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Union of Poles in Germany (Template:Lang-pl, Template:Lang-de) is an organisation of the Polish minority in Germany, founded in 1922. The union initiated collaboration between other minorities, including Sorbs, Danes, Frisians and Lithuanians. From 1939 until 1945 the Union was outlawed in Nazi Germany. After 1945 it had lost some of its influence; in 1950 the Union of Poles in Germany split into two organizations: the Union of Poles in Germany (Template:Lang-de), which refused to recognize the communist Polish government of the Polish United Workers' Party, and the Union of Poles "Zgoda" (Unity) (Template:Lang-de), which did recognize the new Communist government in Warsaw and had contacts with it. The split was healed in 1991.
Early history
The union was intended to express the views of the Polish minority in Germany, This partly comprised the Polish-native population of the former East German provinces which remained with Germany under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles (Upper Silesia, East Brandenburg, Pomerania, Warmia or areas where Poles settled in Middle Ages (East Prussia) — mostly farmers and workers — and partly the Polish immigrants in Ruhr area. This constituency of the Union was calculated to number approximately 1,500,000 people. However, the Polish minority was only legally recognised as such in Upper Silesia, where they possessed international status due to Treaty of Versailles. In other areas Poles were subject of assimilationist policies that did not recognize their distinct ethnicity.
In Nazi Germany Poles faced increased problems as the Nazis attempted to force cultural unity on the country. Poles outside of the Upper Silesia were forced to declare German nationality; activists of the union were subject of persecutions. However, the union was kept legal in the hope to avoid escalations of ethnic conflict that would create problems for the German minority in Poland (mostly in the autonomous Silesian Voivodeship, in Wielkopolska and former West Prussia in the Polish Corridor, 1919-1939).
The leaders of the Union found it necessary to invent new symbols for the Union to avoid the possibility that Poles would adhere to the new “national” symbols, such as the Nazi salute and the swastika.
This led to invention of the symbol of the Union, the Rodło, a stylized representation of the Vistula river. The reason for its adoption was that the Polish national symbol, the White Eagle, was not allowed by Prussian law. The Nazi swastika provided an inspiration for the Poles's own alternative symbol that was designed to be a challenge for Nazi Germany.
It was created by the graphic designer Janina Kłopocka, who made a rough sketch of "the emblem of the Vistula river, cradle of the Polish people, and royal Kraków — the cradle of Polish culture". The white emblem was placed on a red background to emphasize the solidarity with the Polish nation and its soul.
Structure
Originally, the Union, with headquarters in Berlin (until the outbreak of World War II), was divided into four districts:
- District I (Opole - Oppeln), which covered German part of Upper Silesia,
- District II (Berlin), which covered Saxony, Brandenburg (incl. Neumark), Hamburg, Posen-West Prussia and Province of Pomerania,
- District III (Bochum), which covered Westfalia, Rhineland, Baden and Pfalz,
- District IV (Olsztyn - Allenstein, East Prussia), which covered the Province of East Prussia
In October of 1923 the District V was created, with capital in Zlotow (Template:Lang-de). It covered the area of Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia. Also, the province of Lower Silesia was in 1928 added to District I.
World War II and after
Even before the German invasion of Poland, leading anti-Nazi members of the Polish minority were deported to concentration camps; some were executed at the Piaśnica murder site. The Union was outlawed by the Nazi government in August, 1939.
Members of the Polish minority who held German citizenship were subject to obligatory military service in the German regular Armed Forced; those who did not, were obliged to forced labor or emigration into the Government General of occupied Poland. In 1945, most of areas populated by the Polish minorities were located inside the new post-War Polish border, the Oder-Neisse line.
After the war, many members found it difficult to be recognised as ethnic Poles by the new Communist authorities, as some - like the Kashubians (grandfather of Donald Tusk is an example) - had served as "Germans" in the German Wehrmacht. Moreover, along with most Poles, they were unsympathetic to the Communist ideology of the new government. Unlike most of Polish society, the native Poles in former German territory sometimes had no experience of a Polish state concept, other than under Communism. Some of them, who had held German citizenship prior to 1945, emigrated en masse into West Germany subsequently, during the Communist regime in the People's Republic of Poland. (As did numerous Kashubians and nearly all Lutheran Protestant, pro-Prussian Masurians of southern East Prussia.)
Timeline
- August 27, 1922: founded in Berlin
- 1933: adopted Rodlo as symbol to challenge Nazis.
- March 6, 1938: The first congress in Berlin. Adopted 5 rules for Poles inside Germany.
- September 1, 1939: the union was made illegal by the Nazis and 1200 activists sent to concentration camps or prisons.
- 1945: reactivated.
Five rules for Poles
Original Polish version "1. Jesteśmy Polakami, 2. Wiara ojców naszych jest wiarą naszych dzieci, 3. Polak Polakowi Bratem, 4. Co dzień Polak narodowi służy, 5. Polska jest Matką naszą - nie wolno mówić o Matce źle."
1. We are Poles 2. The faith of our Fathers is the faith of our children 3. All Poles are brothers 4. We serve our nation every day 5. Poland is our mother - you shall not speak ill of her.
Presidents
- 1922-1931: Stanisław Sierakowski
- 1931- April 1939: Rev. Fr. Bolesław Domański
- April 1939 - September 1939: S. Szczepaniak
- 1950-1964: S. Szczepaniak
- 1964-1969: J. Styp-Rekowski
- 1970-1988: E. Forycki
- 1988-1991: T. Wesołowski
- 1991-1993: S. Jabłoński
- 1993-1997: T. Hyb
- 1997- : J. Młynarczyk
Press
- "Dziennik Berliński", "Polak w Niemczech", "Mały Polak w Niemczech", "Gazeta Olsztyńska", "Mazur", "Głos Pogranicza", "Kaszub", "Dziennik Raciborski", "Ogniwio" and other.
Bibliography
- Helena Lehr, Edmund Osmańczyk "POLACY SPOD ZNAKU RODłA", MON 1972
- Edmund Osmańczyk "Wisła i Kraków to Rodło" Nasza Księgarnia Warszawa 1985 ISBN 83-10-08675-x
- W Wrzesiński, "Polski ruch narodowy w Niemczech w latach 1922-1939"; Ossolineum 1993
External links
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