Herzlich Wilkommen, allen!
I have a question concerning delicacy in presentation of certain family facts of which others who share common ancestry with myself are apparently unaware, that being that many of their ancestors whom they consider (with just pride) to be of Polish ethnicity are actually ethnic Germans. whose names were Polonicised by their parish priest, who appears to have been something of a Slavic chauvinist. This would have occurred during the first two decades of the XXth Century (i.e., 1901-1920) at St. Stanislaus' Parish in Winona, MN.. Examples include: German "Schaufel" becoming Polish "Szewel", Gerrman "Glattke" becoming Polish "Glubka", and an attempt (eventually unsuccessful due to vociferous parental objection) to turn German "Reinke" into Polish "Rynka" (absolutely and publicly documented).
To this day, this priest lives on in my family legend, known simply as: "That d****d priest!".
My question is, how do I disabuse someone of incorrect assumptions concerning their ancestral background without seeming dismissive of their putative ancestry, nor ashamed of my own?
Sticky, sticky, sticky!