ABSTRACT
Undoubtedly one of the key issues, which after 1989 was subjected to serious re-evaluation on the Polish side, was the problem of the mass expulsion of Germans from former German territory between 1945 and 1949. As a result of decisions taken on 2 August 1945 at the Potsdam conference, about 114,000 square kilometres of German territory east over
the rivers Oder and western Neiße was either acquired by the Soviet Union or placed under Polish administration (pending the conclusion of a peace treaty). At Potsdam it was also decided that the majority of Germans living in those areas who had not already fled or been thrown out, were be to ‘transferred to Germany in an orderly and humane manner’. In sum, approximately 3,150,000 inhabitants of Silesia, together with about 2,000,000 inhabitants of Pomerania, 2,000,000 inhabitants of East Prussia and 350,000 Germans from the Free City of Danzig, or almost 7,500,000 people in total lost their homes, property and, in tens of thousands of cases, their lives. During the period of communist rule, in the eyes of Poles, the expellees embodied the fears, prejudices and antipathy toward all things German. To understand the changes that have taken place since 1988 in the Polish perception of this issue and how the process of integration with the EU has influenced the debate, it is first necessary to delve into history.
