Social and cultural activity of Poles in the Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia (Grenzmark Posen Westpreusen) between 1933 and 1939

The article presents social and cultural activities taking place in the Frontier March of PosenWest Prussia (Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, Borderland) which operated between 1922 and 1938 in the first, short period of the existence of the Third German Reich – until the outbreak of World War II (1933–1939). The paper discusses the activities of various Polish organizations and institutions in the Nazi German state, including people’s banks, farming organizations, minority schools, scout troops, libraries, community centres, music institutions, and sports clubs. Although the Third Reich was a nationalist and totalitarian state, these organisations and institutions were allowed because the Third Reich pretended to be in good relations with the Republic of Poland. After the outbreak of the war between the two countries in September 1939, any separate socio-political and cultural activity of Poles in Germany, including the Borderland, was banned, and all the institutions and organisations presented in the article were dissolved.