The sovereignty of the Polish state: The German-Polish historians' dialogue

The dialogue between German and Polish historians has been politically controversial ever since the Enlightenment. The interwar years of the 20th century were one of the most radical periods. Typical of the controversies that arose during these years was the debate about the origins and sovereignty of the medieval Polish state. The topos of Greater Poland's territorial dependence on the German Empire during the 10th century was of instrumental significance for the acceptance or rejection of a sovereign Poland's right to exist in the 20th.