Ethnic Poles or Ethnic Germans? My family mystery

Things are sad in germany when krauts pull out the racist card. Lol harden up or you will turn into Sweden!

Heaven help us, TheWizard!!

The way Sweden, among other neighboring countries, has sold out to rampant, uncritical multiculturalism merely for its own sake is enough to make this poster puke.

Trust you were being sarcastic:-)

PS
As far as present-day Germany is concerned, being of German grandparentage myself and raised in both languages, German and English, I can only express my greatest admiration for the way post-War Germany rose up out of the ashes of defeat and become what she later grew into. However, she scarcely did it alone. Without Marshal Plan dollars, all the industrial grit, determination and German diligence wouldn't most likely have been worth squat.

The same Marshal Plan dollars given to any country on a continent which I will not name would have been stolen the day they were received, me thinks.

It is vey likely indeed that those people who were your distant ancestors in West Prussia, had at one point decided to renounce their Polish heritage completely and after having chosen their new German one, they wanted to close this process symbolically by adopting a new German-sounding surname.

It is quite possible that those ancestors with the Polish-sounding surnames had ceased using Polish at home long before they decided to adopt their German name and felt themselves German rather than Polish/Kashubian. They may (or may not) have been aware that Polish was spoken by their grandparents or to a lesser extent or not at all by their parents. Anyway, their attachment to the Polish language may have been very week or none at all at the time of this surname changing.

The region of West Prussian ceased being Polish and became Prussian as a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772.

Moreover, the father of Irmgard Eichler may have been a kind functionary or clerk in the Prussian administration which could additionally prompt him to change the name from "Dombrowski" into "Eichler".

Notice also that he decided to retain some link to the old surname by chossing "Eichler" rather than any other German name. "Eiche" means "oak tree" in German, so exactly the name of the same species of tree as found in his Polish surname "Dombrowski/Dąbrowski" which name derives its origin from "dąb" (oak tree) or "dąbrowa" (a group of oak trees or an oak wood). That way, the original roots of his family has not been completely erased, even though they were so wittingly hidden. It also means that the man knew the meaning of "Dombrowski" in Polish.

And last but not least, it is not that uncommon for some people to renounce as vigorously one's original language and ethnicity as even going to pondering upon a lobotomy of one's own brain (post #169):

https://polishforums.com/language/words-sound-funny-49893/6/

Correct. Many such names are merely calques from the other language.

Interesting observation. Thanks for pointing that out.

In the US, in England perhaps as well, the last name "Oakely" is still known I'm sure throughout the country.
What better cover for a Pole in the States named Bogdan Dabrowski than "Godfrey Oakely"!
LOL