According to Statistics Sweden, as of 2023, there are a total 100,706 Poland-born immigrants living in Sweden.[1] Both native Poles, as well as descendants of Polish Jewish immigrants from Poland.[2]
History
Sweden was the main destination for many immigrants from partitioned Poland. In 1797, Polish national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko stayed in Stockholm and Gothenburg.
In the spring of 1863, armed Polish volunteers from Western Europe assisted by foreigners of various nationalities attempted to reach partitioned Poland by sea via Sweden. This Lapinski expedition stopped on the island of Öland and in Malmö, where it was met with sympathy of the local Swedes.[3] The Swedish authorities, fearing Russia, were forced to put the Poles under arrest, so the Poles departed in May 1863 to attempt a naval landing near Klaipėda.[3]
In 1948, the Polish Veterans Association in Gothenburg was established by former Polish prisoners of Nazi German concentration camps, and in 1962 it was transformed into the Polish Cultural Association in Gothenburg.[6]
Education
In 2010, there were 4,186 students with Polish as their mother tongue who participated in the state-run Swedish for Immigrants adult language program. Of these pupils, 251 had 0–6 years of education in their home country (Antal utbildningsår i hemlandet), 241 had 7–9 years of education in their home country, and 3,694 had 10 years education or more in their home country.[7] As of 2012, 5,100 pupils with Polish as their mother tongue and 5,079 Poland-born students were enrolled in the language program.[8]
There are several Polish organizations in Sweden, incl. the Polish Institute in Stockholm, the Polish Cultural Association in Gothenburg,[9] and Polonia Center in Gothenburg.
^ abZieliński, Stanisław (1913). Bitwy i potyczki 1863-1864. Na podstawie materyałów drukowanych i rękopiśmiennych Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswilu (in Polish). Rapperswil: Fundusz Wydawniczy Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswilu. pp. 298–299.
^Żukow-Karczewski, Marek (1989). "Polonia zagraniczna w czasach II Rzeczypospolitej". Życie Literackie (in Polish). No. 33 (1952). p. 10.
^Chrzanowski, Bogdan. "Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945)". Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum (in Polish). 5: 16, 24, 34–35. ISSN0137-5377.
