German minority in Poland

The German minority in Poland consists of 152,900 people according to a 2002 census. [As of 2002, according to Polish National Census.] [Marta Moskal in [http://www6.gencat.net/llengcat/noves/hm04primavera-estiu/moskal2_4.htm "Language minorities in Poland at the moment of accession to the EU] " notes that 2% (704,000) did not state any nationality in the 2002 census. She assumes that some members of the German national minority who have inhabited the Silesia region for numerous generations might define their nationality as Silesian (173,200 defined their nationality as Silesian). Representatives of ethnic minorities presume that the figures for their groups are underestimated due to the fact that, given their exclusion in the communist period, the minority groups prefer not to state their real ethnicity.] [Tomasz Kamusella in "Dual Citizenship ..." estimates the number of ethnic Germans to be 400-500 thousand.] .

The German language is used in certain areas in Opole Voivodship (Oppeln), where most of the minority resides. The German minority electoral list currently has one seat in the Polish parliament (Sejm) benefiting from the provision in the current Polish Election Law which allows national minorities to be exempt from the 5 per cent national threshold (there were four from 1993 to 1997).

There are 325 Polish schools that use the German language as the first language of instruction, with over 37,000 students attending them. Most members of the German minority are Roman Catholic and only some of them are Protestants (the Evangelical-Augsburg Church). A number of German language newspapers and magazines are issued in Poland.

tatistic Data

Most Germans in Poland live in Silesia (93% of all Germans in Poland): Opole Voivodeship - 104,399 i.e. approx. 69,9% all Germans in Poland, and approx. 10% of the population of this Voivodeship and Silesia Voivodeship - 31,882 i.e. approx. 20.8% of all Germans in Poland. In the other voivodeships, the percentage of Germans in the population lies between 0.632–0.007%.

History of Germans in Poland

German migration into the area of modern Poland occurred since the medieval Ostsiedlung. The historical regions of Lower Silesia, East Brandenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia were nearly completely German-settled by the High Middle Ages, while in the other areas there were substantial German populations, most notably in the historical regions of Pomerelia, Upper Silesia, and Posen or Greater Poland. During the 19th century, Germans were actively involved in developing the cloth making industry in what is now central Poland. Over 3000 villages / towns within Russian Poland are noted to have had German residents. Many of these Germans remained east of the Curzon line after World War I, including a significant number in Volhynia. In the late 19th century, some Germans moved westward during the Ostflucht, while others were settled in Central Poland by a Prussian Settlement Commission. After the creation of the Second Polish Republic, large numbers of Germans were forced to leave, especially in the Polish Corridor area. During the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II, Germans from other areas of Eastern Europe were settled in Poland by the Nazis, who at the same time expelled, enslaved and killed Poles and Jews. With the Nazis' defeat and Poland recreated shifted west between the Oder Neisse and Curzon lines, the Germans who had not fled were expelled. Of those who remained, many chose to emigrate to post-war Germany. With the downfall of the Communist regime, the German minorities' political situation improved. Germans are allowed to acquire land and property in the areas where they, or their ancestors, used to live, and move there.

There is no clear-cut border between the German and some other minorities, who in some aspects have a similar heritage due to centuries of assimilation, Germanisation and intermarriage, but in other aspects have a different heritage due to either ancient regional West Slavic roots or Polonisation. Examples for these minorities ar the so-called Slovincians ("Lebakashuben"), the Masurians or the Silesians of Upper Silesia. While in the past these people have been claimed for both the Polish and the German ethnicity, it depends on their self-perception to which group(s) they belong.

German media in Poland

* Schlesisches Wochenblatt
* Polen-Rundschau
* [http://www.schlesien-aktuell.vdg.pl/ Schlesien Aktuell] - German-speaking radio station from Opole
* [http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/ Radio Polonia] (broadcasting in German for half an hour a day)
* [http://www.polen-am-morgen.pl/ Polen am Morgen] - Online-newspaper, published daily since 1998

See also

* Bilingual communes in Poland
* German Minority (political party)
* Germans in the Czech Republic
* Polish minority in Germany
* Vistula Germans in Russian Poland
* Bambrzy
* [http://www.sggee.org/ SGGEE] German history and genealogy in Russian Poland; includes map of German settlements in Russian Poland as referenced above.

Notes

References

* " [http://facta.junis.ni.ac.yu/facta/pas/pas2003/pas2003-01.pdf Dual Citizenship in Opole Silesia in the Context of European Integration] ", Tomasz Kamusella, Opole University, in "Facta Universitatis", series Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology, Vol 2, No 10, 2003, pp. 699-716
*
*
*

Further reading

* cite journal
quotes =
last=Cordell
first=Karl
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=
year=1996
month=June
title=Politics and society in Upper Silesia today: The German minority since 1945
journal=Nationalities Papers
volume=24
issue=2
pages=269–285
issn =
pmid =
doi=
id=
url=
language=
laysummary =
laysource =
laydate =
quote=

* cite journal
quotes =
last=Cordell
first=Karl
authorlink=
coauthors=Stefan Wolff
date=
year=2005
month=June
title=Ethnic Germans in Poland and the Czech Republic: a comparative evaluation
journal=Nationalities Papers
volume=33
issue=2
pages=255–276
issn =
pmid =
doi=
id=
url=
language=
laysummary =
laysource =
laydate =
quote=

* cite journal
quotes =
last=Dyboski
first=Roman
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=
year=1923
month=September
title=Poland and the Problem of National Minorities
journal=Journal of the British Institute of International Affairs
volume=2
issue=5
pages=179–200
issn =
pmid =
doi=
id=
url=
language=
laysummary =
laysource =
laydate =
quote=

* cite journal
quotes =
last=Fleming
first=Michael
authorlink=
coauthors=
date=
year=2003
month=December
title=The Limits of the German Minority Project in Post-communist Poland: Scale, Space and Democratic Deliberation
journal=Nationalities Papers
volume=31
issue=4
pages=391–411
issn =
pmid =
doi=
id=
url=
language=
laysummary =
laysource =
laydate =
quote=