How did Poland handle the transfer of territory from Germany?

by Aqwis

After WW2, Poland received a significant part of Eastern Germany. How was the resettling of that area handled by the Polish government? My impression of the sequence of events following the war is as follows:

  1. Germans who had not already fled west were expelled, and at some point cities such as Szczecin were virtually empty
  2. Meanwhile, the cities in the region were looted by Soviet soldiers moving westward
  3. At some point, the area was resettled by Poland, and particularly with Poles from the region they lost to the Soviet Union

Now there are a lot of unclear points I'd like to see answerered:

  • How early did the resettling start happening? Were the cities in fact empty for a significant period of time between the Germans leaving and Poles moving in, or did a lot of Poles follow behind the Red Army?
  • How were surviving houses/apartments distributed among arriving Poles? Was there an organized process, or was it "every man for himself"?
  • If there was an organized process, did Poles expelled from now-Western Ukraine get prioritized when houses/apartments were being divided out?
  • I don't get the impression that there were a whole lot of Poles living particularly in western cities like Szczecin, but what did those that did live there do during this whole process?
  • How were things like city councils/bureaucracies bootstrapped in formerly German cities? (To what degree did city governments matter in communist Poland anyway?) Did Poles already living in the cities attempt, successfully or not, to take power?
  • How were farms distributed?
MrMysterious95

The transfer of these areas to Poland has been decided in Yalta conference, however, some places like Wroclaw/Breslau did not capitulate until May 1945. There was still significant German presence in these areas even when new settlers from the East started to come. Some locals, like priests, municipal "technicians" (people who serviced local water locks or burned trash) were allowed to stay until new settlers arrived.

Initially the Regained Territories were under control of the Berling's army, but late in November 1945 a Ministry for the Regained Territories was created to organize the resettling effort. They determined the 'civic' leadership of the area. (in the communist countries the real power was held by the Party, who nominated members of the local councils/soviets, even though city governments (mayors etc.) also existed). This was a complex process, people received special document to be resettled, but often for ideological reasons people from large cities were resettled to different towns, often dividing families and friendships.

The prioritzed ones were often people released from work camps - that is, they were resettled in the first place, but no one could "pick" houses.