Keine Polen? bewusstseinsprozesse unter Ruhrpolen 1880 – 1914
The awareness processes among Poles living in the Ruhr region (1880 – 1914)

Summary/Abstract: Between 1870 and the beginning of the World War I about half a million of Polish speaking migrants came to Industrial region of Rhineland and Westphalia from the east provinces of Prussia. first of all, the immigrants arrived from Greater Poland, West Prussia, and Upper Silesia. They looked for a job and financial resources to survive. They wanted to escape from poverty and unemployment in their home regions, willing to earn money and organise their life again in their mother land after several years. As time elapsed, they brought closer with the local people and adapted to social relationships in the Ruhr district. The longer immigrants have stayed in the region, the greater was the need to participate in everyday life beyond national borders that were perceived as abstract and hard to understand by migrants. Thereby the participation in German societies that ensured free time increased. Apart from their religious character, celebrations and festivities had, most of all, a social character. National duties, however, were often perceived as additional ballast. After legacy changes, the opportunities of return were significantly limited and the assimilation tendencies become more intensive, especially among children and adults. More and more migrants including women were aimed at social acceptance and economic advancement in new society.

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