 Percentage of the German population in Poland in 2021. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 144,178[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| south central region nearOpole | |
| Languages | |
| German,Polish | |
| Religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Germans,German Kazakhstanis |
The registeredGerman minority in Poland (Polish:Mniejszość niemiecka w Polsce;German:Deutsche Minderheit in Polen) is a group ofGerman people that inhabitPoland, being the largest minority of the country. As of 2021, it had a population of 144,177.[1]
TheGerman language is spoken in certain areas inOpole Voivodeship, where most of the minority resides, and inSilesian Voivodeship. German speakers first came to these regions (present-day Opole and Silesian Voivodeships) during the late Middle Ages.[2] However, there are no localities in eitherUpper Silesia or Poland as a whole where German could be considered a language of everyday communication.[3] The predominant home or family language of Poland's German minority in Upper Silesia used to be theSilesian German language (mainlyOberschlesisch (Upper Silesian dialect), but alsoMundart des Brieg-Grottkauer Landes (dialect of the land of Brieg-Grottkau) was used west of Opole), but since 1945Standard German replaced it as these Silesian German dialects went generally out of use except among the oldest generations which have by now completely died off.[4] TheGerman Minority electoral committee benefits from the provision in Polish election law which exempts national minorities from the 5% national threshold.
In the school year of 2014/15 there were 387 elementary schools in Poland (all in Upper Silesia), with over 37,000 students, in which German was taught as a minority language (that is, at least for three periods of 45 minutes in a week), hencede facto as a subject.[5] There were no minority schools with German as the language of instruction, though there were three asymmetrically bilingual (Polish–German) schools, where most subjects were taught through the medium of Polish.[6] Most members of the German minority areRoman Catholic, while some areLutheranProtestants (theEvangelical-Augsburg Church).
According to the 2021 census, most of the Germans in Poland (67.2%) live inSilesia: 59,911 in theOpole Voivodeship, i.e. 41.6% of all Germans in Poland and a share of 6.57% of the local population; 27,923 in theSilesian Voivodeship, i.e. 19.4% of all Germans in Poland and 0.66% of the local population; plus 8,978 in theLower Silesian Voivodeship, i.e. 6.2% of all Germans in Poland, though only 0.31% of the local population.
Towns with particularly high concentrations of German speakers inOpole Voivodeship include:Strzelce Opolskie;Dobrodzien;Prudnik;Głogówek; andGogolin.[7]
| Region | Population | German | % German |
|---|---|---|---|
 Opole Voivodeship | 911,971 | 59,911 | 6.57 |
 Silesian Voivodeship | 4,204,536 | 27,923 | 0.66 |
 Lubusz Voivodeship | 985,532 | 3,478 | 0.35 |
 Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship | 1,371,380 | 4,717 | 0.34 |
 West Pomeranian Voivodeship | 1,647,530 | 5,222 | 0.32 |
 Lower Silesian Voivodeship | 2,883,187 | 8,978 | 0.31 |
 Pomeranian Voivodeship | 2,332,928 | 7,055 | 0.30 |
 Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship | 2,019,680 | 3,939 | 0.20 |
 Greater Poland Voivodeship | 3,490,414 | 6,306 | 0.18 |
 Lublin Voivodeship | 985,532 | 1,737 | 0.18 |
 Lesser Poland Voivodeship | 3,415,178 | 3,409 | 0.10 |
 Łódź Voivodeship | 2,400,874 | 2,378 | 0.10 |
 Masovian Voivodeship | 5,475,754 | 5,318 | 0.10 |
 Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship | 1,192,985 | 1,134 | 0.10 |
 Subcarpathian Voivodeship | 2,085,006 | 1,757 | 0.08 |
 Podlaskie Voivodeship | 1,133,137 | 915 | 0.08 |
 Poland | 38,036,118 | 144,177 | 0.37 |
| Source (2021, diverging):Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warsaw; Census results.[1] | |||
Poland was the third most frequent destination for migrant Germans in 2009, after the United States and Switzerland,[8] dropping to 8th most frequent in 2015.[9]
German migration into areas that form part of present-day Poland began with the medievalOstsiedlung (see alsoWalddeutsche in theSubcarpathian region). Regions which subsequently became part of theKingdom of Prussia –Lower Silesia,East Brandenburg,Pomerania andEast Prussia – were predominantly German speaking by theHigh Middle Ages.[citation needed] In other areas of modern-day Poland there were substantial German populations, most notably in the historical regions ofPomerelia,Upper Silesia, andPosen orGreater Poland. In the 19th century, Germans became actively involved in developing the clothmaking industry in what is now central Poland. Over 3,000 villages and towns within Russian Poland are recorded as having German residents. Many of these Germans remained east of theCurzon line after World War I ended in 1918, including a significant number inVolhynia. In the late 19th century, some Germans moved westward during theOstflucht, while aPrussian Settlement Commission established others in Central Poland.
According to the1931 census, around 740,000 German speakers lived in Poland (2.3% of the population). Their minority rights were protected by theLittle Treaty of Versailles of 1919. The right to appeal to theLeague of Nations however was renounced by the League of Nations in 1934, officially due to Germany's withdrawal from the League (September 1933) afterAdolf Hitler became German Chancellor in January 1933.
| Voivodeship or city | Population | German-speakers | % German |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poznań Voivodeship | 1860030 | 186693 | 10.0% |
| Poznań City | 246470 | 6387 | 2.6% |
| Pomeranian Voivodeship | 1080138 | 105400 | 9.8% |
| Silesian Voivodeship | 1295027 | 90545 | 7.0% |
| Łódź Voivodeship | 2027381 | 101753 | 5.0% |
| Łódź City | 604629 | 53562 | 8.9% |
| Warsaw Voivodeship | 2529228 | 73592 | 2.9% |
| Warsaw City | 1171898 | 1892 | 0.2% |
| Wołyń Voivodeship | 2085574 | 46883 | 2.2% |
| Stanisławów Voivodeship | 1480285 | 16737 | 1.1% |
| Lwów Voivodeship | 2815178 | 9601 | 0.3% |
| Lwów City | 312231 | 2448 | 0.8% |
| Lublin Voivodeship | 2464936 | 15865 | 0.6% |
| Białystok Voivodeship | 1643844 | 7290 | 0.4% |
| Kraków Voivodeship | 2078516 | 8192 | 0.4% |
| Kraków City | 219286 | 740 | 0.3% |
| Wilno Voivodeship | 1080868 | 796 | 0.1% |
| Wilno City | 195071 | 561 | 0.3% |
| Kielce Voivodeship | 2935697 | 7938 | 0.3% |
| Tarnopol Voivodeship | 1600406 | 2675 | 0.2% |
| Polesie Voivodeship | 1131939 | 1063 | 0.1% |
| Nowogródek Voivodeship | 1057147 | 379 | 0.0% |
| Second Polish Republic | 31915779 | 740992 | 2.3% |
After Nazi Germany'sinvasion of the Second Polish Republic in September 1939, many members of the German minority (around 25%[10]) joined theethnic German paramilitary organisationVolksdeutscher Selbstschutz. When theGerman occupation of Poland began, theSelbstschutz took an active part inNazi crimes against ethnic Poles. Due to their pre-war interactions with the Polish majority, they were able to prepare lists of Polish intellectuals and civil servants whom the Nazis selected for extermination. The organisation actively participated in and was responsible for the deaths of about 50,000 Poles.[11][full citation needed]
Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Soviets annexed amassive portion of the eastern part of Poland (November 1939) in the wake ofan August 1939 agreement between the Reich and the USSR. During the German occupation of Poland during the war (1939-1945), the Nazis forcibly resettled ethnicGermans from other areas of Central Europe (such as theBaltic states) in the pre-war territory of Poland. At the same time the Nazi authoritiesexpelled, enslaved and killed Poles andJews.
After the Nazis' defeat in 1945, Poland did not regain its Soviet-annexed territory;[12] instead, Polish communists, directed by the Soviets, expelled[13] the remaining Germans who had not already been evacuated or fled[14] from the areas ofLower Silesia,Upper Silesia,Farther Pomerania,East Brandenburg, andEast Prussia and made Poles take their place, some of whom were expelled from Soviet-occupied areas that had previously formed part of Poland. About half of East Prussia became the newly created Soviet territory ofKaliningrad Oblast (officially established in 1946), where Soviet citizens replaced the former German residents. Claims to a border along theOder-Neisse line were presented at thePotsdam Conference of August 1945 by a delegation of Polish politicians.[15] However the conference eventually specified or endorsed theshifting of borders pending a later peace treaty.[16][15] In the following years, the communists and activists inspired by theMyśl zachodnia ("Western thought") strove to "de-Germanize" and to "re-Polonize" the huge land,propagandistically termed "Recovered Territories".[17]
Since the downfall of thePolish Communist regime in 1989, the German minorities' political situation in modern-day Poland has improved, and after Poland joined theEuropean Union in the2004 enlargement and was incorporated into theSchengen Area, German citizens are now allowed to buy land and property in the areas where they or their ancestors used to live, and can return there if they wish. However, none of their properties have been returned after being confiscated.
A possible demonstration[original research?] of the ambiguity of the Polish-German minority position[clarification needed] can be seen in the life and career ofWaldemar Kraft, aminister without portfolio in theWest GermanBundestag during the 1950s. However, most of the German minority had not been as involved in the Nazi system as Kraft was.[18]
There is no clear-cut division in Poland between the Germans and some other minorities, whose heritage is similar in some respects due to centuries of assimilation,Germanisation and intermarriage, but differs in other respects due to either ancient regionalWest Slavic roots orPolonisation. Such minorities include theSlovincians (Lebakaschuben), theMasurians and theSilesians ofUpper Silesia. While in the past these people have been claimed[by whom?] for both Polish and German ethnicity, it really depends on their self-perception which they choose to belong to.
The term "German Poles" (German:Deutsche Polen,Polish:Polacy pochodzenia niemieckiego) may refer to eitherPoles of German descent or sometimes toPolish citizens whose ancestors held German citizenship before World War II, regardless of their ethnicity.
After theflight and expulsion of Germans from Poland, the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II, over 1 million former citizens of Germany were naturalized and granted Polish citizenship. Some of them were forced to stay in Poland, while others wanted to stay because these territories were inhabited by their families for hundreds of years. The lowest estimate by West GermanSchieder commission of 1953, is that 910,000 former German citizens were granted Polish citizenship by 1950.[19] Higher estimates say that 1,043,550[20] or 1,165,000[21][22] were naturalized as Polish citizens by 1950.
After the end ofexpulsions, Polish sources of 1948–49 report that 125,000 to 160,000 lived on what was now Polish territory, but according to West German information, the number was 430,000 or even 900,000. It can be assumed today that the Polish figures were vastly understated and the West German figures were probably exaggerated, but ultimately closer to reality.[23]
In order to understand the reported numbers it must be borne in mind that many former German citizens were "verified" as Polish, as they were alleged to be of Polish ancestry but subjected to centuries of Germanization. The Polish referred to these people using the propagandistic term “autochthonous”, as opposed to those Germans whose ancestors came to the region in the Middle Ages. In West Germany, and, internally, also forEast Germany, these "autochthons" counted as Germans. Also, in 1951 those "autochthons" who had emphatically resisted verification were compulsorily given Polish citizenship; but many “verified autochthons” resisted the Polish assimilation policy, which was often accompanied by discrimination.
In 1951, Polish law restored equal rights to Germans in Poland in working life and in cultural and educational matters. However, this decision was not fully implemented until 1956.[23]
Germans of Poland at the time hence[clarification needed] consisted of:
At the end of the 1950s, regional concentrations of Germans in Poland existed in the new Polish western and northern areas and in the Silesian area, especially in the regions of Olsztyn, Wrocław, Gdansk and Katowice and Opole.[23]
However, the vast majority of Germans were the so-called "autochthons" who were allowed to stay in post-war Poland after declaringPolish ethnicity in a special verification process.[24] Thus most of them were inhabitants of Polish descent of the pre-war border regions ofUpper Silesia andWarmia-Masuria. Sometimes they were calledWasserpolnisch orWasserpolak. These people were allowed to reclaim their former German citizenship on application, and underGerman Basic Law were "considered as not having been deprived of their German citizenship if they have established their domicile in Germany after May 8, 1945, and have not expressed a contrary intention".[25] Because of this, many of them left thePeople's Republic of Poland due to its undemocratic political system and economic problems.[26]
Also, a great many of families, due to war, flight, and expulsion, had been torn apart by the border shift and now pressured the German authorities to support their relatives to leave Poland. During the 1950s, negotiations for family reunions were conducted between Poland andEast Germany. However, anything that went beyond the reunification of separated spouses or minor children with their parents was rejected by the Polish authorities.[23]
From 1956 on, family reunions to bothEast Germany (GDR) and West Germany were handled more liberally, but the more generous exit policy for Germans from Poland was flanked by massive attempts by the Polish and GDR authorities to influence the German minority to stay in Poland or move to the GDR rather than to West Germany. In 1959/1960, as had been the case several times in the 1950s, family reunifications were declared complete by the Polish. In yet another phase of emigration negotiated in 1964, the number of applications to move to the GDR surprised both the Polish and the East German sides, and the Polish authorities now strove to limit the emigration.[23]
The European policy of détente at the beginning of the 1970s, and in particular the signing of theWarsaw Treaty, ushered in the next phase of family reunions and departures of Germans, particularly the "autochthonous" population, from Poland, especially to the Federal Republic of Germany.[23]
Eventually, the Polish had to realize that their assimilation policy towards the German minority (both the German citizens and the so-called "autochthons" who insisted on their German ethnicity) had failed.[23]
In total, in theCold War era, hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens decided to emigrate to West Germany and, to a lesser extent, to East Germany.[27][28][29] Despite that, hundreds or tens of thousands of former German citizens remained in Poland. Some of them created families with otherPoles, who, in the vast majority, were settlers from central Poland or were resettled from theformer eastern territories of Poland by theSoviets to theRecovered Territories (Former eastern territories of Germany).
Since thefall of communism in Poland, several socio-cultural organisations to promote German culture and language among the German minorities in Poland were created, including theGerman Socio-Cultural Organisation inWrocław and other organisations in cities such asOpole.[30]
There is one German international school in Poland,Willy-Brandt-Schule inWarsaw.
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