Of the numerous German states in existence prior to the unification of Germany in 1871, it was Prussia that enjoyed the greatest contact with Poland. Despite the tense political situation resulting from Polish aspirations for independence (including the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and the Greater Poland Uprising of 1848), there was a numerous group of people from the Prussian intelligentsia, especially in Berlin, who sympathized with Poland. These included Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (1785–1858), a writer and diplomat, together with his wife Rahel (1771–1833), who hosted one of the most prominent salons in Europe during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the lawyer and historian Eduard Gans (1797–1839), the actor Ludwig Devrient (1784–1832), the writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822), the playwright Christian Dietrich Grabbe (1801–1836), the lawyer and writer Karl Köchy (1799–1880), the poet Friedrich von Uechtritz (1800–1875), other figures associated with the literary salon of Elise von Hohenhausen (1812–1899), and the writer Bettina von Arnim (1785–1859).

In the so-called Polenbroschüre (Brochure on Poland), published in January 1849, Bettina von Arnim referred to events that had taken place in the Grand Duchy of Posen since 1846, as well as their consequences. In the second half of 1845, the Prussian authorities had obtained general information about the planned uprising in Greater Poland, which led to the strengthening of military forces and numerous arrests, including that of Ludwik Mierosławski. An important member of the Polish Democratic Society (TDP), Mierosławski had been involved in the organization of the uprising and was captured on February 12, 1846. Two days later, dozens of other leading activists of the underground resistance were incarcerated, effectively destroying any chance of success for the uprising, although armed confrontations still took place. As a result of these events in the Prussian partition, about 1,000 people were investigated and 600 of them were arrested. Furthermore, the ensuing repression affected Polish economic and cultural institutions, with Polish teachers removed from schools, censorship tightened, martial law introduced and settlement activity resumed.