Germanisation (also spelled
Germanization see
-ise
vs -ize) is either the spread of the
German language,
people and
culture either by force or
assimilation, or the adaptation of a
foreign word to the
German language
in
linguistics, much like the
Romanisation of many languages which do not use
the
Latin alphabet. It was a central
plank of German liberal thinking in the early nineteenth century,
at a period when
liberalism and
nationalism went hand in hand.
Forms of Germanisation
There are historically very different forms and degrees of
expansion of German language and elements of German culture.
Besides
eclectic adoptions, there are also examples of complete "melting"
into the German culture , as it happened with the pagan Slavs in the diocese of Bamberg
in the 11th
century. A perfect example of eclectic adoption of
German culture is the field of law in Imperial and present day
Japan
, which is organised very much to the model of the
German
Empire
. Germanisation took place by cultural contact,
by political decision of the adopting side (e.g. in the case of
Japan) or (especially in the case of Imperial and Nazi Germany) by force.
In Slavic countries, the term Germanisation often is understood
solely as the process of acculturation of
Slavic and
Baltic speakers, after the conquests or by
cultural contact in the early
dark ages,
areas of the modern Eastern Germany to the line of
Elbe. In
East Prussia
forced resettlement of the
Prussian
people by the
Teutonic Order
and the Prussian state, as well as acculturation from immigrants of
various European countries (
Poles,
French,
Germans)
contributed to the eventual extinction of the
Prussian language in the 17th
century.
Another form of Germanisation is the forceful expansion of German
culture, language and people upon non-German people.
Historical Germanisation
Early
Early
Germanisation went along with the Ostsiedlung during the Middle Ages, e.g. in Hanoverian
Wendland
, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
and Lusatia and other areas,
formerly inhabited by Slavic tribes - Polabian Slavs such as Obotrites, Veleti and
Sorbs. Relations of early forms of
germanisation was described by German monks in manuscripts like
Chronicon Slavorum.
Lüchow-Dannenberg is better known as the Wendland, a designation
referring to the Slavic people of the
Wends from Slavic tribe Drevani — the Polabian
language survived until the beginning of the 19th century in
what is now the German state of Lower Saxony
.
A complex
process of Germanisation took place in Bohemia after the 1620 Battle of White
Mountain
defeat of Bohemian Protestants. The Protestant Bohemian king
elected against the Habsburgs by the Bohemian estates in 1619, the
German prince
Frederick V,
Elector Palatine, was defeated in 1620 by
Catholic forces loyal to the
Habsburg Emperor,
Ferdinand II. Among the
Bohemian lords being punished and expropriated after Frederick's
defeat in 1620 were German- and Czech-speaking landowners as well.
Thus this conflict was by far an internal conflict resulting from
the
feudal system than a clash of
different nations. Although the Czech language lost its
significance (as a written language) in the aftermath of the
events, it is questionable whether this was primarily intended by
the Habsburg rulers, whose intentions were in religious and feudal
categories.
Countermeasures
The rise
of nationalism that occurred in the late 18th and 19th centuries in
Bohemia, Moravia,
Silesia, Pomerania,
Lusatia and Slovenia
led to an
increased sense of "pride" in national cultures during this
time. However, centuries of cultural dominance of the
Germans left a German mark on those societies, for instance the
first modern grammar of the
Czech
language by
Josef Dobrovský
(1753-1829) – "Ausführliches Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache"
(1809) – was published in German because the Czech language was not
used in academic scholarship.
In the
German
colonies, the policy of having German as an
official language led to the forming of
German-based pidgins and
German-based creole
languages, such as
Unserdeutsch.
In the Austrian Empire
Joseph II (1780-90), a
leader influenced by the Enlightenment sought to centralise control
of the empire and to rule it as an enlightened despot. He decreed
that
German replace
Latin as the empire's official language.
Hungarians perceived Joseph's
language reform as German cultural hegemony, and they reacted by
insisting on the right to use their own tongue. As a result,
Hungarian lesser nobles sparked a renaissance of the
Hungarian language and culture. The
lesser nobles questioned the loyalty of the magnates, of whom less
than half were ethnic Magyars, and even those had become
French- and German-speaking courtiers. The
Magyar national reawakening subsequently triggered national
revivals among the
Slovak,
Romanian,
Serbian, and
Croatian minorities within
Hungary and
Transylvania.
In Prussia
Germanisation in Prussia occurred in several stages:
- Germanisation
attempts pursued by Frederick the Great in Silesia, later extended to territories of Partitioned Poland
- Easing of Germanisation policy in the period 1815–1830
- Intensification of Germanisation and
persecution of Poles in the Grand Duchy of Posen
by E.Flotwell in 1830-1841
- The process of Germanisation ceases during the period of
1841-1849
- Restarted during years of 1849-1870
- Intensified by Bismarck during
his Kulturkampf against Catholicism and
Polish people
- Slight easing of the persecution of Poles during 1890-1894
- Continuation and intensification of activity restarted in 1894
and pursued till the end of World War
I
At the
other end of the empire there was the germanisation of Dutch in parts of East
Frisia (Emden
, Leer
), Lower Saxony (Bentheim
and Lingen
) and the
Lower
Rhine
(Cleve
, eastern
Guelders and Julich
).
State
legislation and government policies of Germanisation in the
Kingdom of
Prussia
, Imperial
Germany and Nazi Germany aimed
to expand the German language and culture in areas populated by
non-Germans, the eradication of their national identity, and the
integration of conquered territories into German
states.
Of Prussian Minorities
Situation in the 18th century
When judging on Germanisation one has to differentiate whether this
was seen as an act of ameliorating the economy of the country or
whether it had the aim of repressing or eliminating Polish language
and culture. Settlers from all over Europe (Germany, Netherlands,
France, Switzerland, Scotland) were invited to settle in Prussia
under the kings
Frederick I,
Frederick William I.
and
Frederick the Great.
The
settlements were planned either in sparsely populated areas or in
areas which had been reclaimed (e. g. after drying up the Oderbruch
swamp under Frederick the Great), or in areas that
had been depopulated by war or plague (e. g. the settlement of the
Protestants expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg in
East Prussia 1731/32 under king
Frederick William I.). Additionally several 10.000
French Protestant refugees granted asylum in
Prussia after the renouncement of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685. Around 1700 about
half of the people of Berlin actually spoke French and the French
community in Berlin used the French language in their services
until 1807 when they decided to give it up and use German instead
to protest against the occupation of Prussia by
Napoléon. These settlements were not intended
as a means of Germanisation but rather an instrument of bringing
the economy of Prussia to a more advanced stage, just in the same
intention as slawonian rulers invited German settlers in their
countries in the Middle Ages. Nationality was no important aspect
for Frederick the Great. He once stated also to underline his
religious tolerance or indifference: "if Turks want to come and
settle here we will build mosques for them". So Germanisation was
not the primary intention of these settlements. It may however
sometimes have been a side effect.
Prussia introduced as one of the first countries in Europe
compulsory primary school attendance under Frederick William I.
People should be able to read the Bible by themselves to make "good
Christians" out of them. Education in primary school was done in
the mother language and thus primary school was no means of
Germanisation in the 18th century.
Prussia and Austria actively participated in the
partitions of Poland, a fact that would
later on severely stress German-Polish relations which had been
uncomplicated until then.
Situation in the 19th century
After the
Napoleonic Wars Prussia obtained the Grand Duchy of
Posen and Austria remained in possession of Galicia. In May 1815 king
Frederick William III. issued a manifest to the Poles in
Posen:
You also have a Fatherland.
[...] You will be incorporated into my monarchy without
having to renounce your nationality.
[...] You will receive a constitution like the other
provinces of my kingdom.
Your religion will be upheld.
[...] Your language shall be used like the German
language in all public affairs and everyone of you with suitable
capabilities shall get the opportunity to get an appointment to a
public office.
[...]
and the minister for Education Altenstein stated in 1823:
Concerning the spread of the German language it is most
important to get a clear understanding of the aims.
Whether it should be the aim to promote the
understanding of German among Polish-speaking subjects or whether
it should be the aim to gradually and slowly Germanise the
Poles.
According to the judgement of the minister only the
first is necessary, advisable and possible, the second is not
advisable and not accomplishable.
To be good subjects it is desirable for the Poles to
understand the language of government.
However, it is not necessary for them to give up or
postpone their mother language.
The possession of two language shall not be seen as a
disadvantage but as an benefit instead because it is usually
associated with a higher flexibility of the mind.
[..] Religion and language are the highest sanctuaries
of a nation and all attitudes and perceptions are founded on
them.
A government that [...] is indifferent or even hostile
against them creates bitterness, debases the nation and generates
disloyal subjects.
In the first half of the 19th century Prussian language policy
remained largely tolerant. But this tolerance gradually changed in
the second half of the 19th century after the foundation of the
German Emprire in 1871.Later, the means of the policy was the
elimination of non-German languages from public life and from
academic settings (such as schools).
Later in the German Empire, Poles were (together with Danes, Alsatians,
German Catholics and
Socialist) portrayed as "Reichsfeinde" ("foes to
the empire"). In addition, in 1885, the Prussian
Settlement Commission financed from
the national government's budget was set up to buy land from
non-German hands and distribute it among German farmers. From 1908
the committee was entitled to force the landowners to sell the
land. Other means included
Prussian deportations 1885-1890:
deportation of non-Prussian nationals who had lived in Prussia for
substantial time periods (mostly Poles and Jews) and the ban on the
building of houses by non-Germans (see
Drzymała's van).
Germanisation policy
in schools also took the form of abuse of Polish children by
Prussian officials (see Września
). Germanisation unintentionally stimulated
resistance, usually in the form of home schooling and tighter unity
in the minority groups.
In 1910,
Maria Konopnicka responded
to the increasing persecution of
Polish
people by Germans by writing her famous song called
Rota, that instantly became a national
symbol for Poles, with its sentence known to many Poles:
The
German will not spit in our face, nor will he Germanise our
children. Thus, the German efforts to eradicate Polish
culture, language and people met not only with failure, but managed
to reinforce the Polish national identity and strengthened efforts
of Poles to re-establish a Polish state.
An
international meeting of socialists held in Brussels
in 1902 condemned the Germanisation of Poles in
Prussia, calling it "barbarous".
Of Prussian Lithuanians
Similar
Germanisation also happened for Prussian Lithuanians living in East
Prussia, numbers of whom, since 15th century making up a majority
of population in vast areas of East Prussia (since early 16th
century often referred to as Lithuania
Minor), had shrunk considerably during the 18h-20th centuries
because of Plague and following immigration from Germany, notably
from Salzburg
in 18th century. Policy of
Germanisation was tightened during the 19th century; in the early
20th century Lithuanian majority remained north of Neman River
and areas south and south-west of the
river.
Similar development happened with
Kursenieki, but this ethnic group never had a
large population.
Of Polish Coal Miners
Another form of Germanisation was the relation between the German
state and Polish coal miners in the
Ruhr
area.
Due to migration within the German Empire, an enormous stream of Polish nationals (as many as
350,000) made their way to the Ruhr in the late 19th century, where
they worked in the coal and iron industries. German
authorities viewed them as potential danger and a threat and as a
"suspected political and national" element. All Polish workers had
special cards and were under constant observation by German
authorities.
In addition, anti-Polish stereotypes were
promoted, such as postcards with jokes about Poles, presenting them
as irresponsible people, similar to the treatment of the Irish in New England
around the same time. Many Polish
traditional and religious songs were forbidden by Prussian
authorities. Their citizens' rights were also limited by German
state..
Polish Response
In response to these policies, the Polish formed their own
organisations to defend their interests and ethnic identity. The
Sokol sports clubs and the workers' union
Zjednoczenie Zawodowe Polskie (ZZP), Wiarus Polski (press) and Bank
Robotnikow were among the best known such organisations near the
Ruhr. At first the Polish workers, ostracised by their German
counterparts, had supported the Catholic centre party. Since the
beginning of the 20th century their support more and more shifted
towards the social democrats. In 1905 Polish and German workers
organised their first common strike. Under the
Namensänderungsgesetz (law of changing surnames) a
significant number of "Ruhr-Poles" change their surnames and
Christian names to "Germanised" forms, in order to evade ethnic
discrimination. As the Prussian authorities during the
Kulturkampf suppressed Catholic services in
Polish language by Polish priests, the Poles had to rely on German
Catholic priests. Increasing
intermarriage between Germans and Poles contributed much to the
Germanisation of ethnic Poles in the Ruhr area.
During
the Weimar
Republic
Poles first
were recognised as minority only in Upper Silesia. The peace
treaties after the First World War did contain an obligation for
Poland to protect her national minorities (Germans, Ukrainians and
other), whereas no such clause was introduced by the victors in the
Treaty of Versailles with
Germany. In 1928 the "Minderheitenschulgesetz" (minorities school
act) regulated education of minority children in their native
tongue. From 1930 on Poland and Germany agreed to treat their
minorities vice versa.
Germanisation during the Second World War
In the
Nazi era, the lives of certain
minorities in Germany were threatened. "Racially acceptable"
children were taken from their families in order to be brought up
as Germans.
Heinrich Himmler
explicitly warned against equating this new Germanisation with that
which had occurred earlier. In a top-secret memorandum, "The
Treatment of Racial Aliens in the East", dated May 25, 1940, he
wrote "We need to divide Poland's many different ethnic groups up
into as many parts and splinter groups as possible". There were two
germanisation actions in
occupied
Poland realised in this way -
Kaschobenvolk and
Goralenvolk.
It is not our task to Germanise the East in the old
sense, that is, to teach the people there the German language and
German law, but to see to it that only people of purely German,
Germanic blood live in the East.
(Himmler)
This did not mean a total extermination of all people there, as
Eastern Europe was regarded as having people of Aryan/Nordic
descent, particularly among their leaders. The Germans regarded the
holding of active leadership roles as an Aryan trait, whereas a
tendency to avoid leadership and a perceived fatalism was
associated by many Germans with Slavonic peoples.
Germanisation began with the classification of people suitable as
defined on the Nazi
Volksliste, and
treated according to their categorisation. Adults who were selected
for but resisted Germanisation were executed. Such execution was
carried out on the grounds that German blood should not support
non-German nations, and that killing them would deprive foreign
nations of superior leaders. For those who did not resist,
Germanisation tended to proceed slowly. Younger people spoke German
poorly if at all, and older people were found to become completely
denationalised, requiring that they be Germanised in Germany before
they could be restored to the East where they would increase the
German population.
Under
Generalplan Ost, a percentage of Slavs in the
conquered territories were to be Germanised. Those found fit were
to be enrolled in several categories in the
Deutsche Volksliste. Those unfit for
Germanisation were to be expelled from the areas marked out for
German settlement. In considering the fate of the individual
nations, the architects of the Plan decided that it would be
possible to Germanise about 50 percent of the
Czechs, 35 percent of the
Ukrainians and 25 percent of the
Belorussians.
The remainder would be deported to
western Siberia
and other regions. In 1941 it was
decided that the Polish
nation
should be completely destroyed; the German
leadership decided that in 10 to 20 years, the Polish state under
German occupation was to be fully cleared of any ethnic Poles and
resettled by German colonists.
Children
Children were selected for "racially valuable traits" before being
shipped to Germany. Many Nazis were astounded at the number of
Polish children found to exhibit "Nordic" traits, but assumed that
all such children were genuinely German children, who had been
Polonised;
Hans
Frank summoned up such views when he declared, "When we see a
blue-eyed child we are surprised that she is speaking Polish."
These might, indeed, include the children of people executed for
resisting Germanisation. If attempts to Germanise them failed, or
they were determined to be unfit, they would be killed, to
eliminate their value to the opponents of the Reich.
In German occupied Poland it is estimated that a number ranging
from 50,000 to 200,000 children were removed from their families to
be Germanised. It is estimated that at least 10,000 of them were
murdered in the process as they were determined unfit and sent to
concentration camps and faced brutal treatment or perished in the
harsh conditions during their transport in cattle wagons, and only
10-15% returned to their families after the war. Obligatory
Hitlerjugend membership made dialogue
between old and young next to impossible, as use of languages other
than German was discouraged by officials. Members of minority
organisations were sent to
concentration camps by German
authorities or executed.
Specific examples
Oletzko
County
was a historic East
Prussian county with its capital at Oletzko
.The county was populated by Mazurs, a Polish ethnic
group. In the process of Germanisation, the proportion of
Polish-speaking people declined
steadily:
- 1818 - over 90% of population
- 1852 - 65%
- 1861 - 58%
- 1890 - 46%
- 1900 - 33.5% (German census)
In the
Warmia and Masuria
plebiscite on 11 July 1920 inside Oletzko only 2 votes were
cast to join the Second Polish Republic
; 28% of the inhabitants voted to remain in East Prussia. The town was renamed
Treuburg (loyalty castle) after that plebiscite.
Current state
In modern Germany, Germanic
Danes and
Frisians and Slavic
Sorbs are classified as traditional ethnic minorities
and are guaranteed
cultural
autonomy.
Concerning the Danes, there is a treaty
between Denmark
and Germany from 1955 regulating the status of the
German minority in Denmark and vice versa. Concerning the
Frisians, Schleswig-Holstein
passed a special law for preserving the
language. The cultural autonomy of the Sorbs is a
matter of the constitutions of Saxony
and Brandenburg
. Nevertheless, most of the Sorbs are
bilingual and the
Lower Sorbian
language is regarded as endangered, as the number of native
speakers is dwindling, even though there are programmes funded by
the state to sustain and spread the language.
Descendants of Polish migrant workers and miners have intermarried
with the local population and are thus culturally mixed. It is
different with modern and present day immigration from Poland to
Germany after the fall of the
iron
curtain. These immigrants usually are Polish citizens and live
as foreigners in Germany. For many immigrant Poles, Polish
ethnicity is not the prime category through which they wish to
characterise themselves or want to be evaluated by others as it
could impact their lives in a negative way.
Linguistic Germanisation
In linguistics, Germanisation usually means the
change in spelling of loanwords to the rules
of the German language — for example the change from the imported
word
bureau to
Büro.
The local dialect of the
Ruhr Area, for
example, contains many words borrowed from the Polish
language.
See also
References
- Polabian language
- Encyklopedia PWN
- cited in: Richard Cromer: Die Sprachenrechte der Polen in
Preußen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Journal
Nation und Staat, Vol 6, 1932/33, p. 614, also cited in:
Martin
Broszat Zweihundert Jahre deutsche Polenpolitik (Two-hundred
years or German Poles politics). Suhrkamp 1972, p. 90, ISBN.
3-518-36574-6. During the discussions in the Reichstag in January 1875
Altensteins statement was cited by the opponents of Bismarcks
politics
- Bismarck and the German Empire, 1871-1918
- Encyklopedia PWN
- http://www.echoed.com.au/chronicle/1902/jan-feb/world.htm
- http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/swiat/1,34239,2978729.html
- Migration Past, Migration Future: Germany and the
United States
- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zentrumspartei
- 1880, Polen im Ruhrgebiet
- "Polen im Ruhrgebiet 1870 - 1945" -
Deutsch-polnische Tagung - H-Soz-u-Kult / Tagungsberichte
- Johann Ziesch
- Lebensraum, Aryanization, Germanization and Judenrein,
Judenfrei: concepts in the holocaust or shoah
- Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 1957, No. 2
- Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression Volume I
Chapter XIII Germanization & Spoliation
- HITLER'S PLANS FOR EASTERN EUROPE
- Lukas, Richard C. Did the Children
Cry?
- Volker R. Berghahn "Germans and Poles
1871–1945" in "Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and
Cultural Differences", Rodopi 1999
- Hitler's War; Hitler's Plans for Eastern
Europe
- Dzieciñstwo zabra³a wojna > Newsroom - Roztocze Online
- informacje regionalne - Zamo¶æ, Bi³goraj, Hrubieszów,
Lubaczów,Tomaszów Lubelski, Lubaczów - Roztocze OnLine
- http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Friesisch-Gesetz
- Polonia in Germany
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