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We are getting into a position where the Poles have food and coal, and we have the mass of (the) population thrown at us. Polish authorities banned the use of the German language. vom Bundesministerium fr Vertriebene, 1953 pages 160, Ingo Haar, Bevlkerungsbilanzen" und "Vertreibungsverluste. [2] Frederick's personal reputation was enormously enhanced by his successes in the wars, winning him the epithet "Frederick the Great". [68], In late 1757 Imperial and French forces attempted to retake Saxony from the west, only to experience a decisive defeat in the Battle of Rossbach on 5November. Prussia emerged from the Silesian Wars as a new European great power and the leading state of Protestant Germany, while Catholic Austria's defeat by a lesser German power significantly damaged the House of Habsburg's prestige. Frederick gathered his forces around Prague and tried to force a decisive engagement, but Austrian commander Otto Ferdinand von Traun focused on harassing the invaders' supply lines, eventually forcing the Prussians to abandon Bohemia and retreat into Upper Silesia in November. WebLower Silesia remained German until after the Second World War, when it became part of Poland. After the forcible expulsion of the Germans from Silesia, German Silesian culture and language nearly died out when most of Silesia became part of Poland in 1945. Silesia Location, Culture & Language | Where is Silesia? [110] Beginning with these steps, wide-ranging efforts to modernise the Habsburg monarchy over the next half century grew out of Austria's defeats, culminating in the Josephinism of the 1780s.[111]. The number is based on the 1946 census in which citizens were asked specifically if they were Polish or German. [51], After Prussia's withdrawal the wider War of the Austrian Succession continued for another two years, ending with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. [106], After the renewed disappointment of the Third Silesian War, a second wave of Theresian reforms ensued. [5] After the Catholic victory in the 1621 Battle of White Mountain, the Emperor confiscated Johann Georg's duchy and refused to return it to his heirs after his death, but the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg continued to assert themselves as the legitimate rulers of Jgerndorf. [85], In January 1762, Austria was suddenly abandoned by its Russian ally upon the death of Empress Elizabeth. Post-World War II Poland was "designed" by the British foreign office, presented by Churchill, and ratified by Roosevelt and Stalin at the Tehran C Trans-Olza - Wikipedia [30] In January 1742 Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria won the 1742 Imperial election and became Holy Roman Emperor. This peace agreement was adopted with the Treaty of Breslau, which ended the First Silesian War on 11 June 1742, and was later formalised in the Treaty of Berlin. Province of Silesia - Wikipedia [100] After the wars the state began using its network of military grain depots and the excise on grain to stabilise food prices and alleviate grain shortages. WebAfter World War II in Poland, the 1945 census showed a sizable group of people in Upper [106] Those of mixed descent from within or without the borders of pre-war Poland were also allowed to stay on the premise of Polonization, yet likewise no comprehensive data exist. [7] The Polish government declared these so-called "Autochthons" to be Germanized Poles, who would be re-Polonized and serve as a proof of a continual Polish settlement. Wehrmacht counter-offensives like Operation Solstice and Operation Gemse were repelled, and only shrinking pockets like Breslau, Danzig,[citation needed] Heiligenbeil, Hela, Kolberg, Knigsberg, and Pillau[51] remained German controlled. [84] The year 1761 saw little activity by the exhausted Prussian and Austrian forces, but Russian forces made advances in Pomerania and eastern Brandenburg that threatened a decisive end to the war the following year. Prof. dr hab. Poland [84] On the same Plenum, the head of the Central Committee, Wadysaw Gomuka, ordered: "There has to be a border patrol at the border [Oder-Neisse line] and the Germans have to be driven out. This page was last edited on 2 August 2023, at 13:59. The primary reason was who did the occupying. Towards the end of World War II, the Germans had to flee from the advancing Russian troops. WebPolish Victims. Culturally German for centuries, Silesia was given to Poland after World War I, fell to the Nazis in 1939, and reverted to Poland after World War II in compensation for the loss of its eastern provinces to the Soviet Union. Silesia [21] There were incidents when Poles, even freed slave labourers, protected Germans, for example by disguising them as Poles. Did Web1. [120] Registration by Polish officials was not exhaustive, especially in 1945. [26], Seeing Austria's defeat at Mollwitz, other powers were emboldened to attack the beleaguered monarchy, widening the conflict into what would become the War of the Austrian Succession. WebUpper Silesia is divided. [92] On September 13, 1946 President Bierut signed a decree on "the exclusion of persons of German nationality from the Polish National Community"[citation needed] The major evictions were completed in 1946, although another 500,000 Germans arrived in the Soviet Zone from Poland in 1947. About six million Germans had fled or were evacuated from the areas east of the OderNeisse line before Soviet and the attached Polish Army took control of the region. [93], Another problem the Germans and, to a lesser extent, even the newly arrived Poles were facing was an enormous crime wave, most notably theft and rape, committed by gangs not only consisting of regular criminals but also Soviet soldiers, deserters or former forced laborers (Ost-Arbeiter), coming back from the west. Poland Spieler, Silke. (1989). It became part of theGerman Empirein 1871. German minority in Poland Polish towns were torched and the great city of Krakow (1241 CE) was easily captured after its abandonment by Boleslaw the Chaste (1226-1279 CE), the prince of that city, with the now-familiar routine of mass-slaughter and looting soon following. [106] While those who had signed Volksliste category "I" were expelled, rehabilitation was offered to people who had been subject to forced labour before, spoke Polish and were rated as not constituting a threat. WebCieszyn is the heart of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, the southeasternmost part of Upper Silesia. In 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the OderNeisse line became its western border, [1] resulting in gaining the Recovered Territories from Germany. [82] In late 1760 the Russians and Austrians briefly occupied Berlin,[83] and on 3November the main Prussian and Austrian armies fought the Battle of Torgau, a narrow Prussian victory that proved costly for both sides. [42] Meanwhile, Emperor Charles Albert died on 20 January, destroying the rationale behind Frederick's alliance. [90], Prussia's unexpected victory over the Habsburg monarchy set it apart from German rivals such as Bavaria and Saxony,[91] marking Prussia's rise to the status of a European great power,[87] as well as the leading power of Protestant Germany. Administrative regions: Oppeln (Violet), Breslau (Gold), Liegnitz (Green). Alternatives to LiveJournal for students. Erwin Ay, Rettende Ufer: Von Ostpreuen nach Dnemark, BoD Books on Demand, 2005, p.28. [10] Frederick judged that his dynasty's claims were credible,[1] and he had inherited from his father a large and well trained Prussian army and a healthy royal treasury. Dokumente aus polnischen Archiven. [32] Around 500,000 Germans were stationed in Poland as part of its occupation force; these consisted of people such as clerks, technicians and support staff. With the subsequent East Pomeranian, Lower Silesian and Upper Silesian Offensives in February and March, the Red Army seized control of virtually all territories east of the Oder river. [98], Close to three million residents of Upper Silesia (Silesians), Masuria (Masurs) and Pomerania (Slovincians, Kashubians) were considered of Slavic descent but many of them did not identify with Polish nationality, were either bilingual or spoke German only. WebPrussia - Prussia - German Empire, Hohenzollern Dynasty, Unification: The reforming impulse flagged after 1815. [44] Expulsions of Germans from East Prussia and pre-war Poland had become a war aim as early as in February 1940, expressed by Polish Foreign Minister August Zaleski. German settlement in the former eastern territories of Germany and pre-war Poland dates back to the medieval Ostsiedlung. This is the region featured in this article. WebLower Silesia: the majority of the province is now part of Poland, mostly within the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. History of the Jews in Austria Germany deported millions of Poles either to other territories, to concentration camps or as slave workers. CNN . Many families were split up along the way. [50] This Treaty of Dresden was signed on 25 December 1745, ending the Second Silesian War between Austria, Saxony and Prussia. "[40] To the Soviets, reparations were more important than boundaries, and Stalin might have given up on the Poles if they had not so vociferously protested when, in spite of his 'illness', he consulted with them during the evening of July 29. [29] To Poles, moving Germans out of Poland was seen as an attempt to avoid such events in the future and, as a result, the Polish government in exile proposed a population transfer of Germans as early as 1941. [54] The crown established Prussia's first central bank, and the treasury gathered its surpluses into a growing war chest throughout the peace. WebSilesians. WebSilesia / Schlesien. WebIn 1795 Vilnius passed to Russia in the Third Partition of Poland. Poland German Territorial Losses After the First World War; Austrian Germanisation GERMANS In addition, the German minority engaged in such activities as identifying Poles for execution and illegally detaining them. In the February 1946 census, 2,288,000 persons were listed as Germans and 417,400 became subject to verification aiming at the establishment of nationality. In 1761 the Habsburg monarchy implemented newly centralised administrative and policymaking bodies to streamline what had often been a chaotic executive process. [118], According to the Polish census of 1946, there were still 2,036,400 Germans in the "Recovered Territories", 251,900 in the pre-war Polish territories (primarily eastern Upper Silesia, Pomerelia and Greater Poland) and the former Free City of Danzig, and 417,000 in the process of "verification" as "new" Poles. Use gazetteers and/or parish register inventories to learn more important details. [72] Over the winter a combined Prussian-Hanoverian army launched a series of offensives that eventually drove the French out of Westphalia and across the Rhine, securing Prussia's western flank for the duration of the war. Poland . Stereotypes About Poland and Polish People [122], In the first years after the war, the bishop of Katowice Stanisaw Adamski criticized the expulsion of Germans as inhumane. [120], Tomasz Kamusella cites estimates of 7 million expelled during both "wild" and "legal" expulsions from the Recovered Territories (Deutsche Ostgebiete) until 1948. A second region with a notable German minority is Masuria, with 4,311 living in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, May 17, 1756: Great Britain declares war on France. Naimark, Norman m.: Fires of Hatred. ed. The responsibility for leaving millions of Germans in these vulnerable areas until combat conditions overwhelmed them can be attributed directly to the draconian measures taken by the German authorities against anyone even suspected of 'defeatist' attitudes [as evacuation was considered] and the fanaticism of many Nazi functionaries in their execution of Hitler's 'no retreat' orders. WebPoland's old and new borders, 1945. [16], Frederick saw in Austria's female succession an opportune moment for the seizure of Silesia, calling it "the signal for the complete transformation of the old political system" in a 1740 letter to Voltaire. [64], The Nazi German Ministry for Inner Affairs passed a decree on 14 March 1945 allowing abortion to women raped by Soviet soldiers. If Kartenmeister is having temporary technical difficulties, check back later. The German name for Moravia is Mhren, from the river's German name March.This could have a different [36], Peace with Prussia allowed the Austrians and their BritishHanoverian allies to reverse the gains made by the French and Bavarians in 1741. [69] The Soviets also deported from Poland 7,448 Poles of the Armia Krajowa, Soviet records indicated 506 of the Poles died in captivity. Hitler's pacts with Italy and the Soviet Union gave him the confidence to invade Poland. People from all over Poland moved in to replace the former German population in a process parallel to the expulsions. In the end, negotiators agreed again on a return to the status quo ante bellum, confirming Prussia's control of Silesia in the Treaty of Hubertusburg in February 1763. League of Nations [96] His debts to fortune (Russia's about-face after Elizabeth's death) and to British financial support were soon forgotten, while the memories of his energetic leadership and tactical genius were strenuously promoted. Mai 1974. In this referendum, 700,000 voted for Germany and 500,000 for Poland. Here is a link giving the "Kreise" in Oberschlesien. [106] Once granted Polish citizenship, they were encouraged to Polonize their names, or to restore their original Polish names if they had been Germanized during the war. [19] Strategic warfare in this period centred around control of key fortifications positioned so as to command the surrounding regions and roads, lengthy sieges being a common feature of armed conflict. Follow the instructions in Silesia (Schlesien), German Empire Church Records. Addition to the answers given so far: Since the Potsdam treaty (and other agreements between the "Big 3") was not signed by Germany itself, it was Web5 Reasons Why You Need To Pay Attention To State Tax Nexus Laws Today. Poland The main causes of death were cold, stress, and bombing. [39] The next day Churchill warned Stalin: "The Poles are driving the Germans out of the Russian zone. [125] Polish and joint German-Polish scholarly research and public debates in Poland were now concerned with issues like moral examination of the expulsions, responsibility for the inflicted suffering, terminology, numbers, and whether the expellee's status was that of a political subject or object. This page was last edited on 20 August 2023, at 19:43. First map of Silesia, by Martin Helwig, in 1561 (South-North), photo CC / Wikimedia. [55] In diplomacy, Frederick worked to maintain Prussia's alliance with France while easing British concerns over the security of the Electorate of Hanover, which British King GeorgeII also ruled in personal union. No particular event triggered the wars. The Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland on September 17, 1939, in accordance with the German-Soviet Pact of August 1939. Upon the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line according to the 1945 [citation needed] Of 1,180 ships participating in the evacuation, 135 were lost due to bombs, mines, and torpedoes, an estimated 20,000 died. Polands Lower Silesia region is packed with natural wonders, historic cities, In May Prussian forces drove back the Austrian defenders in the Battle of Prague, taking great losses, and then besieged the city. Nazi Germany used the presence and the alleged persecution of Volksdeutsche as propaganda tools in preparation for the invasion of Poland in 1939. Decisive field battles were relatively rare, though they played a larger part in Frederick's theory of warfare than was typical among his contemporary rivals. Oil was discovered and extracted in Austrian Poland (Galicia).. 2. [35] Concerning the post-war western frontier of Poland, the agreement simply read: "If a specific problem such as the frontiers of liberated Poland and the complexion of its government allowed no easy solution, hopes were held out for the future discussion of all outstanding problems in an amicable manner. The Soviets decided to compensate Poland by protecting it with the Red Army presence. The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 100 to 115 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of Schleswig. Kingdom of Bohemia Why did Poland [citation needed] Himmler called the preparation of the early 1945 Soviet offensive "the biggest bluff since Dshingis Khan". [43], Having defeated Bavaria, Austria began an invasion of Silesia. von T. Schieder Bonn, Hrsg. With the Soviet VistulaOder Offensive, launched on 12 January 1945, and the parallel East Prussian Offensive launched on 13 January 1945, Soviet gains of pre-war German and annexed Polish territory became permanent. Yale University Press, 2012. Silesian German Polish settlers, who themselves had been expelled from areas east of the Curzon Line, arrived with about nothing, putting an even higher pressure on the remaining Germans to leave. East Prussia and Silesia artificially detached from Poland, from their natural base, did not show normal development. Erika Steinbach has ruffled feathers, particularly in PolandImage: dapd. The Nation of Polonia | Polish/Russian - Library of Congress Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. Katowice, German Kattowitz, city and capital, lskie wojewdztwo (province), south-central Poland. Upper Silesia The region's borders were thus confirmed at the status quo ante bellum, which had been Prussia's principal goal. PolishCzechoslovak border conflicts - Wikipedia Silesian Uprisings - Wikipedia Upper Silesia, protested the German delegation, had not belonged to Poland since 1163 (Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vi, 833). This website requires a paid subscription for full access. The Silesian Wars (German: Schlesische Kriege) were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Habsburg Austria (under Empress Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). Here is a link to the historical geography of Silesia from Wikipedia. In the early 18th century the Kingdom of Prussia's ruling House of Hohenzollern held dynastic claims to several duchies within the Habsburg province of Silesia, a populous and prosperous region contiguous with Prussia's core territory in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. [11] Frederick Augustus, who ruled the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth in personal union, was especially interested in gaining control of Silesia to connect his two realms into one contiguous territory (which would nearly surround Brandenburg); Frederick's concern to prevent this outcome contributed to his haste in moving against Austria when the contested succession provided an opportunity. Another link for historical events can be found here Historical Events. Prussia cited its centuries-old dynastic claims on parts of Silesia as a casus belli, but Realpolitik and geostrategic factors also played a role in provoking the conflict. Why Silesia travel - Lonely Planet | Poland, Europe In some camps relatives would bring packages and deliver them to the Polish guards, who regularly plundered the contents and delivered only the remains, if any. [88], The Silesian Wars ended in Prussian victory over Austria, a view universal among contemporaries and broadly supported by historiography since. German evacuation from Central and Eastern Europe An important gazetteer, Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, "Meyer's Gazetter" for short, details the place names of villages, towns, counties (kreise), and higher jurisdictions used at that time. WebGeography. WebWrocaw (German: Breslau) has long been the largest and culturally dominant city in Silesia, and is today the capital of Poland's Lower Silesian Voivodeship.. WebThe Czechoslovak-Polish War, also known mostly in Czech sources as the Seven-day war (Czech: Sedmidenn vlka) was a military confrontation between Czechoslovakia and Poland over the territory of Cieszyn Silesia in early 1919.. After a vain protest by the Czechoslovak government against action in breach of the Interim Agreement, they attacked the part of [28] As Germany invaded Poland, the German minority engaged in mass murder, rapes and plunder of Polish citizens, in addition to making lists of people that were to be sent to German concentration camps. By these means, and by avoiding any provocations toward Russia, he hoped to manage the Austrian threat and preserve the balance of power. Why did In linguistics, Germanisation of non-German languages also occurs when they adopt many German Encyclopedia of Milwaukee [1] Besides its value as a source of tax revenue, industrial output and military recruits, Silesia held great geostrategic importance to multiple parties. [46] My Jewish Learning [33] The final decision to move Poland's boundary westward, preconditioning the expulsion of Germans, was made by Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, when the Curzon line was irrevocably fixed as the future Polish-Soviet border. WebSilesian (Silesian: Schlsisch, Schlssch, Schlsch, Schlsch, German: Schlesisch), Silesian German or Lower Silesian is a nearly extinct German dialect spoken in Silesia.It is part of the East Central German language area with some West Slavic and Lechitic influences. However, Poland got most of the industrial region of Upper Silesia. Wedding dresses often became a womans best dress and were worn for many years. [79] The succeeding months saw the Austrians retake Dresden and most of Saxony,[80] with intermittent skirmishing in Saxony continuing into the next year. Silesia is a historical region in Central Europe. t. e. The German camps in occupied Poland during World War II were built by the Nazis between 1939 and 1945 throughout the territory of the Polish Republic, both in the areas annexed in 1939, and in the General Government formed by Nazi Germany in the central part of the country (see map). [65], Many refugees tried to return home when the fighting in their homelands ended. In Poland: The early state. WebFrederick II (German: Friedrich II. [7], In 1685, when Austria was engaged in the Great Turkish War, Emperor LeopoldI gave Great Elector Frederick William immediate control of the Silesian exclave of Schwiebus in return for military support against the Turks and the surrender of the outstanding Hohenzollern claims in Silesia. [98], Though sometimes depicted as a key moment in Prussia's rise to greatness, the wars nonetheless left the kingdom's economy and population devastated, and much of the remainder of Frederick's reign was spent repairing the damage. [7] "Verification" and "national rehabilitation" processes were set up to reveal a "dormant Polishness" and to determine which were redeemable as Polish citizens; few were actually expelled. [15] During Emperor Charles's lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction was generally acknowledged by the imperial states, but when he died it was promptly contested by Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony. You must know the town where your ancestor lived. [39] The French failed to harass and disrupt the Austrian redeployment,[40] so Austria's army was able to return to Bohemia quickly and at full strength. Zygmunt Woniczka, "Obz pracy w witochowicach," (Dzieje Najnowsze, Rocznik, 31, No. Several million (of which about 0.8 million officially declared Silesian nationality in national censuses in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia ). [22][52][53] Hitler and his staff refused to accept Soviet military superiority. Geography of Poland [27] As Bavaria, Saxony, France, Naples and Spain attacked Austria on multiple fronts during the succeeding months, Frederick began secret peace negotiations with Maria Theresa, with British urging and mediation;[28] on 9October Austria and Prussia agreed to a secret armistice known as the Convention of Klein Schnellendorf, under which Austria committed to eventually concede Lower Silesia in return for peace. In 1806 the Prussians were shattered by Napoleon's Grande Arme at the Battle of Jena; only after a series of reforms motivated by the disasters of 18061807 did Prussian military power again begin to grow. LECTURE 6 POLAND: 1864-1914. (Revised Jan The March (1945 Arie Marcelo Kacowicz, Pawel Lutomski, Population resettlement in international conflicts: a comparative study, Lexington Books, 2007, p.104, flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II, currently within the territorial boundaries, History of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe, Germany and Soviet Union cooperated against Poles, Evacuation of German civilians during the end of World War II, Soviet soldiers committed reprisal rapes and other crimes, Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union, who themselves had been expelled from areas east, large Soviet contingents stationed in Poland after the war, President Bierut signed a decree on "the exclusion of persons of German nationality from the Polish National Community", Polish lands incorporated into the Third Reich, "Ludno Polski w XX wieku / Andrzej Gawryszewski. Despite the fact that article 12 of the Potsdam agreement from August 2, 1945, stated that "population transfer" should be performed in ordered and humane manner, and should not commence until after the creation of an expulsion plan approved by the Allied Control Council, the expulsions continued without rules and were associated with many criminal acts. The Nation of Polonia The regions were typically evacuated of its population village by village. WebWhich country is Katowice Poland? East Upper Silesia goes to Poland. An unknown number remained;[97] a small German minority continues to reside in Upper Silesia and Masuria. Silesia (Schlesien) Online Genealogy Records, Opava Provincial Archives, Czech Republic, Silesia (Schlesien), Prussia, German Empire Genealogy, Opole (Opolskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy, Lesser Poland (Maopolskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy, Lower Silesian (Dolnolskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy, Silesian (lskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy.