Expulsion of Poles by Germany
Prussian deportations of 1885–1890 as shown on a contemporary painting by Konstanty Górski | |
Expulsion of Poles from Reichsgau Wartheland following the Invasion of Poland (1939). Families led to the trains under German escort, as part of Nazi German ethnic cleansing of annexed Poland. | |
| Duration | Partitions of Poland, World War II |
|---|---|
| Location | German-controlled territories |
| Type | Ethnic cleansing, forced migration, Mass Expulsion |
| Cause | Lebensraum, anti-Polish sentiment, Germanisation |
| Patron(s) | Frederick the Great, Otto von Bismarck, Adolf Hitler, Nazi Party, Wehrmacht |
| Outcome | Expulsion of 325,000 Poles |
The expulsion of Poles by Germany was a series of forced displacements, deportations, and ethnic cleansing campaigns targeting Polish populations by German authorities, particularly during the 20th century. These actions occurred primarily during two key periods: under Nazi Germany during World War II, and earlier during the German Empire’s nationalist policies.
The partitions of Poland had ended the existence of a sovereign Polish state in the 18th century. With the rise of German nationalism in the mid-19th century, Poles faced increasing discrimination on formerly Polish lands. While the German Empire had refrained from expelling the Polish population that had German citizenship, it deported 30.000 Poles that had immigrated to Germany from the Russian Empire.
During the Nazi occupation (1939–1945), hundreds of thousands of Poles were forcibly removed from annexed territories and sent to the General Government as part of Generalplan Ost, the Nazi strategy for the colonization and Germanization of Eastern Europe.