The German Minority in Interwar Poland

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This video will cover the often overlooked history of the German minority that lived in Poland's western lands after the end of WW1. The Polish state and the Polish Germans rarly got along well and tensions increased continously. At a certain point, the fate of the German minority had a strong effect on the relationship between Germany and Poland, who would often argue in front of the international stage. In the video, we're going to take a closer look at how the German minority came to be, how it dealt with their role in the new Polish state and what role they played in the buildup to WW2.
Literature:
- Blanke, Richard: Orphans of Versailles. The Germans in Western Poland 1918 - 1939, Lexington KY 1993.
- Blanke, Richard: The German Minority in Inter-War Poland and German Foreign Policy - Some Reconsiderations, in: Journal of Contemporary History 25 (1990), Nr. 1, pp. 87-102.
- Borodziej, Wlodzimierz: Geschichte Polens im 20. Jahrhundert, Munich 2010.
- Chu, Winson: The German minority in interwar Poland, Cambridge 2012.
- Hauser, Przemysław: Die deutsche Minderheit in den Wojewodschaften Posen und Pommerellen 1919-1939, in: Jaworski, Rudolf & Wojciechowski, Marian (Ed.): Deutsche und Polen zwischen den Kriegen Minderheitenstatus und „Volkstumskampf" im Grenzgebiet. Amtliche Berichterstattung aus beiden Ländern 1920-1939, Munich et al. 1997, pp. 273-282.
- Henschel, Christhardt & Stach, Stephan: Nationalisierung und Pragmatismus. Staatliche Institutionen und Minderheiten in Polen 1918-1939, in: Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung 62 (2013), Nr. 2, pp. 164-186.
- Kimmich, Christoph M.: Germany and the League of Nations, Chicago & London 1976.
- Kotowski, Albert: Polens Politik gegenüber seiner deutschen Minderheit 1919 - 1939, Wiesbaden 1998.
- Nordblom, Pia, "Pant, Eduard" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 20 (2001), S. 39-40.
- Rauschning, Hermann: Die Entdeutschung Westpreußens und Posens. Zehn Jahre polnischer Politik, Berlin 1930.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:06 Incogni
2:20 The Treaty of Versailles
5:45 The Great Exodus
10:00 Polish Minority Policies
17:07 The Polish Germans and the League of Nations
20:21 The Rise of National Socialism
25:29 1939
30:23 Outro

[@SirManateee]

Use code sirmanatee at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: incogni.com/sirmanatee

[@aleksandersokal5279]

Hi, why was my comment deleted, I simply mentioned that Poles treated Germans and Ukrainians better when they were in power, when compared to the opposite...

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

@@aleksandersokal5279 Because the author despite trying to pose as impartial is influenced by German narrative. German narrative was written to serve political purpose.

[@aleksandersokal5279]

@@alexandermalinowski4277 It is a shame then.

[@cleightorres3841]

no one talks about the germans who were normal people and loyal to poland all the videos only talk about germans who were assholes and constantly bitching about something my family came to Kongress Polen, assimilated more or less and caused no problems the complaining assholes went back to germany and became nazis, and of course led germany to total disaster so please give those morons more attention

[@cleightorres3841]

@@aleksandersokal5279 germans cant stand to hear opposing viewpoints only german propaganda is allowed germans think they should rule over everyone in europe except they dont possess the necessary skills and temperament when germany becomes a multiracial/multicultural state we will finally have a final solution to the "german problem" i come from a family of german origin which came to kongress polen a russian run part of poland there were no problems, germans, poles jews lived in peace germans are incapable of creating a normal peaceful society, too arrogant, too racist and frankly too stupid SLAVA ROSSIYA LOL at least they are more relaxed than the uptight germans who are always trying prove they are superior scandinavians with their brown hair and brown eyes lol what a comical delusional and dangerous people the germans are

[@goscodfilmow]

As a descendant of Austrian immigrants in Krakow this video was educative and very interesting. But I'd dare to suggest that topic of minorities policy in this period deserves a broader treatment, by discussing topics such as Polish Minority in Interwar Germany (Especially "Ruhrpolen") or German Minority in Interwar Czechoslovakia in separate videos.

[@serebii666]

M. Laser History has a very good video (Germans of Czechoslovakia : What Happened?) on the topic of the Germans of Czechoslovakia including their subsequent expulsion. He is a doctoral history student at Oxford and makes his sources available on his Patreon

[@cv990a4]

I'd go a different direction. There were serious Polonization attempts made among other minorities as well. Interwar Poland was a mess. There was a view, that went back centuries, that Poland had a "civilizing" mission among Slavs and Balts to the east (Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Belarus, Russians, etc). This goes back to when most of the nobles were either ethnic Polish or spoke Polish when Poland-Lithuania controlled vast sections of today's Ukraine and Belarus. Polish was seen as the language of the educated, even by people who were not Poles (Ukrainian and Lithuanian tended to be the language of the peasants, hundreds of years ago). Obviously, within interwar Poland, this was deeply resented by the ethnic Ukrainians. It was one of the reasons for the ugly Polish-Ukrainian massacres during WWII. It is to the great credit of Poland that when it emerged from Soviet captivity, it went to great lengths to put such issues to rest with Lithuania and Ukraine, for instance by pre-emptively disclaiming any territorial claims relative to Ukraine and Lithuania but also by seeking mutual reconciliation. An excellent source for this material are the works of Timothy Snyder.

[@skullmaster6888]

@@cv990a4There were no "Polish-Ukrainian massacres." The Ukrainians carried out one of the most horrid genocides in history - the Wołyń massacre - which was like 2,500 different Dean Corlls (check out the tortures of serial murderer Dean Corll) totaling up to over 100,000 Polish deaths. Afterward, the Polish resistance decided to avenge the dead and carried out smaller-scale retaliation actions which amounted to some 2000-3000 Ukrainians dead, killed civilly without torture.

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

@@cv990a4 I don’t think we need to go such a long mile to justify Ukrainian massacres of Poles. Yeah, Ukrainians had justified grievances, but massacres were caused by the example of German, Soviet atrocities and wrong ideology. Polish counter massacres were purely revenge-driven.

[@rolandgerhard9211]

@@alexandermalinowski4277the massacres done to Ukrainian and Jewish before the outbreak of WW II cannot justified with for sure much brutal and wider massacres nearly 20 years later.

[@cruziostudios1529]

Nice Video and btw my Family lived in Central Poland for around 300 years, but were forced to leave after WW2

[@calicracks3926]

As a Pole I find your videos fascinating. Your pronounciations of both German and Polish names are excellent! I really like that since you have moved to Germany you have a more interesting point of view on Eastern and Central European history than the boys over at Western Europe. God bless ya, man! Also, can we pweese get a video on Czechs in Germany and Germans in Czechia? I think it's a very interesting topic that deserves coverage.

[@wolfgangpagel6989]

So far the video is only about the interwar period. There is a long history before that is unknown to most.

[@fourfaces204]

Super interesting video

[@PrfMkm]

​​​@@essasito1919 To prawdopodobnie dla tego że jak sugeruje sam tytuł, film ten porusza temat mniejszości niemieckiej w II RP w okresie międzywojennym 😉. Dodatkowo autor stworzył i udostępnił na tym kanale filmy opisujące np. sytuację ludności polskiej pod zaborem Pruskim, historię relacji polsko-niemieckich w czasie 1 wojny światowej, historię Powstania Wielkopolskiego, oraz Listopadowego, czy Krakowa, gdy stanowił Rzeczypospolitą Krakowską i to wszystko po angielsku, aby dotrzeć do szerszego grona odbiorców.

[@cleightorres3841]

@@PrfMkm niemiecka propaganda ktora sie troszczy losami zdrajcow niemieckich w polsce moja rodzina przyjechala do polski przed i w czasie pierwszej wojny zero problemow z polakami, nawet po tej okrotnej drugiej wojnie jeden z moich dziadkow w Armi Krajowej , drugi w Org, Todt (niemieckiego pochodzeenia w AK, Austryjak w OT i czlonek NSDAP) niemcy sa tacy madrzy ale nie moga zrozumiec prostych rzeczy, bo nie chca, ja zyje w stanach ale jak bym mial ich jako sasiadow to bym ich mial po uszy jak powiedzial Niklas Frank syn Hans Frank w wywiadzie na BBC " nie ufajcie nam niemcom" ja sie zgadzam

[@roberturbanczyk204]

4:40 brits were anti french that's why they were against Dmowski. Antisemitism was accepted in that time in europe, in britain too

[@Montaggg33]

Yeah, posing British as caring for Jews is kind of laughable

[@Daniel-du7pv]

Churchill main reason to enter the war was to protect the Jewish international financial interests, Germany proved that that kind of bank just exploited the countries and slows down their development.

[@TheToolnut]

The tribe have been kicked out of over one hundred Countries. The German's were just the last one's to do it. It was only after the Rothschild Family were kicked out of Germany did she start to recover economically.

[@skullmaster6888]

@@Montaggg33they did sign the Balfour declaration, but not out of humanistic motivations most definitely

[@user-bz1rm1oj6h]

Now it becomes accepted worldwide again.

[@thorpeaaron1110]

A video on the Ukrainian minority in Interwar Poland would be nice as well.

[@Fabian-bo8tw]

Poland fostered Ukrainian nationalism and then we were repaid by being slaughtered by them.

[@sliftylovesyou]

True, I always wondered what conditions made the OFU form and so many Galicians join the SS.

[@thorpeaaron1110]

​@@sliftylovesyouSame especially after the whole Yaroslav Hunka Scandal in Canada.

[@cameroonemperor755]

​@@sliftylovesyou Austrian Galicia was where most of the Ukrainian national movements where born and when the poles took they gave themselves ownership over the land in their new territotries. After the war most ukrainians were ruled over by a small Polish Elite and when the germans entered, they were welcomed believing they would be freed from the Polish elite and able to rule over their land, as did the germans under the Kaiser when they established the Hetmanate of Ukraine back during WW1. Galicia changed hands about 6 times in the span of like 25 years There's a great polish movie on what happened during WW2 in polish ukraines, its called Wolyn/Volhynia/Hatred.

[@megawiemjem7098]

@@sliftylovesyou most of them wanted "independent" Ukraine (which was politically meant to be something like Italy or Germany of that time - "One people, one nation, one leader") that was only meant to be for Ukrainians. Jews, Poles, Russians and other minorities were meant to be forcibly exiled from country, or killed. Sry for too many "meant to be", but english is not my first language.

[@Artur_M.]

It is a very interesting and complicated topic. It gets even more complicated in the areas that weren't part of the German Empire, like the industrial city of Łódź and surrounding towns still had a significant community of German descent due to immigration throughout the 19th century, including most of its wealthiest industrialists. German institutions, including the renowned German Gymnasium in Łódź, were operating throughout the interwar period, and yet much of that community underwent a gradual polonization. During the occupation, some of them faced persecution by the Nazies, including two murdered members of the influential Geyer family, while others collaborated. Maryla Biedermann and her eventual husband Alfred Kaiserbrecht were secretly active members of the Polish resistance. Maryla died tragically as the Red Army was approaching the city, shot by her own father Bruno Biedermann, who then shot himself. At the same time, the majority of the staff at the brutal Radogoszcz prison were recruited from among the local Volksdeutsche, including the three individuals most infamous for their sadism: Józef Heinrich „bloody Józio”, Józef Flescher „Rolowany” and Bruno Mathäus vel Matuszewski. BTW, are you familiar with such individuals as Admiral Józef Unrug, or Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria-Teschen, who showed defiant loyalty to Poland in German captivity? I think both could get their own videos (well, Karl Albrecht had an even more interesting brother - Wilhelm Franz, who chose to become Ukrainian, but that's another story).

[@SirManateee]

Thanks for the interesting information! Unfortunately, due to the complicated nature of this topic with tons of different aspects to consider, the Germans in Łódź didn't make the cut. So your input is much appreciated :) I've heard of Unrug, he's definitely a guy who would deserve his very own episode. Karl Albrecht is new to me, I'd have to read up on him.

[@Artur_M.]

@SirManateee The Żywiec branch of Habsburgs was an interesting family, to say the least. There's a book about them, specifically about Wilhelm _The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke_ by Timothy Snyder.

[@kawo666]

There were people like officer Gerhard Büllow, who after capture would only speak through a translator even though he was fluent in German (even with his cousins, who were in Wehrmacht).

[@rafaczajkowski6096]

Poland was not "created" it was rather restored after 123 years of partition by her neighbors.

[@SirManateee]

Poland wasn't, but the 2nd Republic of Poland definitely was

[@rafaczajkowski6096]

@@SirManateee fair enough 🤠

[@HAL-kd7ve]

@@SirManateee Restored, but not entirely. The name of the state was not 2nd Republic of Poland but Republic of Poland.

[@3chmidt]

@@SirManateee Wasn't Poland state created as a kingdom by Germans which turned into a republic?

[@CDA138ek]

@@3chmidt No. Poland as a state was created in 966 after adopting Christianity. It was adopted from Czechs.

[@cavalex]

I love your videos man, great work! Are you planning to make a video on German settlers and the life of regular Poles in the General Government and other Polish areas that were annexed by Germany in WW2? I think it would be an interesting topic next.

[@SirManateee]

Yes, it would be fascinating. I've considered making a video about the Germanisation of the Warthegau province as a starter.

[@Reichsritter]

​@@SirManateeevery interesting topic

[@unrelatedcamri]

When it comes to the minority's role in the war, there are reports from my town (which was 16 km from the old border) of Germans "arresting" their polish neighbors at gunpoint on the 1st of September. It's worth to point out that my town was majority german.

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

Which town was it?

[@MeLoNarXo]

​@@alexandermalinowski4277 why reveal where he lives?

[@Luxnutz1]

Clarification of Discussions of Locarno are an example of the attention to detail about the interwar years that Sir Manatee excels in another broadcast that I will watch several times. Thank You!!!

[@mareksicinski3726]

Not “the interwar years”, collapsing things into a generic morass is very damaging

[@eoghannp8619]

A very interesting, under-explored subject - thank you for the download. / Ein sehr interessantes, wenig erforschtes Thema - vielen Dank fürs Hochladen.

[@anonymous-hz2un]

Underexplored in Poland. Everything's at full display for the wider world.

[@Vitalis94]

@@anonymous-hz2un Not really, it's rather obscure topic, not really talked about in other countries.

[@MikolajMaks]

@@anonymous-hz2un It's actually very well known topic in Poland. German colonization of conquered Polish lands is generally well known topic here. Generally, Poles had every right to treat German population in exactly the same way Germans treated them when they were rulers of the land.

[@Argacyan]

@@MikolajMaks A topic so well known, people will do active genocide apologia & think they're the good guys while talking like nazis do.

[@simonguiri9628]

​@@MikolajMaksI realy hope you are not a christian

[@konduktorpklpriv3133]

Another great video sir, I must say it's always good to see a new upload from you. The good research is always good to see.

[@Hilosiak]

another great video topic, and it's talked about so well. thank You for Your continuous work, Sir Manatee!

[@gmb3602]

Great video like always. Honestly big praises for the usage of sources! More videos on KZbin should have this approach 👌🏻

[@Polska_Edits]

I would like to see a video on the Polish minority in the Wiemar Republic like in Silesia or Masuria

[@Vitalis94]

One could argue if they are Polish at all or not.

[@Polska_Edits]

@@Vitalis94 they are Polish? Who's arguing this?

[@Vitalis94]

@@Polska_Edits Speaking mostly about Masurians here. Silesians were more connected to Poland, due to their catholic faith, but Masurians were largely disconnected from Poland. Some efforts were made, but Masurians mostly identified with Prussia and their Protestant religion. The fact that the Masurian areas annexed just after WW1 were subjected to "re-polonization" and forced recatholization didn't help.

[@Polska_Edits]

@@Vitalis94 they are sub-group of Poles. Maybe they where more attached to Germany and non-Catholic, but that doesn't make them non-Polish, and definitely not German in any way.

[@Vitalis94]

@@Polska_Edits Ask any Masurian in 1945 and how they felt about their "Polishness". Hell, you can't even ask them today, because of the post-war repressions against them from their Polish brothers.

[@areon400]

Could you please do a video about Czechs from Volynhia? My grandpa was from there and I would like to know more about this topic.

[@JulianSki]

Very interesting video Sir Manatee! I find a topic like this interesting because my family itself has a similar past like this. My grandmother was a Germanized Silesian who got to let her and her family stay in Poland after World War 2 despite the mass expulsions of Germans in Poland because she ended up meeting my grandfather who fought for the Polish Peoples Army in the war. My grandfather was an officer in the army and so he made some calls with his connections to allow my grandmother's family to stay in Poland! I think it's very fascinating the small German minority now in Poland after WW2 and I think you can make a good video about this! Anyways great video again I love your channel ❤

[@berniej8340]

Thank for your fair, well informed and objective presentation of this subject.

[@sandjaarx]

I've been attempting to research on this topic for a while now but found little information regarding the minority throughout ALL of interwar poland, thanks for compiling around half an hour of information!

[@garibel.]

I think that's because most of the sources are in german and polish and are pretty specific, so they are pretty hard to find elsewhere

[@SirManateee]

You're right, information about the topic is not easy to come by at all. Currently, there seems to be very little interest in academia.

[@simonguiri9628]

As a descended of the Ruhrpoles, who tries to learn a bit of the jęzik polski, I love every video which includes the countries of my forefathers. Well done indeed, bravo

[@Shantari]

I love that you responsibly point out when images you use have been used for propaganda and how you never shy away from the more uncomfortable parts of these histories.

[@mareksicinski3726]

What is “uncomfortable” is very relative, you are the one who assumes a given perspective to pat him on the back over You are just assuming something Many things were “used for propaganda”, you seem not to ge it You’re assuming his perspective, more of a German perspective

[@mareksicinski3726]

You are already assuming a given perspective

[@Shantari]

@@mareksicinski3726 Actually, when I write "uncomfortable" I mean anything that makes history more complicated and nuanced than the basic or simple narratives of "x was good while y was bad". @SirManatee has so far shown an ability to highlight several sides to any story from history, making sure that no figure or movement is only lauded or lambasted. Propaganda is in of itself a complicated matter, and it would be difficult to pinpoint everything that has ever been used as propaganda. But in highlighting that the source of this picture was propaganda, we are given the clear context the picture was taken in and can take into consideration any manipulation from the photographer in framing or perspective, etc. Lots of photographs have been taken that have then later been used as propaganda regardless of the initial photographer's motivations, but if we know that a picture was most likely meant to be propaganda from the beginning we can put it into that context.

[@user-ks8le2jk7f]

Interesting topic keep it up 🎉

[@adelinod.5568]

Your channel deserves way more views and subscriptors. I hope that you will also do some videos on western Europe in the future :)

[@PaxMagna]

Hell yeah im early :D Thanks sir manatee for the great content!!!

[@raresremetan2001]

Very educational video, thank you very much! Would there be any chance you could discuss in a future video about the German and Hungarian minorities in Greater Romania in the interwar period? I think this is also a topic that would make a great video! All the best and I cannot wait to watch your future videos! Liebe Grüße!

[@BetterLifeCreations]

Excellent as always sir ❤🥰👍

[@SirManateee]

Cheers :)

[@radored7750]

Great video

[@Algimantaz]

Im so glad youtube put this video in my recommendations!! Im obsessed w geopolitical/demographic history and am half lithuanian half finnish, so am excited to watch all ur past n future videos Edit- and i subscribed!

[@mareksicinski3726]

Some serious structural problems with this channel

[@DanielCobblestone]

I hope you sometime make a Napoleon III video. His life is so interesting, epic and tragic at the same time. Love the video btw!

[@TheJudge_Carls_Junior_Rep]

Watched every video, I love all the small topics around Europe and the 16th century especially in eastern europe that only a few KZbinrs make content on like sandrhoman

[@mareksicinski3726]

There is no such a thing as “Eastern Europe”.

[@kimchiwasabee]

Your pronounciation of Polish names is au point,my mate. Instant sub.

[@mattkaczmarek1152]

The map at 11:25 has some errors, namely "Rzeczpospolita" is missing an "e" and "Śląskie" is spelled incorrectly as "Śląnskie" Besides that, great video as always!

[@Pioneer_DE]

Finally, I've waited quite some time for this :D

[@SirManateee]

Indeed you have ;)

[@JacobPikulski]

Great video as always, demographics and history are a somewhat niche topic on KZbin that you cover really well ! Any chance we might get a video about the demographic changes in Prague throughout the 19th century ?

[@miklosz4162]

Hey, very nice video! May I suggest a future topic? I would love to see a video about Vorpommern/Western Pomerania. I think that this region of my residence may be very interesting in the context of the changes it underwent after World War II, and maybe even in the context of the history of Duchy of Pomerania and the local Gryf dynasty.

[@SirManateee]

Great suggestion! Maybe I'll do something like that in the future, but I've also thought about making a video on Swedish Pomerania :)

[@BenyNukem]

Thank you for your great work, much needed (I'm a Pole).

[@JohanDanielsson8802]

0:57 Is that double decked trams? That is awesome!

[@josephshulman6666]

Outstanding !!!!

[@PanJapa12321]

Very nice video, honest.

[@Ciech_mate]

That quip about Polish having a point at about 10 mins 30 I thought was funny, good job good video man. I am a history student myself

[@SirManateee]

Just a bit of banter

[@mareksicinski3726]

“Polish”?

[@gmb3602]

Hey 👋🏻 as a suggestion for a future video, maybe a video on Gustav Stresemann. Imo a very interesting figure in German politics!

[@chlebiarz7218]

From what I know a "bloody Sunday" in Bydgoszcz was a more complicated event than just pogrom. It was caused by a Selbstschutz uprising. It started when German troops were near the city. Fights over the city broke out and ended up with retaliations on the German population. Soon Wehrmacht came and committed another larger pogrom on Polish population. instead.

[@raskltube]

so fascinating

[@MenwithHill]

Another precious bit of insight into this neglected area of history, thank you very much!

[@horisontial]

I really appreciate your videos SirManatee. I find them well researched and not speculative in the interpretation of the sources. And I love me some good old cartography! Also I might try Incogni since they protect both your data and your 'day-ta' 😂 Sorry

[@incursus1401]

astonishingly important and nuanced video. Sehr froh, einen anderen deutschen Geschichtsstudenten mit gutem Englisch Content zu sehen

[@kastor6647]

What's the name of this painting? 8:00

[@michaireneuszjakubowski5289]

"Rugi Pruskie"("Prussian Deportations") By Wojciech Kossak

[@rolandgerhard9211]

28:54 A very good video! Thank you for that. One point to add or correct, I read in „Reporter from Hell“ the statement of a (western!) German front reporter of war, named Schmidt, that the attack on the Jablunka tunnel were performed by German troops, staffed by Germans from „possessed“ Land, which infiltrated Poland from possessed Czechoslovakia days before the war began. The commander of the commando troops was Erwin von Lahousen an Austrian born Officer. They didn’t get the information, that the start of War against Poland was postponed for some days. So they attacked to early. They don’t wear official German uniforms, they wear Polish uniforms and civilian clothings.

[@GoodieMartin]

I think it would be nice to add who came up with ethnic expulsion and performed it first. In Prussian partition the government decided to expel thousands of Poles (called "rugi pruskie" in Polish) that were seen as "problematic" from their homes to the Russian partition which was the first time in European history when a state planned ethnic expulsion took place. It was one of the reasons for Russian-German relations getting worse in prior to WWI and if not for Russian and most of Europe voicing their disapproval of this practice Poles would probably end up fully expelled and their property stolen in Prussian partition. Then during Nazi Germany occupation of Poland hundreds of thousands of Poles from ex-Prussian partition were expelled to General Government, all their property stolen and given to resettled Germans. So, after WWII Poland took lesson from this "good practice" and expelled all the millions of Germans that remained in the new borders of Poland west of the Oder River and confiscated all of their property.

[@naruciakk]

He already made a video about Prussian colonization. And it still does not justify the independent Poland's oppression of minorities, which frankly continues to this day, with only some small progress (although I need to acknowledge passing of the Silesian Language act, it was still 90 years too late in my humble opinion)

[@timteichmann6830]

I think most germans who are somewhat literate in history would agree with you on that. I, at least, would never blame the polish for expelling germans given that 1. These were nationalist times when population exchanges/expulsions were common (e.g. greece turkey) 2. There have been many pushes of german settlers towards the east for over a thousand years, so poland pushing back the german population seems fair (at least as fair as expulsions can be). Still pushing germans back to the Oder-niece aka the early medieval borders of germans is a bit extreme. I'm most certainly not a Nationalist of any sort, im a anarcho-socialst BUT both my grandpas came from silesia and I cant imagine how traumatic it was to flee from your homeland and never returns (they moved to west germany). Still love and respect to all my neighbors ❤️

[@martinbruhn5274]

So, your point is, if you can give any "but what about...?" that makes any atrocity somehow ok? It doesn't, it just means, that you got 2 atrocities, instead of one. This way of thinking is absolutely destructive towards the basic idea, that human rights are a thing and they apply to everybody. It corrodes the very foundation of any civilised society.

[@Vitalis94]

@@naruciakk Interesting choice of words. Oppression? Most of the biggest minorities have their own schools, even name plates etc. Didn't know someone was oppressed against. It seemed to me that the state is largely negligent, and should support the minorities more. Do you have any examples?

[@Arminius1901]

Poles did start it. Not the "evil" germans. The poles invited the teutonic order to Prussia thus shooting itself in the leg by inviting the state that later partitioned it. The Poles always have been arrogant people with a typical victim mentality. They tried to polonize the autonomous Royal Prussia which was majority german especially in every city like Danzig who had a german mayor for 600 years UNINTERRUPTED until 1945. Same with Thorn etc. Poles took away its autonomy in 1569 which was the only reason why Royal Prussia joined Poland in the first place in 1466. Then there were other attempts of polonizing the protestant germans. Also there were crimes like the Danzig blood sunday against ethnic protestant germans. Poles always hated us because Germans were always better than them. In 1772 we finally took back West Prussia and in 1793 we finally took back Thorn and Danzig who were under constant polonizing attempts by the Poles. Then between 1815 and 1918 we did the same to the Poles what they did to us for CENTURIES. And then Poles stole West Prussia, Danzig and Thorn again and even majority german Eastern Upper Silesia and in 1945 ALL ETHNIC GERMANS WERE ILLEGALY DEPORTED and now Poland claims cities like Stettin who was founded by Germans and which was majority german for centuries just like the German cities of Danzig and Thorn or Breslau. Around 8 million germans were deported from these regions alone and another 7 million from other european regions. So Poles did start that and always play the victim...

[@pathutchison7688]

11:50 you can absolutely tell that the kid in the center bottom, laying down on the left was the coolest kid in the school and probably a troublemaker for teachers.

[@KateWilson31]

Could you make a Video about the polish minority in the Soviet Union? There was massive Oppression and a genocide in 1938 (Polish Operation of the NKVD)

[@ThomasBoyd-tx1yt]

Awesome. Brilliant content. Danke. Bargi Italy my home Italian citizen nurse. Italy Republic 🇮🇹🇮🇹.

[@georgios_5342]

Excellent video! Subscribed! A similar interesting subject would be the life of the Anatolian Christians (Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians) before and their fate after the Turkish War of Independence

[@MrSovetsky]

A similar video on the baltic germans would be so nice.

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

Your first mistake: if you wanted to learn what Poles believed about common cohabitation with Germans, you should read this book. This is because in Poland famous intellectuals have say in such things. Wiatr od morza - książka Stefana Żeromskiego. Ukazała się w 1922 roku. Żeromski otrzymał za nią Nagrodę im. Orzeszkowej, Państwową Nagrodę Literacką (Ministra Wyznań Religijnych i Oświecenia Publicznego)[1]. Książka doczekała się ponad dziesięciu wydań[2].

[@Miecz675]

Dmowski was not a Germanophobe ,,I worked against the Germans all my life because I wanted Poland to live, and German policy was aimed at its destruction. However, anyone who would think that I am motivated by blind hatred towards Germans or that I cannot fairly assess the value of the German nation would be wrong. Many features of the German mentality and character are contrary to my Polish psyche, many other nations are closer to me spiritually, but I have deep respect for the individuality of each nation and I am far from condemning everything that is alien to me. I would be happy if the relations between us and Germany were healthy neighborly relations, based on mutual respect and enabling cooperation where it is needed. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it will be a long time before such relationships exist. The deeply unhealthy psychology of the German nation towards Poland will for a long time be a source of inexorable struggle and loss of strength, both Polish and German, which could be used in the great civilizational work of both nations.,, Roman Dmowski

[@collaborisgaming2190]

15:56 I had an Ancestor in Marienwerder from the 1780s. He moved his whole Family deep into Germany before Fighting Napoleon.

[@muratonuryilmaz5385]

Its good to see sources in screen when you use it. If I want to pirate them I have their names lol

[@DerHandtuchwerfer]

Does it not get depressing to research ethnic violence, anti-semitic progroms and racist policies so often? I mean kudos for doing that, these are without a doubt important things which we shouldnt forget, but what is your personal interest in these topics? Not a lot of people get out of bed in the morning and say to themselves "Lets explore the darkest and most disgusting manifestations of the human spirit like genocide and ethnic supression". Still an educating, carefully researched and well done video!

[@Algimantaz]

Its not disgusting and saddening to someone who’s fascinated by demographics and history, such as me. Its first and foremost interesting, and knowing that we all came out of this terrible mess and managed to create a better future makes all the bad stuff in the past seem not so bad. Unless ur researching shit like the holocaust, but thankfully more ‘regular’ topics like ethnic expulsions dont illicit nearly as much disgust and depression as nazi atrocities

[@tanczacyzesmerfami6832]

It's actually sad that more people don't explore these topics, maybe people could learn something from history

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

If you have an interest in wars you have to study its background. And in the background comes everything from good to bad. If you want to know why it happened you have to study everything related to it. That's why it's said if you're a fan of international relations you will also gain knowledge in history, economics and psychology etc

[@posticusmaximus1739]

If you're Deutsch, genocide is an inescapable part of your ethnic heritage

[@CosmicHyperborean]

These things are going to get much worse now with mass immigration. What happened between Europeans over the last several centuries will be nothing compared to what lies ahead.

[@unrelatedcamri]

As someone from the border region of the II Polish republic thank you for making this video! German influence is still strong around these parts and seeing someone make a video about it is pretty cool.

[@skullmaster6888]

How is it strong?

[@unrelatedcamri]

​@@skullmaster6888Architecture, some parts of language and the way we treat time

[@mateuszmodzelewski1213]

My hometown in the thumbnail ❤

[@charlespeterson348]

100 years later, Poland is still starting trouble

[@MK-lm6hb]

what troubles?

[@baneofbanes]

@@MK-lm6hbhe won’t answer you.

[@herbertschulz4313]

So... the seven of göttingen, nieche subject but would love a short video on it

[@michaelmeiers3639]

In fact, the fate of the German minority in Poland was unbearable on a daily basis! On a religious level, the German Protestant Lutheran Church could no longer import even Bibles or hymn books in German, believers having to use the ancients before 1914 even when they crumbled into dust! When a German Pastor gave a banal sermon on a theme like "deliver us from evil" Polish denouncers insinuated that he meant the Poles with "evil" and the Pastor was arrested!

[@arnbo88]

My grandfather was an ethnic German conscripted into the Polish Army 1922-1924. He knew that minorities were not well received and kept his mouth shut and played along. What he witnessed was how brutal the Polish Sergeants were towards Orthodox Jews. Caught between a Russian and German vice; there was little tolerance of recruits who refused to shave and get a haircut. After the German invasion of 1939 it took the German police only a few months to photograph and issue a "Stammblatt" of every adult in the region of Kieselowka (Mariendorf).

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

If you believe in equal rights and duties for everyone, including Jews, you must comply with the rules. Do you know that Jews were exempt from military service for centuries? Polish Republic simply seriously broke with this tradition.

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

What is Stammblatt in Kisielewka? What does it mean?

[@arnbo88]

@@alexandermalinowski4277 Kisielowka is a village near Krakow in southern Poland where my mother was born. It used to be called Mariendorf due to the Germanic population. When the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland they were followed by the Einsatzsturm (pacification troops) whose job was to identify and index according to race every adult in the occupied area. The Stammblatt was a document that listed:your photo, age, occupation, race. parents, children and marital status. After this local Poles faced discrimination and Jews had a much worse fate. Even ethnic Germans were expected to play their part in this madness. Terrible times.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@alexandermalinowski4277 Jews weren't "exempt" from military service in Europe, they were banned. This wasn't some sort of privilege it was a targeted attempt to reduce the ability of jews to advance in society since throughout most of history the army was the only place where you could hope to advance in social standing.

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

@@hedgehog3180 🤣🤣🤣 This is extremely biased view. First of all for the most of history being a peasant conscripted to an army was really f* up. You should be grateful and basically Jews were happy to be exempted. Yes, I know - you compare a Jew and a Prussian officer. You do not compare a Jew and a peasant soldier. Nevertheless there were 1000 peasants per 1 officer.

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

7:15 can’t imagine you can get accurate immigration numbers from two censuses when there was the largest war the world had ever seen up to that point between them and the region was on the frontline during part of it

[@robertzali3340]

Lviv/Lemberg grew in 150 years while belonging to Austria from a small town with 30K inhabitants to a European city with 196K Austrian citizens. Was it a bad fate for this former Poland/Lithuanian Commonwealth city?

[@skullmaster6888]

Lwów* 65% of Lwów was Polish inhabitants, most of the rest were Jews

[@augustd8492]

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was no such question 'nationality' in the 1910 population census. There was religion, language used, education, family status. As for the Polish language, according to the decision made by the Polish Lithuanian Sejm in 1697 after long discussions, Polish was adopted as the common state language, which was easily learned by other Slavic peoples. As such, from LvivLembergto got to the Austro-Hungary, where German was common, although there were no restrictions on the use of other languages.

[@lorian4366]

The land reform affected the entire country I don't think framing that as a German minority issue makes any sense. Furthermore, many of these German landowners were recent arrivals, after the final conquest of the region in the 1795-1815 period

[@kaanyasin3733]

2. Request for a documentary on post war austrian politics

[@mueezadam8438]

A major problem with the political landscape of Europe at the time ever since Metternich is that it made the natural gradient among sociocultural regions a zero-sum game for borders. Nations often choosing a maximalist interpretation.

[@Walsinats4]

I had German ancestors who lived in Polish Silesia. They fully assimilated and were proud Polish citizens even as III Reich tried to force them to reclaim German citizenship

[@hedgehog3180]

You should try doing a video on the Post-War treaties between Denmark and West Germany to show an example of how to actually solve issues with ethnic minorities. It has worked out really well and has lead to the two countries having incredibly warm relations and the Danish minority party even managed to get into the Reichstag during the last election.

[@SirManateee]

I absolutely love that idea. It would finally be something positive for once haha

[@ericcarlson3746]

Id be interested in this That was one 1919 border sHitler didnt change is the Austrian - Slovenian situation at all analogous?

[@ericcarlson3746]

wow- In January 2019, the Danish government began constructing a fence along the border to keep wild boar, which can carry African swine fever virus, from crossing into Denmark. The 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) high, nearly 70 kilometres (43 mi) long fence-spanning the entire land border-was completed in December 2019 at an estimated cost of 30.4 million Danish kroner. The fence has created some protests. In May 2019 a volleyball tournament was held over the fence as a publicity event which was given some media attention. After completion there was a decision to raise it by adding wires over it, because animals like deer have been killed after being injured because of jumping over the fence. wild- deer saying eff this HUMAN border!

[@slawomirkulinski]

Thank you for this picture. It shows clearly that multi cultural state has it hard.

[@user-zh7us5fz9t]

Mohli by ste urobiť video o menšine Slovákov v Poľsku v rokoch 1920-1939?

[@skullmaster6888]

Too irrelevant. Would probably only get like 300 views 😂

[@nickrollstuhlfahrerson8659]

Could we get a video on the Greek minority in interwar Poland please?

[@kidmohair8151]

thank you for opening a curtain onto something that I have had little previous knowledge of.

[@kaianmontenegrotobias750]

Sorry to ask, but someday you plan to make a video about the Polish People´s Republic?

[@jerzyzajaczkowski8537]

Before the partitions, Poland was a multinational state and this was something natural. National minorities in the reborn Poland were against the existence of the Polish state and extremists undertook activities hostile to that state. Their activity during World War II in particular aroused hostility.

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

During WW2 Germans recruited German minorities on service of German 3rd Reich. Actually Poland was kind of liberal in treating Volksdeuche after the war. Compare it with Soviet Union or Czechoslovakia.

[@cleightorres3841]

@@alexandermalinowski4277as a volksdeutscher i agree i asked my mom what happened after the war she said they told my grandmother-if you want to stay, you can stay but if you want to go to germany no one will stop you very reasonable attitude, wish the germans were reasonable like that

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

@@cleightorres3841 Actually they were all angry against Poles, who pretended to be Germans during occupation for personal gains. There were story about column of German civilians moving through the Polish town to be transported to Germany. People watched them calmly, but when one of them said something in Polish, the crowd exploded in anger.

[@cleightorres3841]

@@alexandermalinowski4277 I did not know about that but im not surprised as there were nazis who did not reeally care if the people were poles or germans as long as they signed the Volksliste

[@cleightorres3841]

@@alexandermalinowski4277 i can see the anger but i still have to say that the communist poles were not that bad as long as the germans were not openly hostile the poles who were not german but signed the volksliste i dont know that much about In my family i had reichsdeutsche, volksdeutsche and poles, some on the side of germany, some on the side of poland my austrian grandfather was a member of the nsdap, married to my polish grandmother and living near warsaw after the war he knew a lot of top secret stuff and did not want to chance getting caught by the soviets if he were to try going to austria, staying in poland was safer

[@XIXCentury]

Can we do a video on the Danube Swabians in pre-WW1 Serbia.

[@goldenfiberwheat238]

27:15 that’s called foreshadowing

[@skurt9109]

Great video as per usual, Thanks for it not being about Denmark or albanians😁

[@rozkaz661]

Great video, another topic that is very interesting but probably not as easy to make a video about is what happened in the german cities handed over to poland after ww2 both in how the german populations were deported and how poles were deported from eastern teritorries taken by the soviet union and settled in those cities. My family was moved in such a way and asigned to a house in what was previously east prussia. The previous german residents have clearly fled in a hurry and most of their things remained there. We still keep some of the things from that house, like a collection of japanese drawings that family probably got as souvenirs from a trip and some of their silverware and books. No documents or names were kept by my family of the original residents so i dont have any way of tracking them down but i do wonder what happened to them sometimes

[@0plp0]

10:00 That's not Passport it's ID.

[@PolishDane]

who's the lesser evil?

[@skullmaster6888]

>Christ of Nations >evil

[@PolishDane]

@@skullmaster6888 messianism?

[@skullmaster6888]

@@PolishDane no, the Truth ;)

[@teodorvulcu1381]

Man Posnań looks so beutifull in these pictures😭

[@skullmaster6888]

It's still beautiful :D

[@ericcarlson3746]

i was just there-- go visit. a vibrant beautiful city!

[@maciekGTR]

POLSKA GUROM Btw your Polish is excellent, always good to see foreigners not butchering our language :)

[@mareksicinski3726]

10:28 well it was asymmetrical, unequal, Polish minorities didn’t have the same rights in Germany or elsewhere for example, it was an unique procedure to assuage Your point papers over the actual crucial point here, ie. the impact of actual power diffenrces, economic diffenrces, and the result that these situations weren’t in a position to be equal or equivalent, in the same on- their actions didn’t have equal effects, didn’t have equal choices This implies as if it was all just equal, all things had the same meaning, equally a matter of good will, as opposed to being no subject to asymmetrical dynamics meaning things were different

[@mareksicinski3726]

You are placing yourself in a position to be an objective moral arbiter for others, while not recognising your biases- You see seeing your biases as a temptation and present *giving in* to them, what is already a. Comfortable and convenient position as the difficult and moral choice, as resisting temptation. It is a situation in which what is already comfortable and convenient is presented as the moral position everyone else should adopt. But just because you present it that way won’t make it the case.

[@mareksicinski3726]

15:25 a very small land reform

[@mareksicinski3726]

30:24 it didn’t really, by identity, see Opole region

[@VIRTUALESENCE]

Kinda want to learn about the germans in czechoslovakia now

[@3chmidt]

Similar oppressed there

[@piotrsieminski]

I would like to remind you that the official investigation conducted by the envoys of the US Congress with Henry Morgenthau, who was the ambassador of the USA to the Sublime Porte during the Armenian Genocide, cleared Poland and the Polish authorities of the accusation of pogroms, and stated that the word "pogrom" was inappropriate, because excluded Polish and Ukrainians victims. It is an official US Congress document. Murders occurred on both sides of the conflict, Ukrainians killed much more often and much more brutally, and the fact is that the Jews in Lwów sided with the Ukrainians.

[@afropaintshaman4713]

It’s worth mentioning that in Lwów the jewish minority have been helping Ukrainian soldiers during the fighting, and many of Polish soldiers were not fond of this fact.

[@SirManateee]

1. Yes, Morgenthau came to the conclusion that it wasn't a pogrom. The whole point of the investigation was to protect Poland's international reputation after the (admittedly very often exaggerated) news of the anti-Jewish violence had come to the public. The fact that the peace delegation at Versailles was led by one of the most openly vocal antisemites at the time didn't help much. The US saw Poland as an important diplomatic partner in Europe because of its position between the USSR and Germany, which is why they sent the commission in the first place. Morgenthau was specifically chosen because he was known to be sympathetic to Poland. While he refrains from using the word "pogrom", he still condemns the anti-Jewish violence, stating that they were a "result of a widespread anti-Semitic prejudice aggravated by the belief that the Jewish inhabitants were politically hostile to the Polish State." Most modern-day historians who have researched the Lwów pogrom do name it as such, for example Christoph Mick, Alexander Prusin, William Hagen and many more. 2. Murders and heinous crimes were committed by both sides of the conflict, but that doesn't absolve the Polish mob who murdered, raped, pillaged and rampaged their way through Lwów's Jewish quarters and the commanders of the army who failed to put a stop to the violence. It would definitely have been possible, the Polish commander Stachiewicz had managed to put a stop to sporadic attacks that were happening after the takeover of Przemyśl just weeks before, but there was a clear lack of will in to do something similar in Lwów. While it most likely wasn't a planned attack and the Polish government certainly gave no order to commit mass violence, it still justifies nothing. 3. The claim that Lwów's Jewish population sided with Ukrainians is simply false. Most Jews remained passive and the Jewish militia did not fight on the Ukrainian side on a large scale, with a few individual exceptions. The Jewish militia even disbanded after the arrival of the Polish army and most victims of the pogrom were unarmed civilians. Between November 1918 and March 1919, only eight militiamen and two Jewish civilians were tried for collaborating with the Ukrainians during the battle of Lwów, which hardly supports the claim that the city's entire Jewish population was a monolithic anti-Polish front.

[@afropaintshaman4713]

@@SirManateee good points, but I can see that we have different sources for the third paragraph. Jan Gella who was at the time in the city, reported that the Jews were divided into two major sides neutral and pro-Ukrainian, so the second group couldn’t be minor since Ukrainian Army had given thanks to the Jews with a special announcement on November 18th, this can be find in his book Ilustrowany Opis Walk Listopadowych we Lwowie.

[@skullmaster6888]

@@SirManateeethe Lwów pogrom can be seen as a corrective & preventive measure of pacifying any possible rebellious/traitorous jewish outburst. It worked. It wasn't empty hatred like Russian or Ukrainian pogroms

[@alexandermalinowski4277]

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.[39]

[@burneraccount900]

It's heinous how the awful treatment of Germans after both world wars is swept under the rug or is attempted to be justified by international elements.

[@Vitalis94]

Oh, what would I give for this video some 10 years ago, when I had the "pleasure" to discuss the minority situation in the interwar period with some very enthusiastic neonazis. Although I don't think the video would change their views, but even strengthen them. It's very shameful how the minority relations in Poland turned like. I like to think that had Poland been a bit smaller in the east, with the border ending just behind Grodno/Brest/Lwow line, Poland would've ended up with a much smaller minority population, and in result, some nationalistic views would be tempered. That, and having an allied Belarus and Ukraine in the interwar period would certainly help us.But who knows? I also find it very disappointing that this wasn't part of my history class back in the day. Some focus on ethnic minorities instead of bombastic, national history is always welcome, as I bet most Poles don't know a think about the events portrayed in this video. I don't know what they have on school curriculum nowadays, but with the last party's rule I'm afraid that the schoolbooks portrayed more nationalistic view in the last few years, sadly. Still, I greatly enjoyed the video, kudos for your work!

[@Zzzooooppp]

Of course, under your scenario many many more Poles would have been murdered by the NKVD in the 30's. The problem at its heart is that multicultural areas are always going to have tension in times of economic duress, and the more numerous group will want to cleanse the smaller minorities. Germans should not live amongst Poles/Slavs, Poles should not live amongst Ukrainians, Jews should not live amongst Goyim, Serbs and Bosniaks, Hungarians and Romanians.

[@Vitalis94]

@@Zzzooooppp My scenario talked about independent Ukraine and Belarus (and the question if that would succeed is another matter), but then they wouldn't be murdered by NKVD, no? There is nothing wrong with multicultural states, after all, Switzerland never turned out like Yugoslavia did. Even Poland itself, with slightly different minority relations wouldn't necessairly result in Volhynia. There are many examples of nation states with minorities present there for centuries, and the relations of the ethnicities are normal to this day.

[@Zzzooooppp]

@@Vitalis94 How would those countries have ended up independent? I mean sure that would be nice, but they were bound to become part of the USSR, and then even more Poles would have been murdered. Yes, multiculturalism doesnt always lead to murder, but in the 20th century it DID lead to a lot of murder, and much of the peace that occurred after WWII is thanks to better sorting of ethnicities on the map.

[@Vitalis94]

@@Zzzooooppp It's not like the war was doomed to end up in the treaty of Riga. As for the second point...A shame so many millions had to die to achieve that.

[@Zzzooooppp]

@@Vitalis94 yes agreed it’s a shame, it’s too bad that such a situation wasn’t predicted centuries before

[@Misiulo]

Your final sentence is wrong. The history of Polish Germans did not come to an end. The German minority according to the official census is still the largest ethnic minority in Poland (Well this information from 2011 is probably outdated with all the Ukrainian refugees) and until 2023 it had it's own representative in the Polish parliament.

[@eqramer]

why do you call Dmowski antisemite and germanophobe? Did you read any of his works? then you should know that Dmowski was not prejudiced against any nation and had no ‘’likes" or "dislikes". he was simply calculating logically which nations had common or conflicting interests with Poland. He correctly calculated that Germans interests could not be reconciled with Polish (mainly because of Poland need to have access to sea which could not be reconciled with Germans willingness to keep East Prussia connected with Germany) but this does not mean at all that he was germanophobic.

[@kitimaksbiti9144]

babe wake up, new poland lore video dropped

[@marcinmarszaek3813]

I always laught out loud when I hear a polish nationalist screaming that "Poland was always a victim of oppresion from Germans and Russians, we never hurt them and they had us partitioned, Germanised/Russified and slaughtered". It is sad that the public knows so little about all the complex matters of the XX century, not much more than "Nazis killed everyone". History is so incredibly misused and misunderstanded. Which is why I love this chanell so much! Thank you Sir, for your professionalism, impartialism and factchecing. We all need more such content here! BTW: I myself come from Danzig/Gdańsk, good to see topics closer to home come to light!

[@Papa-dx5mi]

Me too

[@skullmaster6888]

Co ty pierdolisz idioto? Obejrzałeś w ogóle ten filmik albo inne tego autora?

[@wytrawnyobserwator8430]

Uważasz, że można mówić tutaj o symetrii, śmieszku?

[@marcinmarszaek3813]

@@wytrawnyobserwator8430 Pod kątem mentalności? Jak najbardziej. Jasne że skala jest zupełnie inna i tego nie mam zamiaru porównywać. Ale jak słyszę że Polska "Jako jedyna nigdy nikomu nic złego nie zrobiła i zawsze była jedynie ofiarą" - to niestety czuję potrzebę to prostować

[@wytrawnyobserwator8430]

@@marcinmarszaek3813 Nie żadnej "mentalności", tylko konkretnie, fakty i liczby.