Abstract
The selection of a successor to Archbishop Dinder of the Poseń-Gnesen (Poznań-Gniezno) archdiocese resulted in one of the more interesting episodes in German-Polish relations. Coming as it did, just after the fall of the Iron Chancellor, the process of selection revealed with the utmost clarity the perceptions and priorities of the participating Germans and Poles.The history of the Posen-Gnesen archbishopric gave significance to the question, for in the German Empire, as both German and Pole knew, only the Posen-Gnesen archdiocese had customarily had a Polish archbishop. This churchman tended to be the Polish community's most prominent spokesman and its visible head. He symbolized a unique and worthy tradition. In his person, until 1886, Polonia lived. Then, in that year, the Vatican and Bismarck dealt a severe blow to the Polish community by agreeing on the German Dinder to succeed the Pole Ledóchowski who had been forced to surrender his position.
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