
Traditional Bamberka costume
Bambrzy (Poznańskie Bambry,
German:
Posener Bamberger) are the
Poles of
German origin, the descendants of Germans who moved from the area of
Bamberg (
Upper Franconia,
Germany) to villages surrounding
Poznań,
Poland. The said villages had been destroyed during the
Great Northern War and the subsequent
epidemic of
cholera.
The following villages were populated with
Bamberg settlers:
- 1730 in Dębiec, Jeżyce, Winiary and Bonin
- 1746 - 1747 in Rataje and Wilda
- 1750 - 1753 in Jeżyce and Górczyn
The condition for settlement was, according to the order of King
August II of 1710,
all newly-arrived foreign settlers in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had to be Catholic. At least 450 to 500 men and women came to Poland, however, surviving contracts suggest this number may have been as high as 900 people in four waves of immigration.
The
Polonisation of this group was a voluntary act and happened very quickly. The settlers refused to build their own churches, prayed with Poles, and their children learned the
Polish language. There were also many mixed marriages with Poles living there. At the end of the 19th century, during the
Kulturkampf period, all Catholics in villages inhabited by Bambrzy chose Polish nationality during
Prussian and
German censuses. In the late 19th century, the meaning of the word "Bamber" (singular form) became wider - it started to denote all people living in those villages, regardless of their ethnic or cultural background.
Many of them were soldiers of the Polish army fighting in
Great Poland Uprising. During the
German occupation of Poland most of them, just as most Poles, were persecuted for their Polishness. After WWII, for some time, they were suspected of collaboration with the Germans.
The advent of democracy in Poland in 1989 saw the beginning of a renaissance of the Bamber culture. The best-known aspect of this culture are the rich female dresses.