Ludzie bez ojczyzny? Kwestia „łączenia rodzin” na tle sytuacji ludności rodzimej w latach pięćdziesiątych XX w. na przykładzie Gdańska

Abstract

The article presents the fate of the former citizens of the pre-war Free City of Gdańsk in the 1950s, which were two different stages of the history of the Polish People’s Republic separated by the events of 1956. After the end of the Second World War the indigenous inhabitants of Gdańsk were obliged to undergo a nationality verification process as a result of which people declaring themselves as being of Polish origin were granted all civil rights. Others, regarded as Germans, were expelled to Germany. Many of them were residents of Gdańsk with Polish roots. Under the impact of mass Polish settlement and promotion of the pioneering ideology by the state, the indigenous inhabitants of Gdańsk lost their status as hosts of their city. In the Stalinist period the indigenous population of the so-called Recovered Territories, was supposed to contribute to the building of People’s Poland. Loss of their property, low quality of life, discrimination at work as well as loss of the cultural heritage of the Free City and forced re-Polonisation prompted indigenous inhabitants to turn away from Polishness. With the de-totalitarianisation of the state in the mid-1950 the government opened the borders a bit, allowing people to go to Germany as part of the re-unification of families campaign. Initially, only Germans were allowed to emigrate, but with time, and especially after the events of the “October revolution” the migrants also included indigenous inhabitants. The situation in Gdańsk was specific in that among the numerous Polish families wanting to emigrate were victims of Nazism, including former prisoners of concentration camps. In total, in 1956–1959, during the “re-unification of families” campaign, over ten thousand people, 30% of the indigenous population of Gdańsk, left the city.