For years, the German federal government has been evading financing the teaching of Polish as the native language for the Polish minority in Germany, despite the fact that this was required by the good-neighbourly agreement concluded between Poland and Germany. In turn, our country has been fulfilling its obligations for a long time. In 2022, however, it was decided to reduce the funds allocated to this project. This, however, sparked the fury of the German minority in Poland, which accuses the government of the United Right of discrimination, informs today’s “Gazeta Polska Daily”.
In accordance with the will of the Sejm, in February 2022, the Ministry of Education and Science issued a regulation under which, from the school year 2022/23, the number of hours of German as the mother tongue financed by the Polish state was reduced from three to one per week. This sparked a protest from the German minority, which recognized that it was being discriminated against, and in retaliation repeatedly attacked Minister Przemysław Czarnek and the government of the United Right.
Only Poland complies with the Polish-German agreement
It is worth noting at this point that the German federal government does not spend even one euro on teaching Polish for the Polish minority in Germany.
– When in the early 1990s we negotiated the so-called good-neighbourly agreement with Germany, the Polish side undertook to make it possible to learn German as the native language for the German minority in Poland, and the German side undertook to enable the learning of Polish as the native language for the Polish minority in Germany, says the Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Dr. Tomasz Rzymkowski, to “Codzienna”. – We had the same obligations towards each other and the Polish side fulfilled them. However, the federal government, after signing the agreement, stated that it was not really within its competence and that the problem should be dealt with by individual Länder. They decided that they were unable to fulfill the obligation, and therefore this obligation no longer applies to them, he adds.
This is, among others the lack of willingness to deal with this issue by the German side meant that Poland decided to reduce the funds for financing teaching German as the mother tongue.
German minority protest
A few days ago, the German minority in Poland decided to remind themselves of themselves and once again attack the government of the United Right and inaugurated billboard campaign under the slogan “Give back the language to the children”. – We, as a community and Polish citizens, are appalled by the actions of politicians of the ruling party, especially from our region, in the field of supporting language education for our children – thundered Rafał Bartek, chairman of the Association of German Social and Cultural Associations in Poland, at the conference inaugurating the campaign. He also spoke about the discrimination of the German minority in our country and about the fact that Minister Czarnek promised to return to financing three hours of German and did not fulfill his declaration.
These allegations were addressed by the main interested party, the Minister of Education and Science, Przemysław Czarnek. “
If PLN 120 million per year for learning German as a native language is discrimination, then how do you call 0 euros from Germany for learning Polish as a native language for Poles in Germany,” he wrote on Twitter. “If you at least try to convince your German compatriots in Germany that it is not right to discriminate against Poles, I will take further action. This was the agreement,” we read in the entry of the head of the Ministry of National and National Education.
Eyewash in German
At the end of last year, after many appeals from the Polish side, the German federal government announced that there would be money for learning Polish – it will be EUR 1 million in 2023 and EUR 2 million in 2024 and 2025. As a reminder – Poland spends PLN 120 million per year on learning German. However, as it turns out, even these 5 million euros saved by German politicians will ultimately be spent on something other than language courses.
– These funds will not be allocated for Polish language classes, but for German non-governmental organizations, so that they can examine whether there is a need for learning Polish as a native language. This is money for pamphlets, for sociologists. Not a single hour of learning the Polish language will be financed from these funds – says Deputy Minister Rzymkowski in an interview with “Codzienna”.
Source: Gazeta Polska Daily
