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The Ruhr Poles

Associations of Polish Youth (Towarzystwa Modzieży Polskiej) in Herne-Horsthausen, 1916–1919

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Media library
  • The church cross to the right of the main entrance of St. Mary Magdalene´s Church - The church cross to the right of the main entrance of St. Mary Magdalene´s Church in Radlin II (Wodzisław Śląski)
  • The church cross to the right of the main entrance of St. Mary Magdalene´s Church - The church cross to the right of the main entrance of St. Mary Magdalene´s Church in Radlin II (Wodzisław Śląski), donated by emigrants
  • Call for the recruitment of miners in Masuria - Call of an agent from 1887 for the recruitment of miners in Masuria
  • Flag of the Polish-Catholic miners´ association of Eving, front - Flag of the Polish-Catholic miners´ association of Eving (Dortmund) from 1898, with a cross, mallets and iron on the front and the inscription: "Tow. Katolickie polskich Górników pod opieką św. Barbary w Eving"
  • Flag of the Polish-Catholic miners´ association of Eving, reverse - Flag of the Polish-Catholic miners´ association of Eving (Dortmund) from 1898, with a cross, mallets and iron on the front and the inscription: "Tow. Katolickie polskich Górników pod opieką św. Barbary w Eving"
  • Flag of the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Women in Suderwich, front - Flag of the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Women in Suderwich, founded on August 1, 1906, Patron Saint: Saint Joseph - Motto: Pray for us
  • Flag of the brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Women in Suderwich, back - Flag of the Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary of Women in Suderwich, founded on August 1, 1906, Patron Saint: Saint Joseph - Motto: Pray for us
  • Flag of the Mickiewicz Choral Society from Oberhausen 1898, front - Flag of the choral society "Mickiewicz" from Oberhausen, founded on 30 May 1898, inscription on the back: "Cześć Pieśni" [honour to the song]
  • Flag of the Mickiewicz Choral Society from Oberhausen 1898, reverse - Flag of the choral society "Mickiewicz" from Oberhausen, founded on 30 May 1898, inscription on the back: "Cześć Pieśni" [honour to the song]
  • Membership card of Sokół by Ludwik Najdecki - Membership card of the gymnastics organisation Sokół (Falcon) by Ludwik Najdecki from Herne, department Eickel II and Holsterhausen, taken on 3.4.1921 with stamp
  • Membership card of the Union of Poles in Germany by Josef Najdecki - Membership card of the Union of Poles in Germany by Josef Najdecki from 1923, district Gelsenkirchen, department Wanne-Eickel II, with stamp
  • Membership card of the Union of Poles in Germany by Josef Najdecki - Membership card of the Union of Poles in Germany by Josef Najdecki from 1923, district Gelsenkirchen, department Wanne-Eickel II, with stamp
  • Miners´ hymnal - Miners´ hymnal, published by the miners´ department of the "Polish Professional Association" in Bochum.
  • State of the Polish movement in Westphalia, report from 1912

    Report on the state of the Polish movement in Rhineland and Westphalia and other areas of the German Reich and neighbouring countries in 1912, author: Bochum Police Commissioner Gerstein.
  • Polish amateur theater group from Husen - Amateur theatre group with plaque (inscription: From the Polish Theatre in Husen on 23.3. 1919), marked: Viktoria Wasielewski
  • Choral society in Bochum-Hamme, 1910-1939. - Choral society in Bochum-Hamme in Westphalia, 1910-1939.
  • Polish children from Westphalia on their way to the holiday camp, 1925 - Polish children from Westphalia on their way to the holiday camp in Poland, 1925.
  • Polish children from Westphalia at the holiday camp, 1925-1939 - Polish children from Westphalia at the holiday camp in Jędrzejów, 1925-1939.
  • Polish Artists in Westphalia, 1928 - Polish Artists in Westphalia, 1928
  • A group of Polish artists in Westphalia, before 1939 - A group of Polish artists in Westphalia. Among others: Zofia Barwińska. Before 1939.
  • The religious ceremony in Herne, 1930 - The religious ceremony of "Days of Faith of Our Fathers" in Herne, 1930
  • Delegates to the II Congress of Poles from abroad, on a Street in Dortmund, 1934 - Delegates to the II Congress of Poles from abroad, on a Street in Dortmund, 1934.
  • Bank Robotników (The Workers' Bank) at Klosterstraße 2 in Bochum, 1917-1939 - Bank Robotników (The Workers' Bank) at Klosterstraße 2 in Bochum, founded by the German Polish community 1917-1939. 
  • Sokół gymnastic club 1920-1939 - Members of the "Sokół" gymnastic club at the rally 1920-1939.
  • Polish secondary school students from Westphalia at the summer holiday camp, 1936-1937 - Polish secondary school students from Westphalia at the summer holiday camp in Ustroń, 1936-1937.
  • Polish amateur theatre in Westphalia, 1929 - Polish amateur theatre in Westphalia, 1929.
  • Congress of Poles from Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum, 1935 - Congress of Poles from Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum, 1935.
  • Postcard from the Congress of the Poles in Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum 1935, front - Postcard from the Congress of the Poles in Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum 1935 with inscription on the back.
  • Postcard from the Congress of the Poles in Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum 1935, reverse - Postcard from the Congress of the Poles in Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum 1935 with inscription on the back
  • Congress of the Youth Section of the Polish-Catholic Societies of Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum, 1927 - Congress of the Youth Section of the Polish-Catholic Societies of Westphalia and Rhineland in Bochum, 1927.
  • Die „Ruhrpolen“ - Hörspiel von "COSMO Radio po polsku" auf Deutsch - In Zusammenarbeit mit "COSMO Radio po polsku" präsentieren wir Hörspiele zu ausgewählten Themen unseres Portals.

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Associations of Polish Youth in Herne-Horsthausen, 1916–1919
Associations of Polish Youth (Towarzystwa Modzieży Polskiej) in Herne-Horsthausen, 1916–1919

The beginnings of migration
 

It can be shown that the first groups of Polish workers came to the Ruhr area at the beginning of the 1870s, specifically to the town of Bottrop. These skilled miners from Upper Silesia, with an average age of just under 30, were intended to help compensate for the shortage of experienced workers in the newly commissioned mines in the Ruhr area.[6] A few years later the demand for qualified miners could be primarily covered by graduates from Westphalian mining schools. That said, the general demand for labour could still not be satisfied by workers immigrating from the border regions of Westphalia or from more distant German-speaking regions, such as the Hunsrück. The upshot was, that tens of thousands of young men - some of them still minors - from the rural regions of East Prussia flocked into the industrial area of Rhineland Westphalia to work in the local mines and industrial enterprises. The more courageous ones who set off from villages in eastern Prussia were their role models and “big heroes” for the following generations, who paved their way to the West: “If you had 20 marks [for a railway ticket] on you, you travelled to Westphalia. The younger ones waited until they were 16 years old to set off for Westphalia to make ‘big money’”.[7] Whereas the first miners were recruited to work in the Ruhr almost exclusively by professionals, it only took a few years for new workers to be recruited by word of mouth from the villages inhabited by the pioneer migrants. A lively exchange of letters took place between the places of destination and origin, and also between family members, neighbours and acquaintances of the first immigrants. This migration pattern, which goes far beyond the sociological concept of chain migration, can best be described as pioneer migration. 

From the middle of the 19th century onwards, the increasingly dense railway network in Central and Eastern Europe made mass migrations possible. With the introduction of a 4th class, tickets became affordable and the railways promoted the mobility of the masses in an unprecedented manner. The cost of a ticket for a two-day journey from a station in the eastern provinces to Westphalia was roughly equivalent to the weekly wage of a normal miner and was often paid for in advance by family members, acquaintances or the collieries which hired them.[8] The Rhineland-Westphalian industrial area became a place of yearning for thousands and thousands of young men (and in time also women), who not only sought to secure a livelihood, but also a better life: “Many a young person wanting to emigrate to richer countries [...] did not hesitate for long, but set out for the land of his yearning. Hymns of praise for that unknown land shot out of their mouths. When they heard such songs of praise, every Pole in a deplorable position in Poznan and Silesia felt a great joy and longing for such a blessed land.”[9]

 

[6] cf. Budraß, Lutz: Von Biertultau (Biertułtowy) nach Batenbrock. Oberschlesier in Bottrop, in: Budraß, Lutz/Kalinowska-Wójcik, Barbara/Michalczyk, Andrzej (Hg.): Fallstudien zur Geschichte des oberschlesischen Industriereviers im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, pp. 124–127.

[7] Hurski, Ludwik: Z pamiętnika Westfaloka, edited with an ontroduciton by Henryk Olszar (Źródła do dziejów Kościoła Katolickiego na Śląsku, Nr. 5, Red. Jerzy Myszor), Katowice 2014, p. 39 [Translation: David Skrabania]. 

[8] Kurek, Jacek: Kolej i tożsamość . Kilka sugestii ze Śląskiem i Galicją w tle, in: Keller, Dawid (Hg.): Znaczenie kolei dla dziejów Polski. Studia z historii kolejnictwa, Rybnik 2012, p. 16; Hurski: Z pamiętnika, pp. 45–48. 

[9] Geschichte einer polnischen Kolonie in der Fremde. Jubiläumsschrift des St. Barbara-Vereins in Bottrop, Oberhausen 1911 (Kirche und Religion im Revier. Beiträge und Quellen zur Geschichte religiöser und kirchlicher Verhältnisse im Werden und Wandel des Ruhrgebiets, 1968; Translation made in 1954, pp. 1–2.