Press of the German Minority in Poland in 1989-2017

The aim of this article is to characterize the German minority press market in Poland in the period of 1989-2017. The article constitutes a discussion regarding terms that are key for the undertaken subject, i.e., “national minority”, “ethnic minority” and “the press of national and ethnic minorities”; furthermore, a typology of the functions of these media is presented. The analysis covered the socio-political framework of the functioning of minority media, as well as legal regulations at the level of publishing activities of national and ethnic minorities and the support of the Polish state towards publishing initiatives of minorities from 1989 to the present day. The article also constitutes an overview of German minority press issued in 1989 - 2017 in the Polish state. Characteristics of the periodicals contain information about their creation, presentation of graphic layout and publishing formula, as well as the thematic profile of the published contents. Approximating the German minority in Poland, the author attempts to answer the question of what role the German press once played in the Polish German society, and what is its role today, as well as who are the recipients of the German press in Poland today, what is its current condition and what are the prognoses for its development in the short and longer term. The conducted research applied technical analysis and analysis of press content. The study uses a number of sources. These include state documents published in journals of law, in various types of bulletins, reviews and in the on-line version.