Despite only being 7,542 people strong and 6.17% of its total population (according to ZipAtlas), Ann Arbor’s Polish community is large and thriving.
In Ann Arbor (and Michigan in general), there is a strong Polish community — from a Polish Language School to an annual Polish Film Festival and an Ann Arbor Polonia Association. These Polish organizations hold countless festivals, picnics, barbeques, traditional egg coloring (pisanki), and more.
“I love the [Polish] community and I really love the food,” says Adam Kryczek (‘28), whose parents are Polish. “It’s actually really fun because people ask me how to speak Polish.”
For Skyline math teacher Katarzyna Wszeborowska, being Polish in a non Polish community means “trying to teach your last name to everybody and how to pronounce everything.” Wszeborowska says despite this mild annoyance, there are good parts to being one of a few.
“You would be surprised — a lot of people who live in this area, even though they don’t speak Polish, they do have some kind of Polish nationality,” says Wszeborowska. “I constantly try to teach them [about Poland and the language].”
The Polish organizations and communities in Ann Arbor allow people to connect with their heritage. There are festivals with traditional food, celebrations of holidays, picnic/barbeque get-togethers, and a weekly Polish school to learn the language and history.
“If my parents didn’t move here, I’d be living in Poland right now,” says Wszeborowska. “So it’s a learning experience, because you represent yourself and your country, and you get to show other people what it means to be a part of your country. Heritage is very important because it makes up who you are, from traditions to being able to say, oh, I have something coming up, this is because I’m Polish. It makes you who you are.”
In the United States, March 4th is Fat Tuesday, a mainly Catholic holiday where you use up fatty foods in preparation for fasting during Lent. A common Polish holiday custom is to eat pączki (essentially a donut with filling) and stores commonly stock up on these delicious Polish desserts. However, in Poland, Fat Tuesday is actually celebrated on Thursday, known as “Tłusty Czwartek” (TWOOS-teh CHVAR-teck). In America, some Poles celebrate this holiday on Tuesday and others on Thursday.
“[Every year], we go and get pączki,” says Jeff Oleksinski, a math teacher with Polish roots. “Sometimes I’ll go out in the morning before school and bring them home so when the kids wake up, they can have their pączki.”
Unfortunately, the best Polish store in the area is in Hamtramck. Some people choose to bake their own pączki and others simply buy them at Kroger.
Note: The author is part of the Polish community and volunteers at the Polish school.
