Polish areas annexed by Nazi GermanyFollowing the Invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic was annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under the German civil administration. The rest of Nazi-occupied Poland was renamed as the General Government district. The annexation was part of the "fourth partition of Poland" by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, outlined months before the invasion, in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
OstsiedlungOstsiedlung (ˈɔstˌziːdlʊŋ, literally "East settlement") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration of ethnic Germans into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire and beyond; and the consequences for settlement development and social structures in the areas of settlement. Generally sparsely and in some inland areas only relatively recently populated by Slavic, Baltic and Finnic peoples, the most settled area was known as Germania Slavica.
GrudziądzGrudziądz 'grudzionc (Graudentum, Graudentium, Graudenz) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its province. The Old Town of Grudziądz and 14th-century granaries were declared National Historic Monuments of Poland. Grudziądz is located close to the east shore of the river Vistula, approximately north-east of Świecie, south of Gdańsk and south-west of Kaliningrad.
German minority in PolandThe registered German minority in Poland (Niemcy w Polsce) at the 2011 national census consisted of 148,000 people, of whom 64,000 declared both German and Polish ethnicities and 45,000 solely German ethnicity. At a 2002 census there were 152,900 people declaring German ethnicity. The German language is spoken in certain areas in Opole Voivodeship, where most of the minority resides, and in Silesian Voivodeship. German-speakers first came to these regions (present-day Opole and Silesian Voivodeships) during the Late Middle Ages.
ŚwinoujścieŚwinoujście (ɕfinɔˈujɕt͡ɕɛ; Swinemünde ˌsviːnəˈmʏndə; Swienemünn; all three meaning "Świna [river] mouth"; Swina) is a city in Western Pomerania and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. Situated mainly on the islands of Usedom and Wolin, it also occupies smaller islands. The largest is Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by the Piast Canal, formerly the Kaiserfahrt, dug in the late 19th century to facilitate ship access to Szczecin.
East PrussiaEast Prussia (Ostpreußen) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, until 1945. Its capital city was Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad). East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast. The bulk of the ancestral lands of the Baltic Old Prussians were enclosed within East Prussia.
Polish–Soviet WarThe Polish–Soviet War (late autumn 1918 / 14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution, on territories which were formerly held by the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of GermanyThe Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved by the occupying western Allies of World War II on 12 May. It was termed "Basic Law" (Grundgesetz) to indicate that it was a provisional piece of legislation pending the reunification of Germany.
MindenMinden (ˈmɪndn) is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (Kreis) of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. The town extends along both sides of the River Weser, and is crossed by the Mittelland Canal, which crosses the river on the Minden Aqueduct.
Evacuation of East PrussiaThe evacuation of East Prussia was the movement of German civilian population and military personnel from East Prussia between 20 January and March 1945, that was initially organized and carried out by state authorities but quickly turned into a chaotic flight from the Red Army. A part of the evacuation of German civilians towards the end of World War II, these events are not to be confused with the expulsion from East Prussia that followed after the war had ended.
