THE ISSUE OF LEARNING GERMAN AS A NATIONAL MINORITY LANGUAGE AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THE RIGHTS OF NATIONAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES DURING THE LAW AND JUSTICE GOVERNMENT IN POLAND IN THE YEARS 2015–2023

The aim of the article is to present the issues of the politicization of the German language teaching as a national minority language against the background of rights of national and ethnic minorities and relations between Poland and Germany during the Law and Justice (PiS) government in Poland in the years 2015–2023. The rights of national and ethnic minorities in Poland will be presented on the example of the German minority and the process of developing education for this minority and the German language teaching as a national minority language. Then, attention will be focused on showing the intricacies of the problem of politicization of teaching German as a national minority language in the mentioned period of time. The article hypothesizes that during the PiS government in the above-mentioned period, limiting guaranteed rights for the German minority by cutting educational subsidies for this national minority and reducing German language teaching as a minority language became a tool of Polish policy towards the German state regarding the Polish community in Germany. When writing this article, the author used the institutional and legal method, critical content analysis and long-term monitoring of education and minority rights.