Poles in Germany
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  -2.JPG) Klose • Reich-Ranicki • Podolski |
| Total population |
|---|
| 2 million 2% of the German population |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
Poles in Germany, or the Polish community in Germany, is the second largest Polonia in the world and the biggest in Europe. Estimations of the number of Poles living in Germany vary from 384,808 Poles with exclusively Polish citizenship [1] to about 2 million[2] and with up to three million people living that might be of Polish descent, although many of them have lost their ancestors' identity. The main Polonia organization in Germany are the Union of Poles in Germany and Congress of Polonia in Germany. Polish surnames are relatively common in Germany, especially in the Ruhr area (Ruhr Poles) and among Silesians.
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[edit] History
Since the Partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795 and Poland's partial incorporation into Prussia, a large Polish ethnic group existed inside Prussia's borders, especially in the new provinces of Posen and West Prussia.
During the transformation of Germany from an agrarian to an industrial society, many Poles, alongside Silesians, Kashubians and Masurians migrated to the rapidly transforming areas around the Ruhr river. The expansion of the coal mining industry of the area required manpower which could not be supplied from the nearby regions. The workforces had to be recruited from other regions and thus, beginning in the 1870s, a large migration wave of the aforementioned groups started to settle in the Ruhr area. Participants in this migration are called the Ruhrpolen.
The Weimar Republic granted the Poles living in Germany its judicial status as a national minority.
In August 1939, the leadership of the Polish community was arrested and interned in the concentration camps of Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald. On the 7th September 1939, shortly after the breakout of World War II, the Nazi government of the 3rd Reich stripped the Polish community in Germany of its minority status.
With the westward drift of Poland's borders after the Second World War, all territories with an autochthone Polish population now belonged to Poland.
The German government today doesn't acknowledge any Polish minority in Germany. The situation didn't change when the Republic of Poland joined the European Union.
[edit] Notable people
This section lists people of Polish, German or mixed descent (including Silesians). Many are of immigrant background. In many cases they have strong ties to both countries.
- Dariusz Michalczewski, former boxer.
- Marcel Reich-Ranicki, former literary critic
- Daria Bijak, Gymnast (from Silesia[3]).
- Sebastian Boenisch, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Henryk M. Broder, author (from Silesia[3]).
- Christoph Dabrowski, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Paul Freier, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Miroslav Klose, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Lukas Podolski, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Ernst Pohl, former footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Lukas Sinkiewicz, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
- Dariusz Wosz, footballer (from Silesia[3]).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links that numbers the number of Poles in Germany at around 2 million people
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