Difference between revisions 2553596 and 2638385 on enwiki

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==Preconditions==
Since medieval times, western [[Poland|Polish lands]] had some Germanic residents, for the first several centuries by invitation. Polish landowners had unproductive land and needed more workers. Germans from the Protestant Low Countries were recruited to reclaim wetlands of northern Poland. Sometimes, Protestant refugees from the Catholic higlands were recruited. As time progressed the settler came more from neighboring German lands. Additionally, groups of oppressed Prote(contracted; show full)

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 
pProtestant communities (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.
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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]]).