Tracer les limites des sociétés dans une perspective transeuropéenne. Les « Polonais de la Ruhr » à la fin du XIXe et au début du XXe siècle

This article considers the Polish-German workers, mainly from the eastern parts of Prussia, Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire, who moved to the Ruhr Valley in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Extrapolating from this case study, it suggests a way of rethinking our conception of societies by shedding light on the processes through which demarcation and belonging were produced at local, state, and trans-European levels as an increasing number of people arrived, stayed, or sometimes moved on. The intellectual and social figure of the “Ruhr Poles” is particularly revealing because it points to competing spatial affiliations whose meanings shifted depending on geographical setting and social context. An analysis of the interwoven processes of differentiation and evaluation in which these migrants were involved provides insights into the influence that regional actors exerted through administrative practices of categorization. It also shows the diverse ways in which newcomers to the area represented and normalized social relationships. Finally, the article discusses the consequences of these interacting processes for the legal and scholarly categorizations of individuals who moved in ways that were not defined by the nation-state grid between multiple spaces such as the Ruhr Valley and Polish-speaking areas. Overall, the article demonstrates that even as the model of the “nation-state” was becoming prevalent in scholarly and public discourses across Europe, different constructions of belonging based on origin, achievement, and visions of the common humanity of subjects coexisted in the Ruhr region as an economic zone shaped by mobilities.

Friedrichs, Anne 2021: Tracer les limites des sociétés dans une perspective transeuropéenne: Les « Polonais de la Ruhr » à la fin du XIXe et au début du XXe siècle. Annales HSS 76, H. 3, S. 489–529, Cambridge University Press.