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Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions

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For Russification in Partitioned Poland, see Russification of Poles during the Partitions.
For Germanisation in Poland during World War II, see Germanisation in Poland (1939–1945).

After the Partitions of Poland in the end of the 18th century, the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire imposed a number of Germanisation policies and measures in the newly gained territories, aimed at limiting the Polish presence in these areas. This process continued through its various stages until the end of World War I, when most of the territories were transferred to the Second Republic of Poland. The genocidal policies of Nazi-Germany against ethnic Poles between 1939 and 1945 can be understood as a radicalization of these processes.

Until the Unification of Germany

Following the partitions, the previous Germanisation attempts pursued by Frederick the Great in largely Roman Catholic and formerly Austrian Silesia were naturally extended to encompass the newly gained Polish territories. The Prussian authorities started the policy of settling German speaking ethnic groups in these areas. Frederick the Great settled around 300,000 colonists in the eastern provinces of Prussia and aimed at a removal of the Polish nobility, which he treated with contempt and described Poles as 'slovenly Polish trash'[1] in newly reconquered West Prussia, similar to the Iroquois.[2] From the beginnings of Prussian rule Poles were subject to a series of measures aimed against them and their culture; the Polish language was replaced by German as the official language,[3] and most administration was made German as well; the Prussian king Frederick the Great despised Polish farmers for their backwardness and hoped to replace them with Germans. His view was certainly not 'nationalistic' in a modern way but coincided with the national arrogance of Prussian officials looking at Poles as 'illiterate Slavs and superstitious Catholics' needing to be enlighted by German language and culture.[3] Polish nobility was obliged to honour the Prussian monarchy as loyal subjects and those families which refused had to sell their lands at low prices to German nobles and agricultural intrepreneurs. They emigrated, mostly to the Russian part of Poland.[1][3] Another colonization attempt aimed at Germanization was pursued by Prussia after 1832,[4] and while Poles constituted 73% of population in 1815, they were reduced to 60% in 1848, while the same time the German presence grew from 25% to 30%.[5]

1815–1831

The Prussian hold on Polish areas was somewhat weakened after 1807 where parts of its partition were restored to Duchy of Warsaw.[3] The power status of Prussia was dependent on hindering any form of Polish statehood, due to crucial position of Wielkopolska, Silesia and Pomeranian-all areas inhabited either by Polish majority or substantial Polish population; it didn't support Polish attempts at restoration of Poland during Congress of Vienna, where Prussia tried to gain Duchy of Warsaw or at least its western provinces.[3] In 1815 the Prussian king made several guarantees in his speech to Poles, that is to say the nobility and the possessing class, in the newly formed Grand Duchy of Posen (created out of territories of Duchy of Warsaw) in regards to rights of Polish language and cultural institutions.[3] In order to ensure loyalty of the newly re-conquered territories the Prussians engaged in several propaganda gestures hoping they would be enough to gain land-owners and aristocracy support.[6]

The base support of Prussian rule was from influx of German colonists, officials, including military, artisans, shopkeepers and tradesmen, whose immigration started in 1772 due to Partitions of Poland and while it was halted in 1806, it soon was reinstated after 1815 as planned systemic action of Prussian government.[6] The Prussians knew exactly that Polish aspirations were involved with independence, however they were considering at the time two different methods to subdue Polish resistance.[6] One advocated Germanization of the Polish provinces, the other pursued by Chancellor Hardenberg wanted to gain support of Polish higher classes, while turning them away from Russian Tsar Alexander I.[6]

Initially the position of the Chancellor prevailed. At the same time Prussians and Russians through secret police worked together against Polish movements that would seek independence either from Russia or Prussia, and Prussian representative in Warsaw helped to create political climate that would abolish constitutional freedoms in Congress Poland.[6] The situation in Polish areas of Prussia was calmed down after series of proclamations and assuring the Polish right to their education, religion and traditions. In the end, the Polish rights were defined very narrowly, and Prussia started to reduce the Polish language in administration, schooling, and courts.[6] In 1819 the gradual elimination of Polish language in schools began, with German being introduced in its place.[6] This procedure was briefly stopped in 1822 but restarted in 1824.

In 1825 August Jacob gained power over newly created Provincial Educational Collegium in Posen (Poznań).[6] Across the Polish territories Polish teachers were being removed from work, German educational programs were being introduced, and primary schooling was being replaced by German one that aimed at creation of loyal Prussian citizens.[6] Already in 1816 the Polish gymnasium in Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) was turned into a German school, maintaining Latin but replacing Polish by German gradually.

In 1825 the Teacher's Seminary in Bromberg was Germanized as well.[6] While in 1824 a Provincial Parliament was invoked in Greater Poland, the representation was based on wealth census, meaning that the end result gave most of the power to German minority in the area.[6] Even when Poles managed to issue calls asking for enforcing of the guarantees formulated in treaties of Congress of Vienna and proclamations of Prussian King in 1815 they were rejected by Prussia.[6] Thus neither the attempt to create a Polish University in Posen or a Polish Society of Friends of Agriculture, Industry and Education were accepted by authorities.[6] Nevertheless, Poles continued to ask for Polish representation in administration of the area, representing the separate character of the Duchy, keeping the Polish character of schools.[6]

From 1825 the increase of anti-Polish policies became more visible and intense.[6] Prussian political circles demanded end to tolerance of Polishness. Among the Poles two groups emerged, one still hoping for respect of separate status of the Duchy and insisting on working with Prussian authorities hoping that in time they would grant some freedoms. The other faction still hoped for independence of Poland. As consequence many Polish activists were imprisoned.[6] A joint operation of Russian and Prussian secret police managed to discover Polish organizations working in Breslau (Wrocław) and Berlin, whose members were arrested and detained in Prussian jails.[6]

1830–1848

Intensification of anti-Polish policies started from 1830 onwards.[6] As the November Uprising in Russian-held Congress Poland began, Prussians closely worked with Russia in regards to stopping any Polish independence drive. A state of emergency was introduced in the Duchy, police surveillance started on a large scale and 80,000 soldiers were moved into the area.[6] The Prussian Foreign Minister openly declared that Prussia would oppose independence of Poland as it would mean territories taken in the Partitions of Poland could be claimed by it.[6] Russians soldiers fighting Poles received food supplies, equipment, and intelligence from Prussia. While Prussian generals even wanted to march into Congress Poland, the threat of French intervention stopped those plans.[6] The administrator of the region became Eduard Heinrich Flotwell, a self-declared enemy of Poles, who openly called for Germanization and superiority of German culture over Polish people. Supported by Karl Grolman, a Prussian general, a program was presented that envisioned removing Poles from all offices, courts, judiciary system, and local administration, controlling the clergy, and making peasants loyal through enforced military service. Schools were to be Germanized as well.[6] Those plans were supported by such prominent public figures such as Carl von Clausewitz, August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Theodor von Schon, Wilhelm von Humboldt.[6]

By 1830 the right to use Polish in courts and institutions was no longer respected. It was not any longer considered to be a right and devaluated to a favour [3] While the Poles constituted the majority of population in the area, they held only 4 out of 21 official posts of higher level.[3] From 1832 they could no longer hold higher posts at the local administrative level (Landrat).[3] At the same time the Prussian government and Prussian King pursued Germanization of administration and judicial system, while local officials enforced Germanization of educational system and tried to eradicate the economic position of the nobility, mostly however not always Poles.[3] In Bromberg the mayors were all Germans. In Posen, out of 700 officials, only 30 were Poles.

Flotwell also initiated programs of German colonization and tried to reduce Polish landownership in favor of Germans.[6] In the time period of 1832–1842 the number of Polish holdings was reduced from 1020 to 950 and the German ones increased from 280 to 400.[6] Jewish minority in the Province was exploited by Prussians to gain support for its policies, by granting Jews rights and abolishing old limitations the Prussians hoped they could integrate Jewish population into German society, and gain a counterweight to Polish presence. As a result, many Jewish experienced Prussia as a free, liberal state and were opposed to Polish independence movement.[6] Jews germanized themselves culturally but a lot of them felt strangled in the political German-Polish antithesis and a emigrated, in particular to Berlin where also better economic perspectives were waiting.[7]

When Frederick William IV's ascended to the throne in 1840, certain concessions were again granted.,[8] the German colonization was halted, some schools were able to teach Polish language again, and promises were made to create departments of Polish language in universities in Breslau and Berlin, there were also vague promises about creation of University in Posen.[6] This was all that Poles were granted.[6] In reality only the methods changed, while the overall goal of Germanization remained the same, only this time with lighter methods, and by concessions Prussians hoped to assure identification of Poles with Prussian state and eventual change of their identity.[6] The concession also were connected to freezing of relations between Prussia and Russian Empire, with Prussian politicians hoping that Poles could be used to fight Russia on Prussia's behalf.[6]

At this time the majority of Poles were not yet engaged in political activity. At most only the landowners, the intelligentsia and the upper urban classes possessed a developed national consciousness. The peasantry and the working class had yet to experience their own "Polish national awakening". Through military service and school education, and in the case of "regulated" peasants also in the wake of the benefits wrought by the final emancipation decree introduced in 1823, some segments of these social groups had begun to identify with the Prussian state. However, as German colonization grew in strength and policies against Polish religion and traditions were introduced the local population begun to feel hostility towards Prussia and German presence.[6] Economic factors also began to influence Polish-German relations. Colonization policies in particular created a fear of German competition among Poles. The greatest difference remained the religious segregation. The local Germans displayed rather politically apathy and refrained from creating an organized form of social life. Prior to 1848, the provincial diet remained the only forum of German political activity. In general relations of the local Germans with the Polish population were good.[8]

Kreis Karthaus Westpreussen Prussia - Rural area 1905 - population -66,000: 46,000 Polish, 20,000 German Prussian provinces were subdivided into districts called "Kreise" (singular "Kreis", abbreviated "Kr.")

1871 until the Treaty of Versailles

Linguistic map of eastern Germany in 1910.

Within Bismarck's Kulturkampf policy, the Poles were purposefully presented as "foes of the empire" (German: Reichsfeinde).[9] Bismarck himself privately believed that the only solution to Polish Question was extermination of Poles[10] As the Prussian authorities suppressed Catholic services in Polish language by Polish priests, the Poles had to rely on German Catholic priests. Later, in 1885, a Prussian Settlement Commission (Ansiedlungskommission) was set up from the national government's funds with a mission to buy land from Polish owners and distribute it among German colonists.[11] Not only Polish larger land owners sold their lands but also German ones did. Financial profit decided their motives. The so called colonization land – more than 460,000 hectares – was parcelled among German little farmers, often landless farm hands. From 1886 to 1914, on their behalf the ‘Ansiedlungskommission’ built some 300 new villages, or enlarged existing villages, and accommodated with schools and other institutions, such as churches, agricultural cooperations and bank and insurance branches. The costs subsidized by the Prussian state, amounted up to one billion ‘Reichsmark’. In total, some 22,000 German speaking farmer families were selected according to agricultural fitness and also to religion because German Roman Catholics were distrusted as probably inclined to affiliate with local Poles. One quarter of the colonizers derived from the provinces to be colonized; another quarter came from the Russian parts of Poland, were half a million of German speaking farmers were settled by Polish and Russian nobility and church authorities on their lands in preceeding centuries.[12] In reaction to this the Poles also founded a commission of their own to buy farmland and distribute it to Poles.[citation needed] Eventually 150,000 were settled on Polish territories. In 1888, the mass deportations of Poles without German civilianship, mostly season workers, from Prussia were organized by German authorities. This was further strengthened by the ban on building of houses by Poles (see Drzymała's van)[13] Another means of the policy was the elimination of non-German languages from public life, schools and from academic settings. In 1888, catechetical school lessons provided by Roman Catholic parish priests in Polish were ordered to be conducted in German and this provoked a school strike and even startled foreign, in particular French, newspapers accusing Prussia for inhumanity (see Września children strike). The harsh policies had the reverse effect of stimulating resistance, usually in the form of home schooling and tighter economical unity in the minority groups. In 1890 the Germanisation of Poles was slightly eased for a couple of years but the activities intensified again since 1894 and continued until the end of the World War I. This led to international condemnation, e.g., an international meeting of socialists held in Brussels in 1902 called the Germanisation of Poles in Prussia "barbarous".[14] Nevertheless, the Settlement Commission was empowered with new more powerful rights, which entitled it to force Poles to sell the land since 1908. In 1919, the new Polish republic proclaimed an state confiscation of the German colonizations and so the 150,000 farmers and their families were expropriated too and had to leave Polish state territory.

Germanisation of Poles in Ruhr area

Another form of Germanisation of Poles was the relation between the German state and Polish coal miners in the Ruhr Area. Due to migration within the German Empire, an enormous stream of Polishspeaking labourers left the eastern provinces (as many as 350,000) made their way to the booming industries in the Ruhr area in the late 19th century, where they worked in the coal and iron industries. Because of the various uprisings in occupied Poland during the previous century, Prussian authorities viewed them as potential danger and a threat and as a "suspected political and national" element. The Catholic church welcomed them as a numerical enforcement which also meant a political contribution to the Catholic Centre Party ('Zentrumspartei'). All Polish workers originating from the Russian parts of Poland, that is to say without German civilianship, had special identity cards and were under constant observation by German authorities. In addition, anti-Polish stereotypes were promoted, such as postcards with jokes about Poles, presenting them as irresponsible people, similar to the treatment of the Irish in New England around the same time. The vilification was mutual, with Polish rhymes often characterizing the Germans as dogs or less than human. Many Polish traditional and religious songs were forbidden in public by Prussian authorities. Nevertheless the Catholic church and its spiritual care remained a stronghold for Polishness. [1]. Their citizens' rights were also limited by the German state.[15] In response to these policies, the Polish formed their own organizations to defend their interests and ethnic identity. The Sokół sports clubs and the workers' union Zjednoczenie Zawodowe Polskie (ZZP), Wiarus Polski (press) and Bank Robotników were among the best known such organizations in the area. At first the Polish workers, ostracised by their German counterparts, had supported the influencial Catholic Catholic Centre Party. Since the beginning of the 20th century their support more and more shifted towards the social democrats. In 1905 Polish and German workers organized their first common strike. Under the German law of changing surnames (German: Namensänderungsgesetz)[clarification needed] a significant number of "Ruhr-Poles" changed their surnames names in a Germanised spelling, however still recognizable as originally Polish, in order to evade ethnic discrimination by showing their inclination to adapt a German outlook. Increasing intermarriage between Catholic Germans and Poles also contributed much to the Germanisation of ethnic Poles in the Ruhr area. Public opinion in the Ruhr area accepted Polishness as folklore but opposed it as a national political stance.

Germanization plans during First World War

During the First World War, the German Empire planned to annex up to 35,000 square kilometers of pre-war Congress Poland and ethnically cleanse between 2 and 3 million Poles and Jews out of these territories to make room for German settlers.[16][17][18][19][20][21]



See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "In fact from Hitler to Hans we find frequent references and Jews as Indians. This, too, was a long standing trope. It can be traced back to Frederick the Great, who likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly' reconquered West Prussia to Iroquois". Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-speaking Central Europe, 1860–1930 David Blackbourn, James N. Retallack University of Toronto 2007
  2. ^ Ritter, Gerhard (1974). Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 179–180. ISBN 0-520-02775-2. It has been estimated that during his reign 300,000 individuals settled in Prussia. ... While the commission for colonization established in the Bismarck era could in the course of two decades bring no more than 11,957 families to the eastern territories, Frederick settled a total of 57,475. ... It increased the German character of the population in the monarchy's provinces to a very significant degree. ... in West Prussia where he wished to drive out the Polish nobility and bring as many of their large estates as possible into German hands.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Andrzej Chwalba, Historia Polski 1795–1918 Wydawnictwo Literackie 2000 Kraków pages 175–184, 307–312
  4. ^ Wielka historia Polski t. 4 Polska w czasach walk o niepodległość (1815–1864). Od niewoli do niepodległości (1864–1918) Marian Zagórniak, Józef Buszko 2003 page 186
  5. ^ Historia 1789–1871 Page 224. Anna Radziwiłł and Wojciech Roszkowski
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Jerzy Zdrada, Historia Polski 1795–1918 Warsaw Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN 2007; pages 268, 273–291, 359–370
  7. ^ Bernhard Breslauer, Die Abwanderung der Juden aus der Provinz Posen, Denkschrift im Auftrage des Verbandes der Deutschen Juden, Berlin 1909, Druck von Berthold Levy
  8. ^ a b Makowski, Krzysztof (Fall 1999). East European Quarterly (ed.). Poles, Germans And Jews In The Grand Duchy Of Posen in 1848: From Coexistence To Conflict.
  9. ^ Abrams, p. 24.
  10. ^ National Identity and Foreign Policy: Nationalism and Leadership in Poland, Russia and Ukraine (Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies) Ilya Prizel page 113,Cambridge University Press 1998
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-05-22. Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ contemporary statistics in Leo Wegener, Die wirtschaftliche Kampf der Deutschen mit den Polen, Posen 1903, Verlag von Joseph Jolowicz; a detailed overview overview of the colonization process in Brigitte Balzer, Die preussische Polenpolitik 1894-1908, Frankfurt am Main-Bern-New York-Paris 1990, p. 58-69, Verlag Peter Lang
  13. ^ Jerzy Kwiatek: Polska – Urokliwy świat małych miasteczek. Wyd. 3. Warszawa: Sport i Turystyka MUZA SA, 2006, s. 452. ISBN 83-7319-993-4.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-12-08. Retrieved 2005-10-31. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ Bade, Weiner, p. 11.
  16. ^ Truth or conjecture?: German civilian war losses in the East, page 366 Stanisław Schimitzek Zachodnia Agencia Prasowa, 1966
  17. ^ To the Threshold of Power, 1922/33: Origins and Dynamics of the Fascist and Nationalist Socialist Dictatorships, page 151–152
  18. ^ Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands by Omer Bartov and Eric D. Weitz page 55 Indiana University Press 2013
  19. ^ Immanuel Geiss "Tzw. polski pas graniczny 1914-1918". Warszawa 1964
  20. ^ The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke By Timothy Snyder "On the annexations and ethnic cleansing, see Geiss, Der Polnische Grenzstreifen"
  21. ^ Absolute Destruction: Military Culture And The Practices Of War In Imperial Germany Isabel V. Hull page 233

References

  • Abrams, Lynn (1995). Bismarck and the German Empire, 1871-1918. Routledge. p. 24. ISBN 0-415-07781-8.
  • Klaus J. (EDT) Bade, Myron Weiner (2002). Migration Past, Migration Future. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books. p. 11. ISBN 0-415-07781-8.
  • Zybura, Marek (2004). Niemcy w Polsce. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie. ISBN 83-7384-171-7.
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