O profilu ideowo-politycznym V Dzielnicy Związku Polaków w Niemczech

This paper examines the ideological character of District V of the Union of Poles in Germany, which was established in 1923 and encompassed the Borderlands, specifically the territory of the so-called Frontier March (Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen) from 1922-1938. It also covered part of Kashubia that remained within Germany (the counties of Bytów and Lębork in the Prussian Province of Pomerania). It has been established that throughout its existence, District V – operating in the former Prussian partition in direct proximity to Poland – had, in a certain sense, a ‘frontline’ character. It confronted the continuation of Prussian Germanisation, as well as revisionist propaganda that questioned Germany’s territorial losses in the east after the First World War, namely the ‘bleeding border’ propaganda. In response to the policies of both the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, District V pursued a defensive strategy of linking Polishness with conservative Catholicism, while officially declaring loyalty to the German state. At the same time, it attempted to enforce the rights of Poles guaranteed by the constitution and other legal provisions. This mode of thought and action – rooted in the tradition of legalist organic and political work from the Prussian partition – was represented, and largely shaped, by the charismatic leader of District V of the Union of Poles in Germany, Rev. Dr Bolesław Domański.