Tutejszy

Tutejszy (Polish: Tutejszy, Polish pronunciation: [tuˈtɛjʂɨ]; Belarusian: Тутэйшы, romanized: Tutejšy; Ukrainian: Тутешній, romanized: Tuteshniy; Lithuanian: tuteišiai; Latvian: tuteiši; Russian: Tуземный, romanized: Tuzemnyj) was a self-identification of Eastern European rural populations, who did not have a clear national identity. The term means "from here", "local" or "natives". [1][2] This was mostly in mixed-lingual Eastern European areas, including Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Latvia, in particular, in Polesia and Podlachia. As a self-identification, it persisted in Lithuania’s Vilnius Region into the late 20th century. For example, in 1989, a poll of persons whose passports recorded their ethnicity as Polish revealed that 4% of them regarded themselves as tuteišiai, 10% as Lithuanians, and 84% as Poles.[3]

In Poland

The term was first used in an official publication in 1922 [3] in the preliminary results of the Polish census of 1921 (Miesięcznik Statystyczny, vol. V). An indigenous nationality (French: Nationalité Indigène; Polish: Narodowość tutejsza) was declared by 38,943 persons, with the vast majority being Orthodox (38,135) and from rural areas (36,729). The Census stated that this category was for "population who could not describe their ethnicity in any other way".[4] This census did not include the Vilnius Region.[4]

There are mixed opinions about the reasons, meaning, and implications of this term.[5][6] In the Polish census of 1931 asked respondents to identify their mother tongue. “Tutejszy” was included and was chosen by 707,000 respondents.[7] Lithuanian researchers assert that within ethnographic Lithuania, the Tutejszy were mostly Slavicized Lithuanians.[8][9] Björn Wiemer argues that a considerable contribution to Slavicization of the area was a significant influx of Ruthenian (Belarusian) peasantry in the area, especially after considerable depopulation due to plague.[10]

In Latvia

Report on the Latvian census of 1930 describes tuteiši as Catholics of Latgale, who spoke Polish, Latvian and Russian equally and lacked ethnic identity (the Latvian census did not recognize these people as having a separate ethnic identity). The report notes that they could easily change their identity on a whim or after being persuaded by nationalist organizations, producing sharp changes in the ethnic composition of some areas, the most noticeable changes being a decrease in the number of Belarusians in ten years since 1920 from 75,630 to 36,029 and number of Poles increasing more than could be explained with natural growth and immigration, suggesting that some 5,000 Tutejszy had chosen to identify as Poles. In addition, uncertain number of them presumably chose to identify as Russians or Latvians.[11]

Language

The group's speech (język tutejszy, "local language") was described by Björn Wiemer as “an uncodified and largely undescribed Belarusian vernacular”.[10]

See also

References
  1. Richmond 1995, p. 309.
  2. Lieven 1994, p. 160.
  3. Zinkevičius 1994, p. 82.
  4. Central Statistical Office of the Polish Republic (1927). Population of Poland according to religious denominations and nationality [Ludność według wyznania religijnego i narodowości] (PDF). page 80/109 in PDF, page 56 in census results: Table XI. Retrieved 14 October 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. Majecki 2012.
  6. Korniluk 2007.
  7. Tadeusz Piotrowski (1998). Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947. McFarland. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-7864-0371-4.
  8. Šapoka 2013, p. 216.
  9. Budreckis 1967.
  10. Björn Wiemer, "Dialect and language contacts on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 15th century until 1939", In: Kurt Braunmüller; Gisella Ferraresi (2003). Aspects of multilingualism in European language history. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 107. ISBN 978-90-272-1922-0. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  11. Skujenieks, M. (1930). Trešā tautas skaitīšana Latvijā 1930. gadā (PDF) (in Latvian). Rīga: Valsts statistikas pārvalde.

Bibliography
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