With Germany’s defeat in the First World War, and events such as the Greater Poland Uprising (1918?1919) and the Treaty of Versailles, Poznan became part of a newly independent Poland. The population of the city had to acquire Polish citizenship or leave the country, which led to a significant decline of ethnic Germans. Indeed the number of registered Germans decreased from more than 65,000 in 1910 to 4,387 in 1934. Pozna?’s university (Adam Mickiewicz University) was founded and the Poznan International Fairs began during this interwar period. Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 Pozna? was incorporated into the Third Reich and became the capital of Reichsgau Wartheland.
