Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light

My Grandfather's parents were from Poland. He was about 5'5,with very dark hair(black. But I don't think jet black).His skin was very dark. He had a very slight yellowish color to his skin. But his skin was very brown.His eyes were hazel. His Brother and Sister were both blonde headed and blue eyes. I have met a few people from Poland. One was olive complected. One was light brown complected,and the other one was very fair complected. What makes Polish people look like this?

thats interesting - i have almost identical colouring to your grandfather - skin and eye colour is not so unusual but my hair, very dark but not black, is considered unusual... last summer, when tanned, i was asked if i was romany...

We have a bag of mixed DNA I think. For centruries Poles were and still are mixing with Germans, Balts, Gypsies, Jews. Turks, Tatars, Scandinavians.

its sumthin to do with the genes. look up sumthing like R1a gene on wikipedia it ll tell u a bit about it poland has the highest rate of that gene which all slavic people have as well as in the middle east or india or sumthing i dunno just chek it out

In human genetics, Haplogroup R1a1 (M17) is a Y-chromosome haplogroup that is spread across Eurasia.

It is common in Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. In Europe, the highest frequencies are found in Central and Eastern Europe. Today it is found with its highest levels in Hungary (60%, 20%), Poland (56%), Ukraine (54% or 44%), and Russia, where one out of two men has this haplogroup.

Relatively high frequencies are also found in Northern Europe, the largest being 23% in Iceland, and it is believed to have been spread across Europe by the Indo-Europeans or perhaps later migrations of Vikings, which accounts for the existence of it in, among other places, the British Isles.

Lower frequencies of R1a1 are found among populations of West Asia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R1a

We've got a special God given right to choose how our skin looks like...

lol good u found it BubbaWoo

your looks can go either way.my parents are dark haired, pale and brown eyes.and I have dark green eyes and copper hair,my beard is black-orange,but i shave it.i look more a like i'm from scotland than croatia,but i'm a bit a medditerain skin type,not so pale.dna don't care for nationality,be grateful you're alive

Hungarian 60% is surprising cos they are not a Slavic people at all, but related distantly to Finns & Estonians whose most frequent haplotype is N.

Haplotype N is also big in Russia. Czechs used to say that Russians are Slavicized Finns. Hehe :)
Interesting to know that genetic kinship is different from linguistic kinship.

I was in Cyprus about 15 years ago and kept getting mistaken as a local i.e. locals spoke to me in Greek.....freaked them out when I spoke Polish to em, especially the police he he!

j :)

Dark skinned poles? perhaps they have some type of kurd mix to them its not a polish trait thats for sure at least not your average pole. As for hungarians its rumored they have asian lineage way back. In fact they speak a asiatic language.

Thats true. Even their horse were cousins to the Mongolian horses of the Golden Horde.

They are latinos in disguise, LOL.

Which nation in Europe is not of mixed genetic origin?
Do you think all Germans or British are blonde and blue-eyed? No. Still, dark skin is only usual in Southern Europe(Mediterranian type).

This would prove my theory that Latinos are stalking us Poles.

First, New york.....Chicago....now Erie, and Poland itself? They really like us huh?

Polish People come in a variety of complexions,as is the case with every country in europe,but this can also be caused by intermixing with other groups.

I met about a week ago a half Polish half Puertorican dude.

What did he look like?

He looks like, I guess, a dark skinned Pole, LOL. Seriously though like Kyle Mclanahan when young.

Latinos stalk ANY girl out there, no matter if they are married and have 10 kids back home. Latinos want ONE thing from every woman they can get. Just don't fall for it. They are animalistic in mentality.

Wow that's one hell a big brush you're wielding there Bulgar. Careful, that tar's going everywhere. :)

Would that be in the bedroom....grrrr...easy tiger!

Is that a bad thing?

All men are, don't you think?

All humans have no right to be prideful based on wealth, fame or beauty. Deep down inside we are all a smelly, slimy, putrefying rot. Its especially concentrated in our intestines. Yes, humans are smelly animals. Humans have to bathe constantly to remove the stench. So why so much pride?

Awww. Damnit! They figured us out guys, time to change strategies.

Over the centuries Poland received immigrants from far away lands such as Jews, Gypsies, and Armenians who are dark haired/skinned. And overtime they mixed with poles!

so is it a good thing there is a mix, i think so, i am mixed race and i love it.

I am english and have lived in britain all my life this how i describe myself.

My colour which is light brown makes me questioned ,sometimes people are very intrigued.

I grew up with two white english parents and see myself as the same it is only others who like to try and say otherwise.

Umm.....if you have 2 white parents......I don't mean to sound like a jack@ss or anything, but were you adopted? Or is one a step-parent?

Sorry for making an assumption. Just curious.

adopted!