@hawkeye10,
Well,
Polak actually is in Polish the name for someone from Poland.
(As family name known in Germany since the 15th century.)
The meaning changed in the 19th century, when many miners and factory workers came from "Poland" (which actually was German/Prussian territory).
Heinrich Heine wrote 1853 ...
... He says: "We get the vagabonds,
The gypsies, Poles and raggedy-Johns,
The idlers and the Hottentots,
They come alone, and they come in lots,
And want to enter paradise
And all be angels, blest and nice.
Begone! Begone! For gallows-faces
Of your ilk, there are no places
Here, not in these heavenly halls,
For those whose lot to Satan falls.
Away from here! And scoot pell-mell
To the blackest seat of eternal Hell - " ...
But since he wrote in German, it origianally says:
... Er spricht: »Es kommen die Vagabunde,
Zigeuner, Polacken und Lumpenhunde,
Die Tagediebe, die Hottentotten -
Sie kommen einzeln und in Rotten,
Und wollen in den Himmel hinein
Und Engel werden und selig sein.
Holla! Holla! Für Galgengesichter
Von eurer Art, für solches Gelichter
Sind nicht erbaut die himmlischen Hallen -
Ihr seid dem leidigen Satan verfallen.
Fort, fort von hier! und trollt euch schnelle
Zum schwarzen Pfuhle der ewigen Hölle.«