Contemporary situation of Polish minority in Latvia - geographical-political approach

W artykule omówiono liczebność i rozmieszczenie skupisk mniejszości polskiej w Republice Łotewskiej w świetle wyników spisu powszechnego z 2011 roku. W opracowaniu ukazano także działalność głównych organizacji społecznych oraz szkół mniejszości polskiej na Łotwie. W badaniach wykorzystano socjologiczną metodę wywiadów pogłębionych z liderami organizacji polskich2 . Celem wywiadów było poznanie opinii najaktywniejszej, a jednocześnie najbardziej kompetentnej grupy działaczy.Many political changes during the last centuries caused that East Europe is inhabited by many minorities. Early 90s brought many geopolitical changes in Europe, especially as a result of the collapse of Soviet Union independence were achieved Baltic Republics. These little countries with a small population have very high ethnic diversity. Nowadays the national minorities are quite important part of different societies but they have also different functional possibilities. In different countries they have different legal status which influence on their situations. In the article, the author presents number and distribution of main centers of the Polish minority in the Republic of Latvia in the light of the results of 2011census. The study also shows the main activities of social organizations and the Polish minority schools in Latvia. In the research used the sociological method of in-depth interviews with the leaders of Polish organizations, which main aim was to find out the opinion of the most active and the most competent group of activists