Polish minority in Germany in the 1930s

[Goosey Woosey]

Hi people,

I’m wanting to find out information about the Poles who lived in Germany during the 1930s.

My paternal grandfather was a Pole and very religious who lived in Germany from the late 1920s until after WW2 and then he moved to Scotland with my maternal grandmother who was German. My father recently showed me photos of him when he was in Germany in churches and with other Poles. My paternal grandmother was a German, but I can’t ask her any questions because she passed away a couple of years ago.

I was told that the Nazis thought the Poles were subhumans. How come my grandfather was able to live quite happily in the 1930s? Was it only during WW2 when Poles became the victims of the Nazi regime? How come my grandfather and grandmother got married when he was a Pole and she was a German?

Can anyone recommend me any books to read about the Polish minority in Germany during the Third Reich?

[GregSingh]

Union of Poles in Germany

[wm]

Was it only during WW2 when Poles became the victims of the Nazi regime?

Yes, it was like that. It was a punishment for lack of cooperation and the (expected) resistance in the occupied territories. Although in racial terms Hitler obviously didn't value the Poles much (except Polish elites assumed to be of German origin anyway) he needed their cooperation.
The Poles weren't any different from the Slovaks (the Slovaks were actually civilizationally more backward) and he actually gladly collaborated with Slovakia and planned to preserve Slovakia after the war.

[Boby]

Some data

In 1933 there were 150,000 polish foreigners living in Germany, down from 260,000 in 1925.

As for german citizens are concerned, in 1925 there were 500,000 with both german/polish Mutterspraeche, and 215,000 with only polish. Data for 1933 later!

Boby,

[Hans1906]

Polen in Deutschland https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polen_in_Deutschland

Poles in Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Germany

WO STEHEN WIR? WER SIND WIR? - Polen und Polinnen in Deutschland, die deutsche Minderheit in Polen...



Hans

[Hans1906]

I remember our very good friend Adam, a late emigrant (Spätaussiedler) from Poland, German family history, from the city of Wroclaw / Breslau.

Our friend never really "arrived" here in Germany, he always felt that his very broken German language was a shortcoming.
Adam felt inferior, he could not keep up, this tormented him for many years.

In the end, our dear friend went back to Poland, to the country of his language.
I understand this very well, one of the many wanderers between the worlds, each one is the architect of his own fortune, each one of us.

Hans

[George L Gregory]

In 1933, Helmut Nicolai described the Poles as a “social group of alien people” who should have been subjected to “special status”.

Diemut Majer, “Non-Germans” Under the Third Reich, page 625.

Poles weren’t allowed to join the Hitler Youth.

[wm]

The Poles had their own "Hitlerjugend" - the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association in Germany.
Actually, the real Hitlerjugend tried many times to assimilate the association but was rebuffed every time.

[Hans1906]

The difference is very simple, our friend, born in 1947, he grew up in Poland, and for the Poles he was always a "German".

Later in Germany, the man was always a "Pole" with German papers, a nasty life situation.

I understand this personal turmoil even rudimentary, the gods have spared me this fate.


Hans

[wm]

Really? Always a German?

I had German friends in my school and even German teachers. Although we didn't realize they were Germans despite their German names. We were that ignorant and didn't know any history - history was for losers.

Except for one of them - his grandfather was in the Wehrmacht and he had many photos to prove it. His grandfather on a motorcycle, or with THAT machine gun.
Fro that he was the coolest kid in the class.

[Hans1906]

It will lead to nothing to answer further here.

This topic would go round and round in circles forever...

People who don't feel at home anywhere, I don't even begin to imagine that, please.


Hans

[George L Gregory]

Of course there was confusion for many people who lived in mixed German-Polish areas, but I wonder if Poles, that is, people of Polish ancestry, who lived in Germany between 1871-1945, considered themselves to be Poles or Germans. I suppose there would be no collective answer and only individual answers. The same could be said for people born in the UK to Polish parents post-WW2, etc.

Even before anyone had ever heard of the Nazis, German citizenship in 1913 was based primarily on descent and was used as a way to stop Poles, Jews and other people from obtaining citizenship.

[Futurist]

Of course there was confusion for many people who lived in mixed German-Polish areas, but I wonder if Poles, that is, people of Polish ancestry, who lived in Germany between 1871-1945, considered themselves to be Poles or Germans. I suppose there would be no collective answer and only individual answers. The same could be said for people born in the UK to Polish parents post-WW2, etc.

Even before anyone had ever heard of the Nazis, German citizenship in 1913 was based primarily on descent and was used as a way to stop Poles, Jews and other people from obtaining citizenship.

So, before World War I, Poles and Jews who lived on German soil for generations still weren't German citizens?

[wm]

They were, that was about imigrants and their naturalization.

[Futurist]

Gotcha; thanks!