[Docere]

Originally Posted by Quixote

I know about the size of NYC’s Polish population and Greenpoint and everything. I’m just wondering what percentage of them are actually ethnically Polish (Catholic)? Polish Jews, Russian Jews, German Jews, etc. typically identify as “Jewish,” not Polish, Russian, and German, respectively. And studies show that, say, Polish Jews have more genetic similarities with Russian or German Jews than they do “real” Poles. My assumption has always been that a majority of NYC Poles are Jewish. Same thing with the large German population. Anecdotally, I’ve rarely come across NYers with surnames like Schmidt, Hoffmann, Zimmermann, etc.

Ashkenazi Jews are an ethnic group and the ancestry question is complicated for Jews. During the turn of the 20th century immigration, the distinction between "Russian", "Polish" and "Romanian" didn't matter much. It was really one stream of Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews.