Haren, Germany: Difference between revisions

|name = Haren (Ems)
|image_photo = Haren Emsbrücke.JPG
|image_caption = View towards the town centre of Haren

|type = Stadt

|image_coa = DEU Haren (Ems) COA.svg

|divisions = 12 [[Ortsteil]]e

|party leader_term = CDU2019–24

'''Haren''' ([[Polish language|Polish]] 1945: ''Lwów'', Polish 1945–1948: ''Maczków'') is a town in [[Lower Saxony]], [[Germany]] in the district of [[Emsland]].

Haren was first mentioned in the Middle Ages (around 890) in a registry of the [[Corvey Abbey]]. Around 1150 the settlement of ''Neuharen'' ("New Haren") was founded, while the nearby ''Altharen'' ("Old Haren") formed around a local castle, belonging to the bishop of [[MunsterMünster]], who bought it around 1252 from Duchess [[Jutta von Ravensberg]]. At the end of the [[Thirty Years War]] Haren was almost completely destroyed, but soon recovered and became a notable trading port at the [[Ems River]]. The inhabitants of Haren were in large part tradesmen and sailors, transporting grain and other commodities down the Ems River.

During the Napoleonic epoch in 1803, the town was given to the Duke of [[Arenberg]] as a compensation for the lands on the other side of the river. However, already in 1810, the town was directly incorporated into the French Empire. At the [[Congress of Vienna]] Haren, together with the entire [[Duchy of Arenberg-Meppen]], was assigned to the [[Kingdom of Hanover]], which in turn in 1866 became part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] and then the [[German Empire]]. Following the [[Franco-Prussian War]] a large [[prisoner of war]] camp was set up in the vicinity. The French prisoners built, among other facilities, the Haren-[[Rütenbrock]] canal, thanks to which peat started to be produced in the area. Despite all the changes, until 1913 both settlements were directly administered by the church. Only then did the German government take over the administrative area of [[Meppen, Germany|Meppen]], to which Haren belonged.

At the end of [[World War II]], there were over 3 million Polish citizens in Germany, most of them [[displaced person]]s (DPs) who got there either as [[Forced labor in Germany during World War II|slave labourers]], prisoners of [[Nazi concentration camps|German concentration camps]] or [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]]. As the political situation in Communist-controlled Poland was uncertain, the Allied authorities decided to create a Polish enclave in Germany that would serve both as a resettlement camp, local cultural centre and a station from which the DPs could further be dispatched to Poland or various western states. As Haren lay in the occupation zone administered by the [[I Corps in the West (Poland)|Polish I Corps]] (and more specifically the [[Polish 1st Armoured Division]]), it was chosen as the most appropriate centre of a Polish enclave in Germany.

On 19 May 1945, the [[Polish 1st Armoured Division]], a unit attached to the [[British Army]] moved all of the thousand families of Haren out to surrounding communities. Over 4000 Poles from [[Labor camp]]s and [[prisoner-of-war camp]]s in [[Northern Germany]] moved into the town.<ref name="Forster">{{cite web | author=Karl Forster | title=Haren - Lwów - Maczków - Haren; Eine polnische Stadt in Deutschland (''A Polish city in Germany'') | publisher=Deutsch-Polnische Gesellschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland | work=polen-news.de | url=http://www.polen-news.de/puw/puw73-13.html | access-date=2010-03-11 |language=de}}</ref> Many of them had been members of the [[Polish Home Army]], men and women, who had fought in the [[Warsaw Uprising]] of 1944.

Initially, the new Polish enclave was named Lwów, after the city in South-Eastern Poland by then occupied and later annexed by the [[Soviet Union]]. However, under Soviet pressure, the name was then changed to [[Maczków]], in honour of General [[Stanisław Maczek|Stanislaw Maczek]], the commanding officer of the Armoured Division and the local Allied occupation forces.<ref name="Forster"/> The streets in the town were renamed to Polish, either honouring various military units (''[[Polish Legions in World War I|Legionów Str.]]'', [[Artillery|''Artyleryjska Str.'']]) or named after streets in [[Warsaw]] ([[Ujazdowskie Avenue]]).

During the next months, a Polish town with a Polish mayor, a Polish school, a [[folk high school]], a Polish fire brigade and a Polish rectory were established. The latter registered 289 weddings and 101 funerals. 479 Poles have birth certificates showing ''Maczków'' as a place of birth. As there were hundreds of thousands of Poles in the area administered by the 1st Armoured Division, "Maczków" also served as a cultural centre: newspapers were being published there on a daily basis (''Dziennik'' and ''Defilada'' eventually reaching 90 thousand copies), a theatre was opened (led by [[Leon Schiller]]) and concert halls were active. Among the most notable events held in the Polish enclave was a 1947 concert by [[Benjamin Britten]] and Lord [[Yehudi Menuhin]].

In the Autumn of 1946, the Polish forces stationed in North-Western Germany started to be demobilised and ferried back to the United Kingdom. Also, the civilian inhabitants started to return to Poland or move to other European states. Eventually, by the end of 1948, the town was returned to the original inhabitants (and renamed back to Haren).