A Brief History of the Province of Posen

The 19th century Prussian Province of Posen was called Wielkopolska until 1793, literally "Greater Poland". This region was the historical center of origin of the Polish Nation in the 10th century and has always been one of the richest and most developed provinces of Poland. In 1793, Greater Poland was taken over by Prussia and initially renamed "Southern Prussia". After 1815 this term was no longer used and the province was referred to with the name of its capital town, i.e. Poznan (German: Posen). This is often misleading, especially records providing only the name "Posen" are ambiguous - they suggest the town, where usually the entire province is meant.

Even before the Partitions of Poland, Wielkopolska had some German population but as it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, the German colonization increased significantly. Most of the settlers were Lutheran and many Protestant parishes were established. Before WWI, the German-speaking inhabitants were about 35% of the total population. The majority of them lived in the western and northern districts. The central and southern part of Wielkopolska retained its Polish and Catholic identity. The 1895 Prussian census in Posen province counted 542,013 Evangelicals (German), 1,164,067 Catholics (Polish), 44,346 Jews. According to language, the 1890 Prussian census in Posen province counted: 697,265 spoke German, 1,047,409 spoke Polish as first language. Larger cities had a predominantly German-speaking population.

The Prussian province of Posen (Capital city of Poznan) was established in 1815 and comprised the major part of the Polish region called 'Greater Poland'.  Until the 1850s, the term "Grand Duchy of Posen" was officially used as a name of the Province. This stressed the slightly different position of this area within the Prussian monarchy, still maintained according to its predominately Polish character. Still, due to the increasing pressure to unify Prussia, this name was abandoned and the name 'Provinz Posen' was introduced as the only official reference. Despite this terminological change, the territory of the Province remained unchanged during the entire century (until 1919). The region is correctly referred to as "Province of Poznan/Posen" during this time period.

The Province of Posen was an area where two large ethnic groups lived. The Poles were the original inhabitants who were still the vast majority in the central, Eastern and South-Eastern parts of the region. The German population had been slowly colonizing some areas of Greater Poland even under the Polish rule (up to 1793) and their presence in the Western areas was well established. When Prussia incorporated the Duchy of Poznan, the German influence grew rapidly and also their number gradually increased. Especially in the second half of the 19th century, the Prussian government supported the German colonization of the Province with vast amounts of money. During the entire century, the Germans gained a majority in the Northern areas of the Province. The German language was the only official (although before 1850 some auxiliary role of Polish was accepted by the administration) and also the names of towns and villages were slowly Germanized. This was accomplished both by changing the spelling to adjust it to the German pronunciation, and by direct translations of the place names. This process started with the Western and Northern parts of the Province, where many localities had long established parallel German names used by their Germanic inhabitants. Around the turn of the century, the Prussian authorities started to replace the Polish-sounding place names by designing completely new ones.

After the World War I, the major part of the Province of Posen was returned to the restored Republic of Poland and only the westernmost strip of it remained German. Several changes were made to the district divisions as a result of the new political borders. The Polish part of the former Province became the new voivodship of Poznan (although the North-Eastern districts of Bydgoszcz, Mogilno, Strzelno, Inowroclaw, Wyrzysk, Szubin and Znin were later incorporated into the voivodship of Polish Pomerania with the capital seat in Torun/Thorn). The German part was included into a new Prussian province named Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen (Borderland of Posen and West Prussia) with the capital in Pila/Schneidemühl. In 1938 this small province was divided between Brandenburg, Pomerania and Silesia. In the voivodship of Poznan the district borders were changed in 1932 (the number of districts was decreased). In 1938 the Eastern part of historical Greater Poland was also included into the voivodship of Poznan.

As the result of the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Hitler incorporated the voivodship of Poznan into the Third Reich and renamed it Warthegau (Warta River Region). After World War II, the pre-War Poznan voivodship was restored. In 1975, the administrative map of Poland was again redrawn and the areas of the 19th century Province of Poznan became part of 8 new voivodships: Poznan (its entire territory), Pila (its southern part), Leszno (its entire territory with small exceptions), Konin (some areas in its western part), Kalisz (its western 2/3), Gorzów Wielkopolski (its eastern portion), Zielona Góra (small eastern strip), Bydgoszcz (its southern 1/3). In 1999 the borders established pre-1975 were restored with minor adjustments. The voivodship is now called Wielkopolskie which literally means 'Greater Polish'.