Islam in Europe: France: Of mice and men

This blog entry provides evidence of the blithe ignorance of Western Europeans with regard to the history of Eastern Europe.

Tatar Muslims were granted noble status in Poland in the fourteenth century and remained an important segment of the gentry until well into the 20th century when WWI, growing exclusionary tendencies among ethnic Poles, the German Nazis and communism practically eliminated the community.

The Wikipedia entry Lipka Tatars discusses Polish Lithuanian Tatar Muslims as does my blog Ethnic Ashkenazim Against Zionist Israel in Reinterpreting History to Serve Islamophoba.

It is worth mentioning that the first Nobel prize awarded to someone born in historic Poland went to Maria Skłodowska–Curie (Marie Curie) of Polish Catholic aristocratic ancestry, and the second went to Henryk Sienkiewicz of Polish Tatar Muslim aristocratic ancestry.

Catholic-Muslim cohabitation worked well in historic Poland for 500 years. This model should be part of the discussion of Islam in Europe and in North America.

Note that the historic Grand Duchy of Lithuania does not correspond exactly to modern Lithuania and was part of Commonwealth Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska).

The great Polish nationalist poem Pan Tadeusz by Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (in Belarusian, Адам Міцкевіч; in Lithuanian, Adomas Bernardas Mickevičius) starts, "O Lithuania."

Some sources including the Jewish Encyclopedia argue that Mickiewicz' mother was of Jewish Frankist origin. Even though the claim is dubious, Mickiewicz was extremely sympathetic to Polish Jews.

The American actor Charles Bronson (Charles Dennis Buchinsky, Lithuanian name Karolis Bučinskis) is a Lipka Tatar Muslim American. Sphere: Related Content