The registered German minority in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

at the 2011 national census consisted of 148,000 people, of whom 64,000 declared both German and Polish ethnicities and 45,000 solely German ethnicity.
Przynależność narodowo-etniczna ludności – wyniki spisu ludności i mieszkań 2011
'. GUS. Materiał na konferencję prasową w dniu 29. 01. 2013. p. 3. At a 2002 census there were 152,900 people declaring German ethnicity. The

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

is spoken in certain areas in

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship, or Opole Province ( pl, województwo opolskie ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Upper Si ...

, where most of the minority resides, and in

Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

. German-speakers first came to these regions (present-day Opole and Silesian Voivodeships) during the Late Middle Ages. However, there are no localities in either

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

or Poland as a whole where German could be considered a language of everyday communication. The predominant home or family language of Poland's German minority in Upper Silesia used to be the Silesian German language (mainly ''Oberschlesisch'' dialect, but also ''Mundart des Brieg-Grottkauer Landes'' was used west of Opole), but since 1945 Standard German replaced it as these Silesian German dialects went generally out of use except among the oldest generations which have by now completely died off. The German Minority electoral list currently has one seat in the

Sejm of the Republic of Poland The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

(there were four from 1993 to 1997), benefiting from the current provision in Polish election law which exempts national minorities from the 5% national threshold. In the school year of 2014/15 there were 387 elementary schools in Poland (all in Upper Silesia), with over 37,000 students, in which German was taught as a minority language (that is, at least for three periods of 45 minutes in a week), hence ''de facto'' as a subject. There were no minority schools with German as the language of instruction, though there were three asymmetrically bilingual (Polish-German) schools, where most subjects were taught through the medium of Polish. Most members of the German minority are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while some are

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Protestants (the Evangelical-Augsburg Church).

Germans in Poland today

According to the 2002 census, most of the Germans in Poland (92.9%) live in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

: 104,399 in the

, i.e. 71.0% of all Germans in Poland and a share of 9.9% of the local population; 30,531 in the

, i.e. 20.8% of all Germans in Poland and 0.6% of the local population; plus 1,792 in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, i.e. 1.2% of all Germans in Poland, though only 0.06% of the local population. A second region with a notable German minority is

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

, with 4,311 living in the

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship or Warmia-Masuria Province or Warmia-Mazury Province (in pl, Województwo warmińsko-mazurskie, is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The voivodeship has an ar ...

, corresponding to 2.9% of all Germans in Poland, and 0.3% of the local population. Towns with particularly high concentrations of German speakers in

include:

Strzelce Opolskie Strzelce Opolskie (german: Groß Strehlitz, szl, Wielge Strzelce) is a town in southern Poland with 17,900 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Strzelce County. Demographics Strzelce Opolskie is one of the ...

; Dobrodzien;

Prudnik Prudnik (, szl, Prudnik, Prōmnik, german: Neustadt in Oberschlesien, Neustadt an der Prudnik, la, Prudnicium) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the ...

; Głogówek; and Gogolin. In the remaining 12

voivodeship A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...

s of Poland, the percentage of Germans in the population does not exceed 0.09%: Poland is also the third most frequent destination for migrant Germans searching for work, after the United States and Switzerland.

History of Germans in Poland

German language frequency in Poland based on Polish census of 1931

German migration into areas that form part of present-day Poland began with the medieval Ostsiedlung (see also

Walddeutsche Walddeutsche (lit. "Forest Germans" or ''Taubdeutsche'' – "Deaf Germans"; pl, Głuchoniemcy – "deaf Germans") was the name for a group of German-speaking people, originally used in the 16th century for two language islands around Łańcut a ...

in the Subcarpathian region). Regions which subsequently became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

, East Brandenburg,

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

and East Prussia - were almost completely German by the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 150 ...

. In other areas of modern-day Poland there were substantial German populations, most notably in the historical regions of

Pomerelia Pomerelia,, la, Pomerellia, Pomerania, pl, Pomerelia (rarely used) also known as Eastern Pomerania,, csb, Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pome ...

, and Posen or Greater Poland. Lutheran Germans settled numerous " Olęder" villages along the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

River and its tributaries during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. In the 19th century, Germans became actively involved in developing the clothmaking industry in what is now central Poland. Over 3,000 villages and towns within Russian Poland are recorded as having German residents. Many of these Germans remained east of the Curzon line after World War I ended in 1918, including a significant number in

Volhynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...

. In the late-19th century, some Germans moved westward during the

Ostflucht The ''Ostflucht'' (; "flight from the East") was the migration of Germans, in the later 19th century and early 20th century, from areas which were then eastern parts of Germany to more industrialized regions in central and western Germany. The ...

, while a

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n Settlement Commission established others in Central Poland. According to the 1931 census, around 740,000 German speakers lived in Poland (2.3% of the population). Their minority rights were protected by the

Little Treaty of Versailles Little Treaty of Versailles or the Polish Minority Treaty was one of the bilateral Minority Treaties signed between minor powers and the League of Nations in the aftermath of the First World War. The Polish treaty was signed on 28 June 1919, the ...

of 1919. The right to appeal to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

however was renounced in 1934, officially due to Germany's withdrawal from the League (September 1933) after

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

became German Chancellor in January 1933.

WWII

After Nazi Germany's invasion of the Second Polish Republic in September 1939, many members of the German minority (around 25%Kampania Wrześniowa 1939.pl
) joined the

ethnic German , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

paramilitary organisation '' Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz''. When the German occupation of Poland began, the ''Selbstschutz'' took an active part in

Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occupation of Poland in World War II, consisted of the murder o ...

. Due to their pre-war interactions with the Polish majority, they were able to prepare lists of Polish intellectuals and civil servants whom the Nazis selected for extermination. The organisation actively participated and was responsible for the deaths of about 50,000 Poles. Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Soviets annexed a massive portion of the eastern part of Poland (November 1939) in the wake of an August 1939 agreement between the Reich and the USSR. During the German occupation of Poland during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

(1939-1945), the Nazis forcibly resettled ethnic Germans from other areas of Central Europe (such as the Baltic states) in the pre-war territory of Poland. At the same time the Nazi authorities expelled, enslaved and killed Poles and

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. After the Nazis' defeat in 1945, Poland did not regain its Soviet-annexed territory; instead, Polish communists, directed by the Soviets, expelled the remaining Germans who had not been evacuated or fled before from the areas of

Pommerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

, East Brandenburg, and East Prussia and made Poles take their place, some of whom were expelled from Soviet-occupied areas that had previously formed part of Poland. About half of East Prussia became the newly created Soviet territory of

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and admin ...

(officially established in 1946), where Soviet citizens replaced the former German residents. Claims to a border along the Oder-Neisse line were presented at the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...

of August 1945 by a delegation of Polish politicians. The

's results eventually specified or endorsed the shifting of borders pending a later Peace Treaty. In the following years, the communists and activists inspired by the Myśl zachodnia strived to "de-Germanize" and to "re- Polonize" the huge land, propagandistically termed

Recovered Territories The Recovered Territories or Regained Lands ( pl, Ziemie Odzyskane), also known as Western Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Zachodnie), and previously as Western and Northern Territories ( pl, Ziemie Zachodnie i Północne), Postulated Territories ( pl, Z ...

. Following the downfall of the Polish Communist regime in 1989, the German minorities' political situation in modern-day Poland has improved, and after Poland joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

in the 2004 enlargement and was incorporated into the Schengen Area, German citizens are now allowed to buy land and property in the areas where they or their ancestors used to live, and can return there if they wish. However, none of their properties have been returned after being confiscated. A possible demonstration of the ambiguity of the Polish-German minority position can be seen in the life and career of

Waldemar Kraft Waldemar Kraft (19 February 1898 – 12 July 1977) was a German politician. A member of the SS in Nazi Germany, he served as Managing Director of the Reich Association for Land Management in the Annexed Territories from 1940 to 1945, administeri ...

, a minister without portfolio in the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

during the 1950s. However, most of the German minority had not been as involved in the Nazi system as Kraft was. There is no clear-cut division in Poland between the Germans and some other minorities, whose heritage is similar in some respects due to centuries of assimilation, Germanisation and intermarriage, but differs in other respects due to either ancient regional West Slavic roots or Polonisation. Examples of such minorities include the

Slovincians Slovincians, also known as Łeba Kashubians, is a near-extinct ethnic subgroup of the Kashubian people, who originated from the north western Kashubia, located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, from the area around the lakes of Łebsko and G ...

(''Lebakaschuben''), the

Masurians The Masurians or Mazurs ( pl, Mazurzy; german: Masuren; Masurian: ''Mazurÿ''), historically also known as Prussian Masurians ( Polish: ''Mazurzy pruscy''), is an ethnographic group of Polish people, that originate from the region of Masuri ...

and the

Silesians Silesians ( szl, Ślōnzŏki or Ślůnzoki; Silesian German: ''Schläsinger'' ''or'' ''Schläsier''; german: Schlesier; pl, Ślązacy; cz, Slezané) is a geographical term for the inhabitants of Silesia, a historical region in Central Euro ...

. While in the past these people have been claimed for both Polish and German ethnicity, it really depends on their self-perception which they choose to belong to.

German Poles

German Poles (german: Deutsche Polen, pl, Polacy pochodzenia niemieckiego) may refer to either

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

of German descent or sometimes to Polish citizens whose ancestors held German citizenship before World War II, regardless of their ethnicity. After the flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland, the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II, over 1 million former citizens of Germany were naturalized and granted Polish citizenship. Some of them were forced to stay in Poland, while others wanted to stay because these territories were inhabited by their families for hundreds of years. The lowest estimate by West German

Schieder commission Documents on the Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern-Central Europe is the abridged English translation of a multi-volume publication that was created by a commission of West German historians between 1951 and 1961 to document the population tr ...

of 1953, is that 910,000 former German citizens were granted Polish citizenship by 1950. Higher estimates say that 1,043,550PDFs by chapter
(se
contents
or 1,165,000 were naturalized as Polish citizens by 1950.

Post-WWII

However, the vast majority of those people were the so-called "autochthons" who were allowed to stay in post-war Poland after declaring Polish ethnicity in a special verification process.
The Expulsion of 'German' Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War
'', Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees, European University Institute, Florense. HEC No. 2004/1. p.28 Therefore, most of them were inhabitants of Polish descent of the pre-war border regions of

and

Warmia Warmia ( pl, Warmia; Latin: ''Varmia'', ''Warmia''; ; Warmian: ''Warńija''; lt, Varmė; Old Prussian: ''Wārmi'') is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia. Its historic capital ...

. Sometimes they were called ''Wasserpolnisch'' or ''Wasserpolak''. Despite their ethnic background, they were allowed to reclaim their former German citizenship on application and under

German Basic Law The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...

were "considered as not having been deprived of their German citizenship if they have established their domicile in Germany after May 8, 1945 and have not expressed a contrary intention." Because of this fact many of them left the People's Republic of Poland due to its undemocratic political system and economic problems. It is estimated that, in the Cold War era, hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens decided to emigrate to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and, to a lesser extent, to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

.Manfred Görtemaker, ''Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Von der Gründung bis zur Gegenwart'', Munich: C.H.Beck, 1999, p. 169, Michael Levitin, Germany provokes anger over museum to refugees who fled Poland during WWII, Telegraph.co.uk, Feb 26, 2009
Telegraph.co.uk
/ref> Despite that, hundreds or tens of thousands of former German citizens remained in Poland. Some of them created families with other

, who, in the vast majority, were settlers from central Poland or were resettled from the former eastern territories of Poland by the Soviets to the

(

Former eastern territories of Germany The former eastern territories of Germany (german: Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered Ger ...

Education

There is one German international school in Poland, Willy-Brandt-Schule in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Notable Poles of German descent

Władysław Anders ) , birth_name = Władysław Albert Anders , birth_date = , birth_place = Krośniewice-Błonie, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = London, England, United Kingdom , serviceyear ...

, (1892 in Warsaw – 1970 in London) general, leader of the Polish 2nd Corps during

and prominent member of the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

in London. *

Grzegorz Braun Grzegorz Michał Braun (born 11 March 1967) is a Polish far-right politician, journalist, academic lecturer, movie director and screenwriter. He is the leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown and one of the leaders of Confederation Libe ...

, (born 1967 in Toruń) journalist, academic lecturer, movie director, screenwriter and far-right politician. * Izabela Czartoryska, (1746 in Warsaw – 1835 in Wysocko) noblewoman née Flemming, writer, art collector, and founder of the first Polish museum, the

Czartoryski Museum The Princes Czartoryski Museum ( pl, Muzeum Książąt Czartoryskich ) – often abbreviated to Czartoryski Museum – is a historic museum in Kraków, Poland, and one of the country's oldest museums. The initial collection was formed in 1796 in P ...

in Kraków. * Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, (1755 in Pierzchów – 1818 in Winna Góra) general and Polish national hero. *

Stanisław Ernest Denhoff Stanisław Michał Ernest Denhoff (; ; c. 1673 – 2 August 1728) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth aristocrat, Grand Master of the Hunt of Lithuania (from 1697), Grand Chorąży of the Crown (1704–1721), voivode of Połock (1721–1728 ...

, (1673 in Kościerzyna– 1728 in Gdansk)

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

, politician and military leader. *

Karol Estreicher (senior) Karol Józef Teofil Estreicher (22 November 1827 in Kraków – 30 September 1908 in Kraków) was a Polish bibliographer and librarian who was a founder of the Polish Academy of Learning. While he is known as the "father of Polish bibliography ...

, (1827 in Kraków – 1908 in Kraków) father of Polish Bibliography and a founder of the

Polish Academy of Learning The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scie ...

. *

Adam Fastnacht Adam Fastnacht (27 July 1913, in Sanok – 16 February 1987, in Wrocław) doctor hab., historian, editor.Anna Fastnacht-Stupnicka. Obecność przeszłości (''O Adamie Fastnachcie''). Rocznik Sanocki, Sanok, 2006 He was a Polish historian, resear ...

, (1913 in Sanok - 1987 in Wrocław) historian and member of Armia Krajowa. * Jan Fethke, (1903 in Opole – 1980 in Berlin) film director, author and famous proponent of Esperanto language. *

Emil August Fieldorf August Emil Fieldorf (''nom de guerre''; “''Nil''”; 20 March 1895 – 24 February 1953) was a Polish brigadier general who served as deputy commander-in-chief of the Home Army after the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising (August 1944 – ...

, (1895 in Krakow – 1953 in Warsaw) Polish general during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

. *

Franciszek Fiszer Franciszek Fiszer (better known as Franc Fiszer; March 25, 1860 – April 9, 1937) was a Polish bon-vivant, gourmand, erudite and philosopher, a friend of the most notable writers and philosophers of contemporary Warsaw and one of Warsaw's semi-lege ...

, (1860 in Ostrołęka – 1937 in Warsaw) author, bon-vivant and philosopher. * Mark Forster, (born 1983 in Kaiserslautern), singer, songwriter and TV personality * Anna German, (1936 in Urgench – 1982 in Warsaw) popular singer * Małgorzata Gersdorf, (born 1952 in Warsaw) lawyer, judge, Head of

Supreme Court of Poland The Supreme Court ( pl, Sąd Najwyższy) is the highest court in the Republic of Poland. It is located in the Krasiński Square, Warsaw. One of the chambers of the Supreme Court, the Disciplinary Chamber, was suspended by a judgment of the CJ ...

Wanda Gertz Major Wanda Gertz (13 April 1896 – 10 November 1958) was a Polish woman of noble birth, who began her military career in the Polish Legion during World War I, dressed as a man, under the pseudonym of "Kazimierz 'Kazik' Żuchowicz". She subse ...

, (1896 in Warsaw – 1958 in London) decorated officer in the Polish Army during

Roman Giertych Roman Jacek Giertych (; born 27 February 1971 in Śrem, Poland) is a Polish politician and lawyer; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007. He was a member of the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) f ...

, (born 1971 in Śrem) lawyer, advocate, former Deputy Prime Minister *

Kamil Glik Kamil Jacek Glik (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 February 1988) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie B club Benevento and the Poland national team. The previous clubs Glik played for include Piast Gliwice fro ...

, (born 1988 in Jastrzębie-Zdrój) professional footballer who plays for Serie A club

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

and the Poland national football team. * Henryk Grohman, (1862 in Łódź – 1939) industrialist. *

Józef Haller Józef Haller von Hallenburg (13 August 1873 – 4 June 1960) was a lieutenant general of the Polish Army, a legionary in the Polish Legions, harcmistrz (the highest Scouting instructor rank in Poland), the president of the Polish Scouti ...

, (1873 in Jurczyce – 1960 in London) Polish general, political and social activist *

Marek Jędraszewski Marek Jędraszewski (born 24 July 1949) is a Polish Roman Catholic prelate who has been Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków since 8 December 2016. He served as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Łódź from 2012 to 2017. He has also been Vice-Pres ...

, (born 1949 in Poznań)

Archbishop of Kraków The Archbishop of Kraków is the head of the archdiocese of Kraków. A bishop of Kraków first came into existence when the diocese was created in 1000; it was promoted to an archdiocese on 28 October 1925. Due to Kraków's role as Poland's politic ...

since 2016 (his mother was connected with Bambers) *

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, pl, Mirosław Józef Klose; born 9 June 1978 as Mirosław Marian Klose) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Austrian Bundesliga club Rheindorf Altach. A striker, Klose ...

, (born 1978 in Opole) professional footballer,

Germany national football team The Germany national football team (german: link=no, Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deuts ...

and

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

all-time top goalscorer, and former striker for Italian football club S.S. Lazio. *

Maximilian Kolbe Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born Raymund Kolbe; pl, Maksymilian Maria Kolbe; 1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp ...

, (1894 in Zduńska Wola – 1941 in Auschwitz) a Polish

Conventual Franciscan The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

friar, executed and subsequently

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

. * Henryk Korowicz, (1888 in Malinówka – 1941 in Lwów) professor, economist, and rector of Academy of Foreign Trade in Lwów. *

Janusz Korwin-Mikke Janusz Ryszard Korwin-Mikke (; born 27 October 1942), also known by his initials JKM or simply as Korwin, is a Polish far-right politician, paleolibertarian and author. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2014 until 2018. He was the ...

, (born 1942 in Warsaw) controversial politician and writer. *

Gustaf Kossinna Gustaf Kossinna (28 September 1858 – 20 December 1931) was a German philologist and archaeologist who was Professor of German Archaeology at the University of Berlin. Along with Carl Schuchhardt he was the most influential German prehisto ...

, (1858 in Tilsit – 1931 in Berlin) linguist and archaeologist. * Juliusz Karol Kunitzer, (1843 in Przedbórz – 1905 in Łódź) industrialist, economic activist and industrial magnate in Congress Poland. * Karolina Lanckorońska, (1898 in Gars am Kamp — 2002 in Rome) like her father, (

Count Karol Lanckoroński Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

) an art collector and philanthropist. * Joachim Lelewel, (1786 in Warsaw – 1861 in Paris) a Polish historian and politician. * Samuel Linde, (1771 in Toruń – 1847 in Warsaw) linguist, librarian and lexicographer of the Polish language. * Tadeusz Manteuffel, (1902 in Rēzekne – 1970 in Warsaw) historian. * Suzanna von Nathusius, (born in 2000) child actor. * Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann, (1894 in Lviv – 1986 in Ottawa) Polish general and military commander. *

Emilia Plater Countess Emilia Broel-Plater ( lt, Emilija Pliaterytė; 13 November 1806 – 23 December 1831) was a Polish–Lithuanian noblewoman and revolutionary from the lands of the partitioned Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Raised in a patriotic tra ...

, (1806 in Vilnius – 1831 in Vainežeris) noblewoman and revolutionary. *

Lukas Podolski Lukas Josef Podolski (; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, , on 4 June 1985) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze. Known for his powerful and accurate left foot, he is known for his explosive ...

(born 1985 in Gliwice) a German professional footballer who plays for

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...

* Nelli Rokita, (born 1957 in Chelyabinsk) politician of Law and Justice party in Poland. * Piotr Steinkeller, (1799 in Krakow - 1854 in Krakow) early industrialist and banker * Jerzy Stuhr, (born 1947 in Krakow) film actor and director IMDb Database
retrieved 17 April 2020 * Romuald Traugutt, (1826 – 1864 in Warsaw) a "dictator" of the January Uprising *

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic ...

, (born 1957 in Gdańsk) former

Prime Minister of Poland The President of the Council of Ministers ( pl, Prezes Rady Ministrów, lit=Chairman of the Council of Ministers), colloquially referred to as the prime minister (), is the head of the cabinet and the head of government of Poland. The responsibi ...

, former President of the European Council. * Jozef Unrug, (1884 in Brandenburg an der Havel – 1973 in Lailly-en-Val) Prussian-born Polish admiral who helped to form the Polish Navy in independent Poland, inmate of

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the ...

. * Karol Ernest Wedel, (1813–1902) notable

confectioner Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...

. *

Edward Werner Edward Henryk Werner (23 May 1878 – 13 November 1945) was an economist, judge, industrialist, and politician. He was best known as Vice-Minister of Finance in the Second Polish Republic. Life Edward Werner was born in 1878 in Warsaw, to Broni ...

, (1878 in Warsaw – 1945 in New York City) economist, judge and politician in the Second Polish Republic.

German media in Poland

* Schlesisches Wochenblatt * Polen-Rundschau * Schlesien Aktuell – a German-language radio station from Opole *

Polskie Radio Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland. History Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...

– public-service radio with online German edition (Deutsche Redaktion), as well as broadcasts in German * Polen am Morgen – online newspaper, published daily since 1998

Notes

References

*
Dual Citizenship in Opole Silesia in the Context of European Integration
', Tomasz Kamusella, Opole University, in ''Facta Universitatis'', series Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology, Vol 2, No 10, 2003, pp. 699–716 * * *