Difference between revisions 7071727 and 11794858 on enwiki

{{NPOV}}

Western [[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]] (e.g. Württemberg) migrated in significant numbers. As time progressed the settler came more from n(contracted; show full)

Measures become more and more severe, and it was forbidden to use Polish in public gatherings, including school and church. The government fought a losing battle to replace Polish land ownership with German settlers, through the Settlement Commission. 

However, the [[Kulturkampf]] united in opposition, Catholic Poles and Germance of the province. The outcome was, that many Catholics became Poles, even if their knowledge of Polish was limited. (see also [[
Posen BembergsBambrzy]]).



==Brutality of the Prussian Regime==
The economic development of the Prussian part of Poland followed entirely different lines than that of Russian Poland but in their political attitude toward the Poles the Prussians were not a whit superior to the  Muscovites. Extreme hatred of everything Polish is their historical tradition. The entire country which they claim is built on lands taken by force of arms from the Slavs, chiefly the Poles. Brandenburg, the nucleus of the State, was the first German outpost in(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]]).
[[Category:Polish history]]