Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions

After partitioning Poland at the end of the 18th century, the Kingdom of Prussia and later the German Empire imposed a number of Germanisation policies and measures in the newly gained territories, aimed at limiting the Polish ethnic presence and culture in these areas.

[1] He likened the newly conquered West Prussia to a Prussian Canada and its inhabitants (which were German and Polish) to the Iroquois, who he saw as equally uncivilised.

The Prussian state did not support Polish attempts at restoration of Poland during the Congress of Vienna, where it tried to regain the Duchy of Warsaw or at least its western provinces.

[4] 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 aristocratic support.

In 1825 August Jacob, a politician hostile to Poles, gained power over newly created Provincial Educational Collegium in Posen (Poznań).

[5] While in 1824 a Provincial Parliament was invoked in Greater Poland, the representation was based on a wealth census, meaning that the result gave most of the power to German minority in the area.

[5] 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.

[5] As the November Uprising in Russian-held Congress Poland began, Prussians closely worked with Russia in regards to stopping any Polish independence drive.

[5] The administrator of the region became Eduard Heinrich Flotwell, a self-declared enemy of Poles, who openly called for Germanisation 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.

The Prussians hoped that by granting Jews rights and abolishing old limitations, they could integrate Jewish population into German society, and gain a counterweight to Polish presence.

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.

Later, in 1885, the Prussian Settlement Commission was set up from the national government's funds with a mission to buy land from Polish owners and distribute it among German colonists.

The harsh policies had the reverse effect of stimulating resistance, usually in the form of home schooling and tighter 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.

Due to migration within the German Empire, an enormous stream of Polish nationals (as many as 350,000) made their way to the Ruhr 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, German authorities viewed them as potential danger and a threat and as a "suspected political and national" element.

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.

[13][14][15][16][17][18] After World War I ended, the Germanisation of those Polish territories which were restored to Poland was largely reversed, although significant German minorities continued to exist.

The author has been criticised by Christian Raitz von Frentz and his book classified by him as part of a series on the subject that have an anti-Polish bias.

[22] While there were demonstrations and protests and occasional violence against Germans, they were at a local level, and officials were quick to point out that they were a backlash against former discrimination against Poles.

[22] There were other demonstrations when Germans showed disloyalty during the Polish-Bolshevik war[22] as the Red Army announced the return to the prewar borders of 1914.