Bambers

[1] They settled in villages which had been destroyed during the Great Northern War and the subsequent epidemic of plague,[1][clarification needed] including:[citation needed] After the economically important villages surrounding Poznań were devastated by the war and the plague, the city authorities decided to attempt to replenish their population through immigration.

[1] At least 450 to 500 men and women came to Poland according to surviving contracts, however, later documents suggest this number may have been as high as 900 people in four waves of immigration.

[1] By the end of the 19th century, during the Chancellor Bismarck's policy of Germanisation in Poland, all residents in villages inhabited by the settlers chose Polish nationality during Prussian and German censuses.

[1] In the late 19th century, the meaning of the word "Bamber" (singular form) became wider - it started to denote all people living in those villages, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background.

[citation needed] After World War II, they were the subject of suspicion from the Polish communist government due to their German-sounding surnames and faced repression, including sometimes the confiscation of their land and property.