Recovered Territories

The term Ziemie Odzyskane is one used by Poles to describe the now Polish provinces of Pomerania, Silesia, Lubus and East Prussia, which were acquired by Poland after World War Two.

The territories had for many years been part of first Prussia and then Germany, and much of the population was German. However, at the end of WWII Stalin wished to expand the Soviet borders westwards to Oder-Neisse line, and so annexed a large part of eastern Poland. To compensate Poland for these losses, Stalin gave them the portion of eastern Germany consisting of these provinces. The western allies did not want to see Germany divided and areas populated by Germans given to Poland. Nevertheless, at the Tehran Conference discussions of Poland's western borders were deferred. By the time the matter came up again the Red Army was in control of Poland and there was little that the west could do. The German inhabitants of these areas who fled westwards or were forcefully expelled by the Soviets are known as Heimatvertriebene (literally: "the ones driven from their homeland"), and today the area is predominantly Polish.

While there is no question internationally about Poland's right to control these territories, some German nationalists lay claim on the territories. On the other hand, many Poles believe equally passionately in Poland's ancestral rights to the areas.

Arguments for the Polish Position

This position is defended by facts such as that the Holy Roman Empire at the meeting at the tomb of Saint Adalbert in 1000, Silesia and Lubus were already part of Poland, Pomerania a Polish fief. This area of the country was made into a separate Polish province of the church, which included Silesia untill 1850 and Lubus, Pomerania until the Reformation. Also the fact that Poland bordered the Holy Roman Empire was possible only because the Slavic people that lived between Oder and Elbe rivers were already the subject of conquest from the side of Saxonian vassals of the Holy Roman Empire. During the partial division of Poland period (1138-1320), Poland lost Lubus and sovereignty over the western part of Pomerania, which became a separate state, Silesia. Silesia was ruled by princes from the Polish dynasty of Piast until 1675, and eventually, in 1343, recognized the sovereignty of the rulers of Bohemia.

Counter-Arguments

Some doubt the validity of these claims, however, contending that the concept of Poland of a thousand years ago and the modern notion of Poland bear very little relation to each other. This concept is equally non-realistic to concept of some modern English nationalists that derive their Englishness from the inheritance of Alfred the Great.

Also, since the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ruled almost all of eastern Europe at one time or another, it could be argued that in 1945 Polish claims to these territories were no better than claims would be for sovereignty over Kiev or Moldova. (In matter of fact, Poles did claim sovereignity over Kiev during the Polish-Soviet war. By the treaty with the Petlura, Poland passed its rights to Ukraine.)