Difference between revisions 2547687 and 2548811 on enwiki

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==Before the here mentioned Preconditions==
The territory here referred to as western Polish lands was recorded as '''Germania''' in AD 98 by [[Tacitus]] with a number of Germanic tribes, with the East Germanic tribes living at the Baltic sea between [[Elbe]], [[Oder]] and [[Vistula]] rivers and south to the Alps, Danube and the Carpathian mountains.

==Preconditions==
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In the 1600s and 1700s, but especially after [[The Deluge]] period (Swedish invasions), the freedom to worship that had been guaranteed the protestant settlers was gradually removed, and a number of their churches destroyed, appropriated or forbidden to be used. Protestants were even required to support the Catholic church in some places. The exact nature of the revocation of  freedom of worship in Poland, varied over time and with the nature of the local nobles and officials. Some protestant communites
 (Polish, German, Scottish etc) survived, while some others were forcefully converted. Some Protestants (Poles and Germans alike) chose to emigrate.

In the second half of the 1700s, there were new laws enacted, that made the bishops to relax the oppression, especially that many of them were inspired by ideas of [[The Enlightenment]]. The second half of the 1700s was a time of increased [[German]] and [[Dutch]] immigration to Poland, especially to [[Great Poland]].

The tumble times of [[Bar Confederacy]] created a situation, when the foreign settlers sided on the government side, while some Poles sided with partisans.
For example, in Czarnkow region, settlers were attacked by roving bands of Polish militia.
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==Partitions==

The tide turned in the late 1700s when the powerful neighbors carved Poland up in the three [[Partitions of Poland]]. Now the native Poles came under occupation, ruled by a foreigners and the minority Germans began to have the upper hand. The Prussian state determined to become stronger with the acquisition of the additional Polish lands. To ensure continued possesion and a secure German presence, settlers were encouraged, German communities were assisted with gifts that built churches, p(contracted; show full)
In general Poland guaranteed German minority national rights. However, many landestates that belong to German landowners were subject of parcelation and were sold to Polish peasants.


==War and atrocities==
World War II brought the brutal repressions of totalitarian German state against Poles. Unspeakable attrocities touched every family in the Western provinces of Great Germany(see [[World War II atrocities]]).