"Migrations in the 20 th century and their consequences – ways forward for history lessons within a European context"

Problems of integration
Integration is a process in which individual parts are put together to form a whole or are inserted 
into an existing entity. It means participation in the national economy, in the distribution of 
property and in the culture of the host country. The term should, in the broader sense, 
encompass the society of the region, in which people have a relationship with their 
surroundings, and therefore the feeling of being able to identify with the area in which they are 
living. This identification is shown by their willingness to assume responsibility for their living 
environment and place of work.
The political situation in spring 1945 was not in Poland's favour. The settlement of the new 
areas was characterised by a hasty effort to meet political objectives, one of the results of which 
was that it was badly planned and only carried out in stages. The effects of this were felt from 
the very start of the coexistence of the different population groups who came together in the 
new areas, and made their subsequent coexistence more difficult.
When we refer to integration in the new western and northern areas of Poland we should 
actually speak of two different types. The above definitions show that the host population plays 
a very important role in integration. In the new areas of Poland, the only indigenous resident 
population was in Upper Silesia and Ermland-Masuria, while in the other parts of these areas 
there were virtually none of the old inhabitants left. Although a large number of Germans were 
still living there, it was planned to resettle them, and this duly happened a short time later. The 
new arrivals did not regard the Germans as fellow citizens, often viewing them as people who 
were to blame for the suffering they had endured in the war. The centuries-old relationship 
between the victors and the defeated was reflected here: 
For the moment we can see Germans 
again and hear their language. How we used to fear them. Now it is they who are afraid.
31
In these areas we can speak of the integration of two different groups of Poles: firstly, the 
"resettlers" from central Poland and, secondly, the "repatriated", meaning people expelled from 
Poland's former eastern regions. The two groups were fundamentally different, and not only 
culturally (in terms of their customs, traditions, clothing and dialect). The former had come to 
the west to build a better life for themselves. They did not have to cope with the shock of losing 
their home, were more numerous and better represented in all areas of the administration, the 
party and the militia. In many cases they arrived earlier and were able to choose better 
31
"Tu jest nasza ojczyzna", Pozna*, p. 264.

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accommodation. They were convinced that they represented all things Polish and the Polish 
state, and they were dynamic and mobile - ie, simply "first-class" pioneers. This is also how the 
government saw them.
The "repatriated", on the other hand, were weighed down by the feeling of having suffered 
injustice and by the impression that they were aliens living in a foreign country and were 
superfluous. A young woman from Lwów (Lemberg) wrote in June 1945: 
If only we could 
remove everything foreign, everything German and sweep it out of every nook and cranny. ...
Wherever I go, I come across objects that belong to someone else and are evidence of 
someone else's life, a life I know nothing about, people who used to occupy this house, who 
used to live here and may now no longer even be alive. How are we to begin a new life here?
No, I cannot imagine being able to say one day that this is my home.
32
In the hope of being able to return home, and given the widespread uncertainty about the future 
of the "regained" areas, many people did not take permanent jobs, and everything was only 
temporary. This was also evident in the fact that they only did as much work as was necessary 
for their immediate survival. This led not only to differences in their material situation, but also 
to contempt from the other inhabitants, and manifested itself, inter alia, in the expressions