“Polak w Niemczech” (1925–1972). The press organ of the Union of Poles in Germany

On 26 January 1924, the Union organised a conference of minorities living in Germany, at which Poles, Danes, Sorbs, Frisians and Czechs joined together to create the “Union of National Minorities in Germany”. The aim was to work in cooperation to promote the observance of human rights by the Weimar Republic. The press organ of this association, which first appeared under the name “Kulturwille”, and from 1925 as “Kulturwehr”, contained information about issues relating to minorities in Germany and, from the 1930s onwards, about the increasing failure to observe minority rights.[14] “Polak w Niemczech” reported on the work of “Kulturwehr” and supplemented it with its own articles relating to minority issues in Germany. One example of these is the article published in the December 1930 issue regarding a contribution by the priest Karol Koziołek on education for the Polish minority:

“The [postulates of the Poles in Germany; author’s note] are as follows: national schools, the end of suppression in all its forms, equal status for the Polish language and in general, the enabling of free cultural-national development”.[15]

Finally, mention should be made of the Union’s anti-communist stance. After the Second World War in particular, “Polak w Niemczech” increasingly published articles that spoke out against communism and its impact on Poles. For example, the periodical reports include criticism of the negative influence of Soviet citizens on the Polish community, and denouncements of anti-Jewish campaigns by the Soviets (Fig. 12):

“There are an increasing number of Soviet citizens on Polish terrain. (...) The Soviet citizens are making community life in Poland increasingly difficult in a wide range of different ways: acts of terror and violence are continuously being committed against the peaceful Polish population. (...) In all cases of such events, the police generally take the side of the Soviet citizens, and treat any attempt at self-defence as enemy activity against the ‘fraternal nation of the Soviet Union’, arresting Poles instead of the Soviet troublemakers. (...) As part of the international antisemitic activities of the communists, the Warsaw police are subjecting Jewish families to targeted acts of terror. (...) The psychological state of the Jews in Poland is currently the same as it was during Hitler’s time”.[16]

In this way, the Union periodical expressed the Catholic-conservative, anti-communist stance of the Union of Poles in Germany. This was also reflected in the close relationship between the Union and the church, and a dedicated campaign to prevent the disappearance of a sense of Polish national awareness among the Poles living in Germany. It also expressed a rejection of Bolshevism and communism and, after the end of the Second World War, of the communist government in Poland.[17]