Germanisation of Poles during Partitions

After the Napoleonic Wars, Austria remained in possession of parts of Lesser Poland, Galicia, Volhynia, as well as a minor share of Silesia. For most of the 19th century, the Hapsburg-Austrian empire made few or no concessions to their Polish constituents, their attitude being that a “patriot was a traitor – unless he was a patriot for the [Austrian] Emperor.” - Franz Joseph I of Austria and His Empire by Anatol Murad (1968). However, by the early 20th century – just before the outbreak of WWI and the collapse of Austria-Hungary – out of the three partitions, the Austrian one had the most local autonomy.

Prussia in turn not only retained the bulk of Upper Silesia but upon dissolution of the Duchy of Warsaw it also reclaimed the entire West Prussia (formed by Pomerelia, the northernmost part of Greater Poland and a strip of historical Prussia on the right bank of Vistula) and, most importantly, obtained the bulk of Greater Poland where an autonomous polity was formed under the name of Grand Duchy of Posen with an officially stated purpose to provide its overwhelmingly Polish population a degree of autonomy; in May 1815 King Frederick William III issued a manifest to the Poles in Posen: “You also have a Fatherland. […] You will be incorporated into my monarchy without having to renounce your nationality. […] You will receive a constitution like the other provinces of my kingdom. Your religion will be upheld. […] Your language shall be used like the German language in all public affairs and everyone of you with suitable capabilities shall get the opportunity to get an appointment to a public office. […]”

There was an easing of Germanisation policy in the period 1815–30. Then reforming Prussian minister for Education Karl Sigmund (Franz Freiherr vom Stein zum) Altenstein stated in 1823: Concerning the spread of the German language it is most important to get a clear understanding of the aims, whether it should be the aim to promote the understanding of German among Polish-speaking subjects or whether it should be the aim to gradually and slowly Germanise the Poles. According to the judgement of the minister only the first is necessary, advisable and possible, the second is not advisable and not accomplishable. To be good subjects it is desirable for the Poles to understand the language of government. However, it is not necessary for them to give up or postpone their mother language.

Growth of Prussia. Yellow are the territories gained by Prussia during the partitions of Poland