Polish Colombians

Polish Colombians (Spanish: Polaco-colombianos) are Colombian citizens of full or partial Polish ancestry, or Polish-born people residing in Colombia. The Polish population in Colombia is considered to be the third largest Polish populations in South America behind Brazil (1 to 3 million) and Argentina (500,000).

History
The first Polish immigrant to arrive in Colombia was Estanislao Zawadzki, who was the son of Szymon Zawadzki and Balbina Broniska. In 1830, his family was removed from their land property by the Russian authorities and began with a very difficult time of emigrating to France, Switzerland, and Belgium for the members. In 1846, Estanislao immigrated to Colombia for the invitation from General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.

The Polish engineer created roads and railways in Popayán, Cali, Buenaventura and Tumaco which dedicated to the opening of economic development. From 1908 to 1928, ethnic Poles immigrated to Colombia with Russian passports since Poland was under the Russian government and were classified as "Russians".

Between 1930–1940, Polish citizens of Jewish origin fled from Nazi persecution of Poland and from economic difficulties of the war. Most Poles settled in the port of Barranquilla.

During World War ll, Poland had been attacked and persecuted by Nazi Germany, which forced Polish citizens of Jewish origin to leave their homeland country and seek better conditions. Most Poles chose countries where immigration was most welcoming, as Canada, Argentina, the United States, Brazil and Uruguay received the highest concentration of Poles in the Americas. On the other hand, Colombia only received a few thousand Poles because the country itself had civil wars, political instability, Pablo Escobar's war on drugs and terrorism called FARC, which made Colombia an unattractive destination for European immigrants.

Notable Polish Colombians

 * Pawel Nowicki, theater director
 * Bogdan Piotrowski, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of the University of the Savanna
 * Maciej Zenkiewicz, research Professor at the Universidad Externado de Colombia
 * Jonathan Werpajoski, football player
 * Stella Márquez, beauty queen and Miss Colombia of 1959.