Poles were victims of discrimination and expulsions by German state in both XIX and XX century. While ideas of expelling Poles can be found in German political discourse of XIX century, those ideas matured into full scale plans in First World War to remove Polish population from territories that were to be annexed by Germany from Russia^[1]. After the First World War German National Socialists were inspired by designs created during that conflict^[1]. Eventually they adopted and changed them to more racist versions with more far-reaching goals, which in the end resulted in expulsion of millions of Poles during Second World War as Germany occupied Polish territory.^[1] Germany is a federal republic made up of 16 states, known in German as Länder (transliterated as laender in English, singular Land). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Origins of the idea of expulsions

Since the creation of a united German state in 1871, Poles were contained within it as one of the largest minorities. This Polish presence in Germany was result of expansion of Prussia, the very state that led to unification of Germany^[1]. Before that event, Prussia acquired Polish inhabited territories by taking part in Partitions of Poland and obtaining parts of Silesia from Austria during Silesian Wars of XVIII century, which had Polish population. After creation of Germany and rise of German nationalism ideas such as Pangermanism and Lebensraum started to develop. The first idea demanded unification of all Germans under one country, including those being minorities in other countries that were populated by non-German majorities. Pangermanists believed that Germans were superior to other people-especially Slavs, whom they viewed as inferior to German "race" and culture. Lebensraum in turn demanded "living space" for German people, claiming overpopulation of Germany and alledged negative traits of heavy urbanisation in contrast to agricultural settlement. Those future territories were to be taken in the East. Both Pangermanism and Lebensraum theory viewed Poles as obstacle to German hegemony, prosperity as well as future expansion German state^[1]. 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Motto: Suum cuique Latin: To each his own Prussia at its peak, as leading state of the German Empire Capital Königsberg, later Berlin Political structure Duchy, Kingdom, Republic Duke1  - 1525–68 Albert I  - 1688–1701 Frederick III King1  - 1701–13 Frederick I  - 1888–1918 William II Prime Minister1,2... The Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Polish: Rozbiór Polski or Rozbiory Polski; Lithuanian: Lietuvos-Lenkijos padalijimai, Belarusian: Падзелы Рэчы Паспалітай) took place in the 18th century and ended the existence of the sovereign Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria (and their changing allies) for control of Silesia. ... The hard-to-translate word völkisch has connotations of folksy, folkloric, and populist. ... Lebensraum (German for habitat or living space) was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ...

19th century

German authorities fearing the rebirth of Poland that would mean either threat to or loss of territories taken in Partitions, sought to limit number of Poles by forced Germanisation either cultural or by settlement of German colonists^[1]. Harsh laws were made against Polish culture, language and private ownership. However expulsions were also part of the policy and ideas regarding Poles, as German chancellor Otto von Bismarck having seen Poles as threat to unity of German state not only enacted several laws targetting Polish ethnic group but also expelled Poles and Jews who lived in Germany as workers in what is described as precusor to modern ethnic cleansing^[2]. In 1887 Bernhard von Bülow, the future Chancellor of the German Empire advocated expelling Poles in future armed conflic from territories that were Polish-inhabited and part of Germany^[3]. “Bismarck” redirects here. ... Prince Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow (May 3, 1849 – October 28, 1929) was a German statesman who served as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909. ... The Chancellor of the German Empire, in German Reichskanzler, meaning Imperial Chancellor was the title of the head of the German gouvernment from 1871 till 1934. ...

20th century

German Empire enacted laws and plans aimed at expulsion of Poles. The first steps made by German Empire and its plans were adopted by Nazi regime and implemented in Second World War combined with racist ideology of Nazi ideology that viewed Poles as subhumans, that were to be eliminated for superior German "race". In 1908 Germany legalised eviction of Poles from their property, under pressure from pangerman nationalist groups, that hoped such law will be used to reduce number of Poles by force^[1]. 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...

First World War

During First World War Germany planned to annex circa 30.000 km2 from territories of Congress Poland to Germany, which would be destined to become places of German colonisation^[1]. Most of the Polish population of those territories (about 2,000,000 people) was to be expelled into a puppet Polish state^[1]. The remaining population was to be used as cheap labour in agriculture serving German colonists^[1].

Second World War

With the occupation of Poland following the German invasion of the country, Nazi policies were enacted upon its population. Poles according to Nazi ideology were subhumans, seen as an inferior "race" fit only for slavery and elimination to make room for Germans seen as "superior race". German plans had a goal of far reaching colonisation of several territories in the east of Germany. Poland itself would according to established plans have been cleared of Polish people as 20 milion or so would have been expelled eventually [1]. Up to 3 to 4 million Polish citizens(all peasants) who were believed to come from German colonists and migrants and as consequence were "racially valuable" would be Germanised and dispersed among German population[2]. Nazi leadership hoped that through expulsions to Siberia, famine, mass executions, and slave labour of any survivors Polish nation would be eventually completely destroyed^[4]. This page is about the UK punk rock band. ... Slave redirects here. ... Siberian Federal District (darker red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) arctic northeast Siberia Udachnaya pipe Siberia (Russian: , Sibir; Tatar: ) is a vast region of Russia constituting almost all of Northern Asia and comprising a large part of the Euro-Asian Steppe. ... A famine is a social and economic crisis that is commonly accompanied by widespread malnutrition, starvation, epidemic and increased mortality. ...

Expulsions took place in two specific territories: areas annexed to Reich in 1939 and 1941, and General Gouvernment as precusor to further expansion of German settlement area. Eventually, as Adolf Hitler explained in March 1941, the General Gouvernment would be cleared of Poles, the region would be turned into "purely German area" within 15-20 years and in place of 15 milion Poles, 4-5 milion Germans would live, and the area would be "as German as the Rhineland"^[5]. The General Government (in full General government for the occupied Polish areas, in German Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete) was the name given by Germany to the governing authority in Poland after its occupation by the Wehrmacht in September and October 1939. ... Hitler redirects here. ... The Rhineland (Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. ...

Expulsions in Polish annexed territories of Germany After long discussion, Germany decided to re-annex not only all the German lands it was forced to surrender to Poland in 1919–1922, under the Treaty of Versailles (including the Polish Corridor, West Prussia, the Province of Posen and Upper Silesia), but also other territories. ...

According to research of professor Łuczak, Germans expelled the following numbers of Poles from territories annexed to the Reich in the period of 1939-1944: Warthegau region 630.000. Silesia 80.000 Poles Pomerania region 124.000. Bialystok region 25,000. Ciechan region 28,000. Reichsgau Wartheland (initially Reichsgau Posen) was the name given by Nazis to the territory of Greater Poland which was occupied, annexed and directly incorporated into the German Reich after defeating the Polish army in 1939 (as opposed to the General Government, GG). ... Białystok (pronounce: [bȋa:wistɔk]) (Belarusian: Беласток, Lithuanian: Balstogė) is the largest city (pop. ...

Combined with "wild expulsions" in four years 923,000 Poles were ethnicly cleansed from territories Germany annexed into the Reich^[6].

On the territories of German protoctorate called General Government there were two main areas of expulsions comitted by the German state. The protoctorate itself was seen as temporary measure, and served as concentration camp for Poles to perform hard labour furthering German industry and war effort. Eventually it was to be cleared of Poles also. It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ...

Expulsions from Zamość: 116,000 Poles were expelled from Zamojszczyzna region as part of Nazi plans for establishment of German colonies in the conquered territories. Zamosc itself was to be renamed Himmlerstadt, later changed to Pflugstadt(Plow City), that was to symbolise the German "Plow" that was to "plough" the East. Additionally almost 30.000 children were kidnapped by German authorities from their parents for potential Germanisation^[6]. Zamość is a town in southeastern Poland with 66,633 inhabitants (2004), situated in the Lublin Voivodship (since 1999). ... A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ...

Expulsions from Warsaw: After the failure of Warsaw Uprising 500,000 people were expelled from the city alone as punishment by German authorities^[6]. Motto: Contemnit procellas (It defies the storms) Semper invicta (Always invincible) Coordinates: Country Poland Voivodeship Masovia Powiat city county Gmina Warszawa Districts 18 boroughs City Rights turn of the 13th century Government  - Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (PO) Area  - City 516. ... Combatants Poland Germany Commanders Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski #, Antoni ChruÅ›ciel #, Tadeusz PeÅ‚czyÅ„ski Erich von dem Bach, Rainer Stahel, Heinz Reinefarth, Bronislav Kaminski Strength 50,000 troops (10,000 armed) 25,000 troops Casualties 18,000 killed, 12,000 wounded, 15,000 taken prisoner 250,000 civilians killed...

Combined the expulsions carried out by Germany in World War 2 affected 1.710.000 Poles^[6]. Additonally 2,5 milion Poles were taken from Poland as slave labourers to Germany to fuel its economy during Nazi war against other countries^[4].

See also

• Generalplan Ost
• Drang nach Osten

Generalplan Ost (GPO) was a Nazi plan to realize Hitlers new order of ethnographical relations in the territories occupied in Eastern Europe during World War II. It was prepared in 1941 and confirmed in 1942. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Imannuel Geiss, Der polnische Grenzstreifen 1914-1918. Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Kriegszielpolitik im Ersten Weltkrieg, Hamburg/Lübeck 1960
2. ^ E.J. Feuchtwanger, "Bismarck", Routledge 2002
3. ^ Herbert Arthur Strauss, "Hostages of Modernization: Studies on Modern Antisemitism 1870-1933-39 Germany - Great Britain-France", Walter de Gruyter 1993
4. ^ ^{a b} Wojciech Roszkowski, Historia Polski 1914-1997, Warsaw 1998
5. ^ Volker R. Berghahn "Germans and Poles 1871-1945" in "Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences",Rodopi 1999
6. ^ ^{a b c d} "Polacy wypędzeni",IPN Bulletin,nr5(40) May 2004