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21 October 2010 winter 9 Poland and Lithuania
Narcissistic differences
A row about spelling freezes relations between Poland and LithuaniaSHARED history, culture and worries about neighbours should make Poland and Lithuania friends. NATO’s new contingency plans involve Polish soldiers defending Lithuania from a (theoretical) Russian attack. The two countries need each other on everything from energy security (building a new nuclear power station) to transport links. Yet their relations are among the iciest in the European Union. Poland’s foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, will not visit Lithuania until local Poles are allowed to write their names in official documents using Polish letters: w, ł, ć, ń, ś and ź.
Poland cites broken promises and unfairness. Its Lithuanian minority can spell their names as they like. Lithuanian grammar and orthography are no hardship for the deceased Viljamas Šekspyras, or Vinstonas Čerčilis (as Lithuanians call William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill), but annoying for humble folk who have the hassle of a passport that does not match their other documents.
The argument may seem trivial but the gulf is deep. The countries see history differently (and themselves as its principal victims). Poland fondly recalls the two countries’ union 440 years ago. Lithuanians (once a superpower, now outnumbered ten to one by Poland) think it brought linguistic and cultural decline. Lithuanian politicians complain that Poland has not apologised for forcibly polonising the “occupied” Vilnius region in the interwar years (Poles argue that they rightfully ruled a Polish city). Accepting a polonised alphabet or bilingual street signs under pressure from Warsaw would mean a surrender to bullying.
Lithuanians also think Poland may be stoking the row to create a pretext for betrayal: selling the Polish-owned and loss-making Mazeikiai oil refinery, Lithuania’s biggest industrial asset, to Russia. Poles retort that they bought it for political reasons, to help Lithuania survive a Russian squeeze on energy supplies. Now they wish they hadn’t.
Homework:
Think of a different conflict between Poland/Poles and other countries/nationalities. Whether present or past.
Be ready to explain the origins/reasons of the conflict, how it was manifested, how it ended, what consequences it had etc.
Mind you, to say "Germany, 1939, war, full stop" is not enough.
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