Hi Anettka, Great explanation. I do believe you are what is in your heart. My mother although born in Canada nine months after her Polish parents and 7 brothers and sisters arrived. She married a Canadian whose ancestors were from the US from as far back as I can dig. My brother and I grew up in the Polish culture so we have always considered ourselves Polish. Even my adult kids say they are Polish. That's a real stretch but it shows that the maternal side of the family can be the strongest in our hearts if we continue to practice the culture in the home even if we don't speak the language. Val On 18 May 2008 at 11:33, Anettka@aol.com <poland-roots@rootsweb.com> wrote: > > > This question was asked by a member:: > > Do I have Polish roots, or German roots, or Austrian? > > I want to answer that by saying that my family lived in an area during > that time that was Polish and then became Prussian then Russian then > Polish again... so what were they? Well, during this whole time... > really several centuries, they were always Polish. My ggrandfather > spoke Russian as well as Polish, and another ggpa spoke German as > well as Polish - they immigrated to Polish communities in the US and > always considered themselves Polish, even in America.... > > What many don't realize is that there is both a person's nationality > and ethnology that one needs to consider. I was once asked that why > an immigrant could say that they were Polish when Poland didn't exist > for over a hundred years... I say it was because who they were had > nothing to do with politics but with the language they spoke (even if > forced to learn another one to use outside the home), the customs > they kept, and basically what they felt they were in their heart. > The Jewish group know that well... it is not where you live, the > borders around you, the name by which the country you live in > identifies you ( which, heaven knows, changed frequently in Europe), > but who you are inside and genetically that determines who you are. > > When doing genealogy, it is important to know where your family was > when because the politics determined where and how records were kept, > the language they were kept in, and other influences determining how > the people lived their lives but OUTSIDE THEIR COMMUNITY/HOMES. What > you think you are is what is done inside the house and within the > social, not political, community. > > In America, we do not stress the ethnicity of our being. In fact, for > many years, it was put aside, hidden.... the kids were exhorted to > learn English and people, and while they might have lived in an > ethnic community when they arrived here for the comfort/ease it > provided, they soon moved out of the community into the big world. > To a large extent, that ethnic grouping was pushed aside to become > "American". It is really within my generation that that has somewhat > turned about and people are more interested in their ethnic > background.and hence their genealogy. So don't assume you have to > belong to the group of whatever the country name was when your > immigrant ancestors were living there.... look to who your family was > when they were living there. > > Anettka > > > > **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on > family favorites at AOL Food. > (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) > ********************************* Need to contact the list manager? > Write to Marie at Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > ---------------------------------- Discussion of Polish food, culture, > and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays > pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots Search the > list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message