Recovered or Regained Territories (Polish: Ziemie Odzyskane, literally "Regained Lands") was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany (and the Free City of Danzig) that became part of Poland after World War II. The rationale for the term "Recovered" was that these territories had been part of (or fiefs of) the Polish state at various times in history, mostly during the rule of the medieval Piast dynasty. Over the centuries they had become Germanized through the processes of German eastward settlement (Ostsiedlung) and political expansion (Drang nach Osten).
The great majority of the German inhabitants fled or were expelled from the territories during the later stages of the war and after the war ended, although a small German minority remains in some places. The territories were resettled by the Polish communist government, mainly with Poles who moved voluntarily from Central Poland and the wartime Polish diaspora, and also with some Ukrainians and other minorities forcibly resettled under "Operation Vistula," as well as Polish "repatriates" forced to move from areas of former eastern Poland that were now part of the Soviet Union. The communist authorities also made efforts to remove traces of German culture, such as place names and inscriptions, from the territories.
The post-war border between Germany and Poland (the Oder-Neisse line) was formally recognized by East Germany in 1950 and by West Germany in 1970, and was affirmed by the re-united Germany in the German-Polish Border Treaty of 1990.
Read more about Recovered Territories: History Before 1945, Origin and Use of The Term, Polonization of The Recovered Territories, Role of The Recovered Territories in The Communists' Rise To Power, Legal Status of The Territories
Other articles related to "recovered territories, territories":
... said that the final status of the German state and therefore its territories were subject to a separate peace treaty between Germany and the Allies of World War II ... West German government regarded the status of the German territories east of the Oder-Neisse rivers as that of areas "temporarily under Polish or Soviet administration" ...
... of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, on September 17, 1939, the Kresy territories were annexed by the Soviet Union (see Soviet invasion of Poland), and a significant part of the ethnic Polish population of the Kresy ... republics to the Soviet Union (see also Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union) ... Kresy were ordered by the Soviets to move to the former German eastern provinces, the so-called Recovered Territories of the People's Republic of Poland ...
Famous quotes containing the words territories and/or recovered:
“Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capitalism is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (18701924)
“Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)