The province of Poznania was one of the „Polish“ provinces of the Prussian state, i.e. one of those areas, which Prussia had annexed in the partitions of Poland between 1772 and 1815. The integration of this Polish land was a difficult task for the Prussian administration, not at least because of its specific ethnic-religious structure. The population of Poznania was for the most part polish-catholic, followed closely by redominantly protestant Germans. Between these two groups existed a numerically important Jewish minority. The assimilation of the province was a long-term political aim. Accordingly to the Prussian-German self-understanding and reason of state, assimilation meant complete germanisation. Public education had to fulfill an important function in this policy. The public elementary schools more and more became an institution of great influence, the basic instrument for the spreading of German language and culture. In the case of the Jews the concept was more or less successful. In the case of the Polish people, however, counter productive. The Polish national movement learned to use the elementary school for their own purpose of self-assertion. Public education helped to integrate the majority of the Polish-speaking population, which was national indifferent for a long time, into the Polish nation building process. After the foundation of the German Empire 1872 the national conflict raised aggressively. The elementary school became a battlefield. In the end the German Polish policy was not to be successful.