Zmierzch. Désintéressement komunistów wobec kwestii tzw. autochtonów polskich w końcu lat 40. XX w

The article tackles the matter of the diminishing interest on the part of Polish communists in the so-called autochthonous Polish population –citizens of Germany who, after the incorporation of east German land into Poland in 1945, were not repatriated across the Oder together with Germans. As these were people of Polish ethnic origin, Polish state authorities undertook measures to mold them into wilful Poles. On the whole, this policy did not bring the expected results. In spite of that, commencing from 1947, the communists began to lose interest in this population. Upon taking complete power in the country, they became unconcerned with the efforts of so-called repolonization of the autochtons. Between the late forties and early fifties, it was not ethnicity but ideological views which counted in the eyes of the authorities. The communists’ interests lay in the quickest possible ideologizing of all social groups. People recognised by them as ‘ideologically uncertain’, including pro-Polish autochthonous activists, were repressed. This constituted a crushing defeat for the policy of repolonization. The social damage done at that time has never been corrected.