The Association of Polish Refugees (ZPU)

The history of the organisation began immediately after the Second World War when many Poles were still in the western occupation zones of Germany. They were particularly made up of former concentration camp inmates, forced labourers and prisoners of war, colloquially known as DPs (Displaced Persons). Once they had regained their freedom they began to structure their social, institutional and political life. Since there was a vital need for a central organisation to represent all Polish interests, in 1946 it was decided to set up an association entitled Zjednoczenie Polskich Uchodźców w Niemczech (ZPU). The new organisation arose from a merger of smaller associations and was a kind of institutional representation, a Polish parliament in Germany. At the same time, however, its further work was influenced by various parties and groups, and this was marked by contentiousness, internal disputes and many crises. Ultimately, the association was unable to cope with the many conflicts of interest and consequently disintegrated. This condition prevailed until the beginning of the fifties.

The former headquarters of the ZPU in Velbert and the office of the central ZPU board of management. This is where Kazimierz Odrobny and Witold Szwabowicz lived. It was also the headquarters of the League of Ukrainian Refugees.

Łukasz Wolak, 2016

The Work of the Organisation

Shortly after the foundation of the new organisation, the Executive Board began international cooperation with emigration circles, especially in Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States and Canada. At this point, it is necessary to highlight the organisations which cooperated with the ZPU in Germany: they included the Kompanie Wartownicze (the Guard Companies), the representatives of the Kongres Polonii Amerykańskiej (the Congress of American Polonia), the Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatantów, SPK for short (the League of Polish Combatants), the Centrala Caritasu Polskiego w Niemczech (the Headquarters of Polish Caritas in Germany), the Towarzystwo Pomocy Polakom w Niemczech, TPP for short (the Society for the Support of Poles in Germany), the Komisja Skarbu Narodowego w Niemczech (the Commission of the [Polish] National Fund in Germany), the Council of the Rada Polonii Amerykańskiej w Niemczech (the Council of American Polonia in Germany), the Związek Inwalidów Wojennych PSZ (the League of Disabled Polish Servicemen), the Centralny Komitet dla Spraw Szkolnych i Oświatowych (the Central Committee for School and Educational Affairs) and Sender Freies Europa. Although their cooperation in the initial phase was only due to their co-financing of the ZPU activities, the sponsors and employees clearly gave their support to the new organisation. Without their donations, the ZPU would never have had a chance to take up its work. Relations with the aforementioned organisations varied in intensity at different periods of time.

At the start the ZPU board had very good relations with Związek Polaków w Niemczech (ZPwN), the League of Poles in Germany, but over the years these became cooler and eventually froze at the end of the 1950s. The reason was the closer relationships between the Chair of the ZPwN, Stanisław Szczepaniak, to the Związek Polaków “Zgoda” (ZP Zgoda), the League of Poles “Eintracht”, whose work was regarded as friendly to the regime in Warsaw by circles who were striving for independence. It was not until the early 1970s that a thaw began between the two organisations, after Kazimierz Odrobny proposed a joint alliance of Polish organisations in Germany to the SPK and the ZPwN. This alliance was intended to unite all the circles: the combatants, the Poles and the refugees. But the trial proved impermanent and relations between the organisations changed considerably over the years. This was also due to the natural aging process within the Polish diaspora as well as the declining interest in the organisations themselves.

In the end, this was followed by further cooperation with refugee groups of other nationalities in the Federal Republic of Germany, including the organisations of the Serbs, Yugoslavs, Ukrainians, Czechs and Romanians.