Before the end of World War I, Poles resided in the three powerful empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. With the defeat of all three (Germany and its ally Austria defeated Russia, but were then beaten by England, France and America), Poland was able to assert its independence. Many German lands, such as Silesia in eastern Germany, became part of the new Polish state. Many regions were allowed by the international community to vote on their status as part of the postwar settlement. Since primarily ethnic Poles lived in these regions, they left Germany to join Poland. The strip of former German territory called the "Polish Corridor," which divided the small area called East Prussia from the rest of Germany was especially vexing to the Germans. When the Nazis took over in 1933, they used this as a reason to invade Poland six years later.
Germany's defeat at the end of the second World War caused further territorial shifts. The Soviets had taken the eastern part of interwar Poland for themselves (they thus regained the Russian part of Poland that they had lost when Poland became independent), and compensated the Poles with German land. The new part of Poland was agriculturally better than the lost parts, so in some ways Poland gained overall, but the new part was smaller.
Germany was thus divided into three parts after World War II. The part known as East Germany was actually central Germany; the eastern part of the German Reich was placed "under Polish administration." The Soviets did not give the land to Poland right away; they wanted to keep Poland and Germany at odds, with Poland dependent on the USSR for help. In 1970, however, West Germany declared that it no longer had any intention of trying to recover those regions.
Many Germans were obviously upset over the loss of German lands--Hitler's plan to enlarge Germany had backfired. The eastern territories were a source of national pride. Today, however, Germans appear to have come to terms with the realities of the situation. Having learned how expensive it has been to rebuild and integrate the former East Germany, many Germans are relieved that they did not have an even bigger job to do. Germany's status as an important economic power has also not depended on geographic size as much in the 20th and 21st centuries as it had in the past. In short, a larger Germany would do more harm than good. But that doesn't mean that Germans don't visit their eastern neighbor extensively, invest in it or even try to buy property there. Poland's German past will continue to affect it far into the future.
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