Schär

The smallest Polish minority - Th Schär

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Sociology - Religion, grade: 5 (Erasmus), which is escellent, University of Wroclaw, course: Languages and Nations in East-Central Europe in the 21st Century, 8 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: Die Karaim (oder Karaiten) sind eine spezielle Erscheinung als kleinste Minderheit in Polen und anderen osteuropäischen Staaten: Sie sind zwar türkischstämmig, gehören also zu den Turkvölkern, sind jedoch jüdischen Glaubens. In Polen leben heute schätzungsweise gerade mal noch zwischen 40 und 50 Karaiten, was sie zur kleinsten Minderheit macht. This Text is about the Karaim, the smallest minority in several countries of eastern Europe. Karaim are of turkisch descent but have jewish faith. , abstract: If one concerns oneself in Polish and Eastern European minorities and if one looks at the numbers of different minority groups, one group at the end of the list catches ones eye: The Karaim, or Karaites. This minority group exists, depending on the source, of only 40-50 people. The name differs, in some sources they are called Karaim, in others Karaites. In the following chapters I will call them Karaim, as I found out during my research, that they call themselves Karaim or in Eastern Europe also Qaray. Moreover, Karaim is also closer to its origin, but more about this in one of the following chapters. Polands Karaims had since centuries disliked to be called Karaites, as it meant "black dog". Very special is the Karaim's religion, Judaism as they are ethnically turks Poland is a ethnically most homogenious state, which was not always so in Poland' s history. Poles are with 99,3 % the Majority. The different Minorities in Poland are, according to the 2002 census: Among ethnic groups Silesians and Germans are the largest minorities, 172.6 thousand of Polish citizens declare Silesian national identity and 147.1 thousand, German. The third and the fourth linguistic minorities are, respectively, Belorussia