Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne
The German Socio-Cultural Society

Summary/Abstract: After the Second World War Polish authorities denied permission for the functioning of organizations of the German population. The events of 1956 brought a change of this policy. The first and only legal organization of the German minority in the Polish People’s Republic in those times was Niemieckie Towarzystwo Społeczno-Kulturalne (the German Socio-Cultural Society) founded in 1957. It was allowed to operate only on the area of Lower Silesia, a region where the existence of the German population was recognized by the Polish state. The Society’s statutory mission was to conduct cultural-educational activity and to represent the needs of the German community. In the 1960s, along with a change of the official policy towards the German minority, the tasks of the NTSK also evolved and its activity was to a greater extent controlled by the Ministry of the Interior. In that period the Society was primarily expected to implement in the German milieu the principles of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) and the government. Following the establishment of diplomatic relations with the FRG at the beginning of the 1970s, Polish authorities feared that the Society would be prone to West German influences so measures were taken to curb its activity and eventually lead to its self-suppression. As a way of implementing the above mentioned policy, in 1977 the Society was assigned a custodian, and after the imposition of the martial law its activity was suspended and never resumed.

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