Last Saturday, the Mały Bolesławiec Song and Dance Ensemble from the Stanisław Wyspiański Youth Cultural Centre performed again in Zwickau, Germany. The group was invited to Germany by the Deutsch-Polnischer Verein, or German-Polish Association, an organisation founded in 2003 on the initiative of five mothers who wanted to pass Polish culture, traditions and language on to their own and other children.
Katarzyna Puzio-Zasonska and Edyta Starke from the German-Polish Association, originally from Bolesławiec:
At one of our private meetings, we came to the conclusion that we needed more space and help from the city. We founded an association, and the city of Zwickau gave us the opportunity to meet once a week in one of the classrooms of a primary school. To make Polish-language classes more varied, we introduced elements of dance and singing in the form of games. Also on our own initiative and through private contacts, we invited Mały Bolesławiec to Zwickau in 2005. The concert was wonderful—not only did our children enjoy it, but it also gave us, Poles living in Zwickau, an opportunity to meet and spend time together.
Thanks to this, say Katarzyna and Edyta, the Polish community in Zwickau stopped being “a grey mass of well-integrated but completely anonymous migrants”. Since then, the NPS has:
- founded a dance group for children, followed later by groups for young people and adults
- organised Polish-German conversation meetings
- helped connect people learning Polish and German
- run an active and regular preschool group
- organised film evenings and seasonal events (St Andrew’s Eve celebrations, Easter and Christmas gatherings, and bonfires)
- organised Polish-language Masses and Polish community gatherings on the Association’s initiative
- fought prejudice and stereotypes and promoted a positive image of the Polish community.
NPS members:
We are active throughout the city: culturally and mentally, we belong to the circle of Interkulturelle Gruppe and Bündnis für Demokratie und Toleranz (Intercultural Group and Alliance for Democracy and Tolerance); together with other German groups and groups from other countries, we organise street festivals, concerts, discussions on tolerance, meetings and intercultural exchanges. We also maintain contacts, exchanges and cooperation with similar groups from Poland and Germany, such as the Polish community in Hanover, Polskie Kwiaty from Wuppertal and Mały Bolesławiec from Bolesławiec. We give concerts in Zwickau and the surrounding area, as well as throughout Germany and Poland (Berlin, Darmstadt, Hannover, Bolesławiec, Jelenia Góra and Wrocław), thereby promoting Poland and its culture.
Zwickau is a relatively small city. As a result, we have neither a Polish Catholic mission nor a large Polish community here. Unfortunately, we are also not particularly interesting or important to the Polish authorities. This means that we receive no help or support from those mentioned above. We therefore have neither funding nor, for example, free premises that we could use. We are forced to act alone and make use of what the city of Zwickau provides and what we can obtain through our own efforts. This fact is, of course, very sad and causes us many problems, worries and uncertainties. On the other hand, however, it shows our strength and solidarity. All the work, event organisation, language and dance classes, and so on, take place as part of our charitable commitment to working for the group and community. We are a wonderful team! The latest concert is the best proof of that!!!
Limited financially, numerically and in terms of space, we had to give up—hopefully only temporarily—several projects, such as youth, culinary and sports meetings and Polish-language lessons for schoolchildren.
The Association will soon celebrate its 15th anniversary. The women from Bolesławiec who belong to NPS say: “We hope that our group of positive people will become even more effective, that we will manage to carry out all the planned projects, and that more compatriots who have so far ‘stood on the sidelines’ and ‘not had time’ will join us. We want to be open to German friends and other migrants. We hope for greater support from the Polish authorities and perhaps, finally, premises that would allow us to carry out our projects!”
More information and photos can be found on the German-Polish Association in Zwickau.