Ethnic conflicts in western Poland
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This article details the Polish-German relations.
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[edit] Early history (until 16th century)
Western Polish lands had some Germanic residents since medieval times, for the first several centuries by invitation. Polish landowners had unproductive land and needed more workers. Germans from the Protestant Low Countries were recruited to reclaim wetlands of northern Poland. Additionally, groups of oppressed Protestants from areas that Catholics had won in southern Germany (e.g. Württemberg) migrated in significant numbers. As time progressed the settler came more from neighboring German lands. For quite some time, the western settlers were given complete freedom of religion, which was a major inducement to move, as Western Europe was engulfed in a series of protracted and violent religious wars, which did not extend to Poland. Poland was the unique example of tolerance, thanks to Warsaw Confederation, that guaranteed the religious freedom and internal peace.
[edit] Counter-reformation (1572-1795)
Starting with the reign of Sigismund I of Poland, the Swedish king, himself a fervent Catholic, the religious conflict emerged in the form of the Counter-Reformation. While the king swayed back and forth, he found himself between the Roman Catholic Church, which brought its influence to bear, and his own misgivings and those of many of the nobles. At one point, the bishop called a congress to enact strict rules, but so many nobles opposed the issue, that the effort failed at the time.
In the 1600s and 1700s, but especially after The Deluge period (Swedish invasions), the freedom to worship that had been guaranteed the Protestant settlers was gradually removed, and a number of their churches destroyed, appropriated or forbidden to be used. Protestants were even required to support the Catholic church in some places. The exact nature of the revocation of freedom of worship in Poland, varied over time and with the nature of the local nobles and officials. Some Protestant communities survived, while some others were forcefully converted. Some Protestants chose to emigrate.
In the second half of the 1700s, new laws inspired by ideas of the Enlightenment were enacted, which forced the bishops to relax the oppression. The second half of the 1700s was a time of increased German and Dutch immigration to Poland, especially to Greater Poland.
The tumble times of Bar Confederacy created a situation, when the foreign settlers sided on the government side, while some Poles sided with partisans. For example, in Czarnkow region, settlers were attacked by roving bands of Polish militia.
[edit] Partitions (1795-1918)
Things changed in the late 1700s when Poland was carved up by its powerful neighbors in the three Partitions of Poland. Now the native Poles came under occupation, and were ruled by foreigners. The Prussian state was determined to become stronger with the acquisition of the additional Polish lands. To ensure continued possession and a secure German presence, settlers were encouraged, German communities were assisted with gifts that built churches, provided bells, and made various other infrastructure improvements. Most notable was the creation of the canal between Bydgoszcz (German: Bromberg) near the Vistula (German: Weichsel) and Naklo (German: Nakel) on the Notec (German: Netze). The Prussian bureaucracy developed into a powerful force that attempted with mixed success to bring about broad social changes.
[edit] Napoleon and Duchy of Warsaw
Napoleon I temporarily turned the tables for about eight years, then the situation reversed again. Duchy of Warsaw. (Add info about Polish involvement, French relations, Germans preventing French shipments on river barges, etc.)
[edit] Prussian times
After the Napoleon era, Prussia again received Great Poland, as part of a total of 5 Prussian provinces, which included large Polish speaking populations:
According to the Vienna peace congress agreement, Great Poland became the Grand Duchy of Posen (1815-1846), an autonomous province under Hohenzollern rule with the rights of "free development of Polish nation, culture and language", and outside the German Confederation.
However, contrary to these arrangements, Prussia gradually limited the autonomy of Great Poland. All these actions naturally created resistance, which sometimes erupted into uprisings, the most notable in 1848, in conjunction with revolutionary efforts in other parts of Germany and Europe. Following the military suppression of Posen-centered uprisings during the 1848 revolutions, the Prussian state followed a course of promising one thing and acting differently. The king found that the promises made to quiet the revolts need not be kept. Plans were made to break Posen into German and Polish sections, for which the dividing line was progressively changed to make the German portion proportionally larger, until the idea was dropped entirely and the entire area came to be treated as just another Prussian province, formally designated as such in 1849.
In 1811, Prussian authorities began the process of abolishing serfdom, extending in 1823 to the Grand Duchy of Poznan. The terms for buying the land where one was once a serf often prospered the rich farmers and landlords. In the long term, the abolition altered the Polish national movement, adding peasants under the leadership of Polish landlords.
[edit] Germanization
The German national movement was perceived by some Poles to be an ally against the monarchies. German nationalists believed the Poles would defend them from Russian aggression. However, during the revolution of 1848, German democrats tried to annex Kurland, East Prussia, West Prussia and most of Great Poland into a united Germany.
After 1871, the Prussian state combined the other German states into a German empire, and the Prussian overlords became more and more oppressive, coming to a position that they would always own these lands and that the Polish peoples must become germanized. German national liberals joined their former enemies from the Prussian court. Measures become more and more severe, and it was forbidden to use Polish in public gatherings, including school and church. The government fought a losing battle to replace Polish land ownership with German settlers, through the Settlement Commission.
However, the Kulturkampf united in opposition, Catholic Poles and Germans of the province. The outcome was, that many Catholics became Poles, even if their knowledge of Polish was limited. (see also Bambrzy).
During the "Kulturkampf" the Archbishop of Gnesen Cardinal Ledochowski, two other bishops and many priests were arrested and some exiled from the country. Many schools, religious orders and civic agencies were closed and resistant Poles were jailed. Claiming to free the Polish schools from the control of the Catholic church, the Prussian government entrusted all the supervisory activities in both German and Polish schools to German inspectors. Soon the Polish language was barred from all grammar and high schools in the provinces of Posen, West Prussia and Silesia, and the teachers were selected exclusively from among the Germans.
When the German Empire was established in 1871, the Polish provinces were made a part of Prussia with no recognition of their national character in spite of the guarantees given to them in the Treaty of Vienna and protests of the Polish representatives. When, in 1873, Prussia introduced certain internal reforms granting more home rule to her cities, the Polish provinces were excluded from the provisions of the new law. In 1876 the Polish language was superseded by the German in all official, civil judicial and administrative transactions. As part of the "germanization" of the provinces, the government proceeded to change the names of places, substituting German designations for the ancient Polish ones, for example, Leszno was renamed "Lissa", Chelmno became "Kulm", Pila became "Schneidemühl", etc. The Poles were deprived of the right to assemble and hold peaceful meetings if Polish were spoken at such gatherings. To circumvent this restriction, business at Polish assemblies was transacted with the aid of blackboards and chalk as a way around the law. In 1885, an order was issued by Bismarck directing all Poles who were not Prussian subjects to leave the country immediately, resulting in over forty thousand persons being expelled despite living and working in the area for many years.
In 1886, a Colonization Commission was established with the aim of buying out land from the Poles and settling it with German colonizers. One hundred million marks was voted for this purpose at the outset. Under the protectorate of Bismarck a special society was formed to agitate-German public opinion against the Poles. The Government subsidized this society and carried out its recommendations. This society, known as the H. K. T. from the initials of its three founders, Hausemann, Kennemann and Thiedemann, was carried out, with the personal encouragement of Kaiser Wilhelm II, a propaganda campaign consisting of pamphlets, meetings and dramas. "Ausrotten!" ("Exterminate!") became a slogan. Over ten billion marks were spent for the purpose. Polish merchants, manufacturers and workmen were systematically and openly boycotted and German trade in Poland was heavily subsidized. The Polish village communities were deprived of their right of supervision over the village schools and, in Russian fashion, private instruction outside of the school buildings was made punishable by heavy penalties. In schools, children were flogged for speaking or praying in Polish. When, in 1901, the parents of the children of the little town of Wrzesnia, rose against this barbarous practice on the part of the teachers, they suffered heavy penalties.
Following the Russian policy in Lithuania and Ruthenia, which forbade the acquisition of real estate by Poles, and poor results of the Settlement Commission, the Prussian government forbade in 1904 the building of houses on newly acquired properties without special permission, which seldom, if ever, was given to Poles. This new limitation did not stop the efforts of the Poles to hold on of as much Polish land as possible. To overcome the restrictions, some peasants followed the example of Drzymala and lived in houses built on wheels, in this manner circumventing the spirit of the restriction. The 1905 census had a category that included wagons, huts, boats and tents as domiciles. The oppression naturally created an organized reaction. The Peasant Bank of Posen and its large number of local branches competed with the Colonization Bank. The German system of compulsory education, though resented by the Poles because of its policy of Germanization, increased the level of education of the Polish peasantry. The number of daily Polish newspapers and the consumption of Polish literature in German Poland increased. At the same time some German politicians expressed desire that Poles could be expelled from territories of Poland held by German Empire in the event of armed conflict[1].
[edit] World War I and aftermath (1914-1939)
German plans in World War I called for annexation of Polish territories held by Russia and ethnic cleansing of Poles from German occupied Poland[2] followed by settlement of Ethnic Germans. Many Poles were forced to fight in the German forces, for the foreign case. Others prepared themselves for the defeat of Germany. With the defeat of Germany, it lost most of its territory in this area. While many Germans migrated west, especially military and administration staff, a relatively large amount of Germans remained, preferring to live and work their farms and businesses as Polish citizens. In general, Poland guaranteed German minority national rights. However, many German-owned estates were parceled out and sold to Polish farmers.
[edit] World War II and atrocities (1939-1945)
World War II brought the brutal repressions of totalitarian German state against Poles. Unspeakable atrocities touched every family in the Eastern provinces (see World War II atrocities in Poland) after Germany broke the treaty of Versailles and invaded them.
[edit] Post-WWII history
After 1989 some part of Silesians demand recognization as a nationality, which was (and still is) refused by Polish government. At the last census, silesian nationality was chosen by 175,000 people. Unofficial estimates claim higher number, about 700,000, but in many cases the censor declined to write this nationality in the questionary.
