Show POSEN THE experiment STATION FOR tile tho province of posen formerly pint of Germ germany anys s eastern prussia and one of the most important fragments ts 0 of old poland which has been in the new nett war born bom po lund huid was the unhappy experiment for some of prussian sias most vigorous and futile efforts to in an lien alien population liall U until the northern portion of pos posen en fell t ta a prussia after the firs arst t partition part eart of poland in 1772 and the re nial lider was annexed to prussia 21 years cuic later cosens history was blended ft nith ath that of poland in connection with the first partition it will bo be recalled that frederick the great adopted tile the ingenious scheme of surrounding those parts of poland he desired with etli a military force on the pretext prete tt that he was nna seeking to check the spread plead of a tattle cattle disease ater being bandied tor for a brief pe nod blodi posen fell to prussia again in islo end and tor for more than half a century germany paid little heed to it after the division of the vast ast estates and other economic changes polish middle classes in posen began to prosper tt whereupon hereupon toward the last quarter of tile nineteenth century prula began to take notice of its provincial tol toi toly y i germans had been imant grating there since the thirteenth century and tho the newcomers net omers tit at first were welcomed severance of posen from poland changed that foiling feeling though open friction was vas not generated until prula da began her repressive meas lueas ores polish nobles had kept alive po iash traditions but Pruss ln was ns more alar nied by the prosperity of the poles than ii by hat today might be called tin tile nobles propaganda so she lie set about posen both by cot col and by compulsion much as slie she attempted to do to the french in alsace Pius Pru sias islas first moye moe ans as to make german the language of illi alie schools school 4 police were leio ordered to meet lags ings where polish was vas spoken after 10 years eais that program failed to make much of a prussian sinn imbres slon upon ullon posen so n commission was as set up ull in 1881 1884 to buy lind land from tile tho roles poles for german settlement he be fore fora the failure of tills this policy was wag openly admitted the original appropriation pria tion ot of marks was supplemented ted again arid and again until in 15 years year more than halt of posen had been bought tor for german colonists still the roles poles predominated more kept coming coining from poland bolund and opposition to the german program was anten 1 11 ten sliced as the measures became harsher even germany was waa scandalized when la in looi IM 1 it was brought to light 1 in l 1 the prussian parliament that pupils ill I 1 s had been whipped by the wholesale for declining to say the lords pra prayer y er in german hut but the opposition of the grownups did not cause the worldwide world wide interest aroused by tile school childrens strike in I 1 1000 when alien about polish pupils t took ook that menns means ot of protesting against belag beang beaten when they would not answer questions in german the prussian government refused to accede to the request of the archbishop of posen that children be permitted to receive religious instruction in polish par enta who withdrew them from school were imprisoned efforts to absorb or crowd out tho the potes by german colonization having failed a measure was passed for the expropriation of polish land further laws were enacted compelling wider use of tile the german ian language then came the incident in 1910 crowning a series of petty persecutions which bordered on the absurd wherein a number of minor officials who and voted tor for poles at a municipal election were removed from office posen Is smaller territorially alinn maryland but had half a mill million oil more population in 1910 1930 about a milli million on poles more than halt the total t ial population in posen were established e abil shed there before tile the world war posen has mineral deposits of lignite ant anil salt much ot of its land wa was tilled stilled its manufactured products besides those of its breweries and distilleries were sugar cloth tobacco bricks and machinery |