| Abstract |
When an independent Polish state was reestablished in 1919, its border included huge numbers of non-Polish ethnic, religious, and national groups, including four different groups of Germans. Relations with the Germans were complicated by border disputes and the post-Versailles settlement. Between 1944 and 1949, about 3 million Germans living in Poland were evicted or emigrated to Germany in a form of ethnic cleansing. Many of those remaining were in Upper Silesia and autochthons, speakers of German dialects who claimed they were Germanicized Slavs so that they would be allowed to stay in their homeland. This group was subject to official discrimination, since German speaking was not allowed. Over time, some emigrated to Germany, where their Catholicism, Slavic origins, and dialect also set them apart. |