ABSTRACT
Among the subjects taken up by Polish archaeology, the problems of the Slavs and their relationships with the Germanic tribes, together with the origin and development of the state of Poland under the reign of the Piast Dynasty, were of the utmost importance in the process of creating national identity. The Polish German discussion on ethnic issues in prehistory continued what had been begun before the Great War. However, the major part of the discussion was played by articles that were published in newspapers and popular scientific magazines and brochures. In the 1970s Polish archaeology ceased to play an ideological part in the process of creating national identity. To some extent it can be seen in the discussion of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs. Furthermore, views about the allochthony of the Slavs were permissible and even the censorship did not contradict them because of political stabilization, effective polonization of the regained territories and the ethnic homogeneity of Poland.
