Język Polski
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"Our attitude towards the Silesians". The paper prepared by the Department of the Prioson Systemand Camps of the Ministry of the Public Security (2 April 1946)
Aparat Represji w Polsce Ludowej 1944-1989, No. 1(13) (2015), pages: 451-467
Publication date: 2023-03-28
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Abstract
During their visits to the prison facilities located in Upper Silesia, the inspectors of the Faculty of Political Education of the Department of Prisons and Camps at the Ministry of Public Security noted conflicts among prison officers of Silesian and migrant origins. As a result they issued a request to carry out a campaign aimed at eliminating this antagonism. For this purpose, in April 1946 a ‘political report’ was prepared, entitled „Our relationship with the people of Silesia” and addressed to former prison and camp governors in the Silesian province and the ‘Recovered Territories’. The document was to serve as a compendium of knowledge on the national relationships in Upper Silesia, including issues related to the German People’s List (the ‘Volkslist’). It abounded in pathos and propaganda rhetoric, and it drew attention, among other things, to the mistakes made in the time of the Polish gentry and Sanation in the policy regarding the people of Silesia (negligence, treating them as „half-Poles”), referring to them as brothers „groaning under the yoke of German rule”. The report was to result in a greater awareness of the „Silesian soul” and diminish the enmity towards the people of Silesia. At the same time it was shown that the management of prisons and camps under the Office of Security condemned anti-Silesian phobias or the programmed retaliation on Volksdeutsches.
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