Ruhrpolen

Polish community in the Ruhr area in the 19th and 20th centuries

Ruhrpolen (, “Ruhr Poles”) is a German umbrella term for the Polish migrants and their descendants who lived in the Ruhr area in western Germany since the 19th century. The Poles (including Masurians, Kashubians, Silesians, and other groups) migrated to the rapidly industrializing region from Polish speaking areas of the German Empire.

The immigrants mainly came from what was then eastern provinces of Germany (Province of Posen, East Prussia, West Prussia, Province of Silesia), which were acquired by the Kingdom of Prussia in the late 18th century Partitions of Poland or earlier, and which housed a significant Polish speaking population. This migration wave, known as the Ostflucht, began in the late 19th century, with most of the Ruhrpolen arriving around the 1870s. The migrants found employment in the mining, steel and construction industries. In 1913 there were between 300,000 and 350,000 Poles and 150,000 Masurians. Of those, one third were born in the Ruhr area. The Protestant Masurians did not accept being identified with Catholic Poles and underlined their loyalty to Prussia and the German Empire.

The first Polish organization Jedność was founded in 1876 in Dortmund by bookseller Hipolit Sibilski. In 1890, Wiarus Polski, the first Polish newspaper in the region, was established in Bochum. Various Polish organizations were founded in the region, including Towarzystwo św. Michała ("St. Michael's Club") in 1888, Związek Polaków w Niemczech ("League of Poles in Germany") in 1894, a regional branch of the "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society in 1898, and pl ("Polish Professional Union") in 1902. Dozens of Polish bookstores were founded in various places, including Dortmund, Bochum, Herne, Witten, Recklinghausen, Oberhausen, de (present day district of Castrop Rauxel), de (present day district of Gelsenkirchen), de and Laar (present day districts of Duisburg). There were also various Polish companies, co operative shops, banks, and the former was even mockingly called the Polackenverein ("Polack club") by the Germans because of its many players of Polish origin. The main center of the Polish community of the Ruhr area was Bochum, and since 1905, many organizations and enterprises were based at Am Kortländer Street, which was hence nicknamed "Little Warsaw". The former Redemptorist Monastery in Bochum, which was closed down by the Prussian government during the Kulturkampf in 1873, was reopened and became a Polish religious center. The rights of the Ruhrpolen as citizens were restricted in many ways by anti Polish policies of the German Empire. While initially German officials hoped that the Polish population would succumb to Germanization, they eventually lost hope that the long term strategy would succeed. Polish schools had their accreditation refused, and state schools no longer took account of ethnic diversity. In schools with a high percentage of Polish speaking students, German officials split up the students. Poles also demanded Polish priests and mass services in Polish.

After the end of World War I and the rebirth of independent Poland, many Poles left the region and returned to Poland, although a sizeable community stayed. To take care of the remaining Polish population in the region and to facilitate the return of Poles to Poland, a Polish Vice Consulate was established in Essen in 1920, later elevated into a consulate, and eventually moved to Düsseldorf in 1936. In the interbellum, the main Polish newspaper of the Ruhr Poles was Naród, issued in Herne since 1921, whereas Wiarus Polski, the oldest Polish newspaper of the Ruhr, was moved to Poznań, Poland in 1923. Bochum was the headquarters of the Third District of the Union of Poles in Germany, which covered not only Westphalia and Rhineland, within which the Ruhr is located, but also Baden and the Palatinate. Polish church services were held in numerous churches, often in multiple churches in the same cities (as in Bochum, Castrop, Dortmund, Duisburg, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Lünen and Oberhausen), however, in the interbellum they were gradually limited, prohibited or cancelled. In 1934, the last Polish councilman was removed from the Bottrop city council. According to 1935 estimates, Polish organizations in Westphalia and Rhineland had 21,500 members. In early 1939, there were no anti Polish riots in the Ruhr area, although Nazi Germany increased both its invigilation of Polish activists and organizations, and the censorship of Polish press. Polish activists, expecting a German attack, secured the files of Polish organizations. On 15 July 1939, the Gestapo entered the headquarters of the Union of Poles in Germany in Bochum, searched it and interrogated its chief Michał Wesołowski. The Nazis then carried out mass searches of Polish organizations in the region and interrogated Polish activists, however, they did not obtain the desired lists of Polish activists, which had been previously hidden by Poles. Nazi terror and persecutions rapidly intensified. The Nazis limited freedom of assembly, increased censorship and confiscated Polish press for reporting on the persecution and arrests of Poles. In response, many Poles from the region came to Bochum for organizational and information meetings. On 24 August 1939, the Gestapo, under threat of arrest, demanded 30 leading Polish activists to appear at the Gestapo station in Bochum and present lists of members of Polish organizations, but again to no avail. Due to increasing German repressions, many Polish organizations suspended public activity. After the outbreak of the Second World War, all remaining Polish organizations in the Ruhr faced dissolution by the Nazis. On 11 September 1939, 249 leading Polish activists from the Ruhr were arrested and then placed in concentration camps. At least 60 of them were murdered for their activities by Nazi Germany. Headquarters of Polish organizations and premises in Bochum were looted and expropriated by Nazi Germany. Shortly before demolition, the church bells were sent to Poland. Dortmund, Essen, Unna and Witten.

It is estimated that in modern times, some 150,000 inhabitants of the Ruhr Area (out of roughly five million) are of Polish descent.