Polish Mexicans

There is a Polish diaspora in Mexico. According to the 2005 intercensal estimate, there were 971 Polish citizens living in Mexico.[2] Furthermore, by the estimate of the Jewish community, there may be as many as 15,000 descendants of Jewish migrants from Poland living in Mexico.[3]

Polish Mexicans
polscy meksykanie
polaco-mexicanos

Folk dance by the Polish community of Mexico City
Total population
1,169 Poland-born residents (2015)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Mexico City
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Polish diasporas

Migration history

Polish children that arrived as refugees in Santa Rosa, Guanajuato.

The first Poles arrived in Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico. In May 1942, Mexico declared war on Germany. To show solidarity with the Polish people, Mexico accepted in 1943 over 2,000 Polish refugees including 1,400 Polish orphans to settle in the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico. After the war, many of the refugees remained to live in Mexico.[4]

Many members of the Polish Jewish community trying to immigrate to the United States were refused entry; not wanting to return to Europe they requested asylum in Mexico, some ships were diverted to the Mexican territory and entered them through ports of Tampico, Veracruz and Puerto Progreso. A large part of the Ashkenazi Jewish community in Mexico was born in the Polish territory.

When Poland adopts a communist government, a second wave of Polish immigrants arrives in Mexico, who fled their government and again the asylum was given to numerous Polish citizens, they built a generation of Mexican Poles born in Mexico. A numerous Catholic community in Mexico before the persecution of the Polish communist government.

The Polish community from Mexico are the third largest community in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina; They are currently one of the largest communities of Europeans in Mexico, they are a very prominent community in the arts, science, economy and politics of the country.

Polish-Mexicans

Notable Polish Mexicans

• 
  Henryk Szeryng, violin concertist.
• 
  Abraham Zabludovsky, architect.
• 
  Elena Poniatowska, journalist and author.
• 
  Xawery Wolski, sculptor.
• 
  Erika Dobosiewicz, violin concertist.
• 
  Ludwika Paleta, actress and model.

Notable Mexicans with Polish origins

• 
  Arturo Ripstein, film director.
• 
  Enrique Krauze, historian, essayist, critic, producer, and publisher.

Athletics

• Helen Plaschinski, Mexican former Olympics freestyle swimmer for Summer 1980 of Polish descent.
• Angelica Zawadzki, Mexican sprint canoer of Polish descent.

Artist/Musician

• Henryk Szeryng, Polish-born Mexican violinist and composer.
• David Ostrosky, Mexican actor to Polish mother.
• Eva Maria Zuk, Polish-born Mexican piano concertist.
• Fanny Rabel, Polish-born Mexican artist.
• Zbigniew Paleta, Polish-born Mexican violinist and composer for telenovelas and the Cinema of Mexico.
• Pawel Anaszkiewicz, Polish-born Mexican artist.
• Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born Mexican Art Deco painter.
• Basia Batorska, Polish-born Mexican painter and graphic artist.

Movies/television/media

• Dominika Paleta, Polish-born Mexican actress.
• Ludwik Margules, Polish-born Mexican theatre, opera and film director.
• Kristoff Raczyñski, Russian-born Mexican actor, film producer, screenwriter and TV host of Polish descent.
• Maya Mishalska, Polish-born Mexican actress, violinist and TV presenter.
• Alicja Bachleda-Curuś, Mexican-born Polish actress and singer.
• Helen Kleinbort Krauze, Polish Jewish-born Mexican journalist.
• León Krauze, Mexican journalist, author and news anchor of Polish descent.
• Arleta Jeziorska, Polish-born Mexican actress of films and telenovelas.
• Alfredo Ripstein, Mexican film producer to Polish Jewish father.
• Mauricio Kleiff, Mexican screenwriter of Polish descent.
• Lore Graniewicz, Mexican-born actress of Polish descent.
• Prince Hubris, Mexican-born performance artist of Polish descent.

Literature

• Anna Zarnecki, Polish writer, pinter, activist and politician.
• Rodolfo Usigli, Mexican playwright to Italian father and Polish mother.

Politics

• Salomón Chertorivski Woldenberg, Mexican politician and economist of German and Polish descent.
• Julio Boltvinik Kalinka, Mexican academic and politician of Polish descent.
• David Goldbaum, Mexican surveyor and politician to Polish Jewish father of German and Polish descent.

Science

• Sara Topelson de Grinberg, Polish-born Mexican architect to Russian father and Polish mother.
• Jerzy Rzedowski, Polish-born Mexican botanist.
• José Woldenberg, Mexican political scientist and sociologist to Polish father and Lithuanian mother.
• Arturo Warman, Mexican anthropologist to Polish Jewish parents.

Miscellaneous

• Moisés Kaiman, Polish-born Mexican Rabbi for the Jewish Community of Monterrey, Mexico.
• Arturo Antonio Szymanski Ramírez, Mexican prelate of the Roman Catholic Church of Polish descent.

See also

• Mexico–Poland relations

References

1. "Table 16: Total migrant stock at mid-year by origin and by major area, region, country or area of destination, 2015". United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
2. "Los extranjeros en México" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
3. Poles in Mexico
4. Hacienda Santa Rosa: a Polish Refuge in Mexico

External links

• Mexico and Poland: Centuries of Cultural Relations