Difference between revisions 6765304 and 6842417 on enwiki

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Since medieval times, wWestern [[Poland|Polish lands]] had some [[Germanic]] residents since medieval times, 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. Additionally, groups of oppressed Protestants from areas that Catholics had won in southern [[Germany]] (eg.g. Württemberg) migrated in significant numbers. As time progressed the settler came more from neighboring German lands. For quite some time, the Western settlers were given the complete freedom of religion, which was a major part of the inducement. These were times of the bloody religious wars in the Western [[Europe]], which however didn'inducement to move, as  Western [[Europe]] was engulfed in a series of protracted and violent religious wars, which did not extend to Poland. Poland was the unique example of tolerance, thanks to [[Warsaw Confederation]], that guaranteed the [[religious freedom]] and internal peace.

==Counterreformation==
Sincetarting with the reign of [[Sigismund I of Poland]], the Swedish king, himself a fanaticervent Catholic, the religious conflict emerged in the form of the [[Counter-Reformation]]. While the king swayed back and forth, he found himself between the Roman Catholic church, which brought its influence to bear, and his own misgivings and those of many of the nobles. At one point, the bishop called a congress to enact strict rules, but so many nobles opposed the issue, that the effort failed at the time. 

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 communities survived, while some others were forcefully converted. Some Protestants 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]]new laws inspired by ideas of [[The Enlightenment]] were enacted, which forced the bishops to relax the oppression. The second half of the 1700s was a time of increased [[Germany|German]] and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] immigration to Poland, especially to [[Greater 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==

(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 in Poland]]).