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64-502: The Gorals as a separate ethnographic subgroup began to form in the 14th century with the arrival of the first Polish settlers from Lesser Poland , who would settle and farm the lands around what is today Nowy Targ and along the Dunajec valley beginning in the early twelve hundreds. Prior to that, Podhale was an uninhabited region sparsely populated by bandits who chose the inaccessible mountainous terrain to hide from justice. Then between

128-639: A Goral tradition. The architectural style draws on local architecture and Vernacular architecture of the Carpathians , and is widespread in the Podhale region. Zakopower is a popular folk-pop musical group from Zakopane. The Trebunie-Tutki folk musical group from Zakopane blend traditional Goral music with reggae . For centuries clasps have been an important element of Goral traditional costumes. Originally used for fastening shirts, they fell out of use when buttons became popular, remaining only as ornaments . In

192-540: A majority in the past and they speak the regional Cieszyn Silesian dialect in everyday communication. In Slovakia, Gorals are seeking formal recognition as a minority, however they do not identify themselves as Polish. Historically, the issue of their ethnic identity has been controversial and resulted in claims and counterclaims by both Poland and Czechoslovakia . Gorals, like many other peasant communities in Central Europe , determined their own ethnic identities within

256-703: A total number of 120,000, making Poles the largest immigrant group in Norway. Only in recent years has the population abroad decreased, specifically in the UK with 116.000 leaving the UK in 2018 alone. There is a large minority of Polish people in Ireland that makes up approximately 2.57% of the population. Goralenvolk Goralenvolk was a geopolitical term invented by the German Nazis in World War ;II in reference to

320-527: A visit of Nazi Governor-General Hans Frank to Podhale on 7 November 1939 they proposed to establish a separate state for Goralenvolk . Most fled to Germany at the end of the war except for Krzeptowski himself, who decided to hide in the mountains (at na Stołach ) in a secluded shack. He was apprehended by the Polish Armia Krajowa unit under Lieutenant Tadeusz Studziński, charged with high treason and hanged on 20 January 1945. The implementation of

384-559: Is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group and the sole official language in the Republic of Poland. Its written form uses the Polish alphabet , which is the basic Latin alphabet with the addition of six diacritic marks , totalling 32 letters. Bearing relation to Czech and Slovak , it has been profoundly influenced by Latin , German and other languages over the course of history. Poland

448-643: Is hearty and Poles are one of the more obese nations in Europe – approximately 58% of the adult population was overweight in 2019, above the EU average. According to data from 2017, meat consumption per capita in Poland was one of the highest in the world, with pork being the most in demand. Alcohol consumption is relatively moderate compared to other European states; popular alcoholic beverages include Polish-produced beer , vodka and ciders . Poles have traditionally adhered to

512-515: Is linguistically homogeneous – nearly 97% of Poland's citizens declare Polish as their mother tongue. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner throughout most of Poland, though numerous dialects and a vernacular language in certain regions coexist alongside standard Polish. The most common lects in Poland are Silesian , spoken in Upper Silesia , and Kashubian , widely spoken in historic Eastern Pomerania ( Pomerelia ), today in

576-692: Is proved by their communal activity: the annual Gorolski Święto festival held in Jablunkov is a showcase of a local Polish Goral traditions and is organized by the PZKO (Polish Cultural and Educational Union). This Goral festival preserves the traditions of the Polish nationality group in Trans-Olza . It is the largest cultural and folklore festival in Trans-Olza gathering thousands of spectators each day of festivities. However,

640-450: Is used in most world languages when referring to Poles (Spanish polaco , Italian polacche , French polonais , German Pole ). Among other foreign exonyms for the Polish people are Lithuanian Lenkai ; Hungarian Lengyelek ; Turkish Leh ; Armenian : Լեհաստան Lehastan ; and Persian : لهستان ( Lahestān ). These stem from Lechia , the ancient name for Poland, or from the tribal Lendians . Their names are equally derived from

704-698: Is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States , Brazil , and Canada . France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century. In the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France , mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation (1939–1945) or Communism (1945/1947–1989). In

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768-573: The Americas , and Australasia . Today, the largest urban concentrations of Poles are within the Warsaw metropolitan area and the Katowice urban area . Ethnic Poles are considered to be the descendants of the ancient West Slavic Lechites and other tribes that inhabited the Polish territories during the late antiquity period. Poland's recorded history dates back over a thousand years to c. 930–960 AD, when

832-549: The Coat of arms of Poland ( godło ). The national colours are white and red, which appropriately appear on the flag of Poland ( flaga ), banners, cockades and memorabilia. Personal achievement and education plays an important role in Polish society today. In 2018, the Programme for International Student Assessment ranked Poland 11th in the world for mathematics, science and reading. Education has been of prime interest to Poland since

896-633: The Eastern Bloc . Another peasant rebellion in Podhale occurred in 1669, when Gorals and local peasants rebelled against high taxes and oppressive rule imposed on them by the local nobility. The first Polish national opera , titled Krakowiacy i Górale ( Cracovians and Gorals) composed by Wojciech Bogusławski premiered in 1794. In the 19th century, between 1803 and 1819, the Gorals migrated to Bukovina . During World War II , Nazi Germany sought to Germanize

960-647: The European Union in 2004 and with the opening of the EU's labor market; an approximate number of 2 million, primarily young, Poles taking up jobs abroad. It is estimated that over half a million Polish people went to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work freely throughout the EU where they have had full working rights since Poland's EU accession in 2004 . The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to

1024-552: The Goral highlander population of Podhale region in the south of Poland near the Slovak border. The Germans postulated a separate nationality for people of that region in an effort to extract them from the Polish citizenry during their occupation of Poland's highlands . The term Goralenvolk was a neologism derived from the Polish word Górale (the Highlanders) commonly referring to

1088-404: The Goral dialects contain some vocabulary from Hungarian and other Balkan languages . Kazimierz Dobroslowski asserted that the Podhale dialect had loan-words from Romanian and Albanian , as well as similar belief system elements, music and material culture. The Podhale dialect is the de facto standard literary Goral ethnolect due to Podhale being the most widely known region. However,

1152-620: The Goralenvolk action aimed at germanization of the Polish highlanders was actively opposed by the underground Tatra Confederation , a Polish resistance organization founded in May 1941 in Nowy Targ (the historical capital of Podhale), by the poet and partisan, Augustyn Suski ( nom-de-guerre Stefan Borusa) with Tadeusz Popek ( Wacław Tatar ) as his deputy and Jadwiga Apostoł ( nom-de-guerre Barbara Spytkowska) as their administrative secretary. Suski

1216-621: The Invasion of Poland in 1939. Later, the German authorities attempted to assimilate the population into the body of Volksdeutsche , and to encourage their collaboration with the occupying forces. Soon, a small group of local collaborators gathered under the leadership of Reichsdeutscher Witalis Wieder , with Wacław Krzeptowski – a self-proclaimed Goralenführer – and his cousins Stefan and Andrzej Krzeptowski , as well as suspected German spy Henryk Szatkowski , and Józef Cukier from Zakopane. During

1280-555: The Kingdom of Hungary . Due to various rights and privileges, including the Vlach law , Gorals enjoyed freedom from serfdom and held a substantial amount of autonomy. Also, distinct within the Goral culture were zbojniks  [ pl ] , members of local robber bands in the western Carpathians . In folk tradition, they were recognized as heroes who helped the exploited Gorals by stealing from

1344-804: The National Museum of Ethnography in Warsaw, The Tatra Museum in Zakopane , the Ethnographic Museum of Kraków , and the City Museum of Żywiec . Most Gorals are adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and are often noted for their staunch religiosity. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ludźmierz is of particular significance to the Gorals, being the oldest shrine in the Podhale region. Also, there are numerous Catholic religious cults and traditions connected to

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1408-529: The Old Polish term lęda , meaning plain or field. Slavs have been in the territory of modern-day Poland for over 1500 years. During the Migration Period , central Europe was becoming increasingly settled by the early Slavs (500–700 AD). They organized into tribal units , of which the larger ones further west were later known as the Polish tribes ( Lechites ); the names of many tribes are found on

1472-499: The Podhale region, but the way they are worn differs from the original one: instead of fastening shirts they are usually attached to them or sewed on. The parzenica embroidery dates back to the mid-19th century. Initially, they were simple string loops, used for reinforcing cuts in front of cloth trousers. They had practical functions and protected the cloth from fraying. The modern look parzenica got from those tailors who began using red or navy blue string, simultaneously increasing

1536-702: The Western Polans – an influential tribe in the Greater Poland region – united various Lechitic clans under what became the Piast dynasty , thus creating the first Polish state. The subsequent Christianization of Poland by the Catholic Church , in 966 CE, marked Poland's advent to the community of Western Christendom . However, throughout its existence, the Polish state followed a tolerant policy towards minorities resulting in numerous ethnic and religious identities of

1600-533: The end of Communism in Poland in 1989 . In Brazil, the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State. Smaller, but significant numbers settled in the states of Rio Grande do Sul , Espírito Santo and São Paulo (state) . The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world (after Chicago) and Polish music , dishes and culture are quite common in the region. A recent large migration of Poles took place following Poland's accession to

1664-412: The mazurka , krakowiak and polonaise , were popularized by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin , and they soon spread across Europe and elsewhere. Latin songs and religious hymns such as Gaude Mater Polonia and Bogurodzica were once chanted in churches and during patriotic festivities, but the tradition has faded. According to a 2020 study, Poland ranks 12th globally on a list of countries which read

1728-493: The nation-state system during the 19th and early 20th century. Although nationalist propaganda was generated by both Poles and Slovaks, this process of the Gorals' identification with a nationality was still not complete when the border was finalized in 1924. A notable example was Ferdynand Machay , a priest born in Jabłonka , Orava , Piotr Borowy from Rabča , Orava and Wojciech Halczyn from Lendak , Spiš , who went to

1792-596: The resistance movement , including the Tatra Confederation and the IV Batalion Nowy Targ of the 1st Regiment of Home Army Podhale Rifles and fought against Nazi occupation of Poland. The Gorals inhabit a number of regions collectively referred to as the "Goral lands" (Goral: Góralscýzna, Polish: Góralszczyzna ) split between Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In Poland , the community inhabits

1856-518: The 1919 Paris Peace Conference and, during a personal audience, lobbied U.S. president Woodrow Wilson to sign these lands over to Poland. The Gorals have a similar belief system elements, music and material culture as that of the Vlachs and related groups (e.g. Moravian Vlachs ), from whom it has been argued they originate. Anthropologist Carleton Coon grouped Gorals with the Hutsuls , who dwelled in what

1920-485: The Christian faith; an overwhelming majority belongs to the Roman Catholic Church , with 87.5% of Poles in 2011 identifying as Roman Catholic . According to Poland's Constitution , freedom of religion is ensured to everyone. It also allows for national and ethnic minorities to have the right to establish educational and cultural institutions, institutions designed to protect religious identity, as well as to participate in

1984-585: The Gorals belong to the West Slavic family with influence from other surrounding linguistic groups, notably the Eastern Romance languages . In particular, the dialect spoken in Podhale , called the Podhale dialect ( Polish : gwara podhalańska ), is of Polish origin and part of the Lesser Poland dialect group , but it has been considerably influenced by Slovak in recent centuries. In addition to Slovak,

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2048-527: The Gorals. Under Nazi racial laws, the majority of Poland's population and its minorities were viewed as "undesirable" and subject to special statutes, slave labour and martial law. However, Nazi racial theorists considered the 27,000 strong Goral population as a separate ethnic group from the Poles. Termed Goralenvolk , they were deemed part of the greater Germanic race and given milder treatment from other Poles. Between 1939 and 1945, local Gorals of Podhale joined

2112-531: The Nazi ideologues to be of Germanic origin. The concept of the Gorals being from German descent did not originate with the Nazis themselves. For example, the 1885 Meyers Konversationslexikon entry under Goralen stated, that Germans (also) lived in that area in the 11th century but were slavicized . The region inhabited by Górale (pre-war Polish Nowy Targ County in Podhale ) was annexed by Germany immediately after

2176-467: The Poles do not form a majority in any of the municipalities of the area, and some local Gorals identify themselves on the nationality level as Czechs . In this respect, the village of Hrčava (the second easternmost village in the Czech Republic), with the vast majority of citizens declaring Czech nationality, can be noted. In this village, the Poles form only a 2% minority. Local Silesian Gorals formed

2240-605: The Poles, such as Polish Jews . The Polish endonym Polacy is derived from the Western Polans , a Lechitic tribe which inhabited lands around the River Warta in Greater Poland region from the mid-6th century onward. The tribe's name stems from the Proto-Indo European *pleh₂- , which means flat or flatland and corresponds to the topography of a region that the Western Polans initially settled. The prefix pol-

2304-620: The Polish authorities in 1995, are the Native Polish Church ( Rodzimy Kościół Polski ), which represents a pagan tradition going back to Władysław Kołodziej 's 1921 Holy Circle of Worshippers of Światowid ( Święte Koło Czcicieli Światowida ), and the Polish Slavic Church ( Polski Kościół Słowiański ). There is also the Native Faith Association ( Zrzeszenie Rodzimej Wiary , ZRW ), founded in 1996. Polish people are

2368-504: The Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizens of Poland, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. The majority of Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism . The population of self-declared Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of an overall population of 38,512,000 (based on the 2011 census), of whom 36,522,000 declared Polish alone. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora (the Polonia ) exists throughout Eurasia ,

2432-452: The Republic of Poland can register their institution with the Ministry of Interior and Administration creating a record of churches and other religious organizations who operate under separate Polish laws. This registration is not necessary; however, it is beneficial when it comes to serving the freedom of religious practice laws. Slavic Native Faith ( Rodzimowiercy ) groups, registered with

2496-734: The United States, a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago (billed as the world's most Polish city outside of Poland), Milwaukee, Ohio, Detroit, New Jersey , New York City, Orlando , Pittsburgh , Buffalo , and New England . The highest concentration of Polish Americans in a single New England municipality is in New Britain, Connecticut . The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II. The number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after

2560-458: The border. While the origin of the Goral ethnolect is Polish, the language of Gorals in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic is gradually shifting and increasingly becoming more similar to the literary standard in their respective countries. Silesian Gorals of the Czech Republic identify themselves on the nationality level as Poles and are members of the Polish minority in the Czech Republic , which

2624-501: The church. The Polish Gorals also hold a particular reference for Pope John Paul II , who they consider as their own, even though Karol Wojtyła was born in Wadowice , Lesser Poland and was not a Goral himself. However, the Late Pope was always considered as "the son of the mountains" by the Gorals. A notable portion of Gorals are Augsburg Confession Lutherans, who are clustered around

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2688-556: The country's current linguistic homogeneity. The culture of Poland is closely connected with its intricate 1,000-year history , and forms an important constituent in the Western civilisation . Strong ties with the Latinate world and the Roman Catholic faith also shaped Poland's cultural identity. Officially, the national and state symbol is the white-tailed eagle ( bielik ) embedded on

2752-461: The country, while Orthodox Christians can be found mostly in the far north-eastern corner, in the area of Białystok , and Protestants in Cieszyn Silesia and Warmia-Masuria regions. A growing Jewish population exists in major cities, especially in Warsaw , Kraków and Wrocław . Over two million Jews of Polish origin reside in the United States, Brazil, and Israel. Religious organizations in

2816-582: The death of Wojtek Mateja  [ pl ] who was considered as the last zbójnik . In 1651, the Gorals and local peasantry of Podhale rebelled against the Polish nobles ( szlachta ) in what became the Kostka-Napierski uprising , led by the adventurer and officer from the Polish army captain Aleksander Kostka Napierski . A film was produced about the uprising ( Podhale w ogniu ) in 1956, and distributed in many languages across

2880-783: The early 12th century, particularly for its noble classes . In 1364, King Casimir the Great founded the Kraków Academy , which would become Jagiellonian University , the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Central Europe. People of Polish birth have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics both in Poland and abroad, among them Vitello , Marie Skłodowska–Curie , Rudolf Modrzejewski , Rudolf Weigl , Bronisław Malinowski , Stefan Banach , Stanisław Ulam , Leonid Hurwicz , Benoit Mandelbrot and Alfred Tarski . Poland's folk music , especially

2944-411: The early 20th century they were already rare, used only by senior and young shepherds , who grazed their sheep on mountain pastures. In the 1920s and the 1930s, they were considered collector's items and sought after by tourists. In Zakopane , they were often worn as ornaments for the "cucha" (outerwear), sweaters, or occasionally on leather bags. Today the clasps are a popular element of highlanders from

3008-545: The ethnic group living in the Beskid and Tatra mountains . In an attempt to make the Gorals collaborate with the SS , the Nazis proclaimed that they were of Germanic descent, and were thus worthy of Germanisation and separate treatment from other Poles . Nazi ideology claimed that Gorals (Górale) were descended from ethnic Germans who allegedly settled in that region during medieval times in significant numbers. They were considered by

3072-721: The geographical region of Podhale of the Tatra Mountains and parts of the Beskids ( Cieszyn Silesia , Silesian Beskids , Żywiec Beskids ). After 1945, some Gorals from Bukovina and the Podhale regions found new homes in Lower Silesia in villages such as Krajanów , Czarny Bór , and Borówna in the Central Sudete Mountains , as well as Złotnik , Brzeźnica and Lubomyśl in Lubusz Voivodeship . In present-day Slovakia they live in several separate groups: in northern Spiš (34 villages subdivided into two groups), Orava and Kysuce (2 villages) and smaller groups in 7 other enclave villages in northern Slovakia. The main towns of Goral lands include: The various dialects spoken by

3136-448: The heartland of the Tatra mountains embarked on a recruitment drive, with the objective being to create a brand new Waffen-SS highlander division. Some 200 young Goralenvolk signed up after having been given unlimited supplies of alcoholic drinks. They boarded a train to Trawniki, but got off the train in nearby Maków Podhalański , when they had become sober. Only twelve men arrived at the SS training base in Trawniki next to Lublin. At

3200-430: The late 13th and 15th centuries, Vlach shepherds migrated to the region, gradually moving northwest from the Balkan peninsula over the Carpathian Mountains and settling on Polish lands there. The initial contact of the locals with the Vlachs was difficult. The medieval chronicler Jan Długosz described the nomadic shepherds as brutish. However, the newcomers brought with them a distinct method of raising livestock in

3264-425: The list compiled by the anonymous Bavarian Geographer in the 9th century. In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula (the Vistulans ), the Baltic Sea coast and in Greater Poland . The ultimate tribal undertaking (10th century) resulted in a lasting political structure and the creation of a Polish state . Polish is the native language of most Poles. It

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3328-524: The majority of Gorals speak closely related dialects. Gorals themselves rarely differentiate between their dialects and just refer to them as Górolski . For most Gorals today, the decisive factor in their self-identification with nationality is not ethnic but territorial. For example, those living in areas under a long tradition of belonging to the Polish state identify themselves as Polish, while those living in Slovakia have identified themselves as Slovaks , with notable exceptions to this rule on both sides of

3392-406: The most popular in the early 20th century. When " Kraków style" came into fashion, highlanders of the Podhale region began ornamenting the corsets with shiny sequins and glass beads . In Cieszyn Silesia and northern Slovakia, the shepherd's axe and elements of the folk costume are termed Vlach ( Polish : wałaska, wałaszczaki , Slovak : valaška ). Goral folk costumes can be found in

3456-716: The most, and approximately 79% of Poles read the news more than once a day, placing it 2nd behind Sweden . As of 2021, six Poles received the Nobel Prize in Literature . The national epic is Pan Tadeusz (English: Master Thaddeus), written by Adam Mickiewicz . Renowned novelists who gained much recognition abroad include Joseph Conrad (wrote in English; Heart of Darkness , Lord Jim ), Stanisław Lem (science-fiction; Solaris ) and Andrzej Sapkowski (fantasy; The Witcher ). Various regions in Poland such as Greater Poland , Lesser Poland , Mazovia , Silesia , and Pomerania developed their own distinct cultures, cuisines, folk costumes and dialects. Also, Poland for centuries

3520-404: The mountains, which was different from the one practiced by the settlers from the lowlands of Lesser Poland and thus with the merging of the two cultures, a new local way of life began to emerge, and the subsequent assimilation of the Vlachs. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Gorals settled the upper Kysuca and Orava rivers and part of northern Spiš in Slovakia , which at the time were part of

3584-446: The northwestern part of Poland. Kashubian possesses its own status as a separate language. The Goral people in the mountainous south use their own nonstandard dialect, accenting and different intonation . The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the border changes and population transfers that followed the Second World War – forced expulsions and resettlement during that period contributed to

3648-427: The number of loops. Later the appliqué design was replaced with embroidery . Using woollen yarn allowed the parzenica to become more colourful and eventually it became a stand-alone trouser ornamentation, developed by talented tailors and embroiderers. In the second half of the 19th century, it became fashionable in the Podhale region to adorn corsets with depictions of thistle and edelweiss . These motifs were

3712-416: The resolution of matters connected with their cultural identity. There are smaller communities primarily comprising Protestants (especially Lutherans ), Orthodox Christians (migrants), Jehovah's Witnesses , those irreligious , and Judaism (mostly from the Jewish populations in Poland who have lived in Poland prior to World War II) and Sunni Muslims ( Polish Tatars ). Roman Catholics live all over

3776-413: The rich and giving back to the poor. The most famous of these was Juraj Jánošík from the village of Terchová in the Žilina region on the Slovak side of the Carpathian mountains. As a youngster, he fought with the Kuruc insurgents against the Habsburg monarchy and later formed his own band of zbojniks . The phenomenon became widespread in the mid-16th century and disappeared in the 19th century with

3840-608: The sixth-largest national group in the European Union (EU). Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a total number of around 60 million people worldwide (with roughly 18-20 million living outside of Poland, many of whom are not of Polish descent, but are Polish nationals). There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone. There are also strong Polish communities in neighbouring countries, whose territories were once occupied or part of Poland – Czech Republic , Slovakia , Lithuania , Latvia , western Ukraine , and western Belarus . The term " Polonia "

3904-413: The town of Wisła . This is the main centre of Protestant Gorals, and it is the only city in Poland where Catholics are a minority. Polish People Polish people , or Poles , are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common history , culture , the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe . The preamble to the Constitution of

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3968-399: Was a refuge to many Jews and to Armenians , who became an important part of Polish society and similarly developed their own unique cultures. Popular everyday foods in Poland include pork cutlets ( kotlet schabowy ), schnitzels, kielbasa sausage, potatoes, coleslaw and salads, soups ( barszcz , tomato or meat broth ), pierogi dumplings, and bread rolls . Traditional Polish cuisine

4032-408: Was murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp . Popek was tortured and executed in Zakopane. A German census conducted in 1940 showed that 72% of the local Goralenvolk population identified themselves as ethnically Polish rather than ethnically German. This result was a great disappointment for the Nazi administration. In January 1943 the SS Germanische Leitstelle in occupied Zakopane in

4096-407: Was then the southeastern corner of Poland and is now southwestern Ukraine . In the 19th century, Polish scholars viewed the Gorals as linguistically close to the Poles, but having close ties with Slovak folk culture . It was noted that Gorals' social and economic life resembled that of Vlach shepherd culture. The Zakopane Style architecture , established at the end of the 19th century, is held as

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