to be the bulwark of Christianity
in the struggle against the crescent, they accepted the newcomers, initially different in terms of both culture and language. The Tatars have been connected with
the history of Poland for more than 600 years and they are considered to be the
oldest Muslim minority living in Europe3, which is unquestionably unusual.
During World War II, the Tatars suffered the same repressions as the Polish
nation, both from the Soviet and the German invaders. After the war, the Polish Tatars found themselves in a new situation, as their largest settlements had
remained outside the borders of the reborn country. Therefore, some of them,
along with their Polish neighbours, migrated to the so-called Recovered Lands4.
Other localities inhabited by the Tatars were incorporated into Lithuania and
Belarus, hindering the contacts. Only a handful of Tatar villages has remained
on the Polish side of the border. And it is there, among the wooden mosques of
Bohoniki and Kruszyniany, where the traditional culture of the Polish Tatars is
enshrined. Others, cut off from their kindred in the east, started to dissolve in
the sea of the Poles.
Fig. 1. Distribution of the population of Tatar origin in Poland in 1990
Source: Ali Miśkiewicz, Legenda tatarska. Tatarzy polscy 1945-1990, Białystok, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza 1993.
3
4
382
Tomasz Marciniak, “A survey of Muslim minorities in Poland”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Oct 97,
Vol. 17 Issue 2, p. 353.
See: Marzenna Giedrojć, Małgorzata Mieczkowska, Janusz Mieczkowski, Stosunki wyznaniowe i etniczne w
Polsce. Wybrane zagadnienia, Szczecin, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego 2003, p. 313
and others.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
Because the Tatars had settled predominantly in the territories of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, they were called the Lithuanian Tatars until late 19th century. It was only in the inter-war period when this people started to be referred to
as the Polish Tatars, which is substantiated, since most of them had few in common with the Lithuanian population, as they had adopted the Polish culture and,
over time, the language as well5.
The effort to assimilate with the Slavic environment in every area of life, as
well as the everyday life itself and functioning in the Slavic environment, entailed
the equally quick language assimilation. The Tatars have completely embraced
the Polish language and script. Tatar language, being a mixture of Arabic, Turkish
and Persian, proved useless in the new reality and quickly fell into disuse. This
was also the case with Arabic which, however, remained vivid in the lithurgy
and is considered a sacred language by most Tatars. But knowledge of Arabic
applies to few people as well, although the interest in this language has been
revived in recent years, especially in the context of study of the Quran. Certain
language specificity is revealed in case of religious literature. Manuscripts known
as kitabs are an example of syncretism. They were mostly written in Polish and
the Polish-Belorussian dialect using the Arabic script adapted for rendering of
Slavic languages, as a sign of respect to the language of the religion. They relate
predominantly to religious issues – doctrinal, ritual and moralistic. Kitabs used to
convey fragments of the Quran, hadiths, tales of prophets, and detailed rules of
the Islamic law to the Polish Muslims, concerning the matters most important to
every believer6. Kitabs were rare, owned by few Muslims in Poland and Lithuania.
Currently, they are not copied by hand nor printed; those which have survived
until today are of historic value.
Tatar Identity
Religion is what still distinguishes the Tatars from the Polish society. It is the
central element defining the cultural system of Islam. Religious dogmas are the
source of a system of values binding a given community, determining the character of moral, ethical, legal norms or the ideology. In traditional Islam, religion
permeates all spheres of social life. Islam plays a significant organizing and integrating role for the circle of worshippers. It also has a powerful tool in classification and evaluation of new social phenomena. It is able to explain the occurring
processes and acts as protection of the identity. On the other hand, it provides
a sense of permanence and constancy, caring for preservation of traditions of
groups of people or determining the moral principles.
5
6
More on this subject: Aleksander Miśkiewicz and Janusz Kamocki, Tatarzy słowiańszczyzną obłaskawieni,
Kraków, Universitas, 2004, pp. 89-98.
Encyklopedia religii PWN, Vol. 5. Warszawa, Wydawnictwo PWN, 2002.
383
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
The sense of belonging to a community due to worship of the same religion
and sharing of the same system of values is one of the strongest collective bonds.
These bonds are subject to various processes, the identity of individuals is put
to the test, especially in periods of war turmoil or great social changes, like the
overwhelming globalization.
The form of a given culture depends on the adopted system of values, on
what is considered to be the core values, what are the relations between values,
and, above all, what place is determined for the spheres of the sacred and the
profane, and, as a consequence, for religion in culture7. Religion can be treated as
a certain division of a given culture. Relations between religion and culture can
be observed in all civilizations. As noticed by Erich Fromm: “There was no such
culture in the past, and – as it seems – there cannot be such a culture in the future,
which would not have any religion8.” Therefore, culture is the property of a given
collective. It is a certain entirety, consisting of numerous behaviours derived from
attitudes, values and knowledge, allowing to distinguish some groups of people
from others. It is a system of identification of individuals, performing an integrating function, resulting in objective results in the form of specific behaviours and
perceptions of reality. Religion, naturally striving to encompass the entire society with its influence, provides safety to members of the community. Although
the processes of secularization have pushed religion out of many areas of social
life, they still were unable to substitute for the moralistic aspect of its message.
Considering the essence of culture, one can point out its simplest components.
Researchers universally include the following forms of phenomena among them:
material objects constituting products and objects of human activity, activities
themselves and psychological states of humans (attitudes, behaviour patterns,
habits)9. This shows that the scope of the terms “socio-cultural phenomenon”
and “cultural fact” is quite wide. They include:
Permanent cultural products: both material and immaterial, including
ideas and ideals of a given community;
Norms and models. Norms are understood as legal or customarily substantiated and binding rules and principles determining an individual’s behaviour, and models as sets of advocated principles of human behaviour;
Behaviours, constituting largely reflections of the binding norms and
models, different for various human collectives;
Customs treated as behaviour models recognized in a given community10.
7
8
9
10
384
Zofia J. Zdybicka, Urszula SJK, Religia a kultura, in: Henryk Zimoń (ed.) Religia w świecie współczesnym.
Zarys problematyki religioznawczej, Lublin, Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, 2000, p. 168.
Erich Fromm, Szkice z psychologii religii, Warszawa, Książka i Wiedza, 1966, p. 134.
Antonina Kłoskowska, Socjologia kultury, Warszawa PWN, 1981, p. 34.
Janusz Gajda, Antropologia kulturowa. Część I. Wprowadzenie do wiedzy o kulturze, Toruń, Wyd. Adam
Marszałek, 2005, p. 15.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
In case of the Tatar community, values derived from religious sources are
considered most important for the functioning of the group, stressing its uniqueness and distinctness, they are an azimuth determining the directions of action.
Traditional religious systems in the past, but currently as well, are the only ones
to have ethical tools enabling individuals to determine their place in the changing reality. The ethics of great religions not only explain the origin of good or evil
but also give meaning to the life of believers. Through clear message and a determined system of values, it builds a sense of safety in a changing world. However,
attachment to the religious tradition can result in attitudes of dissonance and
mismatch with the requirements of the culture of the global world. Globalization
is an area in which local attempts at discovery of authentic socio-cultural bonds
are revealed, constituting reactions of people to occurring changes, which is an
attempt to find safe harbour in the restless and inconsistent world.
Religion is also a peculiar repository enshrining norms and values; moreover,
it is one of the criteria of identity. The identity of the Polish Tatars is based on
three mutually connected and intertwined components. According to Katarzyna
Warmińska11, they include: ‘Muslimness’ (the religious aspect of identity), ‘Tatarness’ (the ethnic aspect of identity), and ‘Polishness’ (the national aspect of
identity). Of the three identity components, it is religion that seems to be the
strongest cement allowing the Tatars to preserve their separateness and to resist
total assimilation. However, it should be stressed here that the category of “Muslimness”, apart from religious character, often has the ethnic or cultural character
as well.
Fig. 2. Types of the Muslim identity
ethnic Muslims – cultural Muslims – religious Muslims – non-Muslims
Source: Konrad Pędziwiatr, Od islamu imigrantów do islamu obywateli, Kraków,
Nomos, 2005, p. 44.
11
See: Katarzyna Warmińska, Tatarzy polscy. Tożsamość religijna i etniczna, Kraków, Universitas, 1999.
385
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
A group of persons whose individual identities are most loosely connected
with Islam can be defined as ethnic Muslims. This category includes persons who
do not practice Islam but come from Muslim families, bear names belonging to
the tradition of the Arab-Muslim world, and identify themselves with the tradition to a certain extent. Although such people have certain Muslim cultural competences, these are limited to basic elements of Islam, connected with the culture
of a specific ethnic group. On the other hand, cultural Muslims, compared with
the ethnic ones, reveal a higher degree of internalization of Islamic cultural traditions. Although they do not observe religious rules, their individual identity is
related more strongly to religion than in case of the ethnic Muslims. The predominant reference system, determining the perception of the world, contacts
with one’s own group and other groups, sharing of essential symbols, metaphors
and meanings originating from Islam, is the so-called Muslim symbolic universe.
Religious Muslims are a group of persons characterized by a strong sense of belonging to the Muslim community (ummah). They observe religious rules and
prohibitions in everyday life. They are just a part of a larger group of people identifying themselves as Muslims. Therefore, not all Muslims are uniformly religious
and attached to their tradition. However, in all these groups, Islam remains a
reference system, either in the sphere of tradition, culture, or religion.
The religious identification of Muslims themselves is a quite complex matter.
The concept of a Muslim brings specific connotations connected not only with
the faith but also with the culture or the social, historical or ideological context
of the Islamic world. Being a Muslim means remaining faithful to the rites and
fulfilment of essential obligations. The sense of Muslim identity also requires
identification with the worldwide community of the faithful, which is fostered
today by cell phones and the Internet, along with many community portals for
Muslims. Thus, determination of the Muslim identity is not easy, as each more
or less conscious choice may lead to disregarding or breaking of the values recognized by a group or an individual. A dissonance often occurs at the line between
tradition and modernity.
Cultural Values
Religion, sense of communion with all believers, also serves the purpose of recreation of the Tatar identity; its values and the collective identity constructed
on its basis are of autotelic nature. These cultural values determine the general
rules of interaction of collective life, namely, are binding to all actors of the social
life. Creating a social bond between members of a collective, they also impact
the sense of collective identity, when this collective comes into interactions with
other communities12. Cultural values are not created or modified by individuals,
12
386
Andrzej Flis, Chrześcijaństwo i Europa. Studia z dziejów cywilizacji Zachodu, Kraków, Nomos, 2001, p. 17.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
therefore, they can exist even when some members of the society reject them en
masse, as is the case with a part of Tatars today, when these three components
of identity are subject to negotiation in a situation of crisis, change, unstability,
characterizing the post-modern world. In the hierarchy of values, a prominent
place is held by religious ones. Sacred values are attributed to God, divinities,
certain natural or social phenomena. People express the feeling of supreme reverence towards sacred values and attribute highest evaluations to them. They are
supreme values which, being permanently included in the human nature, are
incomparable with any other values13.
Values perform specific functions in collectives. Above all, they serve as a
criterion for choice of aspirations of the entire society. Every society follows a
specific ideal of collective life. The values determining this ideal may be more
or less attractive to a given culture. They function as a standard of integration of
an individual with the society14. Janusz Sztumski and Stanisław Czajka say that
a function of the system of values is an integrating function15. In their sociocultural environment, people have a choice between various systems of values,
whereas choice of one of them integrates a human with a group which follows the
same system. Moreover, cultural values perform control functions with regard to
the members of a given collective. The system and hierarchy of values characterize
every culture. They depend on the historical past, national traditions creating a
given culture, socio-economic conditions, interpersonal and ownership relations,
the system of exercise of authority. Under conditions of quick social, political and
economic changes, new values are developed, and those previously existing gain
a new dimension or are subject to processes of destabilization. The change affects
not only individual values but entire value systems as well.
Islam is one of the revealed religions based on holy books, one of the three
monotheist religions also known as Abrahamic religions. Paradoxically, this religion is closest to the Western world. One can talk about both geographic and
ideological closeness. Despite this closeness, Islam is the religion which is hardest
to grasp for the West; many stereotypes and prejudices have grown around Islam
and its followers. Religious thinking, evaluation, practicing, as well as religious
13
14
15
One of the best known hierarchies of values was given by Max Scheler. It is a universal model, based on
what is permanent in a human and simultaneously covering all aspects of human activity. Going from
the lowest value to the highest one, Scheler has distinguished four levels. The principle of division are the
following features: duration (durable values are better than passing ones), range (determining how many
people can participate in a given value without diminishing it), independence (a higher value is never a
base for a lower one), depth of satisfaction (the fuller the value is experienced, the higher it is). Utilizing
these criteria, Scheler presented the following hierarchy of values: sensual, utilitarian, vital, spiritual,
and religious (absolute). See: Zbigniew Kuderowicz, Scheler – personalizm etyczny, in: Bronisław Baczko,
Filozofia i socjologia XX w. cz. II, Warszawa, Wiedza Powszechna, 1965, pp. 331-333; Piotr Brzozowski,
Skala Wartości Schelerowskich – SWS. Podręcznik, Warszawa, Pracownia Testów Psychologicznych PTP,
1995.
Czesław Matusewicz, Psychologia wartości, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo PWN, 1975, p. 43.
Stanisław Czajka, Janusz Sztumski, Zarys socjologii przemysłu, Wrocław, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich
1977, pp. 64-65.
387
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
institutions perform an important culture-creating role for the world of Islam.
From the system of beliefs and the ethics resulting from it, believers draw their
identity, which is especially significant in the context of the globally occurring
economic, political and cultural changes. From its very beginning, Islam has been
a religion competitive towards Christianity. It might be so because a Christian
usually reduces his religious sensations to inner experiences. Christianity is understood above all as an ethical attitude manifesting itself in love for the others
and moral decency. Sometimes, this faith is expressed in social activity. The Muslim religion, on the other hand, encompasses the entirety of social and private life
of human beings, extending its influences into politics, economy, science, family,
etc. A ready model and recipe is provided for everything. Therefore, Islam is a
religion of public, not inner life. A Muslim stands before God alone, without any
intermediaries, but as a member of a community, and the community saves him.
Therefore, Islam can be described as a total religion, encompassing everything
connected with activity of both an individual and a group. Religion performs an
explanatory function, allows individuals to understand the surrounding reality,
and thanks to functioning in a community, makes them more resistant to unknown situations. Islam is an all-encompassing religion and this is also the nature
of the right derived from it – the sharia.
The Sense of Tatarness
The Polish Tatars profess Sunni (majority) Islam, but it is a specific form of Islam,
which is often far from the Islamic orthodoxy. The Tatar religious tradition includes, above all, those ritual activities which are connected with the cycle of human life – birth, death, marriage, as well as prayers and holidays. For the Tatars,
Muslim holidays not only have the worship character but are also a confirmation
of their cultural separateness, manifesting of their attachment to the tradition, a
proof of having a face of their own. Polish Tatars still celebrate so-called bajrams,
i.e. holidays strictly connected with the Islamic calendar. The most important
Islamic holidays are Kurban-Bajram – the Sacrifice Feast, and Ramadan-Bajram
– the Feast of Breaking the Fast16. These feasts serve, above all, integration of
the Muslim community, as for the holiday time, the Tatars usually gather in Bohoniki. They pray together, visit cemeteries, and in the evening, they organize
pompous Tatar balls, which are not gender-segregated and alcohol is sometimes
served, although this is not universally approved and meets condemnation, especially from the older generation. The moral freedom and the will to spend time
with music, during loud parties, are treated as a departure from the faith and
condemned by Muslims of Arab descent, living in Poland but unrelated to the
Tatar community.
16
388
Aleksander Miśkiewicz and Janusz Kamocki, op.cit., pp. 190-192.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
The Christian environment, as well as the preservation of relics of shamanic
beliefs going back to the pre-Islamic times, impacted the simplification of rituals
and giving them a syncretic character. For instance, Tatars have already abandoned circumcision, they remain monogamous, and graves at a mizar, a Muslim
cemetery, resemble Christian ones. Tatar tombstones, always facing Mecca, differ
from the Christian ones only with a star and crescent symbol at the top of the
sepulchral stele as well as Arabic inscriptions placed on it near the Polish ones. On
some Tatar graves, there are photographs of the deceased, which is already a very
clear departure from the principles of Islam, prohibiting anthropomorphism.
Moreover, apart from Islamic holidays, the Polish Tatars also celebrate certain
Christian holidays, or rather their external symptoms. This includes painting eggs
for Easter, while for Christmas, a Christmas tree often appears at homes.
In the area of orthopraxy, the Polish Tatars differ from most Muslims as well.
Although the Quran allows polygamy and having of four wives, it has never been
practiced among the Polish Tatars – they always used to have one wife. Women
were never required to cover their faces with veils. There is gender equality, and
women at the head of religious communities are not uncommon17. Although the
Polish Tatars accept all religious dogmas18, they treat the pillars of Islam (creed
– shahada, fasting in the month of Ramadan – sawm, five daily prayers – salat,
almsgiving – zakat, and pilgrimage to Mecca – hajj) quite liberally. This applies in
particular to the prayer. The Tatars only pray on Friday (a holy day for Muslims),
as well as during Ramadan and holidays. Regarding fasting, the Tatars observe it
differently than most Muslims. Only small groups of people observe the requirement of total abstinence from food and drinking in the period from sunrise to
sunset. Others avoid participation in parties and entertainment events in this
period.
Every Muslim is obliged to give charity, which, apart from almsgiving treated as a religious duty, also includes the voluntary almsgiving – sadaka. From
this word comes the Tatar custom known as sadoga, consisting in distribution of
sweets and confection on great holidays or during important events (weddings,
funerals) to all people attending the ceremony. On the other hand, the pilgrimage to Mecca, for practical reasons, is often replaced by a journey to the tombs of
Polish fellow worshippers considered to be saints. Some influence of Christianity
can be seen here, as there is no veneration of saints or adoration of tombs in the
traditional Sunni Islam19.
17
18
19
See: A. Miśkiewicz, J. Kamocki, op.cit., pp. 136-138.
The essential religious dogmas are: the belief in one God, angels, prophets – from Adam to Muhammad,
the belief in holy books – the Torah, the Bible, the Quran, and the belief in afterlife – Last Judgment, hell
and paradise.
Marek M. Dziekan, Historia i tradycje polskiego islamu, in: Anna Parzymies (ed.) Muzułmanie w Europie,
Warszawa, Dialog, 2005, pp. 207-215.
389
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
For six hundred years of their presence in the Polish-Lithuanian lands, the
Tatars had been establishing the image of Islam as an unorthodox religion full of
European influences. Among others, they have established the Muslim Religious
Union in Poland, which used to be the only Muslim organization in Poland
before World War II, and today most of its members are Tatars. The Union is
headed by Mufti Tomasz Miśkiewicz, hailing from this community. According
to its statute, the Muslim Religious Union in Poland is a religious organization
independent from any national or foreign authorities. A member of the Union
may be every citizen of Poland who follows Islam and every Muslim holding a
permanent residence card in the Republic of Poland. The Union may exercise
religious care over foreign Muslims temporarily staying in Poland. Approx. 5
thousand Tatars live in the territory of present-day Poland, as estimated by the
Tatars themselves20. They inhabit Tatar colonies in the Białystok Region and are
also present in Pomerania, Greater Poland, Silesia and Mazovia. Most of them
self-identify as Poles – in the census of 2002, only 500 people declared to be of
Tatar nationality. This can be explained by their social identity, complex in the
ethno-cultural aspect, reflected in the name of the group, which is used by some
of its members as self-description – Polish Muslim Tatar21. On the other hand,
the Polish Tatars are characterized by a relic form of ‘ethno-citizen’ consciousness22, so typical for the Commonwealth of old. They consider themselves Polish
citizens in the broad meaning of the word, connected with their country not only
through institutional bonds but also through the sense of common culture and
the memory of common history. The patriotism of the Polish Tatars is reflected,
above all, in emphasizing the Tatar warriors’ military merits for Poland and its
sovereignty. It is also emphasizing of the joint participation and responsibility for
the fate of the homeland to which they feel strongly attached.
1. Own or Stranger
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Tatars, who had been living in Poland for centuries,
began to be joined by newcomers from Muslim countries, giving rise to an increase in the number of followers of Islam in Poland. Those were mainly Arabs
undertaking studies in Polish academies, and immigrants to a lesser extent. Most
of them, having graduated, would come back to their native countries, yet some
have stayed in Poland permanently. This has considerably disturbed the Tatar
sense of uniqueness. Since that time, the Tatars ceased to be the majority of Mus20
21
22
390
Karl Cordell, Andrzej Dybczyński, Poland’s Indigenous Ethnic Minorities and The Census of 2002,
“Perspectives on European Politics & Society” 6:1, 2005, p. 87.
See: Katarzyna Warmińska, “Zagubieni w odpowiedziach…” Tatarzy polscy wobec spisu”, in: Lucjan Adamczuk
i Sławomir Łodziński (eds.), Mniejszości narodowe w Polsce w świetle Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego z 2002
roku, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar: Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne, 2006, pp. 210215.
Selim Chazbijewicz, Tatarzy polsko – litewscy w latach II wojny światowej, in: Andrzej Chodubski (ed.),
Meandry cywilizacyjne. Kwestie narodowościowe i polonijne. Toruń, Wyd. Adam Marszałek, 1997, p. 87.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
lims in Poland. This is one of the main reasons why they must struggle to avoid
being marginalized in the Muslim community. Their number is currently lower
than the number of all other migrant Muslims. A change that proved decisive
for the number of members and persons registering in the Muslim Religious
Union, or its position as a representative of the Muslim world in Poland, is the
Muslim League of Poland, registered in 2004. The League includes Sunni Muslims as well, but its members can be not only Polish citizens or people holding a
permanent residence card but also people with the right of temporary residence.
Compared with the Muslim Religious Union in Poland, a significantly higher
percentage of members of the Muslim League are people of foreign origin. The
activity of two religious organizations with similar statutes, striving to represent
the Sunni Muslims in Poland, can lead to conflicts of competence between them.
The sense of identity of an individual is strongly connected with the sense of being rooted, understood as being aware of where one comes from, in the cultural,
social, historical, as well as religious sense. Determining one’s own identity, one
should answer not only the question: “Who am I?” but also “Where am I from?”
Researchers attach great importance to the role of the past and awareness of time of
an individual. These factors have a large impact on the development of the sense of
identity. One of the dimensions of the identity subject matter is cultural identity.
Florian Znaniecki23 claims that all humans develops a cultural and social identity,
giving them a feeling of bond, being rooted, identification with the heritage and
output of the ancestors.
Jerzy Nikitorowicz regards cultural identity as a result of the heritage of the
past, internal and external communication, search for the meaning of one’s life. He
distinguishes four types of cultural identity:
1. Identification with two cultures: borderland person;
2. Identification with the predominant culture: abandoning the native identity, opposition to the heritage of the ancestors;
3. Identification with a minority ethnic group: preservation of one’s own
identity;
4. No identification with any group: excluded person 24.
Although identity is a dynamic entirety rather than a rigid, permanent structure
which remains defined once and for all, some kinds of identification, constituting
parts of an individual and collective identity, have permanence and unchangeability somewhat inherent to their essence. Consequences of a change within these
identifications are very painful to an individual and a group and require undertaking of a particular effort of negotiation of one’s own identity in order to preserve
23
24
See: Florian Znaniecki, Nauki o kulturze, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo PWN, 1977.
See: Jerzy Nikitorowicz, Pogranicze. Tożsamość. Edukacja międzykulturowa, Białystok, Trans Humana,
1995.
391
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
its continuity and the sense of ‘being faithful to oneself ’. The necessity to redefine
one’s own identity is revealed as a result of contacts of an individual or a group with
groups and individuals of different descent, different value or different lifestyle.
The identity of the Tatars, so complex, based on many components, moving
between the three mentioned types, is a ‘key’ concept and a defining category
registering all cultural changes and the economical and political changes which
condition them. The necessity to preserve and protect one’s own identity is especially discussed in the situation of threat, conflicts and controversy, which the
presence of the Arab factor is considered to be. In the universal, superficial reception, it is not the Tatars anymore who are the symbols of Islam but strangersnewcomers. This inevitably leads to a conclusion that the word “identity” has two
substantially different meanings. The first, original sense of this word indicated
similarity, the state of being identical. The other sense is expressed in difference,
distinctness. To define someone’s identity, one should point out both similarities
and differences of this person with regard to others. Identity indicates “being
someone” in a way distinct from others and permanent, places an individual in
time and the world, points out the person’s rootedness in some place, in some
culture, references social identifications, the sense of “being the same”, identical
with something.
It seems that the establishment of the League is an effect of tensions between
the Polish Muslims of Tatar descent and the newcomers, usually of Arab descent,
who practice Islam in a slightly different way than the Tatars living in Poland for
centuries. A difference in customs is revealed. The Tatars believe that they follow
the European, modern mentality and they are open to contacts with followers of
other religions. However, beside this, there are two religious options coexisting
among the Polish Tatars. One of them can be called ‘traditional’, and the other
one ‘reformist’. The first one claims that the Tatar Islam is orthodox and deserves
recognition due to the fact that it has survived for so long almost unchanged
among the Christian population. The other option strives to cleanse the religion
of any deviations, considering the differences between Arabs and Tatars to stem
from the excessive eclecticism of the Tatar Islam. The attitude of the ‘reformists’
does not have any extreme characteristics. The demand for correction of influences alien to Islam is legitimate from the viewpoint of protection of the religion.
Most Tatars agree regarding the need to eliminate from their religion those elements which contradict the principles of Islam. However, the extent and range
of these reforms can raise concerns, especially if inspiration is to be drawn from
fundamentalist circles25. Nevertheless, promotion of orthodox Muslim values and
lifestyle does not seem to have chances of success, as it is too remote from the European social and cultural context. Moreover, it contradicts the Polish national and
state identification, so strongly internalized by this group.
25
392
Katarzyna Warmińska, ‘Polskość’ a ‘tatarskość’ – narodowa i etniczna tożsamość Tatarów polskich, in: Marian
Kempny, Alina Kapciak i Sławomir Łodziński (eds.) U progu wielokulturowości. Nowe oblicza społeczeństwa
polskiego, Warszawa , Oficyna Naukowa, 1997, p. 237.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
The aspect of social regulation between individuals considering themselves to
be culturally distinct from members of other groups with which they interact on
an at least regular basis is ethnicity. It is also the social identity based on distinctness from others, characterized through metaphorical or fictitious relationship.
One of the distinguishing elements of an ethnic group is distinctive culture, in
particular – language and religion26. The social relation contains an ethnic element
if the cultural dissimilarities cause differences in interactions between members of
given groups, giving rise to gains or losses resulting from these interactions and
impacting the creation of an identity. Ethnicity, as a form of social organization
resulting from interactions between the group identification and the environment and as a social identity based on separatedness from others, has a political,
organizational and symbolic aspect27. The sense of ethnic bond is always born in
an inter-group contact, as a result thereof28. However, boundaries of cultures are
not always clear and need not overlap with ethnic boundaries, as not all members
of a given cultural group have to share the same models29. Therefore, separated
social collectives characterized by a certain extent of compactness and solidarity
as well as awareness of the common origin are known as ethnic groups. They are
distinguished from other collectives by ethnos, i.e. a set of features characterizing
the culture of the distinct group, such as: native, identifying, symbolic values for
the group and its individual members due to the common origin, the occupied
territory, history, language, religion, tradition, customs, rites, norms, behaviours,
etc. An ethnos is usually connected with one’s own group, the persons of which
have a strong sense of collective identity or even elitism, manifested in the inclination to exclude people from outside one’s own circle30. Depending on the
content, size or subjective value of the difference, the possibility to understand it
and, as a consequence, the person characterized by it, the area of relations conditioned by perception of differences is ordered by distinguishing of the categories
of “Other” and “Stranger”:
Other: a person who is different but known and understood despite all
differences, and thus predictable; can be counted both in the circle of Us (a near
Other – personally, directly known and understood, e.g. a family member to
whose distinctness one has already accustomed oneself through coexistence) and
26
27
28
29
30
More on this subject: Waldemar Żelazny, Etniczność. Ład, konflikt, sprawiedliwość, Poznań 2006,
Wydawnictwo Poznańskie. An overview of literature on the subject of ethnicity: Steve Fenton, Etniczność,
Warszawa, Sic!, 2007.
Wojciech J. Burszta, Antropologia kultury. Tematy, teorie, interpretacje, Poznań, Zysk i S-ka, 1998, p. 136.
Joseph P.Folger, Marshall S. Poole, Randall K.Stutman,Konflikt i interakcja R.K. (2003), Konflikt i
interakcja, John Stewart (ed.) Mosty zamiast murów. Podręcznik komunikacji interpersonalnej, Warszawa,
PWN, 2003, pp. 491-501.
Wojciech Burszta, op. cit., pp. 136-140.
Jerzy Nikitorowicz, Wartości etnosu jako podstawa kształtowania tożsamości wielokulturowej, podłoże
konfliktów kulturowych i cel edukacji międzykulturowej, in: Tadeusz Lewowicki, Ewa Ogrodzka-Mazur,
Anna Gajdzica (ed.) Świat wartości i edukacja międzykulturowa, Cieszyn-Warszawa, UŚ Filia w Cieszynie,
WSP ZNP w Warszawie, 2003, pp. 35-36.
393
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
of Them (a far Other – staying outside the circle of Us; not known personally or
directly, yet understood at least at first glance, seemingly, thanks to the analogies
noticed during the comparison and to the previous experience in contacts with
persons from this category); depending on the content of the difference and the
degree of acquaintance, may awaken curiosity, interest, causing a will to establish
contact for the purpose of better understanding – or at least does not discourage
from such a contact;
Stranger: a different person always counted into the circle of Them, going beyond the category of “Other” due to being unknown or known so little that
it prevents understanding thereof, which, combined with unpredictability, leads
to distrust, insecurity, sense of threat; in direct (or indirect) contacts, the Stranger
inspires stronger emotions than other people; as potentially dangerous, may cause
dislike, refusal, aggression, the desire for turning away, separation, discrimination, exclusion. A very important determinant of the Stranger’s position is the
fact that this person has not belonged from the beginning to the circle of people
with whom it stays now, that this person brings values which are not and cannot
be primary values of this circle31.
Others and Strangers belong both to the past, present and future generations,
are transferred in various codes and forms32. Otherness\strangeness is not an absolute feature, applicable constantly to the same person or category of people.
It is a relative feature which one will have under certain conditions and will not
have under other ones. Strangeness is not determined by physical remoteness.
A spiritually close person or group may be found far away, while Strangeness is
experienced in direct contact with a Stranger.
This category may be regarded both in intracultural and intercultural contexts.
With Others, despite their differences, one can establish contacts, or at least it is
easy to think about such a possibility, because this thought, or a prospect of fulfillment thereof, does not awaken too many emotions. The criterion of distinctness,
the extent of knowing of Others and the categorizations related thereto do not,
however, apply to Strangers, i.e. persons indeed appearing (or even constantly staying) in the closest surrounding of a given person but characterized by customs,
lifestyle or appearance which are difficult or, at first glance, outright incomprehensible, so therefore irritating and intriguing. The crossing of the limit of strangeness,
even through occurrence of an overly drastic difference, may cause a situation when
a Stranger is finally considered an enemy33. In this case, the category of an outsider
applies to followers of the same religion, who are nevertheless distinct with regard
31
32
33
394
The Stranger has been characterized by Georg Simmel, pointing out the phenomenon of cultural
separateness. See: Georg Simmel Socjologia, Warszawa, Wydawnictwo PWN, 1975, pp. 504-512.
An interesting reading on the Otherness/Strangeness in the multicultural world is provided by Ryszard
Kapuściński. See Ryszard Kapuściński Ten Inny, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Znak, 2006.
On the impact of the emotional sphere on the shaping of the image of the Other/Stranger: Zbigniew
Bokszański, Stereotypy a kultura, Wrocław, Funna, 2001.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
to culture and language, Muslims living in Poland. The Tatars have internalized
the Polish cultural values, traditions and customs, identifying themselves with the
homogenous Polish society. They are not strangers provoking antagonist attitudes.
They are “ours”. They may be exotic but they surely are not classified as strangers. Florian Znaniecki34 distinguishes two types of antagonism towards Strangers,
namely:
Offensive antagonism, consisting in prevention of all attempts at contact,
undertaken by Strangers (avoidance of spatial approach);
Defensive antagonism, consisting in breaking of isolation of strangers in
order to force one’s own values, customs, norms or lifestyles upon them.
The anxiety appearing in the contact with otherness can be beneficial and creative under certain circumstances, since the anxiety and fear-inspiring image of
the Other, and especially of the Stranger, may perform functions integrating and
consolidating the group. This also causes an increase in the interest in Strangers
(contact with them) in situations of demand for such bonds, e.g. in periods of deep
changes, social transformations and transformations of social awareness, in which
a Stranger can be either a source of innovation or a scapegoat.
Being A Tatar
The everyday life of the Polish Tatars does not differ particularly from everyday
existence of other citizens of the country. Apart from certain longing for the
mythical, half-fabulous Orient, there are no sentiments here for the lost Horde.
If anything, a sentiment appears for the Eastern Borderlands of Poland, lost after World War II, which is a characteristic of all Borderlanders. Moreover, one
should not identify the Tatars with migrant Muslims from the countries of the
Middle East or other Muslim states, who settle in Poland. The Tatars living in
Poland wish to remain independent from them, as well as from the Tatars living
in the East, who have been experiencing a revival of ethnic identity after the collapse of the Soviet Union35. This attitude of independence was already manifested
in 1925, when the Tatar minority established their own autocephalic union in
Wilno. They feel attached to Poland instead.
The Polish Tatars wish to protect their ethnic identity, tradition and customs,
but not at the cost of being closed to the intercultural dialogue. Despite a relatively small number of Islam followers in Poland, various initiatives are undertaken
34
35
See: Florian Znaniecki, Studia nad antagonizmem do obcych, in: Współczesne narody, Warszawa,
Wydawnictwo PWN, 2001, p. 292, 300 and further.
See: Damir M. Iskhakov and L.V. Sagitova with I.L. Izmailow, “The Tatar National Movement of the
198s-90s”, Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia, Vol. 43, No. 3, (Winnter 2004-5), p. 14 and Kurtmolla
Abdulganiyev, Nacjonalizm Tatarów krymskich w latach dziewięćdziesiątych XX wieku. Pamięć, instytucje,
strategie polityczne, Kultura i Społeczeństwo, No. 3, 2004.
395
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
for the sake of Christian-Muslim cooperation. Since 1997, the Joint Council of
Catholics and Muslims has been active; its members are: on the Muslim part,
Tatars, including Tomasz Miśkiewicz, the Mufti of the Republic of Poland. On
the Catholic part, a member of the Council is Bishop Tadeusz Pikus, the chairman of the Committee of Dialogue with Non-Christian Religions of the Polish
Episcopal Conference. The Council promotes consolidation of peace, renunciation of aggression in mutual contacts, wishes to prevent conflicts through mutual learning and understanding, as well as to strive to overcome the stereotypes
resulting from mutual ignorance through learning of religion, culture, history
and traditions of both Catholicism and Islam. The founders of the Council claim
that the Polish phenomenon of coexistence may encourage others to arrange the
relations between followers of various religions and between various nationalities
in such a way.
On the initiative of the Council and the Committee of Dialogue with NonChristian Religions of the Polish Episcopal Conference, on 26 January each year,
the Day of Islam is celebrated in the Catholic Church. The main celebrations take
place in Warsaw, at the Jesuite St. Andrzej Bobola’s Church – apart from dignitaries of both religions, they are also attended by diplomats from Muslim countries.
These meetings are divided into the official part with speeches and the prayer part
during which the Holy Bible is read and the Quran recited, both Books in Polish
and Arabic. The Day of Islam in the Catholic Church is also celebrated in other
locations: Lublin, Pieniężno and Kraków, where it has less official character, more
time is devoted to prayers, and an artistic part is also organized sometimes.
Moreover, other Tatar organizations emphasize the manifestations of peaceful
coexistence of Poles and Polish Muslims. Thus, the Union of Polish Tatars, established in 1992 as an organization of socio-cultural character, puts most emphasis
on the relations of the Tatar community with the Polish state and cultivation of the
common tradition. Therefore, people of Tatar descent who are already Christians
can join the union as well. This openness to Christians and the population which is
completely assimilated, even though having Tatar roots, is a significant contribution
to the further cooperation of followers of both religions.
The dialogue between civilizations is a definitely desirable aspect of contacts.
First of all, it serves overcoming of mutual animosities, negative stereotypes. Mutual opening favours understanding and cooperation, as both civilizations, after
all, have originated from similar sources. In the religious context, followers of
both religions are facing a great challenge caused by the changes occurring in
the modern world. In the face of various threats, such as: atheism and disbelief, practical materialism, hedonism or consumerism, they cannot count only on
themselves. In the reality of cultural and ideological pluralism, each religion on
its own and all of them together are intended to dispel the illusion of building of
396
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
a happy world without God36. Such goal should be advanced by both Muslims
and Christians, meeting in a constructive dialogue, striving to oppose the mutual
dislike and stereotypes around both civilizations.
It has been accepted quite commonly to consider modern Poland as a country
standing out in the Central and Eastern European mosaic with its rather exceptional homogeneity with regard to its ethnical and, consequently, ethno-cultural
and linguistic structure. However, a closer analysis of this structure also reveals its
highly heterogeneous nature – in Poland, there are many “minority situations”,
characterized with multilingualism, multiethnicity, inter-cultural contacts.
One example is the presence of the Muslims of Tatar origin as an integral part
of the Polish society. For many centuries of presence of the Tatars in the lands of
the Commonwealth, no massacres, pogroms or ethnic or religious conflicts were
recorded. On the one hand, it was a merit of the governing elites of the era, who
had developed a peaceful model of relation with the Muslim minority; on the
other hand, it was a merit of the Tatars themselves who respected the culture,
tradition and religion of the majority.
A cultural contact resulting from encounter and meeting of at least two people or groups with different cultural characteristics usually takes place in a space
limited by state and territorial boundaries. Individuals and groups participating
in the contact are usually more dynamic than others or are subjecct to pressure
and effect of external forces, forcing them to either open their cultural borders or
to move and take a place in another society. The contact can be based on negotiation, dialogue, integration and cooperation, or, on the contrary, on rivalry, hostility, conflict and domination of one person or group over the others37. A postulate
for the shape of relations between the Poles and Polish Tatars should be multiculturalism based on coexistence of various cultures and national, ethnic or religious
groups in the same territory. Such groups enter into open, regular and permanent
interactions with each other, accompanied by exchange and mutual respect and
understanding of individual lifestyles, recognized values and norms – allowing to
create harmonious formation beyond differences. Each of these groups should be
able to develop and care for its own cultural identity, with simultaneous respect
to the identity of others.
However, a question arises: who are the Tatars in Poland? Did they develop,
due to cultural contacts with the predominant culture, a new type of identity in
a longer historical perspective? Is this a culturally alien minority, or maybe the
Tatars are an example of combination of a religious and national identity?
36
37
Eugeniusz Sakowicz, Dialog chrześcijaństwa z islamem, in: Henryk Zimoń (ed.), Dialog międzyreligijny,
Lublin, Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, 2004, p. 272.
Tadeusz Paleczny, Typy tożsamości kulturowej a procesy globalizacji, http://www3.uj.edu.pl/ISR/
kulturoznawstwo_miedzynarodowe/publikacje/typy.doc (Accessed 15 October 2015)
397
3. Cilt Gönül Fethinden Zihniyet Temsiline
It seems that the Polish Tatars should be considered to be one of numerous
Polish ethnographic groups, although an atypical one. It is a minority of ethnoreligious character. Essentially, Polish ethnographic groups live in the territorial
dimension, whereas social groups are located outside the territorial dimension. It
is impossible to classify the Tatars as some specific social group, as they include
members of all social strata, and through living in dispersion, they have blended
in the Polish society38. Many of them consider themselves to be Poles, although
they do not forget their origin and faith. They do not want to be treated as a
separate national group, preferring to be a regional group instead, closest to the
Białystok Region. Some of them, stressing their ethnic separateness (connected
with the physical appearance of members of the group), emphasize their religious
features, because for the Polish Tatars, going outside the circle of Muslims has
always been tantamount to leaving the community group and a loss of identity.
The Tatars must be constantly stuck on the border of ‘Polishness’, ‘Muslimness’
and ‘Tatarness’, only emphasizing their separateness during religious events. It
seems that an essential problem of a contemporary human is an uprooted, lonely
and alienated existence. This results from the nature of the modern world, its
ephemeralness, changeability, unpredictability, being everywhere and nowhere,
with people and without them. The Polish Tatars, thanks to their customs and
rites, have preserved their sense of religious separateness. Their vivid Muslim tradition enriches the culture of Slavic lands, introducing a special element of mystery and Orient. Tatars have always been aware of their identity, however, those
who have settled in Poland do not show any separatist tendencies. Tatars do not
want to be perceived as living antiques. They wish to develop methods of action,
a common intellectual formula, attractive in the new reality. However, it is hard
to preserve the identity of a small community living is dispersion. The years to
come will reveal whether the functioning of the Muslim League means gradual
waning of the Tatar Islam and an increase in Middle Eastern influences in Poland.
Or is there a chance for further Europeanization and occidentalization of Islam?
38
398
Władysław Pałubicki, “Etniczno-religijna mniejszość Tatarów polskich”, Andrzej Chodubski (ed.), op. cit., p.
90.
A Dash of Orient in the Homogeneous Polish Society
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