Union of Poles in Germany

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Union of Poles in Germany V.
Rodlo.svg
purpose Promotion of Polish culture, language and tradition in Germany
Chair: Josef Malinowski
Establishment date: August 27, 1922
Seat : Bochum
Website: www.zpwn.org
Ordinance on the organizations of the Polish ethnic group in the German Reich.
Inscription of the Polish Workers' Bank, Im Kortländer 2 (formerly Klosterstrasse), Bochum
Bank Robotników eGmbH

The Union of Poles in Germany V. ( Polish Związek Polaków w Niemczech , short ZPwN ) is a registered association that was founded in Berlin in 1922 .

history

Polish minority in Germany

The Poles were Prussian citizens after 1772 and 1793/1795, the years when parts of Polish territory were annexed by Prussia . Later, many people looking for work settled in the German areas of Westphalia, the Rhineland, Berlin and the Elbe region. Exposed to a massive Germanization policy on the part of the state, the Poles were nevertheless able to preserve their own language, culture and thus their identity.

The union came into being because of all those Poles who decided after the First World War to remain German citizens and not return to the newly formed Poland . Before the Second World War , it was the most important minority organization of Poles living in Germany with over 60,000 members . His activities ranged from culture and education to sport and the publication of Polish-language newspapers. The headquarters of the Dziennik Berliński newspaper and Polish banks were also located at the headquarters. The official German statistics from the mid-1920s showed around 200,000 people with Polish as their mother tongue. In the Reichstag elections from 1919 to 1932 (during the Weimar Republic ), between 0.12% and 0.34% of the voters (= 33,000 to 101,000 votes) voted for Polish parties.

In 1924 the Bund was one of the founders of the Association of National Minorities in Germany , which also included Danes, Frisians, Lithuanians and Sorbs.

time of the nationalsocialism

After 1933 there were repeated attacks on German Poland, but the National Socialists initially let the union continue to exist. On March 6, 1938, he was allowed to hold a congress of Poles in Germany in what was then the People's Theater in Friedrichstrasse . Over 5,000 Poles living in Germany took part in the congress, who - tolerated by the Propaganda Ministry - demonstrated their strength, unity, cultural independence and national awareness.

On February 27, 1940, the Bund was banned by the National Socialists and its assets were confiscated. In September 1939, the headquarters of the Union of Poles in Germany was dissolved by the Gestapo , all branches closed and all employees arrested. Up to 2,000 activists were arrested by the Gestapo and deported to concentration camps, mostly to Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück , and quite a few to Buchenwald . The federal government's assets, including the Polish House and the workers' bank in Bochum, were confiscated by the Nazi state. The Berlin building was taken over by the management staff of the central office for immigrants , which dealt with the resettlement of Germans in the annexed Polish areas (and other parts of the empire). In addition, the federal government, which was re-established after the war, never got the confiscated property back, with the exception of one in Bochum. The “Dom Polski” ( Polish House ) cultural center is located at the site of the then Berlin headquarters (since 1937 on Potsdamer Strasse ).

After the Second World War

After the Second World War, the efforts of the Union of Poles in Germany to obtain the return of the confiscated property were rejected by the German courts. Only a house in Bochum was returned, the current seat of the federal government. The return of the bank's assets was refused on the grounds that a unified Germany could decide on it. The courts of the Federal Republic have also consistently refused to recognize the victims of the Union of Poles in Germany as Nazi victims.

The Poles who remained in the Polish settlement areas in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War have reorganized and reactivated the Union of Poles in Germany. The federal government was re-registered in the Bochum district court.

After 1945, the Union of Poles lost its importance in Germany. In 1950, the so-called Polonia split into two organizations, the Union of Poles in Germany, which did not recognize the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland and until 1989 only maintained contacts with the Polish government in exile in London , and the Union of Poles “Zgoda “, Who had contacts with the communist government in Warsaw.

Most of the settlement areas of the Polish minority in Germany were annexed to the People's Republic of Poland after the Second World War . The communist rulers severely persecuted all people who were western-democratic. For example, the Slavic Sorbs and Germans living in these areas have been expelled.

This persecution was also directed against former German citizens who previously committed to the Polish minority in Germany. This disappointment of these people resulted in the fact that after the enactment of the Federal Expellees Act, many of the members of the former Polish minority in Germany and their descendants born in the People's Republic of Poland left Poland as ethnic repatriates on this basis. The climax of this wave of refugees was reached in the 1970s and, above all, after the declaration of martial law by the communist rulers, in the 1980s. This explains why many Poles living in Germany are German citizens, but profess the Polish language and culture.

German-Polish friendship treaty

On June 17, 1991, Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Polish Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki signed an important friendship treaty, the treaty on good neighbors and friendly cooperation, in Bonn . This treaty also confirms the respective obligations of the two states towards the German minority in Poland and the Polish minority as well as the Polish-speaking German citizens in Germany.

An important part of the contract is the contractually regulated equal rights in the treatment of the German minority in Poland and all Poles in Germany, i. H. of the members of the Polish minority in Germany and their descendants as well as Poles who immigrated to Germany. Article 2, paragraph 3, provides that the German and Polish minorities of both states are to be seen as a “natural bridge between the German and Polish people”. Articles 20 to 25 of the treaty stipulate the provisions on equal treatment of the German minority in Poland and the Polish minority or Polish migrants in Germany.

While the Republic of Poland has implemented the regulations regarding the protection and promotion of the German minority in Poland legally, financially and socially and culturally, there is criticism from the Polish side that the Federal Republic of Germany does not sufficiently fulfill these contractual agreements.

Today, after lengthy discussions, the federal government recognizes at least the contractually guaranteed right of all Poles in Germany to "equal privileges" enjoyed by the German minority in Poland. Federal President Christian Wulff also spoke openly of the existing Polish minority in Germany at an event in Darmstadt in autumn 2010.

From the point of view of the Union of Poles in Germany, it does represent progress. However, it criticizes it as inadequate in view of what he believes has been a failure of the German-Polish treaty for almost 20 years, especially since this finding was not followed by any action.

activities

The association works for the preservation of the Polish language , culture and tradition in Germany as well as for the recognition of Poles living in Germany as a national minority .

As a continuation of the federal minority policy in Germany before 1940, the association is a founding member of the Federal Union of European Ethnic Groups, an organization of the autochthonous minorities in Europe.

At the initiative of the association, the Berlin lawyer Stefan Hambura sent a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel in August 2009, demanding that the current status of the Polish minority in Germany be fulfilled. In an official response from the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Government confirms that the ban on organizations belonging to the Polish minority in Germany, represented by the Union of Poles in Germany, was legally invalid from the start and that this status therefore continues.

On the basis of the current status of the Polish minority in Germany as well as the German-Polish treaty on good neighbors and friendly cooperation of June 17, 1991, the Union of Poles in Germany takes the view that the contractually and constitutionally guaranteed rights of Poles in Germany by the Federal Republic of Germany is not respected.

In the talks between the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the government of the Republic of Poland in Berlin in February 2010, the association therefore presented the following postulates:

  1. The members of the Polish minority in Germany have not yet been recognized as victims of the Nazi regime of injustice. The Union of Poles in Germany calls for a full rehabilitation of this group of people and their recognition as victims of the Nazi regime in the same way as has already happened with other groups of victims, i. H. by a resolution of the German Bundestag.
  2. Polish organizations in Germany do not receive any institutional support from the federal, state or local governments. We demand that the Federal Republic of Germany provide institutional support for all Polish organizations in Germany, following the same pattern as the organizations of the German minority in Poland are supported by the Republic of Poland.
  3. We call for the promotion of the teaching of the Polish language as mother tongue in public and club schools wherever there is a need, based on the same criteria as the teaching of the German language for the German minority in Poland.
  4. We demand the ratification of the Framework Agreement for the Protection of National Minorities of 1995, the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages ​​of 1992 with regard to the Polish minority in Germany and the fulfillment of the German-Polish Friendship Treaty of 1991 by the Federal Republic of Germany.
  5. We demand the promotion of unhindered media access for Polish organizations in Germany.
  6. We demand the return or compensation for the assets of the Union of Poles in Germany that were confiscated in 1940.

The association calls for “symmetry” and “proportionality” in the treatment of the German minority in Poland and the Polish minority or Polish-speaking German citizens / residents in Germany within the meaning of the German-Polish treaty, i. H. The same promotion of Poles in Germany as the German minority in Poland enjoys and according to the number of people who are committed to the respective cultural area.

At the instigation of the association and the representatives of the Convention of Polish Organizations in Germany, the Standing Conference of Polish Umbrella Associations in Germany was set up on August 20, 2010 in Dortmund , and since May 1945 it has united all Polish umbrella associations in Germany for the first time. The task of the permanent conference is to develop and represent common positions and postulates vis-à-vis the German, Polish and European organs and authorities.

Rodło

Rodło with a linden leaf - badge of the Polish youth in Germany

The official symbol of the organization is the Rodło . It shows the course of the Vistula as a symbol for the Polish people and the location of the city of Krakow as a symbol for Polish culture. It was designed in 1932 by the graphic artist Janina Kłopocka. The name is made up of the letters of the Polish words Ro dzina (family) and Go dło (coat of arms).

Chairperson

  • 1922–1931: Stanisław Sierakowski
  • 1931 – April 1939: Bolesław Domański
  • April 1939 - end of September 1939: Stanisław Szczepaniak
  • 1950–1964: Stanisław Szczepaniak
  • 1964–1969: Józef Styp-Rekowski
  • 1970-1988: E. Forycki
  • 1988–1991: T. Wesołowski
  • 1991-1993: S. Jabłoński
  • 1993-1997: Tadeusz Hyb
  • 1997-2004: Józef Młynarczyk
  • 2004 – May 2009: Zdzisław Duda
  • June 2009 – February 2013: Marek Wójcicki
  • since May 2013 Josef Malinowski

See also

literature

  • J. Chłosta: Księża spod znaku Rodła. Słowo Powszechne 1987
  • Bogusław Czajkowski: Rodło. KAW, Warsaw 1975
  • Friedrich Heckmann: Ethnic minority, people and nation. Stuttgart 1993
  • T. Kaczmarek: Poland and Germany. From neighborhood to partnership. Bogucki 2006, ISBN 978-83-60247-61-7
  • David Koser et al .: Union of Poles in Germany. In: Capital of the Holocaust. Places of National Socialist Racial Policy in Berlin. Berlin: City Agency 2009, Place 70, p. 189, ISBN 978-3-9813154-0-0 , (pdf; 1.3 MB)
  • Helena Lehr, Edmund Osmańczyk: Polacy spod znaku Rodła. MON 1972
  • Bohdan Łukaszewicz: IV Dzielnica Związku Polaków w Niemczech 1922-1939. Wydawnictwo Pojezierze, Olsztyn 1982
  • Edmund Osmańczyk: Wisła i Kraków to Rodło. Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa 1985, ISBN 83-10-08675-X
  • Edmund Osmańczyk: Niezłomny proboszcz z Zakrzewa, rzecz o Księdzu Patronie Bolesławie Domańskim. Warszawa 1989, ISBN 83-07-01992-3
  • A. Poniatowska, S. Liman, I. Krężałek, pod redakcją J. Marczewskiego: Związek Polaków w Niemczech 1922–1982. Wydawnictwo Polonia 1987
  • Wojciech Wrzesiński: Polski ruch narodowy w Niemczech w latach 1922–1939. Ossolineum 1993
  • Lech Trzeciakowski: Polscy posłowie w Berlinie 1848–1928. Warsaw 2003
  • Maria Zientara-Malewska: Działacze spod znaku Rodła. Wydawnictwo Pojezierze, Olsztyn 1974

Web links

Commons : Bund der Polen in Deutschland  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Sebastian Nagel: Between two worlds. Cultural structures of the Polish-speaking population in Germany - analysis and recommendations. ( Memento from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.2 MB) Institute for Foreign Relations , Stuttgart 2009
  2. Thomas Urban : The loss: the expulsion of the Germans and Poles in the 20th century. Munich 2004, pp. 39-40 ISBN 3-406-52172-X
  3. ^ Andreas Gonschior: Elections in the Weimar Republic, section Reichstag elections
  4. ^ Ferdinande Knabe: Linguistic minorities and national schools in Prussia between 1871 and 1933: an educational policy analysis. (Volume 325 von Internationale Hochschulschriften), Waxmann Verlag 2000, ISBN 978-3-89325-838-3 , pp. 64-65
  5. ^ David Koser et al .: Union of Poles in Germany. In: Capital of the Holocaust. Places of National Socialist Racial Policy in Berlin. Berlin: Stadtagentur 2009, Place 70, p. 189, ISBN 978-3-9813154-0-0 , (PDF; 1.3 MB) ( Memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Ordinance on the organizations of the Polish ethnic group in the German Empire. Council of Ministers for Reich Defense, Berlin, February 27, 1940
  7. ^ Polish minority in the concentration camp. ( Memento from January 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Federal Cultural Foundation
  8. ^ The Poles in Germany. ( Memento of November 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Embassy of the Republic of Poland
  9. A complicated minority. FAZ, December 29, 2009
  10. Poles demand more rights in Germany. Die Welt, December 21, 2009
  11. We want a symmetrical fulfillment of the neighborhood contract. Die Welt, January 12, 2010
  12. ^ Standing conference of the Polish umbrella organizations in Germany
  13. ^ Edmund Osmańczyk: Wisła i Kraków to Rodło. Nasza Księgarnia, Warszawa 1985, ISBN 83-10-08675-X
  14. PolnischeZeitung.de, Komunikat nadzwyczajny , February 16, 2013  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / Polnischezeitung.de