Germanisation - Forms of Germanisation

Forms of Germanisation

Historically, there are very different forms and degrees of expansion of German language and elements of German culture. There are examples of complete assimilation into German culture, as it happened with the pagan Slavs in the diocese of Bamberg in the 11th century. A perfect example of eclectic adoption of German culture is the field of law in Imperial and present-day Japan, which is organised very much to the model of the German Empire. Germanisation took place by cultural contact, by political decision of the adopting party (e.g. in the case of Japan), or (especially in the case of Imperial and Nazi Germany) by force.

In Slavic countries, the term Germanisation is often understood solely as the process of acculturation of Slavic and Baltic speakers, after the conquests or by cultural contact in the early Dark Ages, areas of the modern Southern Austria and Eastern Germany to the line of the Elbe. In East Prussia, forced resettlement of the Prussian people by the Teutonic Order and the Prussian state, as well as acculturation from immigrants of various European countries (Poles, French, and Germans) contributed to the eventual extinction of the Prussian language in the 17th century.

Another form of Germanisation is the forceful imposition of German culture, language and people upon non-German people, Slavs in particular.