Posen/Poznań and the Kaiserreich

This episode will cover the fascinating and multicultural city of Posen or Poznań during the days of the German Empire. It explains how ethnic Poles were seen and treated by the Prussian government and where that sentiment came from. It then gives an overview into how the city changed into an imperial residence for the German Kaiser.

Sources:
- Balzer, Brigitte: Die preußische Polenpolitik 1894-1908 und die Haltung der deutschen konservativen und liberalen Parteien (unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Provinz Posen), Frankfurt am Main 1990.
- Blanke, Richard: Prussian Poland in the German Empire (1871-1900), New York 1981.
- Lerp, Dörte: Imperiale Grenzräume. Bevölkerungspolitiken in Deutsch-Südwestafrika und den östlichen Provinzen Preußens 1884-1914, Frankfurt am Main 2016.
- Schwendemann, Heinrich: Das Posener Schloß. Von der „Kaiser-” zur „Führerresidenz”, in: Schirmann, Sylvain (Ed.): Annexion et nazification en Europe. Actes du colloque de Metz 7-8 Novembre 2003, Metz 2004, pp. 119-132.
- Serrier, Thomas: „Deutsche Kulturarbeit in der Ostmark. Der Mythos vom deutschen Vorrang und die Grenzproblematik in der Provinz Posen,(1871-1914), in: Müller, Michael G. & Petri, Rolf (Ed.): Die Nationalisierung von Grenzen. Zur Konstruktion nationaler Identitäten in sprachlich gemischten Grenzregionen, Marburg 2002, pp. 13-35.
- Urban, Thomas: Von Krakau bis Danzig. Eine Reise durch die deutsch-polnische Geschichte, Munich 2000.
- Volkmann, Hans-Erich: Die Polenpolitik des Kaiserreichs, Paderborn 2016.

Chapters:
0:00 Era of Tolerance
1:15 Posen as a Prussian Province
3:25 The Polish Population
5:40 A “Prussian Prague”
8:39 The New City
10:03 The Imperial Quarter
13:55 The Kaiser’s New Castle
16:15 Outro

[jakubcesarzdakos]

One interesting fact you didn't include: one of the buildings build by the Kaiser after demolishing the old walls became the place where the Poles first broke the German Enigma code

[nickgotvyak]

Word of caution for everyone thinking of visiting poznań - wait a year or two. The city is having major infrastructure reconstruction and most iconic landmarks (market Square, and most of city centre really) have dug up roads and temporary fences. And sadly, progress seems to be very slow as the city overextended it's constructions beyond capacity.
UPD: in a sudden hurry, they actually almost finished the Old Market Square by Christmas!!! Still few constructions here and there but my initial projection might have been too pessimistic.
UPD 2: it's finally done!!!! The only major reconstruction is the old house block being rebuilt on the inside but otherwise rest of the center is done!

[Czaroslaw]

Fun fact about the germanization attempts: when German settlers settled in Wielkopolska, they often adopted Polish culture. Why would they do that? They did that because at the time Polish culture was deeply tied to nobility, and therefore it was a way of increasing your social status.

[Elvuz]

I'm from Poznań and I'm Polish. Two of my great-great-grandfathers were decorated with the Iron Cross for the War of 1870. One my high school classmate's great-x3-grandfather fell at Wörth/Froeschwiller. The Poznań regiments consisting to a great extent of Poles were among those who conquered the Danish sconces at Dybbol, who prevailed at Königgrätz and who fought at Sedan and Gravelotte.

[michaireneuszjakubowski]

Wonderful as always, but I just wanted to take a minute and praise your pronunciation. Polish is hard as shit, especially for people whose native lg isn't Slavic, and yet you nail it with astonishing consistency. There's quite a bit of good content on Poland and Poles marred by tortured pronunciation, it's just so refreshing to hear someone talk about this topic as eloquently as you.

Also, I'll add a personal bit - my great-grandfather from my mom's side had fought in the Greater Poland uprising of 1918-19 (among other places), in a cavalry unit. A document stating his service there hangs framed in my grandfather's room to this day. Gramps himself wasn't around for it (he was born in '33), but still, whenever he retells the stories of this period that he'd heard from his father, I can't help but realize I'm literally getting second-hand information on events that happened more than a century ago.

[arkadiuszarczi]

a bit of history about the city of Poznan
Poznań was one of the capital and religious centers of the Piast state (Polish Dynasty) in the 10th and 11th centuries, in the past it served as the seat of Polish rulers, and was also one of the most developed fortresses in Poland at that time. Poznań was also the capital of Poland in the years 1290–1296. It is one of the oldest chartered cities in Poland - it was granted city rights in 1253. The city had the right to actively participate in the act of electing the king. In the Poznań cathedral there is a symbolic tomb of the first rulers of Poland - Mieszko I and Bolesław I the Brave. On the island of Ostrów Tumski, there is the seat of the curia of the Archdiocese of Poznań - the oldest in Poland, and the second oldest university in Poland. The capital of Greater Poland was one of the royal cities of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The meeting place of the election assemblies of the Poznań Voivodship from the 16th century to the first half of the 18th century. Shows of the nobility of the Poznań Voivodship of the First Republic took place near Poznań. In 2008, the complex of the oldest districts of the city was declared a monument of history.

[Rapture-nvvj]

My city! :D Poznań has very intresting history, but it's often overlooked by other cities like Cracow, Warsaw or Gdańsk. This is why I love your channel. Great work

[Bergdampf]

Ich bin froh dass du zurück bist. Ich freue mich darauf, dieses Video anzusehen

[SamAronow]

I'm most surprised that any of Poznan from this time period still exists. I was waiting for the moment where you'd explain how it was all destroyed in World War II and replaced by commie blocks.

[Superrichy]

Little Fun Fact: Angela Merkels grandfather Ludwik Marian Kaźmierczak was from Poznan and an ethnic Pole

[Artur_M.]

Another great video of yours! 😊

A bit of a correction about 15:33; Piłsudski was never the president of the Polish Republic. In the formative period, after regaining independence, he was the temporary, extraordinary head of state (Naczelnik Państwa), and when in 1926 he came back from retirement by staging a coup and becoming a de facto dictator (sort of a soft version, but still), he engaged in "backseat driving" from the position of the General Inspector of the Armed Forces.

Fun fact: German authorities failed even to re-Germanize/stop the Polonization of the community known as Bambrzy or Bambry (anglicized as Bambers) aka Polish Bambergians - descendants of German emigrants who settled around Poznań after the Great Northern War, before the Partitions.
I guess they were united with the indigenous Polish population by their Catholicism and dislike for Prussians. 😉

[squonkhunter]

Poznan and its surrounding area was the home of many of my German-Polish ancestors. A beautiful and mostly forgotten city.

[joachimvonvolkenrose]

Really love the fact that you actually perfectly pronounce all foreign names rather than try to leg it like many youtubers

[saperek]

great video! As a Pole i welcome more topics covering polish-german relations in history

[michalniebyl]

When I studied at Adam Mickiewicz University in the late 1990s we still had a couple of books in the library which were stamped with "Königliche Akademie Posen".

[eskil]

Region of Poznan the place where Poland was born 1000 years ago, it's the core of our national identity.

[JulianSki]

Another good video linked to the relationship between Poles and the partition era! I love your videos and keep up the work. On a side note, would you ever be willing to make a video on the topic of Silesia? it is another contentious part of the time and saw many conflicts between the Poles and Germans.

[arghroar]

Ahhh a fine slice of my home towns complicated history delivered in a very eloquent manner. Thank you.

[starseeker]

Amazing material yet again. The only small correction could be that Marshal Józef Piłsudski was never a president of Poland. He was in early years and during war against the Soviets in 1919-21, a head of state, same after the May Coup, but never a president.

[farmonxqc]

I really love history of the German empire, especially when it's little things like these. Your videos are really good, I love learning German history.