Post by Bonobo on Dec 23, 2021 12:06:11 GMT 1
Amazing story, never heard of it before.
www.onet.pl/turystyka/onetpodroze/maczkow-czyli-historia-okupacji-niemieckiego-miasta-haren-przez-polakow/54338l6,07640b54
Maczków - a Polish city in Germany that does not exist
Houses with red tiled roofs, a brick church, lots of greenery, all girded with the blue ribbon of the Ems River. Haren, located near the border with the Netherlands, corresponds to all the ideas of a typical German town. And there was a time when the local streets had Polish patrons, the town hall was the seat of the Polish mayor, and the town itself was called Maczków.
Łukasz Zalesiński
2.3 thousand
December 21, 2021, 13:13
Maczków, or the history of the occupation of the German city of Haren by Poles
In the spring of 1945, Polish troops occupied Emsland - a region of Lower Saxony right on the border between Germany and the Netherlands. By the way, a whole crowd of Poles regained their freedom - prisoners of war and forced laborers, who became the so-called DPs
It took time to get them back home. The war was still going on. So Dipisi was settled in the places from which the Germans had previously been displaced
The center of the Polish zone was Haren, renamed Lviv, and then Maczków. The town had a Polish mayor, Polish street names, schools, and even a theater or a cinema
It functioned for three years. Then the apartments were returned to their former German owners, and this chapter of Emsland's history was gradually forgotten
More such topics can be found on the main page of Onet.pl
"For the first time in six years I live in a normal room. There is a bathroom, a stove and a toilet without toilet paper. We enjoy a bit of Poland, although everything here is temporary and similar to each other"
- notes Józef Szajna in the fall of 1945.
Two decades later, he will become an icon of the theater, one of the most outstanding directors in the world. But now he has to deal with a bleak past. He spent the last four years in the German concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald. He wants to go home, but it's not possible yet. He must be content with the fact that Poland came to him. She came and made herself at the heart of old Germany.
Joy with a flaw
Hitler's days were numbered . From the east, the Red Army was pushing onto Berlin, and from the west, a coalition of Allied forces. In March 1945, the 21st Army Group led by British Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery crossed the Rhine. Canadian and Polish troops fighting in its ranks took Emsland - a piece of Lower Saxony on the border with the Netherlands .
As the Allied offensive progressed, more POWs and concentration camps were liberated, and forced laborers who were brought back to the Reich from the occupied countries were regained their freedom . In Emsland alone, the number of so-called displaced persons was in the tens of thousands. Throughout western Germany, over seven million of them were counted. For the Allied soldiers, the Dipisi became an obstacle in moving further , so as to prevent the complete blockage of communication routes needed for military transports, General Eisenhower [commander-in-chief of the allied expeditionary forces - editor's note ed.] gave the displaced persons the order: "You will stand fast and not move!".
Polish soldiers in Maczków (Haren)Polish soldiers in Maczków (Haren) - Porta Polonica / porta-polonica.de
So the joy among the recent prisoners quickly faded , while the frustration grew. The commander of the 1st Armored Division, General Stanisław Maczek recalled: "I was informed by Polish officers who were prisoners of war in the Sandbostel camp that although some 12 days ago they were liberated by the Allied troops, their living conditions did not change. The only difference is that, that the guards have changed . "
A Polish woman in a German uniform checks the documents at the main gate of the Haren camp after its liberation, May 7, 1945.A Polish woman in a German uniform checks the documents at the main gate of the Haren camp after its liberation, May 7, 1945 - Porta Polonica / Domena publiczna
See also: How a young German taunted the Soviet Union
The Allies had to somehow fix the problem. They decided to entrust some of the responsibility for relieving the tension to the soldiers of general Maczek. In May 1945, a plan was created for them to look after 60,000. Polish DPs from Emsland . To do this, they were to take control of an area with a total of nearly 6.5 thousand. sq km. This is how the Polish occupation zone in Germany was born .
Lviv is not very political
"The indicated houses must be vacated by all residents. The evacuated families may take valuables, clothes, groceries, quilts with them, but without mattresses. Furniture, kitchen equipment, plates, cups, pots and the necessary number of cutlery must be left on site." .
On May 19, announcements were posted on the buildings and poles of nearly ten towns in Emsland. Soon the displacement of the Germans began . Most of the families were parceled out to neighboring counties. They lived mainly with friends and relatives. In some villages the former farmers could stay on the spot to look after the cattle, but they had to arrange temporary quarters in barns or utility rooms.
The allies ordered the town of Haren to be evacuated almost entirely. Only nuns and the German mayor Hermann Wichers and his family were left in the existing apartments. However, he had to hand over official duties to his Polish successor, Zygmunt Gałecki. From then on, the Germans could enter the town only to use the post office . It required a special pass. Their place was taken by Poles - forced laborers and prisoners of war, including participants of the Warsaw Uprising.
Porta Polonica, Polish POSK Library in London / porta-polonica.de
The town was quickly renamed Lviv. In the streets, there are plaques with new Polish names : Jagiellońska, Łyczakowska, and Armii Krajowej. The new order quickly became the cause of diplomatic upheaval. Historical Lviv was soon to be incorporated into the USSR. The creation of a new one in Western Europe was considered a provocation by Soviet diplomats . The Allies, not wanting to irritate Stalin, suggested changing the name of the Poles. And so in June, Haren, named after General Maczek, became Maczków .
The Allies, however, still had their doubts. They were not sure if the Kremlin would accidentally recognize that in the vicinity of Emsland they were creating "their" Poland, as opposed to that of "people's" and subordinate Moscow.
A few days later, as Andreas Lembeck writes, the command of the 21st Army Group once again focused on the Emsland theme. The minutes of the meeting included a significant note: "As for the further proceedings regarding the creation of one or several Polish enclaves in Germany, a decision at the highest level has not yet been made. The political and economic consequences of such a plan have not yet been fully examined and cannot be accurately estimate ".
Meanwhile, the Polish Emsland was teeming with life.
Maczków is blooming
Polish schools began to spring up in the region like mushrooms after the rain . In the spring of 1946, there were already twenty-three such institutions - from elementary to high school. The elders acquired their knowledge at the People's University, which was established in Maczków. Szajna recalled: "We wanted to learn and make up for the lost years of war", although, as he added, at least in his case, it was not easy: "What others did in forty minutes, I had to do four hours. It seemed to me that my long stay in a concentration camp killed my ability to concentrate and discipline. " In the end, however, he managed to pass his high school diploma.
Students of the Polish school in MaczkówStudents of the Polish school in Maczków - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
Cultural life flourished in Emsland. In Maczków itself and its vicinity, there were fourteen theater and revue groups, as well as the Ludowy Theater managed by Leon Schiller. The actors prepared performances that enjoyed unflagging popularity. One of the hits was the play "Big Laundry", which was a satire on the life of DPs. At each of the performances, the 300-seat audience was filled to the brim.
Famous artists regularly visited Maczków . For example, the world-famous violinist Yehudi Mehuhin gave a concert there, and Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński gave a poetry evening. There was a cinema in the town , a library with a reading room , and a bookstore in the nearby Meppen , which sold several thousand books a month . The facility was supported by members of the British Polish community.
Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
See also: Monument to the gigantomania of officials near Bielsko-Biała
Polish newspapers also appeared in the areas controlled by the Maczkowce family : "Dziennik Żołnierza 1 Dywizji Pancernej" and the weekly "Defilada". Years later, Krystyna Kersten scrutinized the content. Newspapers, he notes, regularly reported on the situation in communist-controlled Poland . They presented the local reality in decidedly gloomy colors. The titles themselves were very meaningful - "Internal security and its guards - the Polish SS" or "Scouting - a school of communism". The editorial offices, however, did not persuade the readers to emigrate, leaving that to their decision.
Poles leave Maczków, 1948.Departure of Poles from Maczków, 1948 - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
Repatriations started in the fall of 1945, but progressed rather arduously. The reason was the post-war chaos, but also quite well-founded fear of the communist authorities, which were just installing in Poland. On the other hand, despite the passage of time, the life of a DP was still far from idyllic .
Time ousted
Provision, for example, left a lot to be desired. The Poles from Emsland were dependent on the supplies of UNRRA , the United Nations Relief and Reconstruction Organization. There was also a shortage of work. Initially, DPs could only look for employment in structures related to the Allied troops or in workshops that operated within the resettlement camps. Seventeen plants were opened in Maczków alone. There were, among others, a car workshop, a tailor's workshop, and even a small toy company . They produced for the needs of temporary settlers, and additionally conducted apprenticeship courses.
Some DPs went to Belgium to try their hand at hard coal mines, following the example of pre-war Polish emigrants. Others sought their fortune in black market trading . They also got in touch with the Germans , who, however, were generally very reluctant to Polish settlers. From time to time this reluctance turned into pits and fights .
A Polish soldier supervises the Germans in MaczkówA Polish soldier supervises the Germans in Maczków - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
The locals could not come to terms with the temporary loss of even their own homes . They could hardly tolerate the sight of Polish soldiers patrolling the area, observing the restrictions and occasionally requisiting radio receivers or binoculars, which, according to the order of the Allied authorities, were forbidden for the Germans. They also quickly coined the myth that DPs committed an exceptionally high number of crimes . Historians studying this problem have no doubts - it is a false picture. Of course, there were some abuses and breaking the law, but the scale of the problem did not go beyond what the security services had to deal with in other parts of Germany. Andreas Lembeck points out that in the second half of the 1940s, the Emsland police detected only half of the cases. In many cases, the participation of Polish DPs in a given crime was merely a loose assumption. And when the police finally started their investigation, the courts often acquitted the suspects.
Polish soldiers in MaczkówPolish soldiers in Maczków - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
In the fall of 1946, Polish soldiers began to leave Emsland . The wave of repatriation followed. As part of the Allied Operation Carrot, most Poles returned to the country. Those who decided to emigrate chose primarily English-speaking countries - Great Britain, Australia, the United States or Canada. A small group of ex-DPs, however, chose to stay in Emsland . In the mid-1950s, more than three hundred of them lived in the former barracks in Lingen.
Meanwhile, in September 1948, Germany again took power over the Polish zone . Maczków again became the town of Haren, the former hosts returned to their homes. They soon received compensation from the federal government - a total of eight million West German Marks. On September 10, the Germans proclaimed the day of liberation. A joyful procession passed through the streets, to which the new mayor, Bernd Hermes, spoke from the window of the local hotel. The last three years were baptized by the Germans as "Polenzeit" . For many years this word has become a synonym for everything that is the worst in the history of the city. Among the inhabitants, there were rhymes about the "hordes of Poles" and the "plague period" . Apart from them, not a single trace of DPs was left in Emsland.
This slowly began to change only in the nineties. Historians - both from Poland and Germany - became interested in the topic. There are two books about the Polish chapter in the history of Emsland. The town was finally visited by former DPs who had the opportunity to meet the authorities and residents. Time favored similar gestures much more than half a century earlier, when the Reconciliation Feast organized in March 1947 ended with a clash of fists .
During the writing of the text, the following books were used: Andreas Lembeck (in collaboration with Klaus Wessels), "Liberated but not free. A Polish city in occupied Germany", Warsaw 2007; Jana Rydla, "The Polish Occupation" in North-West Germany: The Unknown Chapter of Polish-German Relations, Krakow 2000.
www.onet.pl/turystyka/onetpodroze/maczkow-czyli-historia-okupacji-niemieckiego-miasta-haren-przez-polakow/54338l6,07640b54
Maczków - a Polish city in Germany that does not exist
Houses with red tiled roofs, a brick church, lots of greenery, all girded with the blue ribbon of the Ems River. Haren, located near the border with the Netherlands, corresponds to all the ideas of a typical German town. And there was a time when the local streets had Polish patrons, the town hall was the seat of the Polish mayor, and the town itself was called Maczków.
Łukasz Zalesiński
2.3 thousand
December 21, 2021, 13:13
Maczków, or the history of the occupation of the German city of Haren by Poles
In the spring of 1945, Polish troops occupied Emsland - a region of Lower Saxony right on the border between Germany and the Netherlands. By the way, a whole crowd of Poles regained their freedom - prisoners of war and forced laborers, who became the so-called DPs
It took time to get them back home. The war was still going on. So Dipisi was settled in the places from which the Germans had previously been displaced
The center of the Polish zone was Haren, renamed Lviv, and then Maczków. The town had a Polish mayor, Polish street names, schools, and even a theater or a cinema
It functioned for three years. Then the apartments were returned to their former German owners, and this chapter of Emsland's history was gradually forgotten
More such topics can be found on the main page of Onet.pl
"For the first time in six years I live in a normal room. There is a bathroom, a stove and a toilet without toilet paper. We enjoy a bit of Poland, although everything here is temporary and similar to each other"
- notes Józef Szajna in the fall of 1945.
Two decades later, he will become an icon of the theater, one of the most outstanding directors in the world. But now he has to deal with a bleak past. He spent the last four years in the German concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald. He wants to go home, but it's not possible yet. He must be content with the fact that Poland came to him. She came and made herself at the heart of old Germany.
Joy with a flaw
Hitler's days were numbered . From the east, the Red Army was pushing onto Berlin, and from the west, a coalition of Allied forces. In March 1945, the 21st Army Group led by British Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery crossed the Rhine. Canadian and Polish troops fighting in its ranks took Emsland - a piece of Lower Saxony on the border with the Netherlands .
As the Allied offensive progressed, more POWs and concentration camps were liberated, and forced laborers who were brought back to the Reich from the occupied countries were regained their freedom . In Emsland alone, the number of so-called displaced persons was in the tens of thousands. Throughout western Germany, over seven million of them were counted. For the Allied soldiers, the Dipisi became an obstacle in moving further , so as to prevent the complete blockage of communication routes needed for military transports, General Eisenhower [commander-in-chief of the allied expeditionary forces - editor's note ed.] gave the displaced persons the order: "You will stand fast and not move!".
Polish soldiers in Maczków (Haren)Polish soldiers in Maczków (Haren) - Porta Polonica / porta-polonica.de
So the joy among the recent prisoners quickly faded , while the frustration grew. The commander of the 1st Armored Division, General Stanisław Maczek recalled: "I was informed by Polish officers who were prisoners of war in the Sandbostel camp that although some 12 days ago they were liberated by the Allied troops, their living conditions did not change. The only difference is that, that the guards have changed . "
A Polish woman in a German uniform checks the documents at the main gate of the Haren camp after its liberation, May 7, 1945.A Polish woman in a German uniform checks the documents at the main gate of the Haren camp after its liberation, May 7, 1945 - Porta Polonica / Domena publiczna
See also: How a young German taunted the Soviet Union
The Allies had to somehow fix the problem. They decided to entrust some of the responsibility for relieving the tension to the soldiers of general Maczek. In May 1945, a plan was created for them to look after 60,000. Polish DPs from Emsland . To do this, they were to take control of an area with a total of nearly 6.5 thousand. sq km. This is how the Polish occupation zone in Germany was born .
Lviv is not very political
"The indicated houses must be vacated by all residents. The evacuated families may take valuables, clothes, groceries, quilts with them, but without mattresses. Furniture, kitchen equipment, plates, cups, pots and the necessary number of cutlery must be left on site." .
On May 19, announcements were posted on the buildings and poles of nearly ten towns in Emsland. Soon the displacement of the Germans began . Most of the families were parceled out to neighboring counties. They lived mainly with friends and relatives. In some villages the former farmers could stay on the spot to look after the cattle, but they had to arrange temporary quarters in barns or utility rooms.
The allies ordered the town of Haren to be evacuated almost entirely. Only nuns and the German mayor Hermann Wichers and his family were left in the existing apartments. However, he had to hand over official duties to his Polish successor, Zygmunt Gałecki. From then on, the Germans could enter the town only to use the post office . It required a special pass. Their place was taken by Poles - forced laborers and prisoners of war, including participants of the Warsaw Uprising.
Porta Polonica, Polish POSK Library in London / porta-polonica.de
The town was quickly renamed Lviv. In the streets, there are plaques with new Polish names : Jagiellońska, Łyczakowska, and Armii Krajowej. The new order quickly became the cause of diplomatic upheaval. Historical Lviv was soon to be incorporated into the USSR. The creation of a new one in Western Europe was considered a provocation by Soviet diplomats . The Allies, not wanting to irritate Stalin, suggested changing the name of the Poles. And so in June, Haren, named after General Maczek, became Maczków .
The Allies, however, still had their doubts. They were not sure if the Kremlin would accidentally recognize that in the vicinity of Emsland they were creating "their" Poland, as opposed to that of "people's" and subordinate Moscow.
A few days later, as Andreas Lembeck writes, the command of the 21st Army Group once again focused on the Emsland theme. The minutes of the meeting included a significant note: "As for the further proceedings regarding the creation of one or several Polish enclaves in Germany, a decision at the highest level has not yet been made. The political and economic consequences of such a plan have not yet been fully examined and cannot be accurately estimate ".
Meanwhile, the Polish Emsland was teeming with life.
Maczków is blooming
Polish schools began to spring up in the region like mushrooms after the rain . In the spring of 1946, there were already twenty-three such institutions - from elementary to high school. The elders acquired their knowledge at the People's University, which was established in Maczków. Szajna recalled: "We wanted to learn and make up for the lost years of war", although, as he added, at least in his case, it was not easy: "What others did in forty minutes, I had to do four hours. It seemed to me that my long stay in a concentration camp killed my ability to concentrate and discipline. " In the end, however, he managed to pass his high school diploma.
Students of the Polish school in MaczkówStudents of the Polish school in Maczków - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
Cultural life flourished in Emsland. In Maczków itself and its vicinity, there were fourteen theater and revue groups, as well as the Ludowy Theater managed by Leon Schiller. The actors prepared performances that enjoyed unflagging popularity. One of the hits was the play "Big Laundry", which was a satire on the life of DPs. At each of the performances, the 300-seat audience was filled to the brim.
Famous artists regularly visited Maczków . For example, the world-famous violinist Yehudi Mehuhin gave a concert there, and Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński gave a poetry evening. There was a cinema in the town , a library with a reading room , and a bookstore in the nearby Meppen , which sold several thousand books a month . The facility was supported by members of the British Polish community.
Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
See also: Monument to the gigantomania of officials near Bielsko-Biała
Polish newspapers also appeared in the areas controlled by the Maczkowce family : "Dziennik Żołnierza 1 Dywizji Pancernej" and the weekly "Defilada". Years later, Krystyna Kersten scrutinized the content. Newspapers, he notes, regularly reported on the situation in communist-controlled Poland . They presented the local reality in decidedly gloomy colors. The titles themselves were very meaningful - "Internal security and its guards - the Polish SS" or "Scouting - a school of communism". The editorial offices, however, did not persuade the readers to emigrate, leaving that to their decision.
Poles leave Maczków, 1948.Departure of Poles from Maczków, 1948 - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
Repatriations started in the fall of 1945, but progressed rather arduously. The reason was the post-war chaos, but also quite well-founded fear of the communist authorities, which were just installing in Poland. On the other hand, despite the passage of time, the life of a DP was still far from idyllic .
Time ousted
Provision, for example, left a lot to be desired. The Poles from Emsland were dependent on the supplies of UNRRA , the United Nations Relief and Reconstruction Organization. There was also a shortage of work. Initially, DPs could only look for employment in structures related to the Allied troops or in workshops that operated within the resettlement camps. Seventeen plants were opened in Maczków alone. There were, among others, a car workshop, a tailor's workshop, and even a small toy company . They produced for the needs of temporary settlers, and additionally conducted apprenticeship courses.
Some DPs went to Belgium to try their hand at hard coal mines, following the example of pre-war Polish emigrants. Others sought their fortune in black market trading . They also got in touch with the Germans , who, however, were generally very reluctant to Polish settlers. From time to time this reluctance turned into pits and fights .
A Polish soldier supervises the Germans in MaczkówA Polish soldier supervises the Germans in Maczków - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
The locals could not come to terms with the temporary loss of even their own homes . They could hardly tolerate the sight of Polish soldiers patrolling the area, observing the restrictions and occasionally requisiting radio receivers or binoculars, which, according to the order of the Allied authorities, were forbidden for the Germans. They also quickly coined the myth that DPs committed an exceptionally high number of crimes . Historians studying this problem have no doubts - it is a false picture. Of course, there were some abuses and breaking the law, but the scale of the problem did not go beyond what the security services had to deal with in other parts of Germany. Andreas Lembeck points out that in the second half of the 1940s, the Emsland police detected only half of the cases. In many cases, the participation of Polish DPs in a given crime was merely a loose assumption. And when the police finally started their investigation, the courts often acquitted the suspects.
Polish soldiers in MaczkówPolish soldiers in Maczków - Porta Polonica, Gilles Lapers / Paul Rousseau / porta-polonica.de
In the fall of 1946, Polish soldiers began to leave Emsland . The wave of repatriation followed. As part of the Allied Operation Carrot, most Poles returned to the country. Those who decided to emigrate chose primarily English-speaking countries - Great Britain, Australia, the United States or Canada. A small group of ex-DPs, however, chose to stay in Emsland . In the mid-1950s, more than three hundred of them lived in the former barracks in Lingen.
Meanwhile, in September 1948, Germany again took power over the Polish zone . Maczków again became the town of Haren, the former hosts returned to their homes. They soon received compensation from the federal government - a total of eight million West German Marks. On September 10, the Germans proclaimed the day of liberation. A joyful procession passed through the streets, to which the new mayor, Bernd Hermes, spoke from the window of the local hotel. The last three years were baptized by the Germans as "Polenzeit" . For many years this word has become a synonym for everything that is the worst in the history of the city. Among the inhabitants, there were rhymes about the "hordes of Poles" and the "plague period" . Apart from them, not a single trace of DPs was left in Emsland.
This slowly began to change only in the nineties. Historians - both from Poland and Germany - became interested in the topic. There are two books about the Polish chapter in the history of Emsland. The town was finally visited by former DPs who had the opportunity to meet the authorities and residents. Time favored similar gestures much more than half a century earlier, when the Reconciliation Feast organized in March 1947 ended with a clash of fists .
During the writing of the text, the following books were used: Andreas Lembeck (in collaboration with Klaus Wessels), "Liberated but not free. A Polish city in occupied Germany", Warsaw 2007; Jana Rydla, "The Polish Occupation" in North-West Germany: The Unknown Chapter of Polish-German Relations, Krakow 2000.