Wartime Germans, Post-war Poles: Nation Switching and Nation Building after 1945

TY - JOUR

T1 - Wartime Germans, Post-war Poles

T2 - Nation Switching and Nation Building after 1945

AU - Bjork, Jim

PY - 2022/9/1

Y1 - 2022/9/1

N2 - This article examines the roles played in post-1945 Polish society by citizens who had spent the Second World War classified as 'racial' Germans. Current accounts of post-war Europe have been based on the assumption that people classified as German by the Nazi regime who found themselves living outside of Germany or Austria after the war either faced expulsion or, at best, systematic marginalization and discrimination. In fact, however, several million wartime Germans living in post-war Poland were 'verified' or 'rehabilitated' as ethnic Poles. They were, to be sure, often still perceived as traitors, and many re-identified as German in the late twentieth century. But these nation switchers were also often defended as particular victims of oppression or as national heroes, whose 'camouflage' strategy promoted Polish national survival. The Roman Catholic church figured as a crucial institutional advocate for wartime Germans. Indeed, in the decades following the war, the leadership of the church included a disproportionate share of wartime Germans within its own ranks.

AB - This article examines the roles played in post-1945 Polish society by citizens who had spent the Second World War classified as 'racial' Germans. Current accounts of post-war Europe have been based on the assumption that people classified as German by the Nazi regime who found themselves living outside of Germany or Austria after the war either faced expulsion or, at best, systematic marginalization and discrimination. In fact, however, several million wartime Germans living in post-war Poland were 'verified' or 'rehabilitated' as ethnic Poles. They were, to be sure, often still perceived as traitors, and many re-identified as German in the late twentieth century. But these nation switchers were also often defended as particular victims of oppression or as national heroes, whose 'camouflage' strategy promoted Polish national survival. The Roman Catholic church figured as a crucial institutional advocate for wartime Germans. Indeed, in the decades following the war, the leadership of the church included a disproportionate share of wartime Germans within its own ranks.

KW - Second world war

KW - Poland

KW - Germany

KW - National identity

KW - European history, 1945-

KW - Catholic church

KW - national indifference

U2 - 10.1086/721143

DO - 10.1086/721143

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-2801

VL - 94

SP - 1

EP - 40

JO - JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY

JF - JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY

IS - 3

ER -