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Germany–Poland relations

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German-Polish relations
Map indicating locations of Germany and Poland

Germany
Poland

German-Polish relations have a long and complicated history. From the 10th century on, the Kingdom of Poland had relations with the Holy Roman Empire, which were however soon overshadowed by the Polish-Teutonic wars, as a result of which, Prussia became a fief of the Kingdom of Poland. Prussia retained a certain level of autonomy under Polish rule. Later, the Kingdom of Prussia rose and eventually became one of the partitioners of Poland.

Overview

Poland and Germany have had a centuries-long relations.

After Poland regained independence in 1918, it received parts of what had been German territory during the partitions. Much of this territory had been part of Poland in earlier centuries. However, particularly in border regions of Upper Silesia and Greater Poland, Polish and German nationalists fought over the right to the disputed land. Eventually, Poland won back almost all of the province of Greater Poland and the industrialized part of Upper Silesia. In 1939 Germany invaded Poland and occupied the country together with the Soviet Union in the early years of the war, prior to Operation Barbarossa. In 1943 Stalin demanded at the Tehran Conference that the post-war territory of Germany and Poland be redrawn further west as a buffer between Soviet Russia and Germany. This lead to the expulsion of Germans from former German territory (that was originally Polish territory) to East Germany and Poles reclaimed some of their historic territory from Germany. This event has created tension between the two ethnic groups despite being orchestrated by the Soviet Union under Stalin.

During the Cold War, communist Poland had good relations with East Germany, but had strained relations with West Germany. After the fall of communism, Poland and the reunited Germany have had a mostly positive but occasionally strained relationship due to some political issues. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Germany has been a proponent of Poland's participation in NATO and the European Union.

The Polish-German border is 467 km long.

German-Polish relations were not historically friendly (the two were often rivals and adversaries), and are often rather strained at the present, especially when topics about World War II or the forced expulsion of Germans after it are brought up.

Notes and references

  1. Template:Pl icon Informacje o Polsce - informacje ogólne. Page gives Polish PWN Encyklopedia as reference.
  2. Jorunn Sem Fure, Department of History, University of Bergen, "The German-Polish Border Region. A Case of Regional Integration?"
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