Bambrzy

Bambrzy (Poznańskie Bambry, German: "Posener Bamberger") are the Poles of German origin, the descendants of Germans who moved from the area of Bamberg (Upper Franconia, Germany) to villages surrounding Poznań, Poland. The said villages had been destroyed during the Great Northern War and the subsequent epidemic of cholera.

The following villages were populated with Bamberg settlers:
*1719 in Luboń
*1730 in Dębiec, Jeżyce, Winiary and Bonin
*1746 - 1747 in Rataje and Wilda
*1750 - 1753 in Jeżyce and Górczyn

The condition for settlement was, according to the order of King August II of 1710, "all newly-arrived foreign settlers in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had to be Catholic". In total, approximately 450 to 500 men and women came to Poland.

The Polonisation of this group was a voluntary act and happened very quickly. The settlers refused to build their own churches, prayed with Poles, and their children learned the Polish language. There were also many mixed marriages with Poles living there. At the end of the 19th century, during the Kulturkampf period, all Catholics in villages inhabitated by Bambrzy chose Polish nationality during Prussian and German censuses. In the late 19th century, the meaning of the word "Bamber" (singular form) became wider - it started to denote all people living in those villages, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background.

Many of them were soldiers of the Polish army fighting in Great Poland Uprising. During the German occupation of Poland most of them, just as most Poles, were persecuted for their Polishness. After WWII, for some time, they were suspected of collaboration with the Germans.

The advent of democracy in Poland in 1989 saw the beginning of a renaissance of the Bamber culture. The best-known aspect of this culture are the rich female dresses.

External links

* [http://www.city.poznan.pl/bambrzy/index.html Official site of Bambrzy (in Polish)]
* [http://www.bambrzy.poznan.pl/ Site of Towarzystwo Bambrow Poznanskich (The Society of Bambrzy) (in Polish)]