I

BY W.M. DRZEWIE IECKI $3.00 The German-Polish Frontier W. M. Drzewieniecki This book is a study of the historical back­ ground of the German-Polish frontier and the events which led t o the establishment of the present-day border between Germany and Po­ land. It also analyzes those forces, - eco­ nomic, demographic, and political, - which are in operation on the newly acquired Polish terri­ tories since the new frontier was established. Today, one of the most controversial prob­ ., lems of German-Polish relations is the direct result of the transfer of the German population rze- from Poland after the end of World War II. ti on These expellees have been and still remain the d is focus of Germany's desire to regain these terri­ in- tories, which Poland acquired at the Potsdam hat Agreement. The author of this book attempted r is to find out how many Germans voluntarily left sts what was formerly the German East (the ob- Deutsche Ost) and how many were actually ex­ in- pelled. The conclusion of the author is that not only about one third of the permanent German population was expelled in accordance with the ion Potsdam Agreement while two thirds left either one by order of the German Government or of their own free will. The author's second, important conclusion, concerning the friction over the German e.xpel­ lees is that given time the problem should be resolved by a natural demographic process. In 1954 the rate of the natural growth of the Polish population in the new Polish territories was 30 per 1,000 (Germany's natural growth in the same year was only 10 per 1,000). From this birth­ rate we may estimate that Poles are being born on the new territories at the average rate of about 156,000 a year. And thus while the Polish population is increasing, the number of German expellees from Poland is decreasing every year by natural death. Therefore we can safely say that in the next 15 to 20 years the number of expellees will become indeed negligible. More­ over, it is doubtful, in the author's opinion, whether in the future any of the expellees would like to return to the lands they left. Conse­ quently during the same period of time, the P olish population will acquire additional rights to the new territories, because the great ma­ jority will consist of the people who were born there. Thus the demographic aspect, at least, of the new German-Polish frontier problem has N been solving itself. Because most arguments for the revision of s This bo1 ground of events wh present-da· THE GERMAN-POLISH land. It nomic, der - in operatic tories sine FRONTIER Today, lems of C result of t from Pol< These exi: focus of ( tories, wl: Agre em en to find ot what wa! Deutsche pelled. 1 only abou By populatio1 Potsdam . by order own free The at concernin lees is H W. M. Drzewieniecki resolved ...... '" ' . 1954 the I The University of Chicago populatio per 1,000 year was rate we r on the n about 1 Sf populatio expellees by natur; that in t expellees over, it whether POLISH WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA like to 1 quently Polish p Chicago, 1959 to the r jority w i there. • of the n1 been sol· Becau1 The n

This ground events , pres ent­ FOREWORD land. I l nomic, c in opera From time immemorial, German and Slavic tories si: Today speaking peoples intermingled over a vast zone of !ems of r esult of central and eastern Europe. Even in historic times, from P o These eJ this intermingling ranged from the Elbe to the Volga focus of and from the Gulf of Finland to the Black sea; and tories, VI A greeme the balance between the two great linguistic com­ to find c what w < munities shifted more than once with changing mili­ D eutsche pell ed. tary and economic relationships. only abo1 populatio In our own time, during the First and Second Potsdam by order World Wars, the Germans have undertaken vast own free imperial ventures against their Slavic neighbors. The ai concernin Each time they failed after preliminary success. In lees is H resolved the wake of the ~T orld War II, nearly all the 1954 the r populatio1 German inhabitants of predominantly Slavic (to­ per 1,000 gether with Magyar and Rumanian) lands were ex­ year was rate we rr pelled. During the past decade political and linguistic on the n• about 156, frontiers of central and eastern Europe have there­ populatior exp ellees fore come to coincide more nearly than at any time by natural in the historic past. that in th expellees o ver, it i This book investigates in detail the course of whether it events across the Polish-German frontier which led like to re quently d to the separation of German from Polish populations. Polish poi to the ne· jority will PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v there. Th COVER DESIGNED BY MICHAL H. BALICKI of the new been solvi1 Because The Ge1 vi THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER VI It concludes with observations upon the wider signifi­ This book cance of this process. D uring recent years the Amer­ ground of ti ACKNOWLEDGMENTS events whicl ican public has paid little attention to the question of present-day Polish-German relations; and indeed, the fact that land. It ali I wish to take this opportunity to express my nomic, demo the Communist government of eastern Germany in operation deep gratitude to Professor William Hardy McNeill tories since officially recognizes the new frontiers has made the Today, or of the University of Chicago, who read the whole lems of Ge question dormant. r esult of th• manuscript, and offered his assistance and his skillful from Polan It may long remain so. Yet a reunited Germany These expe: and friendly comments. focus of G e would be greatly tempted to revive claims to former I am grateful also to the Western Institute tories, whi( German territories that passed to Polish and Russian Agreement. ( I n s t y t u t Z a ch o d n i ) of Poznan, Poland, to find out administration during the last stages of the war. The what was for their help in obtaining out-of-print books needed Deutsche C question which served to precipitate World War II pelled. T l for my research and for their cooperation in supply­ might then resume front rank on the international only about ing photographs of the new Polish Western Terri­ population scene. An American may hope no such thing hap­ Potsdam A tories. by order o pens. In the meanwhile, the information presented in own free v The au1 the pages that follow offers a basis for informed I am much obliged to the following persons and concerning lees is th: judgment of a problem which has long plagued the institutions for allowing me to quote from their copyi­ resolved b righted books : J\1rs. Arthur Bliss L ane (I S a w 1954 th e r; peace of Europe, and may yet do so again. populatior. Po 1 and Be tr a y e d by her late husband), per 1,000 ' year w as William H. J\foNeill Mr. Stanislaw J\1ikolajczyk (Th e Pattern of rate w e rr Soviet Domin at ion), Columbia University on the m Professor of History about 156 University of Chicago Press (Europe on the Move by E . Kuli­ populatio1 expellees August, 1959 sher and G e r m a n i z i n g R u s s i a n P o- by natur2 that in ti 1 a n d by R . W . T ims ), H oughton Mifflin Com­ expellees pany and Cassell and Company L td., (Churchill's over, it whether works), Mcmillan Company (W a r o r P e a c e like to 1 quently Polish p vii to the t jority w there. · of the n b een sol Becau The G• viii THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER

This boc by J. F. Dulles), Oxford University Press on behalf gr ound of events w h: of the Royal Institute of International Affairs pr es ent-da: (America, Brit a in, and Russi a; Their PREFACE land. It : nomic, d er. Cooperation and Con f 1 i ct by Wil­ in operatic This book was written for the American public. tories sin e liam H. McNeill), Frederick A. Praeger Inc., Today, (Strategy by B. H. Liddell Hart), and Simon Therefore it does not include all the aspects of the !ems of C r esult of 1 and Schuster Inc., ( S w o r d an d S w a s t i k a German-Polish problem but only those which may from Pol< be of more interest, in the author's opinion, to the T hese exr by Telford Taylor) . focus of ( citizens of the United States. The author has made t ories, wt I am grateful to my colleague Leon Apt, the Agr eem en a sincere effort to present both the German and the to find 0 1 assistant editor of the J o u r n a 1 o f M o d e r n what wa Polish, as well as the neutral points of view, in so far Deutsche H i s t o r y , for helping me edit the manuscript. pelled. ' as sources were available. only abo1 To l\fr. Z. Anthony Kruszewski of the Univer­ populatio The problem of place-names and river-names Potsdam sity of Chicago go my thanks for his assistance in by order securing statistical information and for his helpful was one of special difficulty. While the Germans ow n free The a comments. have been trying to preserve the German names, the concerni1 Poles have introduced a new nomenclature; for ex­ lees is t I am greatly indebted to the Polish Western As­ resolved ample, they call the Oder River, Odra, the N eisse 1954 the sociation of America who provided their invaluable populatic River, N ysa (or Nyssa), Danzig, Gdansk, and Bres­ per 1,000 aid in publishing this book. year wa1 lau, Wroclaw. Poland, of course, has the de facto rate we right to change the names according to her wishes, on the W. M. Drzewieniecki about 15 Chicago, Illinois and these wishes should be respected by others. More­ populat i exp ellee August, 1959 over, history seems to give Poland right in as much by natu· that in as investigation of the history of the names of places expellee situated east of the present German-Polish frontier o ver, it whethet shows that in most cases the P oles did not change the like to quently names arbitrarily, but tried rather to restore their old Polish to the jority ' ix there. of the been sc Bee a The< x THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER PREFACE . xi

This b historical spellings (or pronunciations) or to ap­ Where there is a firmly established American ground o nomenclature the author gave preference to the events w proximate them. For example, the nineteenth cen­ present-d tury German geographers, Karl von Spruner and G. A merican name before the German or the Polish. land. I t nomic, di Droysens, on their maps of pre-fourteenth century For example the Polish capital, W arszawa, is called in operat tories sin Europe, used such Slavic place-names as: vVarsaw, and the Polish principal river Wisla, Vis­ Today, tula. !ems of 1 2 result of German Spruner Droysens Polish from Pol W.M.D. These ex Danzig Gdansk Gydanyzk Gdansk focus of Wroclaw t ories, w Breslau Wraclaw Wratislaw A g reeme1 Wratislavia to f ind o what wa Oder Odera Odera Odra Deutsche pell ed. Odora o nly abo1 Nissa Nysa (Nyssa) populatio Niesse P otsdam by order Because of this German historical evidence and own free T h e a1 the present ownership of the land by the Poles the concernin lees is ti author saw no justification for preserving the Ger­ resolved 1954 the 1 man place-names and consequently decided to use the po pulatio Polish ones. In order to avoid confusion, however, per 1,000 year was the author added special glossary to the book contain­ rate w e r. on the n ing both the German and the Polish names. Further­ about 156 populatio more, in several instances, whenever the author expellees thought it useful, he put the German name m by natura that in ti parentheses immediately after the Polish name. expellees over , it 1 Karl von Spruner, Historisch-Geographischer Hand-Atlas zur Ges­ w hether i like to r chichte der Staaten Europa's vom Anfang des Mittelalters bis au/ die neu­ este Zeit. Zweite Auflage (Gotha: bei J ustus Perthes, 1854), Eur:opa No. quently 1 Polish pc 4 and 5. to the n 2 G . Droysens, Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas (Bielefeld: Verlag jority wil von Velhager & Klesting, 1886), p . 23 . there. T of the ne been solv Becaus The G xii THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER GLOSSARY

This bo1 The following list contains some of the names ground of 347 events wh of places situated in Poland's Western Terri­ present-da: tories. It is intended to facilitate reference to the land. It : nomic, der. Polish nomenclature of these places. The Polish in operatic tories sine names are given in the official spelling fixed by the Today, · Commission for the Determination of Polish Place­ lems of G result of t names and published in the official "Monitor Pol­ from Pola These exp ski," while the German names are given in the forms focus of C tories, wh used before September l, 1939. Agreement to find ou Polish Name German Name what was Deutsche ' Bytom Beuthen pelled. T only abou· Cedynia Zehden population Elbl~g Elbing Potsdam J by order c Elk: Lyck own free 1 The au Gdansk Danzig concernin! lees is th: Gliwice Gleiwitz resolved t Glog6w Glogau 1954 the r: population Grunwald Grunewald per 1,000 I year was Uawa Deutsch Eylau rate we m on the n e J elenia Gora Hirschberg about 156, K~dzierzyn Heydebreck Kandrzin populatior expellees Kluczbork Kreuzburg by natural that in th Klodzko. Glatz . expellees over, it i Kolobrzeg Kolberg whether i1 Kostrzyn Kiistrin like t o n quently d Polish po xiii to the ne jority wil there. T' of the ne1 been solvi BecausE xiv THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER

Koszalin Koslin This bo< ground of Kwidzyn Marienwerder events wh Legnica Liegnitz present-da: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS land. It Malbork Marienburg nomic, der in operati< Nysa (Nisa) Neisse Page tories sine Oliwa Oliva Today, P olish Eagle in tP.e St.. Peter and Paul Church lems of C Olsztyn Allen stein r esult of t at Legnica ...... 13 from Pol• Opole Oppeln These exJ The Mausoleum of the Polish House of Piast focus of I Pila Schneidemiihl tories, wl at Legnica ...... 15 Agreemer Psie Pole Hundsfeld to find 0 1 Raciborz Ratibor what w a The Sarcophagus of the Polish Prince Bolko II Deutsche Slubice Frankfurt at Henryk6w, near Wroclaw ...... 17 pelled. ' So pot Zoppot only abo1 Polish Eagle in a Silesian Church ...... 19 populatio Stargard Stargard Potsdam by order Szczecin Stettin The Castle of the Polish House of Piast at own free The a Swinoujscie Swinemiinde Szczecin, partly damaged by war operations 21 concerni1 Trzebnica Trebnitz lees is t The Mausoleum of the Polish House of Piast at resolved Walbrzych Wladenburg 1954 the Krzesz6w, near Wroclaw ...... 23 populati• Wolin Wollin per 1,00( The Sarcophagus of the Polish Prince Henryk IV year wa Wroclaw Breslau rate we in the Church of the Holy Cross at Wroclaw 25 on the Zabrze I-linden burg about 1~ Zgorzelec Garlitz populati Polish Eagles in Gdansk ...... 27 expellee Zielona Gora Grunberg by natu War Destructions in Glog6w ...... 97 that in expelle1 Names of the Rivers War Destructions in Glog6w ...... 99 overt i whethet Nysa Neisse like to War Destructions in Nowogrodziec ...... 101 quently Odra Oder Polish to the Warta Warthe xv jority · there. of the been S• Bee< The

THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER This xvi grounc events A Silesian Farm of 1945 ...... 103 pres en la nd. A Silesian Farm of 19'45 ...... 105 nomic, in op e1 LIST OF MAPS tor i es A Silesian Village of 1945 ...... 107 Tod< Page lems o The "Rozbark" :Mine in Bytom ...... 109 result , The Frontier Changes: XII Century, from l Inside the "Miechowice" pit in Upper Silesia These 1466, 1772, 1793 ...... 29 focus c in 1959 ...... 111 tori es, Agreen The Frontier Changes: 1795, 1922-39, to f ind what September 1939, 19'45 ...... 31 Deutsc. pell ed. only at The Administrative Division of the populat Potsda1 Polish New Territories ...... 113 by ordE own fn The concerr lees is resolve• 1954 th1 populat per 1,00 year w< rate we on t he about 1 populat. expelleE by natu that in expelleE over, it whether like to quently Polish 1 to the jority VI there. xvii of the n been sol Becau The

xviii THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER This ground events pres en· land. nomic, in ope1 TABLE OF CONTENTS tories : Tod< !ems o result ' FOREWORD ...... v from 1 These Vll focus c ACKNOWLEDG1\1:ENTS ...... tori es, Agreen PREFACE ...... IX to find what · Deutsc. GLOSSARY ...... xm pell ed. only al populat LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...... xv Potsda1 by ordt own fn LIST OF MAPS ...... XVII The cone err lees is INTRODUCTION ...... I resolve• 1954 tho populat I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF per l,OC year w; THE GERMAN-POLISH RELATIONS 3 rate we on the Early Developments about 1 populat expelle1 German Occupation of the Polish Territory by natu that in The Restoration of Poland expellei over, ii whethet The German-Polish Relations Between like to the Two World Wars quently Polish to the World War II jority ~ there. of the r xix been so Becat The xx THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER

Thi: groun• II. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE events NEV\T GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER 52 prese11 land. INTRODUCTION nomic, Teheran Conference in ope tori es Yalta Conference Although the Second World War destroyed the T od. power of the country which started this terrible !em s c Potsdam Conference r esult bloodshed, the victory did not bring the solution of from l T hese III. POSTV\'AR ADMINISTRATION OF many important international problems. It did not focus c THE NEW POLISH WESTERN to ri es, even solve the problem of Germany itself, divided Agree~ TERRITORIES ...... 73 after the war into two different political and social to find what The Transfer of the German Population units: the Federal Republic of Germany, recognized Deutsc pell ed. from Poland by the West, and the German Democratic Republic only al recognized by the Soviet bloc. populat The Organization and the Reconstruction Potsda1 by ordE of the Polish Western Territories It seems that the present division of Germany, own fr< The The Territorial Organization which had its precedent when Napoleon created the concern Federation of the Rhine in 1806, may last for many lees is The Rehabilitation r esolve• years to come because of the conflicting attitudes and 1954 t h1 populat IV. THE EUROPEAN SIGNIFICANCE interests of the West and the East. However, as long per 1,00 OF THE ODRA-NYSA FRONTIER . 125 year w< as the problem of the reunification of Germany exists rate we it overshadows another important question-that of on the The Economic Aspect about 1! the German-Polish frontier. Today the problem of populati The Demographic Problem expellee this frontier seems to be secondary, but it may play by natu1 The Strategical and International Value that in an important role in the future if German unification expellee of the German-Polish Frontier is ever achieved. over, it whether 146 ltke to CONCLUSIONS ...... The new German-Polish frontier as established quently Polish p BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 155 de facto in 1945 is already recognized as perma- to the 1 jority w INDEX ...... 161 1 there. • of the m been sol• Becau1 The 2 THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER

This nent by Poland and the German Democratic Repub­ ground events lic as well as by the Soviet Union and other commun­ present ist countries, including Yugoslavia. It is not recog­ CHAPTER I land. nomic, nized by other countries but at the same time i~ not in oper actively questioned. Only the Federal Republic of tories i HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE Toda Germany seriously challenges the legality of the pres­ lems o GERMAN-POLISH RELATIONS result • ent German-Polish frontier. from I Early Developments These The problem of the German-Polish frontier is focus c tori es, not simple. It involves a thousand years of history HE German and Polish peoples settled down side Agreen to find of German-Polish conflict and present day demo­ T by side on the European Continent more than a what Deutsc graphic, economic, international, political, and so­ thousand years ago. pell ed. cial questions. The purpose of this book is to investi­ As long as the Germanic tribes were pagan and only al popuia· gate these problems, which arose in recent years and not much better organized than the Slavs, and as long Potsda by ord led directly to the establishment and consolidation of as their cultural development stayed at the same own fr T he the frontier as it is today, and to draw some con­ level, the chances and opportunities of both peoples cancer clusions based on these investigations. were about equal in spite of the aggressiveness which lees is resolvt characterized the activities of the Germans. This 1954 tt popula situation, however, changed greatly after the con­ per 1,0 quest and the conversion of the Saxons and the Bav­ year " rate w arians by Charlemagne. Then the Slavs had to deal on the about with the Charlemagne's Christian Empire, a very popula expell• powerful neighbor, who began to use the values of by nat that i1 freshly acquired faith and culture as tools of new ag­ ex pell• gressions. over, wheth Gradually German Emperors developed a fairly like t quentl consistent policy toward their eastern Slavic neigh- Polis!; to th1 'onty 3 there. of th b en Be The ' HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 5 4 THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER Prussia," but under the suzerainty of the Polish This bors. Its aim was to prevent the formation of a large ground political unit by division of the state between the sons Crown. This part of the German-Polish frontier was events present· of the ruler. This policy strove also to maintain a the most permanent, for it remained practically un­ land. 1 altered for 306 years. However, when in the first nomic, state of hostility among the pretenders to the throne, in oper; part of the seventeenth century "Ducal Prussia" (by tories s so that the Empire could act as an arbiter. It insti­ Toda· gated rivalries and enmity between various nations, that time a secular princedom) passed into possession lems oJ result c such as the hostility of the Lusatians and the Bohe­ of the Electors of Brandenburg one of the principal from F aims of their policy was to break away from the bonds These ' mians toward the Poles, in order to be able to play focus o the feelino·s and the interests of one against another. of vassalage to Poland. They were able to achieve tori es, b Agre err Furthermore, the aim of this policy was to prevent this goal in the middle of the seventeenth century to find when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth found what · the creation of kingdoms and the establishment of an Deutsc. itself in a critical situation because of the Cossacks' pell ed. ecclesiastical autonomy, which might have led to poli­ only al tical independence. These principles, modified by wars and of the Swedish invasion. These successes popula1 Potsda new circumstances, continued to guide German for­ together with the royal crown secured in 1700 be­ by ord, came for the Electors the springboard for further ter­ own fr eign policy toward the Slavs through several cen­ The turies. With the creation of aggressive Brandenburg ritorial expansion. After the Great Northern War concer lees is in the twelfth century and the establishment of the Brandenburg gained control over the middle and resolv1 1954 tt German Teutonic Order right on the Polish soil in lower reaches of the Odra River ( Szczecin and Pome­ popula rania) and was ready for the next phase of expansion per 1,0 the following century the situation of the Poles and year vo other Western Slavs became even more difficult. The -the annexation of the upper reaches of this River rate w on thE Slavic tribes west of the Odra River were gradually -Silesia; this rich and important province was cap- about popula exterminated by Brandenburg and the Poles had to tured by Frederick II in 1742. expell This great expansion of Prussia-Branden burg by na1 use all their resources to check the Teutonic expan­ that i had a most disastrous bearing on the fate of Poland. expell sion. Finally, after many wars, the power of the over, Teutonic Order was broken in the fifteenth century. When Prussia and Brandenburg were ruled bv two whcth hke t By the Treaty of Torun, 1466, Poland regained all lines of the Hohenzollems, this dynasty always qucnt dreamed of linking these two countries. Now, when Poli st previously lost territories and the Teutonic Order re­ to t they were under the same ruler, the Hohenzollerns )Ority tained only a part of Prussia - the so-called "Ducal th re of th been Be 6 THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 7 This ground aimed continually at the conquest of Polish lands Russia, and Prussia completed their territorial settle­ events · present­ lying between them. Thus the idea of the partition ment by a reciprocal pledge never to use a title which land. I nomic, c of Poland, which was the logical consequence of this could recall the existence of the Polish Common­ in opera tories si ambition, was born in the minds of Hohenzollerns wealth. After eight centuries of history the proud Toda) and passed to other of Poland's neighbors. As long, Kingdom of Poland was erased from the map of lems of result o: however, as Russia opposed the idea of partition, it Europe. from p, These e could not be realized by Prussia, and Russia was tem­ focus of porarily against it because she feared that Prussia German Occupation of the Polish Territory tories, , Agree m o might become too powerful in the Baltic area, which to find The Partitions had put an end to the political life what VI' the Tsars considered their own domain. N everthe­ of the peoples of the Polish-Lithuanian Common­ Deutsch pell ed. less, both Prussia and Russia did everything possible wealth, but these peoples had never renounced their only ab< to keep Poland weak and ready for partition at a later populati rights to independence. Bloody Polish insurrections Potsdarr date. With this in mind they concluded a peculiar bear testimony of this. by orde1 own fre1 agreement to protect in Poland the so-called "Golden From the very beginning of the occupation of The . Freedom," and the rights of the dissenters. Finally, concerni Poland the Prussian government embarked on a lees is during the Russo-Turkish war, 1768-7 4, Frederick resolved policy of ruthless Germanization. The German cul­ 1954 the the Great approached Russia with a concrete proposi­ ture and language were forcibly imposed and the populati per 1,001 tion that the three powers, Austria, Russia, and Prus­ Polish language suppressed. In 1855 the Polish lan­ year wa sia, should come to terms on the Turkish question, rate we guage was prohibited in some public institutions; on the and take their compensation in Poland. The Treaty about I! Polish business was restricted and the Poles were populati of Petersburg of 1772 declared that in order to put an forced to sell out a great number of their estates.' In expellee by natu1 end to the anarchy in Poland, and to satisfy their 1872 began the persecution of the Roman Catholic that in expellee legal claims, the three powers decided to partition religion, especially of the Polish clergy who were the over, it Poland. Each power immediately took possession of whether. natural organizers of resistance against the Germani- like to its share by military force. The First Partition was quently 1 W. J. Rose, "Prussian Poland 1850-1914," The Cambridge History of Polish 1 followed in 1793 and 1795 by Second and Third Par­ to the ~oland: 1697-1935, eds. W. F. Reddaway et al. (Cambridge: The Univer­ JOrity titions. The last king of Poland was forced to abdi­ SJty Pres.s), p. 412. According to Rose by 1860 about 125,000 hectares of there. cate, and the three partitioning Powers-Austria, land was lost by the Poles in Great Poland alone and between 1861 and of the 1885 almost 300,000. b en ol Bee a ThE

8 THE GERMAN-POLISH FRONTIER HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 9 Thi groun zation.2 In 1874 the Polish language was forbidden ing of Polish lands and of the settling of Germans on event 3 9 prese: in all schools. Two years later this policy was ex­ them. land. nomic tended to all public offices, and in 1877 to the courts In spite of all these brutal methods, the majority in op' of justice.4 A special feature of this policy was the tori es of the population of Great Poland and Pomerania re­ Toi Germanization of Polish place-names." Polish pro­ mained Polish, and Bismarck only intensified the an­ le ms r esult tests against these measures met with arrests and per­ tagonisms between the two nations. from secutions. In 187 4 alone two Polish bishops and the Th es• focus Archbishop of Gniezno weTe imprisoned.6 This was The Restoration of Poland torieE Agre• not enough. Along with these rulings Berlin issued At the outbreak of the World War I it was clear to fir what discriminatory laws against the Polish population. that some decisive and long anticipated changes in the Deut~ 'Vhen Germany established a system of local govern­ pellec fate of Poland would finally come. The prospects, 1 only ment Great Poland was excluded from the geneml however, of satisfying the claims of the Poles for a popul Pots( scheme and the Poles in Pomerania were ruled, as be­ complete independence were not at all promising. by or 8 own I fore, by commissioners and the police. Russia had persisted in treating the Polish question Th, Faced with these and many others discrimina­ concf as her internal affair and in 1914 promised only au­ lees tory measures, the Poles in the towns, as well as tonomy under the Russian crown. As for the Cen­ resol· 1954 peasants in the country, organized themselves in a tral Powers, at first only Austria made some promises popul number of cultural and economic organizations, and per 1 of a still more general nature. Because of this situa­ year demonstrated full attachment to their nationality. rate · tion and of the split in Polish opinion, Polish volun­ on ti Then in 1885 Bismarck ordered the expulsion teer formations appeared on both sides. Needing, aboui popu: of tens of thousands of the Poles who, though long however, not only small units, but also much larger expel domiciled in Great Poland, originally inhabited other by n: Polish armed forces, which would be more loyal to that parts of Poland. The following year a fund of one expel them, Austria and Germany finally, on November 5, over, hundred million marks was created for the purchas- 1916, proclaimed the restoration of Poland's semi­ whet like 2 Ibid., p. 420. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. independence in close union with the two Empires. quen 6 Ibid. According to Rose the Archbishop of Gniezno, Ledcichowski, Polis spent two years in prison, and after that was deported to Rome. For twelve 9 Ibid., p. 423. In the subsequent years much more money for this and to tl years his See was vacant. In 1886 a German bishop succeeded him. similar purposes was appropriated and spent by the German government. jori . 7 Polish name for the district of Poznan. Before the outbreak of World War I these appropriations amounted to the ther~ 8 Ibid., p. 421. grand total of one billion marks. of th been Be