Germany-Poland Relations

German–Polish relations have a long and complicated history.

From the 10th century on, the Kingdom of Poland had relations with the Holy Roman Empire, which were however overshadowed by the Polish-Teutonic wars, as a result of which, Prussia became a fief of the Kingdom of Poland. Prussia retained a certain level of autonomy under Polish rule. Later, the Kingdom of Prussia rose and eventually became one of the partitioners of Poland.

A medieval legend about a Polish Princess Wanda shows the German-Polish enmity. In the legend, Princess Wanda rejected to marry Knight Rüdiger, a German ruler. After that, he declared a war on Poland. Wanda rode into battle, struck Rüdiger down with her sword and then drowned herself in the Vistula, in order to spare Poland further fighting.

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. The area of German settlement roughly stretched from Slovenia to Estonia, and southwards into Transylvania. The phenomenon, known as "Ostsiedlung" ("east settlement", "settlement in the east") followed the territorial expansion of the Holy Roman Empire and the Teutonic Order. At various times, Germans were encouraged by Polish Piast rulers to settle in the east. Ethnic conflicts erupted between the newly arrived settlers and local populations. In 13th century, Poland was suffering from the attacks of Pagan tribes. In response, Konrad I of Masovia hired an army of unemployed crusaders - 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. As a result, they took the control of the entire southeastern Baltic Sea coast. They remained powerful until 1410, when a combined Lithuanian-Polish army was able to win a decisive victory over the Teutonic Order at Tannenberg. In 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 Jan III Sobieski helped to withdraw the Turks from Vienna, thus ending the growing expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe and preventing the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from collapse.

In the second half of the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned three times between Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria. The partitions took place in 1772, 1793 and 1795. For the next 123 years, there was no independent Polish state. Various insurrections against partitioners broke out, including Prussia.

In 1918, Poland regained its place on the map. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of its territories in West Prussia, East Upper Silesia and Danzig and transferred them to Poland. It was seen as a great injustice in the Weimar Republic, leading to the Nazi takeover of power in 1933. In 1939, Poland was invaded by Germany, thus starting the deadliest conflict in human history. The Third Reich established concentration camps in Poland, the biggest located in Auschwitz. Poland suffered many casualties and a vast destruction during the war. After World War II, Germany lost its territories in Silesia, East Brandenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia to Poland and the Soviet Union. In 1945-1950, a series of expulsions happened, in which up to 16 million ethnic Germans were forced to leave their homes and resettle in post-war Germany. It was the largest forced movement of any population in history.

The Cold War saw good relations between the communist states of People's Republic of Poland and the German Democratic Republic. The Polish-West German relations remained bad, although it improved after Chancellor Willy Brandt launched the Ostpolitik. In 1990, Germany was reunified and it confirmed the Polish-German border on the Oder-Neisse line in a treaty. Both states are now European Union allies and partners.

Famous quotes containing the word relations:

    Happy will that house be in which the relations are formed from character; after the highest, and not after the lowest order; the house in which character marries, and not confusion and a miscellany of unavowable motives.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)