The creation of a democratic republic in Germany in 1918 allowed for a freer unfolding of Polish cultural life in the Ruhr. But wider developments in the interwar period posed an interesting “test” for assessing the willingness of the Ruhrpolen to remain in Germany: the recreation of a Polish state in 1918 and recruitment efforts by French coal mining firms in the Ruhr gave the Ruhrpolen viable options for “return-” and out-migration. Consequently, the Ruhrpolen faced a difficult decision, positioned between three states with very different political structures, employment opportunities, and attitudes toward Polish-speaking communities.
Inspired by Albert Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, this paper will examine how these new opportunities for mobility in interwar Europe shaped the behavior of the Ruhrpolen and the political calculi of German state officials. Many German state officials, this author’s preliminary research suggests, broadly believed that a “sorting” process would see “committed Germans” among the Ruhrpolen remain in the Ruhr and “committed Poles” or other disloyal Ruhrpolenemigrate. Many Ruhrpolen, however, appear to have weighed other factors, especially perceived occupational stability, above nationalist considerations when making decisions about residency. Examining citizenship declarations, petitions to state officials, records from Polish civil society organizations, and French recruitment pamphlets, this paper will analyze how transnational informational networks and prevailing assumptions about nationalist commitment guided the behavior of the Ruhrpolen and German officials.