hidden europe 30

Romania: Polish communities of the Suceava region

by Nicky Gardner

Picture above: Underground Catholic chapel in the salt mine of Cacica, Romania (photo © Tomasz Kuran aka Meteor2017 licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0).

Summary

Romania is one of several countries in Europe that give guaranteed access to parliamentary seats to national minorities. One of the ethnic minorities in Romania that benefits from this scheme is the Polish community. We take a look some Polish villages in Suceava County in north-east Romania.

Visitors to Humor monastery in Romania (see the first feature in this issue) who venture just slightly further north up the Humor valley will encounter a little surprise that reveals a lot about both Romanian history and the modern Romanian state.

The village just beyond the monastery is Plesa and it has a little Roman Catholic church first consecrated in the early twentieth century. Nothing especially noteworthy in that for, although Romania is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the country has a modest Roman Catholic minority, numbering about five per cent of the population. But look inside the church and you will find that many of the signs are in Polish, and the Mass books and hymnals stacked in piles at the back of the church are all in Polish.

The southern Bukovina area has long had a small Polish minority, and Plesa is one of the outposts in the hills where Polish life and culture still thrive. The Poles who live locally render the village name slightly differently: Plesza. And yet further up the Humor valley, the village of Poiana Micului (known as Pojana Mikuli in Polish) has an even more sizeable Polish population. Across the hills to the east, there is a third village full of Polish life. Shown on Romanian maps as Solonetu Nou, but known to the local Poles as Nowy Soloniec, this village has a Polish language school and shops selling Polish grocery products. Staff at the community hall, known as Dom Polski (the Polish house), play a key role, along with the local Roman Catholic church, in ensuring that the region’s Polish connections are not lost.

Related articleFull text online

Into the hills: a Bohemian diversion

Of course one can speed across Europe on sleek, fast trains. But slow trains, the kind that dawdle along branch lines, are so much more interesting. We ride a rural rail route in northern Bohemia, where fading railway stations reveal a Habsburg history. Join us on the slow train to Dolni Poustevna.

Related article

Vintage pleasures: a taste of Alsace

If Alsace has a regional watchword, it is balance. It is as true of Alsace’s complex history, deftly melding French and German interests, as of the region’s remarkable wines. Join us as we explore the Alsace wine route, taking in some of the villages where winemaking has for centuries been a staple in the local economy.

Related articleFull text online

Lakeside Tradition: Exploring the Lavaux Vineyards

The Lavaux area in Switzerland is one of Europe's oldest winegrowing regions, a distinction which has earned for Lavaux a place on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The Lavaux vineyards drape the north shore of Lake Geneva at the western end of the Montreux Riviera. It is an area of immense charm, a perfect region to linger and enjoy the local Chasselas wines which take so much of their character from the local soil.