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POSEN

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 171 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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POSEN , an eastern See also:

province of the See also:kingdom of See also:Prussia, in the See also:German See also:Empire, bounded N. by the Prussian province of See also:West Prussia, E. by See also:Russian See also:Poland and S. and W. respectively by the Prussian provinces of See also:Silesia and See also:Brandenburg. Its See also:area is 11,186 sq. m. and the See also:population shows a See also:density of 177.5 inhabitants to the square mile. Posen belongs to the See also:north German See also:plain, and consists of a See also:low See also:plateau intersected by the beds of the See also:Netze, the See also:Warthe and the See also:Obra. These three See also:rivers drain into the See also:Oder, but See also:part of the province falls within the See also:basin of the See also:Vistula, which forms the frontier for a See also:short distance on the north-See also:east. By means of the Bromberger See also:canal the Netze is joined with the See also:Brake and then through this See also:river with the Vistula. The See also:surface is dotted with small lakes and ponds, and there are many broad See also:fens and marshes. The See also:soil is See also:light and sandy, but much of the See also:land reclaimed in the boggy districts is very fertile. Upwards of 61% of the area is under tillage, 13% is occupied by pasture and meadows and 20% by forests, mostly See also:fir. The See also:principal crops are See also:rye, the See also:chief cereal grown, See also:wheat, oats, See also:barley, potatoes, See also:beets and hops. The See also:vine is cultivated to some extent in the See also:south-west corner, and See also:tobacco is also grown. The marshy tracts often afford excellent pasture and support large See also:numbers of See also:cattle, See also:sheep and goats. The See also:mineral resources of the province are practically restricted to See also:lignite and See also:salt.

Besides See also:

brewing and distilling, the chief See also:pro-ducts are machinery, See also:sugar, See also:cloth, tobacco and bricks. See also:Trade in See also:timber and agricultural produce is facilitated by the network of See also:railways, navigable rivers and canals, but both See also:industry and trade are somewhat cramped by the duties imposed at the Russian frontier. The population of the province in 1905 was 1,986,637, including 1,347,958 See also:Roman Catholics, 605,312 Protestants and 30,433 See also:Jews. The Roman Catholics are mainly Poles, of whom there are upwards of 1,000,000 in Posen, while the See also:great bulk of the 900,000 Germans are Protestants. About 57% of the population was returned in 1905 as " rural," in spite of the large number of so-called " towns," only five of which, however, have more than 20,000 inhabitants—Posen, See also:Bromberg, Hohensalza, See also:Gnesen and See also:Schneidemuhl. The province of Posen was See also:long the worst-educated part of the German dominions, but of See also:recent years this blemish has been removed. Thus while in 1882–1883 the ratio of illiterate recruits amounted to 9.75% in Igoe less than ossse See also:quarter per cent of the military drafts were without schooling. The province returns 15 members to the Reichstag, 29 to the Prussian See also:Lower See also:House of the Prussian See also:Diet, and is represented in the Upper House by 19 members. It is divided into two districts, those of Bromberg and Posen. See also:History.—The history of Posen, comprehending some part of the old kingdom of Poland, including its most See also:ancient See also:capital, Gnesen, falls within the See also:scope of the See also:article POLAND. Its See also:political connexion with Prussia began in 1772, when the districts to the north of the Netze See also:fell to the See also:share of that See also:power in the first See also:partition of Poland. The See also:rest followed in 1793, and was See also:united with the Netze See also:district to See also:form the province of South Prussia.

In 1807, after the See also:

peace of See also:Tilsit, Posen was incorporated with the See also:grand duchy of See also:Warsaw, but in 1815 it reverted to Prussia under the See also:style of the grand duchy of Posen. In 1848 the See also:Polish inhabitants of the province revolted and had to be put down by force, and, in spite of the efforts of the Prussian See also:government, they remain in See also:language and culture separated from their German compatriots. The See also:tide of German See also:immigration into Posen began at an See also:early See also:period and flowed strongly in the 13th and following centuries. The industrious German settlers were welcomed by the Polish nobles and were the founders of most of the towns, in which they lived after their own customs and were governed by their own See also:laws. They established manufactures, introduced the cultivation of hops, reclaimed the See also:waste soil, and did much to improve See also:agriculture. In the 16th See also:century Protestantism was widely diffused by their means. A strong reaction set in in the following century, and persecution of the Protestants went See also:hand in hand with the ravages of See also:war in hastening the political, intellectual and agricultural decline of the district. By the 18th century the burghers had sunk to the level of " stiidtische Bauern," or peasants with municipal privileges; and poverty and misery were widely spread. In the latter part of the 19th century, however, this See also:state of things began to be greatly modified owing to the strong Polish See also:national See also:movement which threatened to drive back the boundaries of Germanism in the eastern provinces of Prussia, as they had already been driven back in Bohemia. Hitherto the most important class in Posen had been the Polish nobles, of whom many were very poor; but the economic development of the See also:country and the break-up of the large estates into See also:peasant holdings, which created a comparatively wealthy Polish See also:middle class, threatened German ascendancy more seriously than had the traditional nationalism of the nobles. To combat this the Prussian government entered on a policy of the compulsory Germanization of the Polish population. In 1872 an administrative See also:ordinance made German the See also:medium of instruction in the See also:schools " wherever possible," and the See also:police commissaries who attended public meetings were instructed to See also:close any See also:meeting at which speeches were delivered in Polish.

In See also:

April 1888 the Prussian See also:parliament passed a See also:law establishing a See also:commission for the purpose of buying the land of the Poles in Posen and West Prussia, and letting it out to German colonists. The sum of See also:ioo,000,000 marks (£5,00o,000) was voted for this See also:work, to which in 1898 a like sum was added. In fifteen years an area of nearly 600 sq. m. of land was bought from the Poles, over one-See also:half in Posen, and on this over 4000 families were settled. In spite of this policy, however, the Polish See also:element continued to gain, this being partly due to immigration over the eastern border, partly to the repressive policy of the Prussian government, which converted what had been an aristocratic opposition into one that is popular and See also:radical. In 1902 much See also:scandal was caused by the See also:revelation made in the Prussian parliament of the methods used in the See also:attempt to Germanize the Poles; and See also:Count Billow had to confess that "See also:corporal See also:punishment was out of See also:place in religious instruction "; Polish See also:children having been beaten for refusing to say the See also:Lord's, See also:Prayer in German (see See also:Ann. Reg., 1901, p. 278). In his speech of the 13th of See also:January 1903, in which he made the above See also:admission, Count Billow also had to admit the failure of the Prussian policy. Fresh legislation was passed in May, devoting another 250,000,000 marks (£12,500,000) to the policy of German colonization, and forbidding the German colonists to sell their land to Poles. i The laws forbidding the use of the Polish language in the schools were retained, in spite of an agitation in See also:Germany itself for their See also:repeal. Yet, three years later, See also:Baron von Rheinbaben, the Prussian See also:minister of See also:finance. complained that in fifteen years the German population of East Prussia had diminished by 630,000, while Polish immigrants had in five years numbered 300,000; at the same See also:time he confessed that the Poles were vastly increasing their economic resources at the expense of the German element. As a result of this See also:report a further sum of £1oo,000 was voted for " provincial colonization " and to prevent German See also:emigration. In 1906 the Prussian government was made somewhat ridiculous by the strike of some 100,000 Polish school children, who objected to being whipped for refusing to See also:answer questions in German.

The See also:

petition of the See also:archbishop of Posen that the children should be allowed to receive religious instruction in Polish having been rejected by the Prussian minister of See also:education, he issued on the 17th of See also:October a See also:pastoral allowing parents to confine religious instruction See also:Annual See also:Register (1902), p. 280 seq,to See also:home or priestly teaching. As a result parents were fined or imprisoned for withdrawing their children from religious instruction. The repressive efforts of the government, however, culminated in the See also:bill, introduced in the session of 1907 by See also:Prince Billow, providing for the compulsory See also:expropriation of Polish landowners in favour of Germans. This bill, which applied to " the districts in which the safety of the endangered German element could only be ensured by additional allotments to German settlers "—i.e. Posen and West Prussia—was passed, in spite of the strenuous opposition of some of the most conspicuous nobles in Prussia, in the session of 1908. At the same time under the Public Meetings Bill, introduced in 1907 and now passed, no language See also:save German was to be used at any public meetings other than See also:international congresses, &c.—save during actual See also:parliamentary elections (Ann. Reg., 1908, p. 290). How opposed to the See also:general sentiment of Germany the Prussian policy rn Posen was, was shown in See also:February 1909, when it was condemned, though without effect, by a See also:resolution of the German imperial parliament. In January 1910 the Prussian policy was again arraigned in the German parliament in connexion with the See also:Kattowitz incident," Herr von Delbrilck justifying the removal of a number of See also:minor officials, for voting for Polish candidates at a municipal See also:election, on the ground that the officials of the empire deserted the ground on which the constitution of the empire rested if they failed to support Prussia in her struggle (The Times, January 13, 1910, 5 d.). Herr von Bethmann Hollweg expressed himself later in the Prussian parliament to the same effect (ibid.

January 20 and 22). For the history of Posen see See also:

Wuttke, Stadtebuch See also:des See also:Landes Posen (See also:Leipzig, 1864) ; C. See also:Meyer, Geschichte des Landes Posen (Posen, 1887), and Geschichte der Provinz Posen (See also:Gotha, 1891); Knoop, Sagen and Erzahlungen aus der Provinz Posen (Posen, 1894) ; E. von Bergmann, Zur Geschichte der Entwickelung deutscher, polnischer and jiidischer Bevolkerung in der Provinz Posen seit 1824 (See also:Tubingen, 1883) ; E. See also:Schmidt, Geschichte des Deutschtums See also:im Lande Posen enter polnischer Herrschaft (Bromberg, 1904); Stumpfe, Polenf rage and Ansiedelungskommission. Darstellung der staatlichen Kolonisation in Posen (See also:Berlin, 19o2); Wegener. Der wirtschaftliche Kampf der Deutschen mit den Polen um See also:die Provinz Posen (Posen, 1903)); the Handbuch See also:fur die Provinz Posen, Nachweisung der Behorden, Anstaiten, See also:Institute and Vereine (Posen, 1905) ; and the publications of the Historische Gesellschaft fiir die Provinz Posen (Posen, 1882 seq.). See further the See also:official work Zwanzig Jahre deutscher Kulturarbeit 1886–1906 (Berlin, 1907). A See also:good See also:account of the Prussian policy in Posen, from an outside point of view, will be found in the Annual Register, passim.

End of Article: POSEN

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