Mniejszość religijna - mniejszość etniczna - wspólnota kulturowa. Uwagi na temat genezy, aktywności i tożsamości Karaimów w Polsce

Abstract

W artykule przedstawiono zarówno genezę i uwarunkowania rozwoju przestrzennego mniejszości karaimskiej na ziemiach polsko-litewskich, jak i podjęto próbę ustalenia elementów składowych poczucia odrębności grupowej Karaimów we współ- czesnej Polsce. Określono również formy, charakter i zasięg przestrzenny ich spo- łeczno-kulturalnej aktywności, podjętej zwłaszcza w wyniku przemian ustrojowych w kraju, po 1989 r., kiedy stworzone zostały nowe warunki do transmisji samoidentyfikacji narodowościowej i religijnej w kierunku różnorodnych inicjatyw środowiskowych.

The Karaims in Poland are in many ways a unique social group. According to the established regulations, they are considered as an ethnic minority. They also fulfil all the requirements to have the legal status of a religious group – Karaim Religious Association. What is unique about the Karaims is the fact that they are the smallest among the traditional national and ethnic minorities in Poland. Moreover, the number of Karaims is lower than the number of members of most Churches and religious groups registered in Poland. The Karaims are not only a religious and ethnic minority, but they also remain a separate cultural community. It is due to the fact, that apart from formal (resulting from a legal background) and objective (resulting from, e.g. being raised in a Karaim family or practicing Karaism) criterion, the allegiance to the Karaim community also depends on the sense of identification with the Karaim cultural community. The belonging to such perceived community is subjective in its nature, based on the awareness of participation in a common heritage, sense of strong ties with other Karaims – it derives from the belief of being a Karaim, because of one’s awareness of being a Karaim. Even by accepting such a broad criterion of belonging to Karaim community, where both objective and subjective factors play a qualifying role, it is evident that this minority is getting smaller in size. Even the ‘transition period’, which took place after 1989, when the cultural code of many social groups was reformulated, did not influence any significant changes of this community, although it clearly gave a new impulse for the environmental activity of the Karaims. As a result of the political transformation, the number and the scope of social-cultural events organized by Polish and Lithuanian Karaims increased visibly.