147-537: (Redirected from Polish-German ) German Polish or Polish German may refer to: German–Polish relations German minority in Poland Polish minority in Germany Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title German Polish . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
294-566: A Free State of Brunswick government official by Dietrich Klagges , after an earlier attempt by Wilhelm Frick to convey citizenship as a Thuringian police official failed. Ernst Röhm , in charge of the SA, put Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorff , a vehement anti-Semite, in charge of the Berlin SA. The deaths mounted, with many more on the Rotfront side, and by the end of 1931 the SA had suffered 47 deaths and
441-665: A sovereign state around Poznań and Gniezno in an area later called Greater Poland . Mieszko's territory included Masovia beyond the Vistula river, Silesia and in 962/63 he first met with the Saxon forces of Margrave Gero , ruler of the Marca Geronis between the Saale and Bóbr rivers established in 937 by King Otto I of Germany . During the fight with Germanic duchies Mieszko I in 963 recognized Otto I as Emperor In return for tribute to
588-488: A German only. ... It was this mentality that made me draw the ultimate conclusion and do military service in the German Army. Under the threat of criminal deportation home to Austria, Hitler formally renounced his Austrian citizenship on 7 April 1925, and did not acquire German citizenship until almost seven years later; therefore, he was unable to run for public office. Hitler gained German citizenship after being appointed
735-584: A KPD stronghold, and the two warring parties exchanged pistol and revolver fire. The German referendum of 1929 was important as it gained the Nazi Party recognition and credibility it had never had before. In the late 1920s, seeing the party's lack of breakthrough into the mainstream, Goebbels proposed that instead of focusing all of their propaganda in major cities where there was competition from other political movements, they should instead begin holding rallies in rural areas where they would be more effective. On
882-611: A Polish uprising. Germany also carried out expulsions of Poles , and since the late 19th century, the Lebensraum concept was proliferated in Germany, and it also pertained to annexed ancient Polish territories. Between 1870 and 1914, some 3.5 million Poles have emigrated to Germany, including 1.2 million in internal migration from Polish territories under German rule, 1.2 million from the Russian Partition of Poland and 1.1 million from
1029-492: A blessing in disguise for Hitler, as it garnered him national fame. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but would only serve nine months. During this time, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf , which became the vade mecum of National Socialism . Once released, Hitler switched tactics, opting to instead seize power through legal and democratic means. Hitler, armed with his newfound celebrity, began furiously campaigning. During
1176-623: A bolstering of support to the Catholic church, alienating an important religious minority. In 1878, Bismarck then introduced a number of anti-socialist laws that would be in effect from 1878 to 1890 in an attempt to alienate the Social Democratic Party . While some sections of German society were united by this, many industrial workers rallied to the SDP. Historians have expressed that as the German state
1323-507: A coalition government. The Centre Party's Heinrich Brüning was Chancellor from 1930 to 1932. Brüning and Hitler were unable to reach terms of co-operation, but Brüning himself increasingly governed with the support of the President and Army over that of the parliament. The 84-year-old President von Hindenburg , a conservative monarchist , was reluctant to take action to suppress the Nazis, while
1470-424: A couple weeks on guard duty at the city's main train station (Hauptbahnhof) through which soldiers had been traveling. During this time a number of notable Germans were assassinated, including socialist Kurt Eisner , who was shot dead by a German nationalist on 21 February 1919. His rival Erhard Auer was also wounded in an attack. Other acts of violence were the killings of both Major Paul Ritter von Jahreiß and
1617-800: A dozen people. Several Polish uprisings broke out, with the largest one being the Greater Poland uprising of 1848 . The antagonism between the Polish and German populations dates from the Revolutions of 1848 , triggered both by the Poles' desire to regain their independence and the Germans' desire to incorporate the Prussian Partition of Poland into a planned German Reich. Prussian leader and founder of modern Germany, Otto von Bismarck , in regards to Poles, wrote: Hit
SECTION 10
#17328456479091764-458: A finger to save the republic". Leon Trotsky was especially critical of the shifting Comintern policy position under Joseph Stalin which directed German Communists to treat Social Democrats as " social fascists ". Historian Bertrand Patenaude believed that the Comintern policy following the " Great Break " facilitated the rise of Hitler's party. The Weimar political parties failed to stop
1911-553: A lecture Feder delivered in an army "education" course. The audience member (in Mein Kampf , Hitler disparagingly referred to him as the "professor") asserted that Bavaria should be wholly independent from Germany and should secede from Germany and unite with Austria to form a new South German nation. The volatile Hitler arose and scolded the man, eventually causing him to leave the meeting before its adjournment. Impressed with Hitler's oratory skills, Drexler encouraged him to join
2058-631: A meeting of the Bavarian League at the Löwenbräukeller . This federalist organization objected to the centralism of the Weimar Constitution but accepted its social program. The League was led by Otto Ballerstedt , an engineer whom Hitler regarded as "my most dangerous opponent". One Nazi, Hermann Esser , climbed upon a chair and shouted that the Jews were to blame for the misfortunes of Bavaria and
2205-582: A putsch. A pivotal moment came when Hitler led the Beer Hall Putsch , an attempted coup d'état on 8–9 November 1923. At the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, Hitler and his deputies announced their plan: Bavarian government officials would be deposed, and Hitler installed at the head of government, with Munich then used as a base camp from which to march on Berlin. Nearly 2,000 Nazi Party members proceeded to
2352-560: A reunified Germany would accept the Oder–Neisse line as the final border between Poland and Germany. In the 1990s, Germany opposed Poland joining NATO , according to archived German Foreign Ministry files released in 2022. Germany, pursuing a pro-Russian policy, tried to discourage Poland from joining NATO during confidential discussions, and tried to convince other member countries against Poland's NATO membership. Poland eventually joined NATO in 1999. Poland, Germany and France are part of
2499-627: A reunified Germany would not accept the Oder–Neisse line , and implied that the Federal Republic might wish to restore the frontier of 1937, by force if necessary. After the statement caused a major international backlash that threatened to halt German reunification, Kohl retracted his comments after knuckling under international rebuke, and assured both the United States and the Soviet Union that
2646-465: A rivalry. The attacks continued and reached fever pitch when SA leader Axel Schaffeld was assassinated on 1 August. As the Nazi Party was now the largest party in the Reichstag, it was entitled to select the President of the Reichstag and were able to elect Göring for the post. Energised by the success, Hitler asked to be made chancellor. Hitler was offered the job of vice-chancellor by Chancellor Papen at
2793-585: A second book that was discovered and released posthumously as the Zweites Buch . At this time the SA began a period of deliberate antagonism to the Rotfront by marching into Communist strongholds and starting violent altercations. At the end of 1928, party membership was recorded at 130,000. In March 1929, Erich Ludendorff represented the Nazi Party in the Presidential elections. He earned 280,000 votes (1.1%) and
2940-622: A strictly legal course. In 1914, after being granted permission from King Ludwig III of Bavaria , the 25-year-old Austrian-born Hitler enlisted in a Bavarian regiment of the German Army , although he was not yet a German citizen. For over four years (August 1914 – November 1918), Germany was a major participant in World War I. After fighting on the Western Front ended in November 1918, Hitler
3087-482: A tone of exclusion in early Germany, which had a lasting influence on later German nationalism. Bismarck sought to prevent the religious and political divisions in early Germany by rallying the populace against a common enemy. Initially Bismarck ran a campaign against the Catholic church from 1873 to the late 1870s, referred to as Kulturkampf , questioning whether they were loyal to Berlin or other Catholic states. Instead of uniting German people, it instead resulted in
SECTION 20
#17328456479093234-470: A workable coalition. The aggrieved Papen opened negotiations with Hitler, proposing a Nazi-Nationalist Coalition. Having nearly outmaneuvered Hitler, only to be trounced by Schleicher, Papen turned his attentions on defeating Schleicher, and concluded an agreement with Hitler. On 10 March 1931, with street violence between the Rotfront and SA increasing, breaking all previous barriers and expectations, Prussia re-enacted its ban on Brownshirts. Days after
3381-656: Is commemorated by a historic pageant held every four years known as the Landshut Wedding . In the 16th century, after the Counter-Reformation was launched and the Thirty Years War broke out in the German lands, Poland became a Roman Catholic stronghold. In 1683, the Polish army commanded by Polish king John III Sobieski helped to relieve the siege of Vienna and along with the Holy Roman Empire, ended
3528-558: Is the program of the NSDAP? Hitler : The program is not the question. The only question is power. Strasser : Power is only the means of accomplishing the program. Hitler : These are the opinions of the intellectuals. We need power! By early 1920, the DAP had grown to over 101 members, and Hitler received his membership card as member number 555 (the numbers started from 501). Hitler's considerable oratory and propaganda skills were appreciated by
3675-690: The Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Being one of its most popular speakers, he was made the party leader after he threatened to otherwise leave. In 1920, the DAP renamed itself to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party ). Hitler chose this name to win over left-wing German workers. Despite
3822-463: The Horst-Wessel-Lied . Goebbels seized upon the attack (and the weeks Wessel spent on his deathbed) to publicize the song, and the funeral was used as an anti-Communist propaganda opportunity for the Nazis. In May, Goebbels was convicted of "libeling" President Hindenburg and fined 800 marks. The conviction stemmed from a 1929 article by Goebbels in his newspaper Der Angriff . In June, Goebbels
3969-762: The Polenaktion . On August 23, 1939, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed by Germany and the Soviet Union , which included the Secret Protocol, which divided Central and Eastern Europe , including Poland, between the two invaders. In the following days, there were several German provocations at the Polish-German border, and on August 25–26, 1939 the German Abwehr attacked a Polish train station near
4116-608: The Schutzstaffel (SS). Inspired by Benito Mussolini 's March on Rome in 1922, Hitler decided that a coup d'état was the proper strategy to seize control of the German government. In May 1923, small elements loyal to Hitler within the Reichswehr helped the SA to illegally procure a barracks and its weaponry, but the order to march never came, possibly because Hitler had been warned by Army General Otto von Lossow that "he would be fired upon" by Reichswehr troops if they attempted
4263-905: The Allies of World War II , including the Norwegian campaign , the Battle of France , the Battle of Britain , the North African campaign , Operation Jubilee , the Italian campaign (including the victorious Battle of Monte Cassino ), Operation Overlord , the Vistula–Oder Offensive and the Western Allied invasion of Germany , liberating parts of Belgium , France , Italy and the Netherlands from German occupation. The Polish resistance movement , including
4410-581: The Austrian Partition of Poland, including 500,000 Poles migrating to work in the industrialized Ruhr region in western Germany and forming a vibrant Polish community known as the Ruhrpolen . The Ruhrpolen were also subjected to anti-Polish and Germanisation policies. Bernhard von Bülow , who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1900 to 1909, called the Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights at
4557-592: The Battle of Grunwald in 1410 the Germans' most portentous national disaster . Around 1900, the Polish national movement was organized in the Narodowa Demokracja . The geopolitical ideology of this movement was the Piast Concept , which viewed the German-Polish borderlands as the cradle of the Polish state. Its founder and principal ideologue Roman Dmowski even claimed the industrialized Prussian east as
German Polish - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-678: The Communists' Rotfrontkämpferbund and the Nazis' Sturmabteilung (SA). Once the Nazi dictatorship was firmly established, the Nazis themselves created a mythology surrounding their rise to power. German propaganda described this time period as either the Kampfzeit (the time of struggle) or the Kampfjahre (years of struggle). Historians have commented on the influence of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck 's process of "negative integration" as setting
4851-480: The Democrats suffered severe losses to the Nazis at the polls. The Social Democrats were essentially a conservative trade union party, with ineffectual leadership. The Catholic Centre Party maintained its voting block, but was preoccupied with defending its own particular interests and wrote Bullock: "through 1932–3 ... was so far from recognizing the danger of a Nazi dictatorship that it continued to negotiate with
4998-641: The Eastern Front . Polish military units were also formed in Russia ( Polish Armed Forces in the East ) and France ( Blue Army ), enemies of Germany. Germany ran special prisoner-of-war camps for captured ethnic Poles from the Russian Army, with the aim of subjecting them to propaganda and conscripting them into a planned German-controlled Polish army to fight against Russia. Faced with the mass reluctance and distrust from
5145-804: The European Single Market . Both countries are also members of the OECD , OSCE , the Council of Europe , the Council of the Baltic Sea States , HELCOM and the World Trade Organization . The once poor relationship between Poland and Germany has now become a strategic partnership. In the 10th century, the West Slavic Polan tribes under the Piast prince Mieszko I about 960 were able to establish
5292-518: The German Communist Party also began campaigning and called for a revolution. Business leaders, fearful of a communist takeover, began supporting the Nazi Party. Hitler ran for the presidency in 1932 but was defeated by the incumbent Paul von Hindenburg ; nonetheless, he achieved a strong showing of second place in both rounds. Following this, in July 1932 the Nazis became the largest party in
5439-638: The German–Polish declaration of non-aggression . A trade agreement followed. Two conferences addressed the matter of the school history-books used in Poland and in Germany: In the late 1930s, before the German-Soviet invasion of Poland , which started World War II , discrimination and persecution of the Polish minority in Germany, including the indigenous Poles in the territories that remained within Germany in
5586-485: The Home Army and the Polish Underground State , was the largest underground resistance movement in all of German-occupied Europe . Poland did not establish a collaborationist government under German occupation, and pre-war Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Bartel was even murdered by the Germans for refusing to form one. Several Polish uprisings against Germany broke out, including the Zamość uprising , Iwieniec Uprising , Operation Ostra Brama , Lwów uprising and
5733-525: The July 1932 federal election , the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag, yet without a majority. Hitler withdrew support for Papen and demanded the Chancellorship. He was refused by Hindenburg. Papen dissolved Parliament, and the Nazi vote declined at the November election . In the aftermath of the election, Papen proposed ruling by decree while drafting a new electoral system, with an upper house. Schleicher convinced Hindenburg to sack Papen, and Schleicher himself became Chancellor, promising to form
5880-436: The Lebensraum policy. Following the Oath crisis , in July 1917, the Germans arrested Józef Piłsudski and his close associate Kazimierz Sosnkowski and then imprisoned them in Magdeburg . Near the end of the war, the Germans offered to release them in exchange for Piłsudski's declaration of loyalty to Germany, but Piłsudski declined. Nevertheless, Piłsudski and Sosnkowski were eventually released on November 8, 1918, after
6027-416: The Marienplatz in Munich's city center, where they were met by a police cordon summoned to obstruct them. Sixteen Nazi Party members and four police officers were killed in the ensuing violence. Hitler briefly escaped the city but was arrested on 11 November 1923, and put on trial for high treason , which gained him widespread public attention. The trial began in February 1924. Hitler endeavored to turn
German Polish - Misplaced Pages Continue
6174-414: The Nazi Party – after the First World War, and set the violent tone of the movement early, by forming the Sturmabteilung (SA) paramilitary. Catholic Bavaria resented rule from Protestant Berlin , and Hitler at first saw revolution in Bavaria as a means to power. An early attempt at a coup d'état, the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich , proved fruitless, however, and Hitler was imprisoned for leading
6321-419: The Northern March . In 984 Mieszko's son Bolesław I the Brave was married to a daughter of Margrave Rikdag of Meissen . However, in the same year the Polish ruler, instigated by Duke Boleslaus II of Bohemia , interfered in the conflict between minor King Otto III of Germany and the deposed Bavarian duke Henry the Wrangler . He timely switched sides, when he realized that Otto's mother Theophanu would gain
6468-409: The Reichstag , albeit short of an absolute majority. 1933 was a pivotal year for Hitler and the Nazi Party. Traditionally, the leader of the party who held the most seats in the Reichstag was appointed Chancellor. However, President von Hindenburg was hesitant to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Following several backroom negotiations – which included industrialists, Hindenburg's son Oskar ,
6615-409: The Reichstag Fire Decree , which severely curtailed the liberties and rights of German citizens. Using the decree, Hitler began eliminating his political opponents. Following its passage, Hitler began arguing for more drastic means to curtail political opposition and proposed the Enabling Act of 1933 . Once enacted this law gave the German government the power to override individual rights prescribed by
6762-404: The Soviet Union , no official diplomatic steps were made to settle the issue of wartime reparations, and no formal diplomatic note was ever presented to the East German government informing it of Poland's intentions to renounce its reparation rights. Machtergreifung Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined
6909-408: The Teutonic Order . After the failure of converting the Old Prussians to Christianity , the Order fell into a series of conflicts with the Polish state. The Teutonic Knights invaded the Polish coastal region of Gdańsk Pomerania with the country's main port city of Gdańsk , and therefore took the control of the nearly entire southeastern Baltic Sea coast. The Teutonic Knights continued to occupy
7056-408: The Treaty of Warsaw . The Warschauer Kniefall gesture by Chancellor and future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Willy Brandt, which took place at the Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Heroes in 1970, was regarded as a major step in the process of reconciliation between the two countries. From 1972 to 1980, Poland and East Germany enjoyed visa-free travel. Due to large anti-communist protests and
7203-404: The Treaty of Zgorzelec , which officially confirmed and recognized the Polish-East German border. However, while the Poles were still insisting 20 years after the end of the war that the 1945 Potsdam Agreement had created favorable and just borders encompassing the entire historical territory of Poland, the GDR saw the loss of the old German East as a reparation for the Nazi crimes against
7350-400: The United States under the Dawes Plan . The German political landscape was dramatically affected by the 1929 Wall Street Crash , which hampered economic aid to Germany. The Great Depression brought the German economy to a halt and further polarized German politics. Hitler and the Nazis began to exploit the crisis and loudly criticized the ruling government. During this tumultuous time,
7497-446: The Warsaw Uprising . During the latter, SS chief Heinrich Himmler anticipated a total destruction of Warsaw, the capital of the former Polish nation , which has supposedly blocked the Germans' road to the east for 700 years . Following the Polish loss in the uprising, Germany carried out the planned destruction of Warsaw in late 1944, and in October 1944, Himmler stated in regards to Warsaw: The city must completely disappear from
SECTION 50
#17328456479097644-480: The Weimar Triangle which was created in 1991 to strengthen cooperation between the three countries. In the 1990s, some reparations from World War II were continued to be repaid to Poland and that money was distributed through the Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation , a foundation supported by both governments. The Polish-German border is 467 km long. On 1 September 2022, Poland's government headed by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki presented to
7791-462: The massacre of Lwów professors , Ponary massacre and Czarny Las massacre . Polish Jews were among the primary victims of the German-perpetrated Holocaust , and rescuing and helping Jews by Poles were both punishable by death, not only for the rescuers, but also for their entire families. In all of German-occupied Europe , such extreme measures were only imposed in Poland. During the war, Poles fought against Germany on various war fronts as one of
7938-434: The pre-war eastern territories of Germany , which it had previously lost, either in the Partitions of Poland or earlier. From 1945–1950, a series of flights and expulsions occurred, in which up to 11 million ethnic Germans were forced to leave their homes in Poland and resettle in post-war West and East Germany . It was the largest forced displacement of a population in history. The Cold War saw good relations between
8085-448: The "autochthonous" population, from Poland, especially to West Germany. Eventually, the Polish had to realize that their assimilation policy towards the German minority - the German citizens and the so-called "autochthons" who insisted on their German ethnicity - had failed. The relations between West Germany and Poland improved through Willy Brandt 's Ostpolitik. West Germany recognized the Oder-Neisse line as Poland's western border in
8232-404: The "dominant political force on the right". An unprecedented amount of money was thrown behind the campaign and political success increased the party's momentum as it recorded over 100,000 new members in the next few months following the election. Well over one million pamphlets were produced and distributed; sixty trucks were commandeered for use in Berlin alone. In areas where Nazi campaigning
8379-444: The 1920s, Hitler and the Nazis ran on a platform consisting of anti-communism , antisemitism , and ultranationalism . Nazi party leaders vociferously criticized the ruling democratic government and the Treaty of Versailles , while proselytizing their desire to turn Germany into a world power. At this time, most Germans were indifferent to Hitler's rhetoric as the German economy was beginning to recover in large part due to loans from
8526-438: The Bavarian Supreme Court, he was released from jail on 20 December 1924, after serving just nine months, against the state prosecutor's objections. Hitler used the time in Landsberg Prison to reconsider his political strategy and dictate the first volume of Mein Kampf ( My Struggle ; originally entitled Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice ), principally to his deputy Rudolf Hess . After
8673-428: The Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi Party was banned in Bavaria , but it participated in 1924's two elections by proxy as the National Socialist Freedom Movement (NSFB) (combination of the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP) and the Nazi Party (NSDAP)). In the May 1924 German federal election the party gained seats in the Reichstag, with 6.6% (1,918,329) voting for the Movement. In the December 1924 federal election ,
8820-448: The DAP to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party), later known to the rest of the world as the Nazi Party . Hitler designed the party's banner of a swastika in a white circle on a red background. He was discharged from the army in March 1920 and began working full-time for the Nazi Party. Although the NSDAP claimed that Hitler received no income from them and lived on
8967-434: The DAP. On the orders of his army superiors, Hitler applied to join the party. Within a week, Hitler received a postcard stating he had officially been accepted as a member and he should come to a "committee" meeting to discuss it. Hitler attended the "committee" meeting held at the run-down Alte Rosenbad beerhouse. Later Hitler wrote that joining the fledgling party "...was the most decisive resolve of my life. From here there
SECTION 60
#17328456479099114-415: The GDR. The GDR was very cautious not to cause Polish anger but anything that went beyond the reunification of separated spouses, minor children with their parents was rejected by the Polish authorities. Family reunions were handled more liberally by the Polish from 1956 on but the more generous exit policy for Germans from Poland was flanked by massive attempts by the Polish and GDR authorities to influence
9261-445: The German-Polish border as permanent nor even Poland's independence itself. Already in 1922, Chief of the German Army Hans von Seeckt stated: Poland's existence is intolerable and incompatible with the essential conditions of Germany's life. Poland must go and will go - as a result of her internal weakness and of action by Russia - with our aid. A German–Polish customs war began in 1925, but in 1934 Nazi Germany and Poland signed
9408-440: The Germans to stay in Poland or move to the GDR. In 1959/60, as was the case several times in the 1950s, family reunifications were declared complete by the Polish and in the 1960s family reunions were handled restrictively by the Polish. The European policy of détente at the beginning of the 1970s, and in particular the signing of the Warsaw Treaty ushered in the next phase of family reunions and departures of Germans, preferably
9555-409: The KPD candidate Thälmann gained a meagre percentage of the vote (10.2% 3,706,759). At this time, the Nazi Party had just over 800,000 members. On 13 April 1932, following the presidential elections, the German government banned the Nazi Party paramilitaries, the SA and the SS, on the basis of the Emergency Decree for the Preservation of State Authority. This action was prompted by details uncovered by
9702-400: The Munich Hofbräuhaus . After Hitler had spoken for some time, the meeting erupted into a melée in which a small company of SA defeated the opposition. For his part in these events, Hitler was eventually sentenced in January 1922 to three months' imprisonment for "breach of the peace", but only spent a little over one month at Stadelheim Prison in Munich. In 1922 and early 1923, Hitler and
9849-425: The NSDAP being a right-wing party, it had many anti-capitalist and anti-bourgeois elements. Hitler later initiated a purge of these elements and reaffirmed the Nazi Party's pro-business stance. By 1922 Hitler's control over the party was unchallenged, and he attempted a coup, the Beer Hall Putsch , in Bavaria one year later. After the coup's failure, Hitler was arrested and put on trial. The trial proved to be
9996-465: The National Socialist Freedom Movement lost 18 seats, only holding on to 14 seats, with 3% (907,242) of the electorate voting for Hitler's party. The Barmat Scandal was often used later in Nazi propaganda, both as an electoral strategy and as an appeal to anti-Semitism. After some reflection, Hitler had determined that power was to be achieved not through revolution outside of the government, but rather through what he called "the path of legality" within
10143-407: The Nazi Party formed two organizations that would grow to have huge significance. The first began as the Jungsturm Adolf Hitler and the Jugendbund der NSDAP ; they would later become the Hitler Youth . The other was the Stabswache (Staff Guard), which in May 1923 was renamed the Stoßtrupp-Hitler (Shock Troop-Hitler). This early incarnation of a bodyguard unit for Hitler would later become
10290-457: The Nazi rise. Germany's Weimar political system made it difficult for chancellors to govern with a stable parliamentary majority, and successive chancellors instead relied on the president's emergency powers to govern. In 1931 the Nazi Party altered its strategy to engage in perpetual campaigning across the country, even outside of election time. From 1931 to 1933, the Nazis combined terror tactics with conventional campaigning – Hitler criss-crossed
10437-403: The Nazis shouted demands that Ballerstedt yield the floor to Hitler. The Nazis beat up Ballerstedt and shoved him off the stage into the audience. Hitler and Esser were arrested and Hitler commented notoriously to the police commissioner, "It's all right. We got what we wanted. Ballerstedt did not speak". Less than two months later, 4 November 1921, the Nazi Party held a large public meeting in
10584-540: The Nazis". The Communists meanwhile were engaging in violent clashes with Nazis on the streets, but Moscow had directed the Communist Party to prioritise destruction of the Social Democrats, seeing more danger in them as a rival for the loyalty of the working class. Nevertheless, wrote Bullock, the heaviest responsibility lay with the German right wing, who "forsook a true conservatism" and made Hitler their partner in
10731-414: The Poles so hard that they despair of their life; I have full sympathy with their condition, but if we want to survive, we can only exterminate them; the wolf, too, cannot help having been created by God as he is, but people shoot him for it if they can. In 1863, Prussian troops pacified a protest of the Polish population in the village of Bredynki , killing more than a dozen people, fearing the outbreak of
10878-547: The Polish Greater Poland uprising of 1918–19 and Silesian Uprisings against Germany broke out in the disputed regions of Greater Poland and Upper Silesia . Eventually, Poland regained the majority of the lands lost to Prussia in the Partitions of Poland , and parts of the territories lost even earlier, including the industrialized part of Upper Silesia in 1922. Germany remained hostile to Poland and refused to regard
11025-518: The Polish POWs, the plan failed and was abandoned. The 1914 Septemberprogramm authorized by German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg proposed the creation of a Central European Economic Union, comprising a number of European countries, including Germany and Poland, in which, as the Chancellor secretly stressed, there was to be a semblance of equality among the member states, but in fact it
11172-535: The Polish hopes. Throughout the German lands a network of organizations devoted to supporting the Poles appeared, and over 70 German doctors went to Poland to provide relief to Polish insurgents. The restoration of independent Poland was advocated at the Hambach Festival of 1832 with Poles in attendance. In 1832, Prussian soldiers committed massacres of interned Polish insurgents in Fiszewo and Elbląg , killing over
11319-495: The Polish nation . The FRG of the time did not yet accept the Oder-Neisse boundary. During the early Cold War, Poland– West Germany relations were generally strained. War, flight, and expulsion from west-shifted Poland had torn apart a great many of families who pressured the German authorities to support their relatives for leaving Poland. During 1950-55, difficult negotiations for family reunions were conducted between Poland and
11466-521: The Polish nation, including the King, should either be enslaved or exterminated, either in its entirety, or in its majority. After Poland challenged his works at the Council of Constance , his views were condemned by Pope Martin V in 1424. He is considered the first writer to formulate the argument in justification of genocide of another nation. During the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) , Poland regained
11613-623: The Polish-Slovak border, but it was repelled by the Polish Army (see Jabłonków incident ). On August 28, 1939, a German saboteur carried out a train station bombing in Tarnów in southern Poland, killing 20 people and wounding 35 others. On August 31, 1939, Germany staged the Gleiwitz incident , a false flag attack which was to serve as a casus belli to justify the invasion of Poland , which started
11760-471: The Prussian police that indicated the SA was ready for a takeover of power by force after an election of Hitler. The lifting of the ban and staging of new elections were the price Hitler demanded in exchange for his support of a new cabinet. The law was repealed on 16 June by Franz von Papen , Chancellor of Germany as part of his agreement with Hitler. In the federal election of July 1932 , the Nazis won 37.3% of
11907-542: The Rotfront recorded losses of approximately 80 killed. Street fights and beer hall battles resulting in deaths occurred throughout February and April 1932, all against the backdrop of Adolf Hitler's competition in the presidential election which pitted him against the monumentally popular Hindenburg. In the first round on 13 March, Hitler had polled over 11 million votes but was still behind Hindenburg. The second and final round took place on 10 April: Hitler (36.8% 13,418,547) lost to Paul von Hindenburg (53.0% 19,359,983) while
12054-610: The ambitious Major-General Kurt von Schleicher , as Minister handling army and navy matters hoped to harness their support. With Schleicher's backing, and Hitler's stated approval, Hindenburg appointed the Catholic monarchist Franz von Papen to replace Brüning as Chancellor in June 1932. Papen had been active in the resurgence of the Harzburg Front . He had fallen out with the Centre Party. He hoped ultimately to outmaneuver Hitler. At
12201-425: The areas with Germans. Germanisation policies were pursued by Prussia and, since 1871, Germany. The Polish November Uprising in the Russian Partition of Poland of 1830–31 triggered enthusiasm for the Polish cause among German liberals, mocked by conservatives as Polish gushing ( Polenschwärmerei [ de ] ). These German liberals however felt that their political ideals for Germany corresponded to
12348-708: The auspices of the Holy See . A major German–Polish War was fought between 1003 and 1018. In 1109, Poland defeated the invading German forces at Głogów . Throughout the Middle Ages , the Germans expanded eastwards from modern western and central Germany into the less populated regions, east of Elbe and Saale rivers, which were inhabited by Baltic , Finnic and Slavic peoples, including Poles . The area of German settlement roughly stretched from Slovenia to Estonia , and southwards into Transylvania . The phenomenon, known as "Ostsiedlung" ("east settlement", "settlement in
12495-472: The ban, SA-men shot dead two communists in a street fight, which led to a ban being placed on the public speaking of Goebbels, who sidestepped the prohibition by recording speeches and playing them to an audience in his absence. When Hitler's citizenship became a matter of public discussion in 1924, he had a public declaration printed on 16 October 1924: The loss of my Austrian citizenship is not painful to me, as I never felt as an Austrian citizen but always as
12642-561: The bedrock of the Polish nation to regain independence. During World War I , Germany invaded and occupied vast areas of the Russian Partition of Poland, and in August 1914, the German Army carried out the destruction of Kalisz , one of Poland's oldest historical cities. During the war, the Polish Legions led by Józef Piłsudski initially fought on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany against Russia, in hope of defeating at least one of
12789-481: The behest of President Hindenburg, but he refused. Hitler saw this offer as placing him in a position of "playing second fiddle" in the government. In his position of Reichstag president, Göring asked that decisive measures be taken by the government over the spate of murders of Nazi Party members. On 9 August, amendments were made to the Reichstrafgesetzbuch statute on "acts of political violence", increasing
12936-552: The biggest located in Auschwitz . During the war, Poland suffered circa 6 million casualties and it also suffered huge material losses because Germany sought to commit genocide against its Polish , Jewish and Roma populations. As a result of World War II and the decision of the Big Three , Poland lost the eastern half of its territory, which was annexed by the Soviet Union , and as compensation for this loss, it received most of
13083-685: The centuries-long Polish–Teutonic Wars , as a result of which the State of the Teutonic Order became a part and fief of the Kingdom of Poland, later transformed with the consent of the Polish King into the secular Duchy of Prussia . Prussia retained a certain level of autonomy under Polish rule. Later, the Kingdom of Prussia rose and eventually became one of the three partitioners of Poland in 1772–1795. Following
13230-487: The city secure. In the aftermath of arrests and executions, Hitler denounced a fellow liaison, Georg Dufter, as a Soviet "radical rabble-rouser". Other testimony he gave to the military board of inquiry allowed them to root out other members of the military that "had been infected with revolutionary fervor." For his anti-communist views he was allowed to avoid discharge when his unit was disbanded in May 1919. In June 1919, Hitler
13377-698: The communist states of People's Republic of Poland and the German Democratic Republic . Polish- West German relations, on the other hand, were strained, although they improved after Chancellor Willy Brandt launched the Ostpolitik . In 1990, Germany reunified and it confirmed the Polish-German border on the Oder-Neisse line in a treaty . Both states are now NATO and the European Union allies and partners, having an open border and being members of
13524-590: The confines of the democratic system established by Weimar. In the May 1928 federal election , the Nazi Party achieved just 12 seats in the Reichstag. The highest provincial gain was again in Bavaria (5.1%), though in three areas the Nazis failed to gain even 1% of the vote. Overall, the party gained 2.6% of the vote (810,100 votes). Partially due to the poor results, Hitler decided that Germans needed to know more about his goals. Despite being discouraged by his publisher, he wrote
13671-475: The conservative MP Heinrich Osel . In this political chaos Berlin sent in the military – called the "White Guards of Capitalism" by the communists. On 3 April 1919, Hitler was elected as the liaison of his military battalion and again on 15 April. During this time, he urged his unit to stay out of the fighting and not to join either side. The Bavarian Soviet Republic was officially crushed on 6 May, when Lieutenant General Burghard von Oven and his forces declared
13818-474: The constitution, and vested the Chancellor (Hitler) with emergency powers to pass and enforce laws without parliamentary oversight. The law came into force in March and by April, Hitler held de facto dictatorial powers and used them to order the construction of the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau for communists and other political opponents. Hitler's rise to power was completed in August 1934 when, following
13965-803: The crime, now known as the Katyn massacre , to the world. The Germans allowed the International Red Cross and Polish Red Cross to the site, and formed the International Katyn Commission to investigate the massacre. At the Tehran Conference which was held in 1943, Stalin demanded that the post-war territory of Germany and Poland be redrawn further west as a buffer between the Soviet Union and Germany . Nazi Germany killed nearly 6 million Polish citizens, including Polish academics, doctors, lawyers, nobles, priests and others. Poland
14112-466: The death of President von Hindenburg, Hitler merged the chancellery with the presidency and became Führer , the sole leader of Germany. In retrospect, Hitler's rise to power was aided in part by his willingness to use violence in advancing his political objectives and to recruit party members willing to do the same. The party engaged in electoral battles in which Hitler participated as a speaker and organizer. Street battles and violence also erupted between
14259-499: The east") followed the territorial expansion of the Holy Roman Empire and the Teutonic Order . At various times, Germans were also encouraged by Polish rulers of the Piast dynasty to settle in Poland. Ethnic conflicts erupted between the newly arrived settlers and local populations. In the 13th century, Poland was suffering from the attacks of Pagan tribes . In response, Konrad I of Masovia hired an army of unemployed crusaders -
14406-466: The emergence of the Solidarity movement in Poland, East Germany unilaterally terminated the visa-free travel agreement and closed the border. After the fall of communism , Poland and the reunited Germany have had a somewhat positive, but occasionally strained relationship due to sensitive political issues. In March 1990, German chancellor Helmut Kohl caused a diplomatic firestorm when he suggested that
14553-844: The end of World War II, there were over 1.7 million Polish displaced persons in Allied-occupied Germany , including 700,000 in the Soviet occupation zone , 540,000 in the British occupation zone , 400,000 in the American occupation zone and 68,000 in the French occupation zone . During the Cold War , East Germany shared the fate of Poland, which fell into the Soviet sphere of influence , and both countries had Soviet-installed communist regimes, and therefore enjoyed good relations. In 1950, both countries signed
14700-506: The evening of 14 January 1930, at around ten o'clock, Horst Wessel was fatally shot in the face at point-blank range by two members of the KPD in Friedrichshain . The attack occurred after an argument with his landlady, who was a member of the KPD and contacted one of her Rotfront friends, Albert Hochter, who shot Wessel. Wessel had penned a song months before which would become a Nazi anthem as
14847-408: The fees he received from public speaking at non-party events, he was actually supported financially by several wealthy patrons and party sympathisers. In 1920, a small "hall protection" squad was organised around Emil Maurice . The group was first named the "Order troops" ( Ordnertruppen ). Later in August 1921, Hitler redefined the group, which became known as the "Gymnastic and Sports Division" of
14994-523: The former Russian Partition and did not include the more north-eastern German-occupied areas of the Russian Partition, which were instead administered by the Germans as the Ober Ost . Moreover, Germany still planned the annexation of the so-called " Polish Border Strip " and expulsion of up to 3 million of its Polish inhabitants (including Polish Jews) to make room for German colonization in accordance with
15141-550: The former chancellor Franz von Papen , and Hitler – Hindenburg acquiesced and on 30 January 1933, he formally appointed Adolf Hitler as Germany's new chancellor. Although he was chancellor, Hitler was not yet an absolute dictator. The groundwork for the Nazi dictatorship was laid when the Reichstag was set on fire in February 1933. Asserting that the communists were behind the arson, Hitler convinced von Hindenburg to pass
15288-654: The growing expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe. In the second half of the 18th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned three times between Prussia , Russia and the Austria . The partitions took place in 1772 , 1793 and 1795 . During the Napoleonic Wars , the Poles fought alongside France against Prussia, including in the victorious Greater Poland uprising of 1806 , and
15435-819: The guards' regiment in Munich and from 30 May the head of the "Education and Propaganda Department" of the General Command von Oven and the Group Command No. 4 (Department Ib). In this capacity as head of the intelligence department, Mayr recruited Hitler as an undercover agent in early June 1919. Under Captain Mayr, "national thinking" courses were arranged at the Reichswehrlager Lechfeld near Augsburg , with Hitler attending from 10 to 19 July. During this time Hitler so impressed Mayr that he assigned him to an anti- Bolshevik "educational commando" as 1 of 26 instructors in
15582-644: The idea of the translatio imperii , the Emperor would continue the tradition of the Roman and Carolingian Empire as guardian of the Catholic Church superior to all secular and ecclesiastical rulers. Mieszko sought to improve the relations with Otto I: he appeared as amicus imperatoris at the Imperial Diet of Quedlinburg in 973 and in 978 secondly married Oda , the daughter of Dietrich of Haldensleben , margrave of
15729-617: The interbellum, intensified. Germany carried out mass arrests, expulsions, deportations to concentration camps and assassinations of local Polish leaders, activists and prominent individuals. There were numerous cases of attacks on Polish property, schools, printing houses, many Polish organizations were seized, Polish press and culture centers were closed down, Polish church services were banned. Germany carried out extensive anti-Polish propaganda , and increased censorship and confiscations of Polish press and publications. In October 1938 Germany expelled about 17,000 Polish Jews to Poland in
15876-512: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_Polish&oldid=932843366 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages German%E2%80%93Polish relations The bilateral relations between Poland and Germany have been marked by an extensive and complicated history. Currently,
16023-466: The nation by air, while SA troops paraded in the streets, beat up opponents, and broke up their meetings. Systematic statistical analyses demonstrate that voters responded the way they do in most modern elections, which explains why certain identifiable groups turned to the Nazis and others turned away. A middle-class liberal party strong enough to block the Nazis did not exist – the People's Party and
16170-489: The newly crowned Emperor, Otto I recognized Mieszko I as amicus imperatoris ("Friend of the Emperor") and stated that he is dux Poloniae ("Duke of Poland"). As he could not prevail against Gero, Mieszko I resorted to consolidate his realm: he strengthened the relations with the Bohemian duke Boleslaus I by marrying his daughter Dobrawa and converted to Christianity in 966. The next year however, he once again entangled with
16317-524: The next morning, without a declaration of war . In September 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland and partitioned the country together with the Soviet Union , and then occupied its western half. The western and northern portions of this territory were directly annexed to Germany, while in the remainder, the General Government was formed. Nazi Germany's Directive No. 1306 stated that Polishness equals subhumanity . Poles, Jews and gypsies are on
16464-414: The old economic systems voted for the Nazis and the Communists , who made great gains at the 1930 federal election . The Nazis and Communists between them secured almost 40% of Reichstag seats, which required the moderate parties to consider negotiations with anti-democrats. "The Communists", wrote historian Alan Bullock , "openly announced that they would prefer to see the Nazis in power rather than lift
16611-591: The outbreak of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . Three days later, Germany signed the Armistice of 11 November 1918 with the Allies , and Piłsudski proclaimed the independence of Poland. That day, during his speech in Warsaw , he declared that the Polish nation did not want revenge against the Germans for past wrongdoings. After Poland regained independence in 1918, it sought to regain its former western regions, and
16758-496: The partitioning powers and restoring independent Poland at least in the former Russian Partition. Moreover, just before the outbreak of the war, some 40,000 Poles served in the Imperial German Army , and during the war the number of such conscripts rose to 850,000. Conscripted Poles were often sent to the Western Front and were killed in battles there, as Germany feared potential desertions by Poles fighting on Polish soil on
16905-613: The partitions various anti-Polish policies were pursued, including the Kulturkampf , Germanization and expulsions of Poles . That period was also marked by several Polish uprisings against Prussian rule, including the Greater Poland uprising of 1848 during the European Revolutions of 1848 . After World War I , in 1918, Poland regained independence and its place on the map. Under the Treaty of Versailles , Poland regained most of
17052-547: The party ( Turn- und Sportabteilung ). By the autumn of 1921 the group was being called the Sturmabteilung ("Storm Detachment") or SA, and by November 1921 the group was officially known by that name. Also in 1920, Hitler began to lecture in Munich beer halls, particularly the Hofbräuhaus , Sterneckerbräu and Bürgerbräukeller . Only Hitler was able to bring in the crowds for the party speeches and meetings. By this time,
17199-531: The party leadership. With the support of Anton Drexler, Hitler became chief of propaganda for the party in early 1920 and his actions began to transform the party. He organised their biggest meeting yet, of 2,000 people, on 24 February 1920 in the Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München . There Hitler announced the party's 25-point program ( see National Socialist Program ). He also engineered the name change of
17346-401: The party on 26 July as member 3,680. In the following days, Hitler spoke to several packed houses and defended himself, to thunderous applause. His strategy proved successful: at a general membership meeting, he was granted absolute powers as party chairman, with only one nay vote cast. On 14 September 1921, Hitler and a substantial number of SA members and other Nazi Party adherents disrupted
17493-486: The police were already monitoring the speeches, and their own surviving records reveal that Hitler delivered lectures with titles such as Political Phenomenon, Jews and the Treaty of Versailles . At the end of the year, party membership was recorded at 2,000. In June 1921, while Hitler and Dietrich Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the Nazi Party in Munich, its organizational home. Members of its executive committee wanted to merge with
17640-505: The popular vote (13,745,000 votes), an upswing by 19 percent, becoming the largest party in the Reichstag, with 230 out of 608 seats. Dwarfed by Hitler's electoral gains, the KPD turned away from legal means and increasingly towards violence. One resulting battle in Silesia resulted in the army being dispatched, each shot sending Germany further into a potential civil war. By this time both sides marched into each other's strongholds hoping to spark
17787-514: The public a three volume report detailing war damages caused by the German occupation of Poland between 1939 and 1945. The report, which covered both human and material loses, placed the value of wartime damages caused by the German occupation at $ 1.3 trillion. The report also addressed the issue of post-war reparations stating that apart from the 1953 non-binding resolution made by the then communist government led by Bolesław Bierut under pressure from
17934-427: The putsch. He used this time to write Mein Kampf , in which he argued that effeminate Jewish–Christian ethics were enfeebling Europe, and that Germany was in need of an uncompromising strongman to restore itself and build an empire. Learning from the failed coup, he decided on the tactic of pursuing power through legal means rather than seizing control of the government by force against the state and instead proclaimed
18081-510: The racist and repressive Polish decrees , which regulated the working and living conditions of Polish slave workers. Polish slave workers were obliged to wear "P" badges and were subjected to strict segregation policies, with certain activities, such as sexual intercourse with German people, being punishable by deportation to concentration camps or death. Germany also extensively looted Poland of its cultural and industrial possession and vandalized its heritage. The Catholic Church in Poland
18228-531: The region despite papal verdicts. They remained powerful until 1410, when a combined Polish-Lithuanian army was able to win a decisive victory over the Teutonic Order at Grunwald. As a result, Poland emerged as a major power in Central Europe . Already in the 15th century, German theologian and writer John of Falkenberg proposed and advocated the genocide of Poles. After the Battle of Grunwald, he suggested that
18375-662: The relations between the two countries are friendly, with the two being allies within NATO and the European Union . From the 10th century onward, the Piast -ruled Kingdom of Poland established under Duke Mieszko I had close and chequered relations with the Holy Roman Empire . However, these relations were overshadowed in the Late Middle Ages both by the push eastwards of the Margraviate of Brandenburg into Polish territory and
18522-414: The restaurant Fuerstenfelder Hof in Munich. While he studied the activities of the DAP, Hitler became impressed with Drexler's antisemitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist ideas. During the 12 September 1919 meeting, Hitler took umbrage with comments made by an audience member that were directed against Gottfried Feder , the speaker, a crank economist with whom Hitler was acquainted due to
18669-439: The rival German Socialist Party (DSP). Hitler returned to Munich on 11 July and angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised that the resignation of their leading public figure and speaker would mean the end of the party. Hitler announced he would rejoin on the condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich. The committee agreed, and he rejoined
18816-539: The same inferior level, and the Polish population was subjected to extensive genocidal policies , including large massacres, mass expulsions , roundups , arrests, incarceration, kidnapping of Polish children , kidnapping of Polish girls and women for sexual slavery , pacification actions , extermination of mentally ill people and deportations to forced labour and concentration camps, some of which were established in occupied Polish territory (including Auschwitz , Soldau , Majdanek ). The Intelligenzaktion , which
18963-726: The short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw was a part of a larger French-led alliance with the German states of the Confederation of the Rhine , however, following the War of the Sixth Coalition the Duchy of Warsaw was dissolved, and partially re-annexed by Prussia. Under Prussian rule in areas where the Polish population lived alongside Germans a virtual apartheid existed, with bans on the Polish language and religious discrimination, besides attempts to colonize
19110-470: The summer of 1919. In July 1919, Hitler was appointed Verbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of an Aufklärungskommando (reconnaissance commando) of the Reichswehr , both to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the German Workers' Party (DAP). The DAP had been formed by Anton Drexler , Karl Harrer and others, through amalgamation of other groups, on 5 January 1919 at a small gathering at
19257-530: The surface of the earth and serve only as a transport station for the Wehrmacht. No stone can remain standing. Every building must be razed to its foundation. Following Operation Barbarossa , the Germans and German-held Polish forced laborers discovered the mass graves of over 4,000 Polish officers and intelligentsia who were murdered in the Katyn Forest by the Soviet Union in 1940. In April 1943, Germany exposed
19404-484: The tables and put democracy and the Weimar Republic on trial as traitors to the German people. Hitler was convicted and on 1 April sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Landsberg Prison . He received friendly treatment from the guards; he had a room with a view of the river, wore a tie, had regular visitors to his chambers, was allowed mail from supporters and was permitted the use of a private secretary. Pardoned by
19551-463: The territories lost to Prussia in the Partitions of Poland and parts of territories lost even earlier, while Gdańsk ( Danzig ) became a free city in customs union with Poland. It was seen as a great injustice in the Weimar Republic , in part leading to the Nazi takeover of power in 1933. On 1 September 1939, Poland was invaded by Germany , thus initiating World War II . The Third Reich established concentration camps in German-occupied Poland,
19698-640: The territories previously annexed by the Teutonic Knights, and the remainder of the State of the Teutonic Order also became a part of the Kingdom of Poland as a fief . Poland and Bavaria enjoyed good relations since the late Middle Ages, and several Bavarian dukes and electors married Polish princesses , including George marrying Hedwig Jagiellon (daughter of King Casimir IV Jagiellon ), Maximilian II Emanuel marrying Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska (daughter of King John III Sobieski ), and Maximilian III Joseph marrying Maria Anna Sophia (daughter of King Augustus III of Poland ). The wedding of George and Hedwig
19845-464: The troops of the Saxon renegade Wichmann the Younger , fighting over the island of Wolin on the Baltic coast. He also had to defend the Polish border on the lower Oder river against the forces of Margrave Odo I of Lusatia at the 972 Battle of Cedynia . Meanwhile, Poland had to face the claims to universal power raised by Otto I when he had conquered the Kingdom of Italy and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII in 962. According to
19992-438: The upper hand and in turn sparked a long-term conflict with the Bohemian dukes over Silesia and Lesser Poland. Mieszko backed the German forces several times against the revolting Lutici ( Veleti ) tribes (though to no avail) and until his death in 992 remained a loyal supporter of the Emperor. Nevertheless, Mieszko precautionally had the Dagome iudex document drawn up, whereby he put his realm called Civitas Schinesghe under
20139-448: Was brutally persecuted . Countless prisons and forced labour camps and several major prisoner-of-war camps were established and operated by Germany in occupied Poland, also for Allied POWs of various nationalities. In 1941 Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa , attacking the Soviet Union, after which Germany also occupied the eastern half of Poland, in which it continued the extermination of Poles, with prime examples including
20286-435: Was and could be no turning back. ... I registered as a member of the German Workers' Party and received a provisional membership card with the number 7". Normally, enlisted army personnel were not allowed to join political parties. However, in this case, Hitler had Captain Mayr's permission to join the DAP. Further, Hitler was allowed to stay in the army and receive his weekly pay of 20 gold marks. Otto Strasser : What
20433-464: Was charged with high treason by the prosecutor in Leipzig based on statements Goebbels had made in 1927, but after a four-month investigation it came to naught. Against this backdrop, Hitler's party gained a significant victory in the Reichstag, obtaining 107 seats (18.3%, 6,409,600 votes) in the September 1930 federal election . The Nazis thereby became the second-largest party in Germany, and as historian Joseph Bendersky notes, they essentially became
20580-448: Was discharged on 19 November from the Pasewalk hospital and returned to Munich, which at the time was in a state of socialist upheaval . Arriving on 21 November, he was assigned to 7th Company of the 1st Replacement Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. In December he was reassigned to a prisoner-of-war camp in Traunstein as a guard. He remained there until the camp dissolved in January 1919, after which he returned to Munich and spent
20727-595: Was launched instantly during the invasion of Poland, was the first genocidal campaign carried out by Nazi Germany. It targeted the Polish intelligentsia and Poles engaged in various activities, who were considered capable of organising or leading a Polish resistance movement , which was formed and was active throughout the war regardless. The campaign was then continued from 1940 as the AB-Aktion . Over 2.8 million Poles, including women and children, were deported to slave labour, and Poles accounted for 60% of all foreign slave workers in Germany. In March 1940, Germany issued
20874-435: Was less rigorous, the total share of the vote was as low as 9%. The Great Depression was also a factor in Hitler's electoral success. Against this legal backdrop, the SA began its first major anti-Jewish action on 13 October 1930, when groups of Nazi brownshirts smashed the windows of Jewish-owned stores at Potsdamer Platz . The Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded worldwide economic disaster. The people of Germany, tired of
21021-399: Was moved to the demobilization office of the 2nd Infantry Regiment. Around this time the German military command released an edict that the army's main priority was to "carry out, in conjunction with the police, stricter surveillance of the population ... so that the ignition of any new unrest can be discovered and extinguished." In May 1919, Karl Mayr became commander of the 6th Battalion of
21168-399: Was still very new at the time, it was therefore impressionable; Bismarck's strategy of confrontation rather than consensus set a tone of either being loyal to the government or an enemy of the state, which directly influenced German nationalist sentiment and the later Nazi movement. Adolf Hitler became involved with the fledgling German Workers' Party – which he would later transform into
21315-449: Was subjected to the largest amount of destruction among all German-occupied countries during World War II. Following the defeat of Germany in 1945, anti-German sentiment was widespread among the oppressed Poles, a sentiment which was triggered by the policy which the Germans implemented during their occupation of Poland, this sentiment was reflected in the expulsion of Germans from the territories which were assigned to Poland . After
21462-474: Was the only candidate to poll fewer than a million votes. The battles on the streets grew increasingly violent. After the Rotfront ( Roter Frontkämpferbund ) interrupted a speech by Hitler, the SA marched into the streets of Nuremberg and killed two bystanders. Seeking revenge, the SA also stormed a Rotfront meeting on 25 August and days later the Berlin headquarters of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) itself. In September, Goebbels led his men into Neukölln ,
21609-418: Was to be under German leadership to stabilize Germany's economic predominance in Central Europe , with co-author Kurt Riezler admitting that the union would be a veiled form of German domination in Europe (see also: Mitteleuropa ). Per the Act of 5th November , Germany and Austria-Hungary proclaimed the Regency Kingdom of Poland , a German-controlled puppet state . It was formed in the western part of
#908091