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.
RassenschandeRassenschande (ˈʁasn̩ˌʃandə, "racial shame") or Blutschande (ˈbluːtˌʃandə "blood disgrace") was an anti-miscegenation concept in Nazi German racial policy, pertaining to sexual relations between Aryans and non-Aryans. It was put into practice by policies like the Aryan certificate requirement, and later by anti-miscegenation laws such as the Nuremberg Laws, adopted unanimously by the Reichstag on 15 September 1935.
KulturkampfKulturkampf (kʊlˈtuːɐ̯kampf, 'culture struggle') was a fierce conflict that took place from 1872 to 1878 between the Catholic Church led by Pope Pius IX and the government of Prussia led by Otto von Bismarck. The main issues were clerical control of education and ecclesiastical appointments. A unique feature of Kulturkampf, compared to other struggles between the state and the Catholic Church in other countries, was Prussia's anti-Polish component.
BytomBytom (Polish pronunciation: AUDPl-Bytom.ogg'bytom; Silesian: Bytōm, Bytōń, Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital. It is one of the oldest cities in the Upper Silesia, and the former seat of the Piast dukes of the Duchy of Bytom. Until 1532, it was in the hands of the Piast dynasty, then it belonged to the Hohenzollern dynasty. After 1623 it was a state country in the hands of the Donnersmarck family.
NeumarkThe Neumark (), also known as the New March (Nowa Marchia) or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945. Called the Lubusz Land while part of medieval Poland, the territory later known as the Neumark gradually became part of the German Margraviate of Brandenburg from the mid-13th century.
GoralsThe Gorals (Górale; Goral dialect: Górole; Gorali; Cieszyn Silesian: Gorole), also known as the Highlanders (in Poland as the Polish Highlanders, a subethnic group of the Polish nation) are an indigenous ethnographic subgroup primarily found in their traditional area of southern Poland, northern Slovakia and in the region of Cieszyn Silesia in the Czech Republic, where they are known as the Silesian Gorals. There is also a significant Goral diaspora in the area of Bukovina in western Ukraine and in northern Romania, as well as in Chicago, the seat of the Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America.
SerbianisationSerbianisation or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation or Serbization (србизација or посрбљавање; serbizimi; сърбизация or посръбчване; србизација; serbificare) is the spread of Serbian culture, people, and language, either by social integration or by cultural or forced assimilation. Populated by Bulgarians and Romanians, the area between the Morava and Timok rivers became part of the Serbian state in 1291/1292 which began the Serbianisation of the region.
Pomeranian languageThe Pomeranian language (pomorszczyzna or język pomorski; Pomoranisch or die pomoranische Sprache) is in the Pomeranian group of Lechitic languages (grupa pomorska języków lechickich; die pomoranische Gruppe der lechischen Sprachen) within the West Slavic languages. In medieval contexts, it refers to the dialects spoken by the Slavic Pomeranians. In modern contexts, the term is sometimes used synonymously with "Kashubian" and may also include extinct Slovincian. The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po moře, which means "[land] by the sea".
Anti-Slavic sentimentAnti-Slavic sentiment, also known as Slavophobia, a form of racism or xenophobia, refers to various negative attitudes towards Slavic peoples, the most common manifestation is the claim that the inhabitants of Slavic nations are inferior to other ethnic groups. Anti-Slavism reached its peak during World War II, when Nazi Germany declared Slavs, especially neighboring Poles to be subhuman (Untermensch) and planned to exterminate the majority of Slavic people.
Warmians (ethnic group)Warmians are a Polish ethnic group from Warmia. Most of them are Roman Catholic and speak in Warmian subdialect of Polish language or German language. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, settlers from northern, Mazovia moved to former territories of Old Prussians, following conquests by the Teutonic Order, and the erection of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. The bishopric of Warmia became in 1466 an autonomous part of Royal Prussia, and remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1772 when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia (see: Partitions of Poland).
