Settlement Commission
Encyclopedia
The Prussian Settlement Commission was a Prussia
n government commission that operated between 1886 and 1924, but actively only until 1918. It was set up by Otto von Bismarck
to increase land ownership by Germans
at the expense of Poles
, by economic and political means, in the German Empire
's eastern provinces of West Prussia
and the Province of Posen
.
The Commission was one of Germany's prime instruments in the official policy of Germanization of historically Polish lands. The Commission ultimately purchased 613 estates from German owners and 214 from Poles, functioning to bail out German debtors as often as it fulfilled its declared mission. By the end of its existence, a total of 21,886 German families (154,704 persons) out of a planned 40,000 had been settled. The Commission's activities stimulated Polish nationalism and triggered Polish countermeasures, climaxing after World War I
, when the Second Polish Republic
was established, in the expropriation of Commission-owned lands.
Majority of Polish sources translate the title as Colonization Commission rather than Settlement Commission, which is more politically charged.
The issue of translation is also connected to the fact that in 1904 the legal difference between settlement and colony
was abolished in Prussia.
during the partitions of Poland
acquired West Prussia
and the later Province of Posen
(, ). Polish language was abolished as official language and German introduced. Frederick the Great hoped to replace them with Germans. Most of administration was made German as well. Poles were portrayed as 'backward Slavs' by Prussian officials who spread German language and culture. The land of Polish nobility was confiscated and given to German nobles. The Prussian hold on Polish areas was somewhat weakened after 1807 where parts of its partition were restored to Duchy of Warsaw
. The power status of Prussia was dependent on hindering any form of Polish statehood and it didn't support Polish attempts at restoration of Poland during Congress of Vienna
, where Prussia tried to gain Duchy of Warsaw or at least its western provinces. In 1815 the Prussian king made several guarantees in his speech to Poles in the newly formed Grand Duchy of Posen (created out of territories of Duchy of Warsaw) in regards to rights of Polish language and cultural institutions. However in practice the right to use Polish in courts and institutions was respected only till 1830. While the Poles constituted the majority of population in the area, they held only 4 out 21 official posts of higher level. From 1832 they could no longer hold higher posts at local administrative level (landrat). At the same time the Prussian government and Prussian King pursued germanisation of administration and judicial system, while local officials enforced germanisation of educational system and tried to eradicate the economic position of Polish nobility. The provincial parliament issued calls to ensure the right of use of Polish language and called for creation Polish educational institutions as well as autonomy, but those requests were rejected by Prussian state. In 1847 two hundred fifty seven Polish activists were imprisoned upon charges of conspiracy and eight of them sentenced to death,
the Spring of Nations however stopped their execution. The Frankfurt Parliament showed that German delegates refused to accept the rights of non-German people and while Prussian government declared itself ready to discuss Polish concerns, it soon made the Prussian military crush down the movement of Polish activists and peasants demanding freedom. Afterwards the victorious Prussian government retreated from its earlied declartions of autonomy in Wielkpolska region.
Ferdinande Knabe writes that Prussia had respected Polish nationality and language.
Frederick the Great, who treated Poles with contempt and called them 'slovenly Polish trash', settled around 300,000 colonists in the eastern provinces of Prussia
and aimed at a removal of the Polish nobility. Another colonization attempt aimed at Germanisation was pursued by Prussia after 1832.
In 1871, the German Empire was founded with Prussia being the leading and dominating state. The advent of the Kulturkampf
marked a period, when the Prussian government attempted to Germanise the Poles through language, schooling, and religious restrictions. Later, the increase in the sheer numbers of Poles led the government to a direct anti-Polish demographic policy.
The Polish
population in the province of Posen (Poznań) made up for nearly 60% (1,049,000 Poles vs 702,000 Germans in 1890), and in West Prussia for one third of the population (484,000 Poles vs 949,000 Germans in 1890). By 1885, Prussia still faced difficulties digesting her "Polish provinces", and the "Polish Question" was one of the Reich's
most pressing problems. The state itself was led by German nationalism
and Bismarck viewed Poles as one of the chief threat to German power; as he declared The Polish question is to us a question of life and death and wanted Polish nation to disappear in private going as far as expressing his wish to exterminate Poles As a result the Polish population faced economic, religious and political discrimination the Germanisation of their territories was promoted.
In the late 19th century, an east-to west migration (Ostflucht
) took place, in which parts of the population of the eastern provinces migrated to western, more prosperous territories.
The German government was concerned that Ostflucht would lower the percentage of Germans in the eastern regions. This event was used as pretext and justification presented to the international community for actions aiming at Germanisation of those provinces. In reality both Poles, Jews and Germans moved to richer western German provinces http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/katalog/skarb,Pokwitowanie_dotyczace_zakupu_wozu_mieszkalnego_dla_Michala_Drzymaly_z_1908_roku,gid,197554,cid,2443.htm?body=desc
) was to achieve the elimination of a Polish national identity. Polish landowners were regarded by Bismarck as the principal agitators for Polish nationalism, purchasing their estates and parceling them out to Germans in family-sized farms was intended to both disestablish this group and significantly higher the numbers of Germans in these areas.
The focus on land ownership was motived by the German "völkisch" idea
that "where the German plough will plow, there German fatherland will arise". The settlement was to isolate Polish settlements in German inhabited areas by surrounding them with German settlements and spread German ones into Polish dominated areas to isolate specified Polish villages from the rest. The German settlements were to be always concentrated to provide a "barrier" to Polishness. While the Commission bought mostly German land, this was not interfering with the goal of increase of German presence, and buying a large tract of land from a single German owner to distribute it among many German colonists was perceived as beneficial to the goal. Of the colonists, 96,9% were Protestants as the Prussian authorities believed that ‘the true German is a Protestant". The whole practice was new and unheard in Europe. Besides Ostflucht, the German government justified its action to the international community by labeling Poles as internal enemies of the state. Those attempts didn’t achieve much success. Bismarck himself said that the Poles who find themselves without land should "move to Morocco
".
By 1914 the overall funding for the Commission was 955 million marks. Additional funds were awarded to assistance projects such crediting bankrupt German estates (125 million marks in 1908).
Due to operations of the Commission the price of land in Polish territories rose in response. The economical attempt to Germanise those areas failed and with the beginning of World War I German authorities and leading members of Commission started to look for new ways to secure German foothold on Polish territory.
(Russian Empire
province) and Galicia (Austrian province).
Overall, the commission bought 828 estates (430,450 ha) for 443 million marks, 214 of those (115,525 ha) from Poles for 96,4 million marks, and the other 614 (314,926 ha) from Germans for 346,7 million marks. Further the commission bought 631 peasant farms (30,434 ha) for 44,5 million marks, 274 of those (11,152 ha) from Poles for 16,6 million marks and the other 357 (19,282 ha) from Germans for 27,9 million marks. Of the total of 955 million marks spent, about half (488 million marks) was spent for the actual land purchase, while the rest was spent for administration, parcellisation, infrastructure etc.
increased. In the first years (1886–90), locals from Posen (Poznań) and West Prussia constituted 48% of the settlers while the proportion of Germans from Russia
was below 1%, however in the years 1902-1906, locals only made up for 17% and Germans from Russia for 29% of the settlers.
Of those settled until the end of 1906, a quarter originated in Posen and West Prussia, another quarter in the neighboring provinces of East Prussia
, Pomerania, Brandenburg
, Saxony
and Silesia
, 30% from other parts of the German Empire and 20% from outside the empire, especially from Russia.
In Posen (Poznań
) the Polish share of the population didn't reach its pre-1815 levels:
Other measures in support of the Germanisation policy included:
Numerous initiatives proved to be more elastic and efficient then the large centralised German bureaucracy
. A social understanding has risen among the Polish population that led to abandoning the class differences in order to defend national existence - the rich helped the poor to perform better in economy and were supported by the clergy in their actions. Rich nobility often sold their artistic heritage to invest in banking and financial enterprises, or to buy more land for Poles. This was viewed as moral and ethical behaviour among the Polish population. As a result the German initiative created the very thing it tried to eliminate in the first place, a Polish national awakening in the Greater Poland
region (province of Posen) and feeling of Polish national unity.
Thus, faced with the inability to Germanise the Polish provinces by economic means led the German leaders and thinkers to consider pursuing extraordinary means.
proposed expelling Poles from eastern territories of Germany. With the coming of the war, those ideas begun to take real and determined form in the shape of plans to be realised after German victory and as consequence hegemony of Central and Eastern Europe. The idea of extraordinary measures was the result of the failed economic attempt to Germanise Polish provinces. Heads of the Settlement Commission were among the architects and supporters of those plans. The president of the Settlement Commission, Gense, was one of the chief supporters and planners of the so called "Polish Border Strip
" that envisioned expelling circa 2 million non-Germans (chiefly Poles and Jews) from 30,000 square kilometers of the would-be annexed territories from Congress Poland
, which would then become Germanised. The Poles remaining in Germany who would refuse to become Germanised were to be "encouraged" to move to a planned German-run Polish puppet state established from the remains of Congress Poland.
Other notable names of Settlement Commission activists include Fredrich von Schwerin and industrialist Hugenberg who worked for and represented the Krupp family.
, ruling out in 1923 "that the position adopted by the Polish Government [...] was not in conformity with its international obligations.". By 1918, the total ethnic Polish population was greater than when the Commission began operations. Between 1918 and 1939, the German population in these areas declined by another 70%, and the land owned by Germans by 45%.
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n government commission that operated between 1886 and 1924, but actively only until 1918. It was set up by Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
to increase land ownership by Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
at the expense of Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, by economic and political means, in the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
's eastern provinces of West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
and the Province of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
.
The Commission was one of Germany's prime instruments in the official policy of Germanization of historically Polish lands. The Commission ultimately purchased 613 estates from German owners and 214 from Poles, functioning to bail out German debtors as often as it fulfilled its declared mission. By the end of its existence, a total of 21,886 German families (154,704 persons) out of a planned 40,000 had been settled. The Commission's activities stimulated Polish nationalism and triggered Polish countermeasures, climaxing after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
was established, in the expropriation of Commission-owned lands.
Name
English translations include German Colonization Commission for Poznań, Prussian Colonization Commission'The Royal Commission of Colonization for West Prussia and Posnania).Majority of Polish sources translate the title as Colonization Commission rather than Settlement Commission, which is more politically charged.
The issue of translation is also connected to the fact that in 1904 the legal difference between settlement and colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
was abolished in Prussia.
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of PrussiaKingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
during the partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
acquired West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
and the later Province of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
(, ). Polish language was abolished as official language and German introduced. Frederick the Great hoped to replace them with Germans. Most of administration was made German as well. Poles were portrayed as 'backward Slavs' by Prussian officials who spread German language and culture. The land of Polish nobility was confiscated and given to German nobles. The Prussian hold on Polish areas was somewhat weakened after 1807 where parts of its partition were restored to Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
. The power status of Prussia was dependent on hindering any form of Polish statehood and it didn't support Polish attempts at restoration of Poland during Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, where Prussia tried to gain Duchy of Warsaw or at least its western provinces. In 1815 the Prussian king made several guarantees in his speech to Poles in the newly formed Grand Duchy of Posen (created out of territories of Duchy of Warsaw) in regards to rights of Polish language and cultural institutions. However in practice the right to use Polish in courts and institutions was respected only till 1830. While the Poles constituted the majority of population in the area, they held only 4 out 21 official posts of higher level. From 1832 they could no longer hold higher posts at local administrative level (landrat). At the same time the Prussian government and Prussian King pursued germanisation of administration and judicial system, while local officials enforced germanisation of educational system and tried to eradicate the economic position of Polish nobility. The provincial parliament issued calls to ensure the right of use of Polish language and called for creation Polish educational institutions as well as autonomy, but those requests were rejected by Prussian state. In 1847 two hundred fifty seven Polish activists were imprisoned upon charges of conspiracy and eight of them sentenced to death,
the Spring of Nations however stopped their execution. The Frankfurt Parliament showed that German delegates refused to accept the rights of non-German people and while Prussian government declared itself ready to discuss Polish concerns, it soon made the Prussian military crush down the movement of Polish activists and peasants demanding freedom. Afterwards the victorious Prussian government retreated from its earlied declartions of autonomy in Wielkpolska region.
Ferdinande Knabe writes that Prussia had respected Polish nationality and language.
Earlier settlement attempts by the Kingdom of Prussia
In the past, settlement attempts were pursued by Kingdom of Prussia in regards to territories inhabited by Poles.Frederick the Great, who treated Poles with contempt and called them 'slovenly Polish trash', settled around 300,000 colonists in the eastern provinces of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and aimed at a removal of the Polish nobility. Another colonization attempt aimed at Germanisation was pursued by Prussia after 1832.
German Empire
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
marked a period, when the Prussian government attempted to Germanise the Poles through language, schooling, and religious restrictions. Later, the increase in the sheer numbers of Poles led the government to a direct anti-Polish demographic policy.
The Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
population in the province of Posen (Poznań) made up for nearly 60% (1,049,000 Poles vs 702,000 Germans in 1890), and in West Prussia for one third of the population (484,000 Poles vs 949,000 Germans in 1890). By 1885, Prussia still faced difficulties digesting her "Polish provinces", and the "Polish Question" was one of the Reich's
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
most pressing problems. The state itself was led by German nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and Bismarck viewed Poles as one of the chief threat to German power; as he declared The Polish question is to us a question of life and death and wanted Polish nation to disappear in private going as far as expressing his wish to exterminate Poles As a result the Polish population faced economic, religious and political discrimination the Germanisation of their territories was promoted.
In the late 19th century, an east-to west migration (Ostflucht
Ostflucht
The Ostflucht was a movement by residents of the former eastern territories of Germany, such as East Prussia, West Prussia, Silesia and Province of Posen beginning around 1850, to the more industrialized western German Rhine and Ruhr provinces...
) took place, in which parts of the population of the eastern provinces migrated to western, more prosperous territories.
The German government was concerned that Ostflucht would lower the percentage of Germans in the eastern regions. This event was used as pretext and justification presented to the international community for actions aiming at Germanisation of those provinces. In reality both Poles, Jews and Germans moved to richer western German provinces http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/katalog/skarb,Pokwitowanie_dotyczace_zakupu_wozu_mieszkalnego_dla_Michala_Drzymaly_z_1908_roku,gid,197554,cid,2443.htm?body=desc
Goals
The goals of the Commission were the financial weakening of Polish landowners, and ensuring Germanisation of Polish cities as well as rural areas. The destruction of Polish landownership combined with the fight against the Polish clergy (KulturkampfKulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
) was to achieve the elimination of a Polish national identity. Polish landowners were regarded by Bismarck as the principal agitators for Polish nationalism, purchasing their estates and parceling them out to Germans in family-sized farms was intended to both disestablish this group and significantly higher the numbers of Germans in these areas.
The focus on land ownership was motived by the German "völkisch" idea
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
that "where the German plough will plow, there German fatherland will arise". The settlement was to isolate Polish settlements in German inhabited areas by surrounding them with German settlements and spread German ones into Polish dominated areas to isolate specified Polish villages from the rest. The German settlements were to be always concentrated to provide a "barrier" to Polishness. While the Commission bought mostly German land, this was not interfering with the goal of increase of German presence, and buying a large tract of land from a single German owner to distribute it among many German colonists was perceived as beneficial to the goal. Of the colonists, 96,9% were Protestants as the Prussian authorities believed that ‘the true German is a Protestant". The whole practice was new and unheard in Europe. Besides Ostflucht, the German government justified its action to the international community by labeling Poles as internal enemies of the state. Those attempts didn’t achieve much success. Bismarck himself said that the Poles who find themselves without land should "move to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
".
Funding
The funding for the Commission constantly increased:- 1886 100 million marksGerman gold markThe Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
- 1898 100 million marks
- 1908 150 million marks
- 1913 500 million marks.
By 1914 the overall funding for the Commission was 955 million marks. Additional funds were awarded to assistance projects such crediting bankrupt German estates (125 million marks in 1908).
Due to operations of the Commission the price of land in Polish territories rose in response. The economical attempt to Germanise those areas failed and with the beginning of World War I German authorities and leading members of Commission started to look for new ways to secure German foothold on Polish territory.
Accomplished settlement and land purchase
While the commission planned to settle up to 40,000 families in Posen and West Prussia, it only managed to settle a total of 21,866 families until 1914, bringing the number of German colonists to 154,000.Achievements by 1901
From April 26, 1886 until January 1, 1901, the Settlement Commission had purchased 147,475 ha (3.64% of the Province of Posen and 1.65% of West Prussia), settled with 4277 families (about 30,000 persons), A publication from German Empire named Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon made claim in 1905-1906 that only 2715 families were not native to these provinces. After this, the original budget of 100,000,000 marks was exhausted.Achievements by 1913
By 1913, the SC had bought up about 5.4% of the land in West Prussia and 10.4% in Posen. By than, 450 new villages were founded, a total area of 438,560 ha was purchased, of which 124,903 ha were purchased from Poles. In 1914, Germans owned 59% of land in Province of Posen, while making up for about 40% of population in 1890.Overall achievements
Throughout its 32 years of existence the Commission was able to buy 8% of the total land in Posen and West Prussia. Altogether, about 22,000 families were settled, bringing the number of German colonists to 154,000. 5,400 families were German arrivals taken from other parts of the partitioned Poland, Congress PolandCongress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
(Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
province) and Galicia (Austrian province).
Overall, the commission bought 828 estates (430,450 ha) for 443 million marks, 214 of those (115,525 ha) from Poles for 96,4 million marks, and the other 614 (314,926 ha) from Germans for 346,7 million marks. Further the commission bought 631 peasant farms (30,434 ha) for 44,5 million marks, 274 of those (11,152 ha) from Poles for 16,6 million marks and the other 357 (19,282 ha) from Germans for 27,9 million marks. Of the total of 955 million marks spent, about half (488 million marks) was spent for the actual land purchase, while the rest was spent for administration, parcellisation, infrastructure etc.
Origin of the settlers
The portion of local Germans from West Prussia and Posen who took part in the settlement process declined over time, while the number of Germans from the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
increased. In the first years (1886–90), locals from Posen (Poznań) and West Prussia constituted 48% of the settlers while the proportion of Germans from Russia
History of Germans in Russia and the Soviet Union
The German minority in Russia and the Soviet Union was created from several sources and in several waves. The 1914 census puts the number of Germans living in Russian Empire at 2,416,290. In 1989, the German population of the Soviet Union was roughly 2 million. In the 2002 Russian census, 597,212...
was below 1%, however in the years 1902-1906, locals only made up for 17% and Germans from Russia for 29% of the settlers.
Of those settled until the end of 1906, a quarter originated in Posen and West Prussia, another quarter in the neighboring provinces of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, Pomerania, Brandenburg
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
and Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
, 30% from other parts of the German Empire and 20% from outside the empire, especially from Russia.
Impact on the ethnic composition
One of the chief aims of the Commission was to stop the restoration of Polish population in Germanised territories of Great Poland which was restoring its numbers after drastic fall during initial Prussian takeover. While the Commission never fully realised its goals, it managed to weaken Polish influence.In Posen (Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
) the Polish share of the population didn't reach its pre-1815 levels:
| Ethnic composition of the Province of Posen Province of Posen The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2.... |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | 1815 | 1861 | 1890 | 1910 |
| total population | 776.000 | 1.467.604 | 1.751.642 | 2.099.831 |
| % Poles (including bilinguals) |
73% | 54,6% | 60,1% | 61,5% |
| % Germans | 25% | 43,4% | 39,9% | 38,5% |
| Ethnic composition of West Prussia West Prussia West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia... |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | 1858 | 1890 | 1905 | 1910 |
| total population | ? | 1.433.681 | 1.641.936 | ? |
| % Poles (including Kashubians Kashubians Kashubians/Kaszubians , also called Kashubs, Kashubes, Kaszubians, Kassubians or Cassubians, are a West Slavic ethnic group in Pomerelia, north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia .... ) |
30,9% | 33,8% | 34,4% | ~35% |
| % Germans * including bilinguals | 69,1% | 66,2%* | 65,6%* | ~65% |
Legislation
As the economic approach showed to be a failure, various laws were enacted to promote the Settlement Commission's aims.- 1896: Land acquired from the commission could be sold freely only to the settler's next of kin: the commission's approval was required for any other sale.
- 1904: The Prussian GovernmentPrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
sought to restrict Poles from acquiring land, if this would interfere with the goals of the commission. Any new settlement required a building permit, even if it were only for renovation of an existing building to make it habitable. Local officials routinely denied these permits to Poles. The law faced international criticism and opposition from liberal groups concerned about private property rights. The Prussian Administrative High Court ended this legislation - 1908: The Prussian diet passed a law permitting the forcible expropriation of Polish landowners by the Settlement Commission. In 1912, four Polish large estates of 1,656 ha were expropriated. The law faced criticism from international community and liberals concerned about the free market rights. Additionally, the Austrian State Council, upon the request of the Poles, who enjoyed considerable autonomy and influence in Austro-Hungary, condemned the actions of German government. Rota, a patriotic poem by Maria KonopnickaMaria KonopnickaMaria Konopnicka nee Wasiłowska , was a Polish poet, novelist, writer for children and youth, a translator, journalist and critic, as well as an activist for women's rights and Polish independence.Maria Konopnicka also composed a poem about the execution of the Irish patriot, Robert...
was created as response to this law. Newspapers in Europe wrote that Prussia is becoming a "police state". In part due to those protests, the law's execution was delayed until 1914. - 1913: To prevent Poles redistributing their land to other Poles, a law was passed that forbade the dividing of private land without the agreement of the state.
Other measures in support of the Germanisation policy included:
- Ethnic Germans were favoured in government contracts and only they won them, while Poles always lost.
- Ethnic Germans were also promoted in investment plans, supply contracts.
- German craftsmen in Polish territories received the best locations in cities from authorities so that they could start their own business and prosper.
- Soldiers received orders that banned them from buying in Polish shops and from Poles under the threat of arrest.
- German merchantmen were encouraged to settle in Polish territories.
- Tax incentives and beneficial financial arrangements were proposed to German officials and clerks if they would settle in Polish inhabited provinces.
Polish countermeasures
The creation of the Commission stimulated Poles to take countermeasures, that gradually turned into a competition of the Polish minority against the German state with Poles running their own settlement banks and settlement societies, resulting in a "battle for soil" (Kampf um den Boden). In 1888 Teodor Kalkstein founded Bank Ziemski, supported by Poles from Austrian Galicia region. 1894 saw Polish intellectuals in cooperation with Polish farmers founding Spólka Rolników Indywidualnych. Ignacy Sikorski founded Bank Parcelacyjny in 1896. From 1890 till 1912 Polish enterprises, banks and associations grew in number and strength providing Poles with defence against the Germanisation of their land. For the Settlement Commission, these countermeasures led to a decreasing availability of purchasable Polish-owned land, in 1895 and all years following 1898, the vast majority of estates was purchased from Germans instead of Poles, and since 1902, the commission was able to acquire land from Poles "only rarely and only through a middleman".Numerous initiatives proved to be more elastic and efficient then the large centralised German bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
. A social understanding has risen among the Polish population that led to abandoning the class differences in order to defend national existence - the rich helped the poor to perform better in economy and were supported by the clergy in their actions. Rich nobility often sold their artistic heritage to invest in banking and financial enterprises, or to buy more land for Poles. This was viewed as moral and ethical behaviour among the Polish population. As a result the German initiative created the very thing it tried to eliminate in the first place, a Polish national awakening in the Greater Poland
Greater Poland
Greater Poland or Great Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań.The boundaries of Greater Poland have varied somewhat throughout history...
region (province of Posen) and feeling of Polish national unity.
Thus, faced with the inability to Germanise the Polish provinces by economic means led the German leaders and thinkers to consider pursuing extraordinary means.
First World War
Even before the First World War some Germans like Hans Delbrück or Chancellor Bernhard von BülowBernhard von Bülow
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...
proposed expelling Poles from eastern territories of Germany. With the coming of the war, those ideas begun to take real and determined form in the shape of plans to be realised after German victory and as consequence hegemony of Central and Eastern Europe. The idea of extraordinary measures was the result of the failed economic attempt to Germanise Polish provinces. Heads of the Settlement Commission were among the architects and supporters of those plans. The president of the Settlement Commission, Gense, was one of the chief supporters and planners of the so called "Polish Border Strip
Polish Border Strip
The Polish Border Strip , also known as the Polish Frontier Strip, refers to those territories which the German Empire wanted to annex from Congress Poland during World War I. It appeared in some plans proposed by German officials as a territory to be ceded by the Kingdom of Poland to the German...
" that envisioned expelling circa 2 million non-Germans (chiefly Poles and Jews) from 30,000 square kilometers of the would-be annexed territories from Congress Poland
Congress Poland
The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...
, which would then become Germanised. The Poles remaining in Germany who would refuse to become Germanised were to be "encouraged" to move to a planned German-run Polish puppet state established from the remains of Congress Poland.
Other notable names of Settlement Commission activists include Fredrich von Schwerin and industrialist Hugenberg who worked for and represented the Krupp family.
Outcome
The Settlement Commission's goal to Germanise Polish territories failed and with the fall of German Empire in 1918 (at the end of World War I), the Commission ceased to function by 1924. In 1919 its headquarters were taken over by Polish state as well as most of its territory. 3.9% (18,200 ha.) of all the land purchased remained in the hands of the Germans within the new borders of Germany. The Germanisation policies resulted in strong measures against the German settlers by the Polish state after World War I. The Polish state refused to recognize the ownership rights of most of the German settlers, about half of whom fled or were driven out of Poland. These actions of the Polish state were condemned by the Permanent Court of International JusticePermanent Court of International Justice
The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1922 , the Court was initially met with a good reaction from states and academics alike, with many cases submitted to it for its first decade of...
, ruling out in 1923 "that the position adopted by the Polish Government [...] was not in conformity with its international obligations.". By 1918, the total ethnic Polish population was greater than when the Commission began operations. Between 1918 and 1939, the German population in these areas declined by another 70%, and the land owned by Germans by 45%.
External links
- Selected Cliometric Studies on German Economic History
- Orphans of Versailles: The Germans in Western Poland, 1918-1939
- Imperial Germany, 1871-1918: Economy, Society, Culture, and Politics
See also
- Germanization
- Anti-Polonism
- KulturkampfKulturkampfThe German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
- Deutscher Ostmarkenverein
- Drzymała's wagon
- Rota
- OstfluchtOstfluchtThe Ostflucht was a movement by residents of the former eastern territories of Germany, such as East Prussia, West Prussia, Silesia and Province of Posen beginning around 1850, to the more industrialized western German Rhine and Ruhr provinces...