Difference between revisions 2962252 and 3031659 on enwiki

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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 Protestants from areas t(contracted; show full)

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 [[
Germany|German]] and [[Netherlands|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.

==Partitions==

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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 in Poland]]).