Bambrzy

Bambrzy (Poznańskie Bambry, German: Posener Bamberger) are Poles who are partly descended from Germans who moved from the area of Bamberg (Upper Franconia, Germany) to villages surrounding Poznań, Poland. They settled in villages which had been destroyed during the Great Northern War and the subsequent epidemic of cholera, including:

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 according to surviving contracts, however, later documents suggest this number may have been as high as 900 people in four waves of immigration.

The integration of the group was voluntary and happened within one to two generations. The settlers' children learned the Polish language. There were also many mixed marriages with Poles living in the area. At the end of the 19th century, during the Prussian fight against the influence of the Catholic church, all Catholics in villages inhabited by the settlers chose Polish nationality during Prussian and German censuses.