Policy of Repolonization and the Autochthonous Polish Population of the Western and Northern Lands of Poland in 1944—1950

Abstract

For the first time in Russian historiography, the fate of the autochthonous Polish population of the former eastern provinces of Germany, which at the end of the Second World War became part of the Polish Republic under the name “Returned Lands”, is considered for the first time. On the basis of official documents of the authorities, statistics, press materials, memoirs and the latest research, the author analyzes the concepts of integration of the indigenous population of the Returned Lands into Polish society, the main mechanisms and results of the policy of repolonization of Germanized autochthons. It is shown that many Poles, former citizens of Germany, found it difficult to identify themselves with the Polish state, its history and culture. Comparing the plans and results of the government’s integration efforts, the author concludes that the original plan of the Polish authorities envisaged a phased and gradual integration of the indigenous people of Polish origin into Polish society. It is noted, however, that with the beginning of the socialist reforms on the Soviet model in the late 1940s, the interaction of the authorities with the inhabitants of the Returned Lands was reduced to a set of administrative measures designed to level the differences between different groups of the population on the newly annexed lands.