Poland was partitioned between its more powerful neighbours in 1772, 1793, and 1795. By the final partition it had ceased to exist as a sovereign state entirely. Its territory was divided between the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire. This situation lasted until 1918, a period of 123 years during which Poles lived under foreign rule.
During the partitions, the Polish language was suppressed in schools and public life in Russian and Prussian-controlled territories. Polish landowners had their property confiscated. Uprisings in 1830 and 1863 were brutally suppressed. The experiences of Polish people under partition bear significant resemblance to colonial subjugation: language suppression, land confiscation, forced assimilation, and violent repression of resistance.
Polish people who came to Britain, many of them after the Second World War when Poland fell under Soviet domination again, brought a history of their own suffering under imperial power. They carry no historical connection to the Atlantic slave trade and no logical liability for it.
