On the Polish side, thermoses of coffee, warm blankets, free transport to any city in the country. But before they arrive, the Ukrainian border guards tell them to “czekaty”, wait in Polish, “zdat’” in Russian. As you can see, our languages are closer to each other.
Nevertheless, it is Russian that comes in handy most often. Some stand in line for 24 hours or more in Poland. The Ukrainians scrupulously follow the procedures. And ours? They limit themselves to saying hello and waving their hands. Pass.
The first to flee were those who could limit themselves to taking a gold credit card. They got into expensive cars and were already here. Those whose entire possessions were in a flat found it more difficult to abandon ’everything they had’. Grandparents, despite the risks, stayed most often.
Ukraine, the poorest country in Europe, had already managed to send us two million workers before the war. And we were very happy with them. On the portals, economists were discussing who would catch the Ukrainians, as there was a shortage of labour everywhere in the region. But even the simplification of requirements for Ukrainians in Germany did not cause them to leave Poland en masse. Here they have practically no major language or cultural barrier. And they are closer to home.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Ruslan, who worked at a scrap metal yard near Warsaw, brought his wife Galina and four children to live with him. And so they live together at the junkyard in a room that used to be an office. Our volunteers have helped them apply to the relevant authorities for help. The disabled child is picked up every day and taken to therapy by the city bus. And at the very beginning, good people donated several thousand in aid. Soon the family will move into a rented flat, which Ruslan is renovating in the evenings.
Have you ever thought about the fact that one in ten people in Poland is a refugee or a foreigner? Some fled earlier from poverty, mostly men, and some, after the outbreak of war, from bombs. These are mostly mothers with children.
It would seem that such a mass influx of people from a neighbouring country would cause great trouble and create widespread feelings of opposition and discontent. There are those who point out that Ukrainians are reducing the bargaining power of our workers against employers. It’s just that dumping can rarely be mentioned, as millions of young Poles have previously emigrated to the West to earn a living, This, combined with the demographic decline, has meant that we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.
I have noticed that Ukrainians are not willing to let themselves be exploited. They even seem more assertive than our people. When the boss doesn’t pay on a construction site, the Ukrainians are the first to leave, while Polish workers wait for no one knows what. I learned from Portuguese trade unionists that, at one time, an influx of ’fresh blood’ from the Ukraine gave a boost to the labour movement in that country.
Marina has been living in our office for several months. In a reflex of solidarity, about twenty young volunteers were involved in renovating the office and adapting it for refugees. Our activist Mirka met Marina outside a shop as she stood with a note saying that she needed shelter for herself and her children. Previously, she had been living in Wilanów, in a luxury flat of some people, but who had become bored with their solidarity effort.
Marina sings, plays the guitar and beautifully paints various kitchen utensils, boards, spoons etc. in folk patterns. Mirka herself works in social care, looking after elderly, lonely people. She has drawn Marina into this work, which is working out great. Especially as she has a good command of Polish after several working trips to our country.
In one of the three rooms of our headquarters, we continue to provide assistance to those in need. Crowds are pouring in. Young people still come and try to help our guests. And although the enthusiasm to help is no longer the same as it was in the beginning, those willing to solve problems with their children’s education, health, and finally the housing problem are still there.
The influx of refugees has hit those trying to rent something on the open market the hardest. The increased demand has made prices jump even further. Flats are no longer being subdivided not only into separate rooms, but also into beds. With the cost of one bed in Warsaw already amounting to several hundred zlotys.
There are, of course, legends circulating about how Ukrainians get the flats that Poles have waited years in vain for. However, I see too many newcomers crammed into bunk beds in flats that have been converted into something like prison cells to believe these rumours. Renting a small flat by two families with numerous offspring is the order of the day. The fact is that since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, there has been no increase in the number of flats in Poland, but a sharp rise in the number of potential tenants.
There are some among the indigent who cannot imagine that the newcomers have been given the benefits and child allowances that we in Poland have been waiting for since the beginning of the transformation. They think it is unfair. They cannot understand what has happened there in the East, that the lives of millions of people have just collapsed, so they have left everything and fled to Poland.
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment is still expressed in a half-hearted, timid way. Those reluctant do not say “Ukrainians” but “Ukraine”. “Everywhere, it’s that Ukraine again.” It is highly respected by Poles of all classes that Ukrainians are distinguished by their industriousness. This is, by the way, a fairly common trait among labour migrants. Poles in the West show a similar zeal for work.
I am standing in a queue at a supermarket in Warsaw’s Okęcie Airport. Behind me are two men in burnus (Sikhs). The cashier accidentally mixes some Russian word into her Polish. As I leave the market, I see Mustafa’s Turkish butcher’s shop, Little Saigon Vietnamese pub. When I order food to take home, it is brought to me on a scooter by a polite Pakistani. Friends recommend Ukrainians if you are looking for someone to clean or renovate your house, in a decent and professional way. Multiculturalism has become a fact of life in Poland.
But how long will they stay with us? For now, the Social Security Fund has benefited from their presence and legal work. Ukrainian contributions have contributed significantly to the system. When and will these immigrants become a Ukrainian national minority in Poland? How many of them will there be? Will they assimilate, or will they retain their cultural and linguistic distinctiveness? Or will we soon see Ukrainian councillors, MPs and deputies? As was the case in Poland’s past, of course.
However, it is not that simple. Russian aggression accelerated the crystallisation of national consciousness. Before the war, Marina spoke Russian with her children. Now, she speaks only in Ukrainian. Because that is what the children want.
The fate of millions of Ukrainian citizens, who were first brought here by poverty and then by war, also depends on how quickly this war ends and what Ukraine will be like after the war.
In order to create the conditions for their return, the Ukrainians must first deal with the Russian army and then with their own oligarchs, so that they can divide up their national income more fairly than we Poles have done.
Piotr Ikonowicz
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