Agnieszka Heinrich

Embroidery pictures from home

Agnieszka Heinrichs was born in 1975 in Jarosław, Poland, not far from the Ukrainian border. During her studies of German language and literature, she was given the opportunity to work in Rostock from 1997 onwards as part of a scholarship to promote the Polish language and regional studies at German universities. This was also her first stay in Germany. She was fascinated by the language because of the German lessons at her school, although there was no connection to the country and no family ties. At the beginning of her stay, she was unsettled by her Polish accent and the "literary language" she had previously taught.

„I didn't want to stand out, I wanted to integrate 150%, also linguistically. But that didn't work. 10 years ago, it bothered me when someone asked me where I was from. Now I don't have a problem with that.“

She met her husband in Rostock and returned to Germany in 2001 after completing her studies in Poland. Since 2015 the trained teacher has been working at the Volkshochschule Sächsische Schweiz – Osterzgebirge e.V., there she is responsible for the organization of German courses, advises and supports people of different nationalities. At home, she often cooks Polish dishes. She loves Polish series and radio programs. "I'm still interested in Polish actors and singers," she says. At family gatherings at Easter, Christmas, All Saints' Day, special customs are lived.

„I'm emotionally attached to the country.“

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Poles living in Germany

In 2022, approximately 881,000 people with Polish citizenship lived in Germany, including 8,000 Polish students. Since 2011, the number of Poles living here has almost doubled.