Serving the Homeland: The Historical Society for the Province of Posen

Abstract

The aim of this article is to briefly introduce not only the history of the Historical Society of the Province of Posen (Pro-wincija Poznanska; Historische Gesellschaft fur die Provinz Posen), and to show its historical context, but also to clarify the question whether its foundation was not only for purely historical interest in the past of Greater Poland, but also whether the anti-Slavic feeling at that time formed the intention to participate in current events. It looks at the extent to which this organisation was another factor that contributed to the Germanisation of the country. The Greater Poland area is particularly appropriate for the study, since German and Polish residents here were anchored in the past, the region has roots and decided independently to pursue a scholarly review of its history. At first, however, the rival parties were dominated by Poles: in 1857, a Polish organisation was founded called the Towarzystwo Przyjaciol Nauk Poznanskiego (Poznan Society of Friends of Science, TPNP), along with a small museum. But the German residents in Greater Poland became more and more interested in archaeological discoveries in the province of Posen, too. The opening of a permanent exhibition at the Museum of the Society of Friends of Science led German circles to establish a similar institution, whose main founders were Rodgero Prumers and Adolf Warschauer, employees of the Poznan State Archives. On 5 March 1885, the Historische Gesellschaft fur die Provinz Posen came into existence. Among their most important tasks was the investigation of German history in the province, studying culture and history, publishing scholarly papers, and also the preservation of monuments and the collection of antiquities. The ultimate goal was a museum of their own in the province of Posen. In 1894, the Provinzialmusem opened. The Provincial Museum of Historische Gesellschaft formed the basis for the later Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, and for today’s Archaeological Museum in Poznan, and is therefore irrevocably linked to the professionalisation and institutionalisation of German and Polish archaeology. It would be unthinkable to offer an archaeological scene in Poznan without the Historische Gesellschaft, as long as Poland was divided and occupied by the Germans. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance, from a historical research perspective, that the history, political activity and collection are processed and presented, in order not to lose this chapter of German history of research in the oblivion of contemporary Poland. Key words: nationalism in archaeology, political archaeology, Greater Poland, Historische Gesellschaft fur die Provinz Posen, Towarzystwo Przyjaciol Nauk Poznanskiego, collectors, museums. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ ab.v1i0.1142