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Ukrainians consider Duda, Mickiewicz to be among most famous Polish figures, while Poles consider Tymoshenko, Taras Shevchenko
KYIV. Sept 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian and Polish respondents, naming famous figures of both countries, most often talk about politicians, according to the results of the sociological survey entitled "Poles and Ukrainians in Daily Contacts."
Thus, in the survey, respondents were asked to name three well-known Poles and Ukrainians, respectively. Despite the fact that they could provide a maximum of three options, two-thirds of both Polish and Ukrainian respondents decided not to answer.
Among those who gave the answer, over a third of Poles and almost half of Ukrainians mentioned at least one name. Politicians were the most common category. Ukrainian respondents most often named incumbent President of Poland Andrzej Duda (13%), followed by former presidents Lech Wałęsa (10%) and Lech Kaczyński (8.5%).
In Poland, Ukrainian politicians were also often named. The most frequently mentioned were Yulia Tymoshenko (over 10%), former professional boxer and current mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko (10.5%), as well as President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (6.5%). At the same time, from 3.5% to 4.5% of respondents recalled former presidents Petro Poroshenko, Viktor Yuschenko and Viktor Yanukovych.
As for the frequently mentioned cultural figures and artists, about 7.5% of Ukrainian respondents named the poet Adam Mickiewicz and about 9% of Poles named the poet Taras Shevchenko. Ukrainians remembered the actress Barbara Brylska (5%) and the singer Anna German (4.5%). The individuals mentioned are largely unknown to generations born after 1991.
For younger Ukrainians, Polish culture was represented by the 19th century composer Fryderyk Chopin and contemporary science fiction writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Among the older Poles (aged 55-74) were named footballer Valeriy Lobanovsky and pole vaulter Serhiy Bubka symbolized Ukrainian sports glory. Among the main Polish athletes, Ukrainian respondents named football player Robert Lewandowski (3%), who was most often mentioned by respondents aged 25-34 (7%).
In addition, the researchers asked how familiar the respondents are with the literature of their neighbors. Although 22% of Polish respondents indicated books as sources of knowledge about Ukraine, only 2% of them have read a Ukrainian book over the past three years. The only two authors who were mentioned more than once were Mykola Hohol and Oksana Zabuzhko. Ukrainian respondents (3%) claim to have learned information about Poland from books.
The organizers of the sociological survey "Poles and Ukrainians in Daily Contacts" are the representative office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine and Poland, Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe, the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council. The survey was conducted by the MASMI Polish company and the InfoSapiens Ukrainian company in parallel in both countries in December 2020 using the online interview method with representative samples from Poland (1,051 respondents) and Ukraine (2,243 respondents).
