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East Prussia

Coordinates: 54°43′N 20°31′E / 54.71°N 20.51°E / 54.71; 20.51 (Königsberg Castle)
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East Prussia
Ostpreußen (German)
Province of Prussia
1772–1829
1878–1945
Flag of East Prussia
Flag
Coat of arms of East Prussia
Coat of arms

East Prussia (red), within the Kingdom of Prussia, within the German Empire, as of 1878

East Prussia after the First World War
Anthem
Ostpreußenlied [de]
"Song of East Prussia"
(1930—1945)
CapitalKönigsberg
DemonymEast Prussian
Area 
• 1905
36,993 km2 (14,283 sq mi)
Population 
• 1905
2,030,174
History 
31 January 1772
• Province of Prussia
3 December 1829
• Province restored
1 April 1878
1 August 1945
Political subdivisionsGumbinnen
Königsberg
Allenstein (from 1905)
West Prussia (1922–1939)
Zichenau (from 1939)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Duchy of Prussia
Province of Prussia
Klaipėda Region
Marienwerder (region)
Second Polish Republic
Provisional Government of National Unity
Soviet Union
Today part of

East Prussia[Note 1] was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, until 1945. Its capital city was Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad). East Prussia was the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast.[1]

The bulk of the ancestral lands of the Baltic Old Prussians were enclosed within East Prussia. During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading Teutonic Knights. After the conquest the indigenous Balts were gradually converted to Christianity. Because of Germanization and colonisation over the following centuries, Germans became the dominant ethnic group, while Poles and Lithuanians formed sizeable minorities. From the 13th century, the region of Prussia was part of the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. After the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466 it became a part of the Kingdom of Poland, either directly (Warmia) or as a fief (remainder). In 1525, with the Prussian Homage, the territory became the Duchy of Prussia, a vassal duchy of Poland.[2] The Old Prussian language had become extinct by the 17th or early 18th century.[3]

Because the duchy was outside of the core Holy Roman Empire, the prince-electors of Brandenburg were able to proclaim themselves King beginning in 1701. After the annexation of most of western Royal Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772, eastern (ducal) Prussia was connected by land with the rest of the Prussian state and was reorganized as a province the following year. Between 1829 and 1878, the Province of East Prussia was joined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia. The Polish and Lithuanian populations were subjected to Germanisation policies, and later to outright persecution.

The Kingdom of Prussia became the leading state of the German Empire after its creation in 1871. However, the Treaty of Versailles following World War I granted West Prussia to Poland and made East Prussia an exclave of Weimar Germany (the so-called Polish Corridor separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany), while the Memel Territory, part of the Lithuania Minor region, was detached and annexed by Lithuania in 1923. Following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, war-torn East Prussia was divided at Joseph Stalin's insistence between the Soviet Union (the Kaliningrad Oblast became part of the Russian SFSR, and the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region in the Lithuanian SSR) and the People's Republic of Poland (the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship).[4] The capital city Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. The German and the Masurian population of the province was largely evacuated during the war or expelled shortly afterwards in the expulsion of Germans after World War II. An estimated 300,000 died either in wartime bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, through mistreatment by the Red Army, or from hunger, cold and disease.[5]

Geography

[edit]
Physical map of East Prussia in the year 1905

The landscape of East Prussia consisted of gently rolling plains and small hills, with flatter terrain in the north and more hills in the south. The province had a humid continental climate which was most pronounced in Lithuania Minor and at higher elevations in the south in the region of Masuria, while the northwesternmost coastal parts approached an oceanic climate.

In the northwest, the province bordered the Baltic Sea, with the Vistula Spit and Curonian Spit separating the sea itself from the Vistula Lagoon and Curonian Lagoon, respectively. The Sambia Peninsula (German: Samland) juts into the Baltic Sea between these two lagoons. Most of the rivers of East Prussia emptied into the two lagoons; the Pregolya (German: Pregel), Pasłęka (German: Passarge), and Prokhladnaya (German: Frisching) into the Vistula Lagoon, and the Neman (German: Memel) and Minija (German: Minge) into the Curonian Lagoon.

In the northeast of the province, the river Šešupė (German: Scheschuppe), a left-tributary of the Neman, formed the border with the Russian Empire, and today forms the border between Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania. The Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland) was a portion of the province to the north of the Neman river. Adjacent to the Curonian Lagoon and the lower reaches of the Neman river could be found the Elchniederung [de], a vast partially-drained bog, much of it below sea-level.

Further south, the region becomes more hilly, with fewer bogs and more lakes. To the east, near the modern Polish-Russian border, was the Romincka Forest (German: Rominter Heide), a famous hunting-ground for Prussian nobility. On the eastern end of the forest is Lake Vištytis (German: Wystiter See), and to the south are the Szeskie Hills [pl] (German: Seesker Höhen). The Angrapa river (German: Angerapp), a tributary of the Pregel, flows out Lake Mamry (German: Mauersee) on the northern end of the Masurian Lake District. The largest lake in the province was Śniardwy (German: Spirdingsee), at 113.8 square kilometers in area.

The headwaters of the Pregel's numerous tributaries were found in southern East Prussia, with the longest, the Łyna (German: Alle), extending almost to the southern border with Congress Poland, winding its course northward through southern Warmia and the central portion of the province. In the southernmost regions, the rivers flow to the south, emptying into the Narew and Vistula rivers. The highest elevation of East Prussia at 312 meters above sea level was Dylewska Góra (German: Kernsdorfer Höhe), found in the southwest near the border with West Prussia.

Background

[edit]
Ethnic settlement in East Prussia by the 14th century

At the instigation of Duke Konrad I of Masovia, the Teutonic Knights took possession of Prussia in the 13th century and created a monastic state to administer the conquered Old Prussians. Local Old-Prussian (north) and Polish (south) toponyms were gradually Germanised. The Knights' expansionist policies, including occupation of Polish Pomerania with Gdańsk/Danzig and western Lithuania, brought them into conflict with the Kingdom of Poland and embroiled them in several wars, culminating in the Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War, whereby the united armies of Poland and Lithuania, defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In 1440 the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation was founded, and various cities and nobles of the region joined it.[6] In 1454 upon the Confederation's request King Casimir IV of Poland signed the act of incorporation of the entire region to Poland.[7] The Teutonic Knights' defeat was formalised in the Second Peace of Toruń in 1466 ending the Thirteen Years' War. The restoration of Pomerania/Pomerelia to Poland was confirmed, and Warmia also was confirmed part of Poland,[8] with both co-forming the larger Polish provinces of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland. The remainder of historic Prussia also became a part of "one and indivisible" Kingdom of Poland as a fief and protectorate held by the Teutonic Knights.[9] 1466 and 1525 arrangements by kings of Poland were not verified by the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the previous gains of the Teutonic Knights, were not verified.

Act of incorporation of the region into the Kingdom of Poland, 1454

The Teutonic Order lost eastern Prussia when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach converted to Lutheranism and secularized the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order in 1525. Albert established himself as the first duke of the Duchy of Prussia and a vassal of the Polish crown by the Prussian Homage. Walter von Cronberg, the next Grand Master, was enfeoffed with the title to Prussia after the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, but the Order never regained possession of the territory. In 1569 the Hohenzollern prince-electors of the Margraviate of Brandenburg became co-regents with Albert's son, the feeble-minded Albert Frederick.

The Administrator of Prussia, the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order Maximilian III, son of emperor Maximilian II died in 1618. When Maximilian died, Albert's line died out, and the Duchy of Prussia passed to the Electors of Brandenburg, forming Brandenburg-Prussia. Taking advantage of the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655, and instead of fulfilling his vassal's duties towards the Polish Kingdom, by joining forces with the Swedes and subsequent treaties of Wehlau, Labiau, and Oliva, Elector and Duke Frederick William succeeded in revoking the king of Poland's sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in 1660. There was strong opposition to the separation of the region from Poland, especially in Königsberg (Polish: Królewiec).[10] A confederation was formed in the city to maintain Poland's sovereignty over the city and region.[10] The Brandenburg Elector and his army, however, entered the city and abducted and imprisoned the leader of the city's anti-Elector opposition Hieronymus Roth.[10] In 1663, the city burghers, forced by Elector Frederick William, swore an oath of allegiance to him, however, in the same ceremony they still also pledged allegiance to Poland.[10] The absolutist elector also subdued the noble estates of Prussia.

Although Brandenburg was a part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Prussian lands were not within the Holy Roman Empire and were with the administration by the Teutonic Order grandmasters under jurisdiction of the Emperor. In return for supporting Emperor Leopold I in the War of the Spanish Succession, Elector Frederick III was allowed to crown himself "King in Prussia" in 1701. The new kingdom ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty became known as the Kingdom of Prussia. The designation "Kingdom of Prussia" was gradually applied to the various lands of Brandenburg-Prussia. To differentiate it from the larger entity, the former Duchy of Prussia became known as Altpreußen ("Old Prussia"), the province of Prussia, or "East Prussia".

Approximately one-third of East Prussia's population died in the Great Northern War plague outbreak and famine of 1709–1711,[11] including the last speakers of Old Prussian.[12] The plague, probably brought by foreign troops during the Great Northern War, killed 250,000 East Prussians, especially in the province's eastern regions. Crown Prince Frederick William I led the rebuilding of East Prussia, founding numerous towns. In 1724, Frederick William I prohibited Poles, Samogitians and Jews from settling in Lithuania Minor, and initiated German colonization to change the region's ethnic composition.[13] Thousands of Protestants expelled from the Archbishopric of Salzburg were allowed to settle in depleted East Prussia. In 1756 Russia decided to go to war with the Kingdom of Prussia and annex the territory, which was then to be offered to Poland as part of a territorial exchange desired by Russia,[14] however, ultimately Russia only occupied the region for four years during the Seven Years' War before withdrawing in 1762 and did not make Poland an offer of territorial exchange.

History as a province

[edit]
New Map of the Kingdom of Prussia, John Cary 1799, split into the eastern regions of Lithuania Minor (green), Natangia (yellow), Sambia and Warmia (pink), the western Oberland territories with Marienwerder (blue), West Prussian Marienburg (yellow) and Danzig (green)

In the 1772 First Partition of Poland, the Prussian king Frederick the Great annexed neighboring Royal Prussia, i.e., the Polish voivodeships of Pomerania (Gdańsk Pomerania or Pomerelia), Malbork, Chełmno and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, thereby connecting his Prussian and Farther Pomeranian lands and cutting the rest of Poland from the Baltic coast. The territory of Warmia was incorporated into the lands of former Ducal Prussia, which, by administrative deed of 31 January 1772 were named East Prussia. The former Polish Pomerelian lands beyond the Vistula River together with Malbork and Chełmno Land formed the Province of West Prussia with its capital at Marienwerder (Kwidzyn) in 1773. The Polish Partition Sejm ratified the cession on 30 September 1772, whereafter Frederick officially went on to call himself a King "of" Prussia.

The former Ducal Prussian districts of Eylau (Iława), Marienwerder, Riesenburg (Prabuty) and Schönberg (Szymbark) passed to West Prussia. Until the Prussian reforms of 1808, the administration in East Prussia was transferred to the General War and Finance Directorate in Berlin, represented by two local chamber departments:

On 31 January 1773, King Frederick II announced that the newly annexed lands were to be known as the Province of West Prussia, while the former Duchy of Prussia and the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia became the Province of East Prussia.

Napoleonic Wars

[edit]
Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau in February 1807

After the disastrous defeat of the Royal Prussian Army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806, Napoleon occupied Berlin and had the officials of the Prussian General Directorate swear an oath of allegiance to him, while King Frederick William III and his consort Louise fled via Königsberg and the Curonian Spit to Memel. The French Grande Armée troops immediately took up pursuit but were delayed in the Battle of Eylau on 9 February 1807 by an East Prussian contingent under General Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq. Napoleon had to stay at the Finckenstein Palace, but in May, after a siege of 75 days, his troops led by Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre were able to capture the city of Danzig, which had been tenaciously defended by General Count Friedrich Adolf von Kalkreuth. On 14 June, Napoleon ended the War of the Fourth Coalition with his victory at the Battle of Friedland. Frederick William and Queen Louise met with Napoleon for peace negotiations, and on 9 July the Prussian king signed the Treaty of Tilsit.

The succeeding Prussian reforms instigated by Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein and Karl August von Hardenberg included the implementation of an Oberlandesgericht appellation court at Königsberg, a municipal corporation, economic freedom as well as emancipation of the serfs and Jews. In the course of the Prussian restoration by the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the East Prussian territories were re-arranged in the Regierungsbezirke of Gumbinnen and Königsberg. From 1905, the southern districts of East Prussia formed the separate Regierungsbezirk of Allenstein. East and West Prussia were first united in personal union in 1824 and then merged in a real union in 1829 to form the Province of Prussia. The united province was again split into separate East and West Prussian provinces in 1878.

German Empire

[edit]
Coronation of William I as King of Prussia at Königsberg Castle in 1861

From 1824 to 1878, East Prussia was combined with West Prussia to form the Province of Prussia, after which they were reestablished as separate provinces. Along with the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East Prussia became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871.

From 1885 to 1890 Berlin's population grew by 20%, Brandenburg and the Rhineland gained 8.5%, Westphalia 10%, while East Prussia lost 0.07% and West Prussia 0.86%. This stagnancy in population despite a high birth surplus in eastern Germany was because many people from the East Prussian countryside moved westward to seek work in the expanding industrial centres of the Ruhr Area and Berlin (see Ostflucht).

Map of the province of East Prussia in 1890

The population of the province in 1900 was 1,996,626 people, with a religious makeup of 1,698,465 Protestants, 269,196 Roman Catholics, and 13,877 Jews. The Low Prussian dialect predominated in East Prussia, although High Prussian was spoken in Warmia. The numbers of Masurians, Kursenieki and Prussian Lithuanians decreased over time due to the process of Germanization. The Polish-speaking population concentrated in the south of the province (Masuria and Warmia) and all German geographic atlases at the start of 20th century showed the southern part of East Prussia as Polish with the number of Polish-speakers estimated at the time to be 300,000.[15] Kursenieki inhabited the areas around the Curonian lagoon, while Lithuanian-speaking Prussians concentrated in the northeast in (Lithuania Minor). The Old Prussian ethnic group became completely Germanized over time and the Old Prussian language died out in the 18th century.

World War I

[edit]

At the German entry into World War I, East Prussia became a theatre of war when the Russian Empire invaded the country. The Imperial Russian Army encountered at first little resistance because the bulk of the Imperial German Army had been directed towards the Western Front according to the Schlieffen Plan. Despite early success and the capture of the towns of Rastenburg and Gumbinnen, in the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 and the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in 1915, the Russians were decisively defeated and forced to retreat. The Russians were followed by the German Army advancing into Russian territory.

After the Russian army's first invasion the majority of the civilian population fled westwards, while several thousand remaining civilians were deported to Russia. Treatment of civilians by both armies was mostly disciplined, although 74 civilians were killed by Russian troops in the Abschwangen massacre. The region had to be rebuilt because of damage caused by the war.

Division after 1918

[edit]
Division between Germany (area which remained in East Prussia), Lithuania and Poland after World War I
East Prussia Area in 1910 in km2 Share of territory Population in 1910 After WW1 part of: Notes
Given to: 37,002 km2 [16] 100% 2,064,175 Divided between:
Poland 565 km2 [17][18] 2% 2% Pomeranian Voivodeship
(Działdowo area)[citation needed]
[Note 2]
Lithuania 2,828 km2 8% 7% Klaipėda Region
East Prussia 33,609 km2 90% 91% East Prussia

Weimar Republic

[edit]
Inter-war East Prussia (from 1923 to 1939)

With the forced abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II in the German Revolution of 1918–1919, Germany became a republic. Most of the former Prussian provinces of West Prussia and Posen, territories annexed by Prussia in the 18th century Partitions of Poland, were ceded to the Second Polish Republic according to the Treaty of Versailles. East Prussia became an exclave, being separated from mainland Germany. The Klaipėda Region was also separated from the province. Because most of West Prussia became part of the Second Polish Republic as the Polish Corridor, the formerly West Prussian Marienwerder region became part of East Prussia as the administrative district (Regierungsbezirk) of West Prussia. Also, the Działdowo district in the Allenstein region became part of the Second Polish Republic. The Seedienst Ostpreußen (Sea Service East Prussia) was established to provide an independent transport service to East Prussia.

On 11 July 1920, amidst the backdrop of the Polish-Soviet War in which the Second Polish Republic appeared to be on the brink of defeat, the East Prussian plebiscite in eastern West Prussia and southern East Prussia was held under Allied supervision to determine if the areas should join Poland or remain in the Weimar Germany Province of East Prussia. 96.7% of the people voted to remain within Germany (97.89% in the East Prussian plebiscite district).

The Klaipėda Territory (Memelland), a League of Nations mandate since 1920, was occupied by the Lithuanian Armed Forces in 1923 and annexed without giving the inhabitants a choice by ballot.

Nazi Germany

[edit]
Adolf Hitler and Erich Koch in Königsberg, 1936

After Adolf Hitler's rise to power, opposition politicians were persecuted and newspapers banned. Erich Koch, who headed the East Prussian Nazi party from 1928, led the district from 1932. The Otto-Braun-House was requisitioned to become the headquarters of the SA, which used the house to imprison and torture its opponents. Walter Schütz, a communist member of the Reichstag, was murdered here.[20] This period was characterized by efforts to collectivize the local agriculture and ruthlessness in dealing with his [clarification needed] critics inside and outside the Nazi Party.[21] He also had long-term plans for mass-scale industrialization of the largely agricultural province. These actions made him unpopular among the local peasants.[21] In 1932 the local paramilitary SA had already started to terrorise their political opponents. On the night of 31 July 1932 there was a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Social Democrats in Königsberg, the Otto-Braun-House. The Communist politician Gustav Sauf was killed; the executive editor of the Social Democratic newspaper "Königsberger Volkszeitung", Otto Wyrgatsch; and the German People's Party politician Max von Bahrfeldt were all severely injured. Members of the Reichsbanner were assaulted while the local Reichsbanner Chairman of Lötzen, Kurt Kotzan, was murdered on 6 August 1932.[22][23]

In the March 1933 German federal election, the last contested pre-war German election, the local population of East Prussia voted overwhelmingly for the Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party.

Through publicly funded emergency relief programs concentrating on agricultural land-improvement projects and road construction, the "Erich Koch Plan" for East Prussia allegedly made the province free of unemployment: on 16 August 1933 Koch reported to Hitler that unemployment had been banished entirely from the province, a feat that gained admiration throughout the Reich.[24] In actuality, the Erich Koch Plan had been a staged propaganda event organized by Walther Funk and the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to promote the Nazi Party's work creation policies, with East Prussia chosen because it already had relatively low unemployment due to its agrarian economy.[25] Koch's industrialization plans provoked conflict with Richard Walther Darré, who held the office of the Reich Peasant Leader (Reichsbauernführer) and Minister of Agriculture. Darré, a neopaganist rural romantic, wanted to enforce his vision of an agricultural East Prussia. When his "Land" representatives challenged Koch's plans, Koch arrested them.[26]

In 1938 the Nazis changed about one-third of the toponyms of the area, eliminating, Germanizing, or simplifying a number of Old Prussian, as well as those Polish or Lithuanian names originating from colonists and refugees to Prussia during and after the Protestant Reformation. More than 1,500 places were ordered to be renamed by 16 July 1938 following a decree issued by Gauleiter and Oberpräsident Erich Koch and initiated by Adolf Hitler.[27] Many who would not cooperate with the rulers of Nazi Germany were sent to concentration camps and held prisoner there until their death or liberation.

After the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania, the Klaipėda region was integrated again into East Prussia.

World War II

[edit]
Map of East Prussian Districts in 1945

After the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany opening World War II, the borders of East Prussia were revised. Regierungsbezirk Westpreußen became part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, while Regierungsbezirk Zichenau (Ciechanów) was added to East Prussia. Originally part of the Zichenau region, the Sudauen (Suwałki) district in Sudovia was later transferred to the Gumbinnen region. In 1939 East Prussia had 2.49 million inhabitants, 85% of them ethnic Germans, the others Poles in the south who, according to Polish estimates numbered in the interwar period around 300,000-350,000,[28] the Latvian speaking Kursenieki, and Lietuvininkai who spoke Lithuanian in the northeast. Most German East Prussians, Masurians, Kursieniki, and Lietuvininkai were Lutheran, while the population of Warmia was mainly Roman Catholic due to the history of its bishopric. The East Prussian Jewish Congregation declined from about 9,000 in 1933 to 3,000 in 1939, as most fled from Nazi rule.

During World War II, the Polish ethnic minorities of Catholic Warmians and Lutheran Masurians were persecuted by the Nazi German government, which wanted to erase all aspects of Polish culture and Polish language in Warmia and Masuria.[29][30] The Jews who remained in East Prussia in 1942 were shipped to concentration camps, including Theresienstadt in occupied Czechoslovakia, Kaiserwald in occupied Latvia, and camps in Minsk in occupied Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.[31][32] Those who remained were later deported and killed in the Holocaust.

German-annexed Ostrołęka during World War II

In 1939 the Regierungsbezirk Zichenau was annexed by Germany and incorporated into East Prussia. Parts of it were transferred to other regions, e.g. Suwałki Region to Regierungsbezirk Gumbinnen and Soldau (Działdowo) to Regierungsbezirk Allenstein. Despite Nazi propaganda presenting all of the regions annexed as possessing significant German populations that wanted reunification with Germany, the Reich's statistics of late 1939 show that only 31,000 out of 994,092 people in this territory were ethnic Germans.[citation needed]

In the annexed pre-war Polish territory, the Polish population was subjected to various crimes, including mass arrests, roundups, deportations to forced labour and concentration camps (including teenagers),[33][34] executions, massacres (also as part of the Intelligenzaktion and Aktion T4) and expulsions.[35][36][37][38] The Jews were confined in ghettos and afterwards deported either deported to extermination camps or massacred in the region.

Eydtkau (now Chernyshevskoye) in 1941

Germany operated the Soldau and Hohenbruch [de] concentration camps, mostly for Poles, multiple subcamps of the Stutthof concentration camp and several prisoner-of-war camps, including Stalag I-A, Stalag I-B, Stalag I-C, Stalag I-D, Stalag I-E, Stalag I-F, Stalag Luft VI, Oflag 52, Oflag 53, Oflag 60, Oflag 63 and Oflag 68 with multiple subcamps, for Polish, Belgian, French, British, Serbian, Soviet, Italian, American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, South African, Czech and other Allied POWs in the province.[39] Pre-war Polish citizens made up the majority of forced laborers in the province, with their numbers gradually increasing, but due to the influx of forced laborers of other nationalities, their overall percentage declined from 90% in 1940 to 62% in 1944.[40] Most Polish forced laborers in the province were deported from the pre-war Polish territories annexed into the province by Germany, with German labor offices recruiting forced laborers established in the cities of Ciechanów, Ostrołęka, Płock and Suwałki.[40]

Hitler's top-secret Eastern front headquarters during the war, the Wolf's Lair, was located in the village of Gierłoż.

The Polish resistance was active in the province, both in the annexed pre-war territory of Poland, and in the pre-war territory of East Prussia, with activities in the latter including distribution of Polish underground press,[41] sabotage actions, executions of Nazis, theft of German weapons, ammunition and equipment,[42] and organization of transports of POWs who escaped German POW camps via the ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia to neutral Sweden.[43]

East Prussia was only slightly affected by the war until January 1945, when it was devastated during the East Prussian Offensive. Most of its inhabitants became refugees in bitterly cold weather during the Evacuation of East Prussia.

Evacuation of East Prussia

[edit]
Königsberg after the RAF bombing in 1944

In 1944 the medieval city of Königsberg, which had never been severely damaged by warfare in its 700 years of existence, was almost completely destroyed by two RAF Bomber Command raids – the first on the night of 26/27 August 1944, with the second one three nights later, overnight on 29/30 August 1944. Winston Churchill (The Second World War, Book XII) had erroneously believed it to be "a modernized heavily defended fortress" and ordered its destruction.

Gauleiter Erich Koch delayed the evacuation of the German civilian population until the Eastern Front approached the East Prussian border in 1944. The population had been systematically misinformed by Endsieg Nazi propaganda about the real state of military affairs. As a result, many civilians fleeing westward were overtaken by retreating Wehrmacht units and the rapidly advancing Red Army.

Reports of Soviet atrocities in the Nemmersdorf massacre of October 1944 and organized rape spread fear and desperation among the civilians. Thousands lost their lives during the sinkings (by Soviet submarine) of the evacuation ships Wilhelm Gustloff, the Goya, and the General von Steuben. Königsberg surrendered on 9 April 1945, following the desperate four-day Battle of Königsberg. An estimated 300,000 died either in wartime bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, or through mistreatment by the Red Army or from hunger, cold and disease.[5]

However, most of the German inhabitants, which then consisted primarily of women, children and old men, did manage to escape the Red Army as part of the largest exodus of people in human history: "A population which had stood at 2.2 million in 1940 was reduced to 193,000 at the end of May 1945."[44][45]

History after partition and annexation

[edit]

Following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland and the Soviet Union according to the Potsdam Conference, pending a final peace conference with Germany. Since a peace conference never took place, the region was effectively ceded by Germany.[46] Southern East Prussia was placed under Polish administration, while northern East Prussia was divided between the Soviet republics of Russia (the Kaliningrad Oblast) and Lithuania (the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region). The city of Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946. Most of the German population of the province had left during the evacuation at the end of the war, but several hundreds of thousands died during the years 1944–46 and the remainder were subsequently expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement.

Expulsion of Germans from East Prussia after World War II

[edit]

Shortly after the end of the war in May 1945, Germans who had fled in early 1945 tried to return to their homes in East Prussia. An estimated number of 800,000 Germans were living in East Prussia during the summer of 1945.[47] Many more were prevented from returning,[citation needed] and the German population of East Prussia was almost completely expelled by the communist regimes. During the war and for some time thereafter 45 camps were established for about 200,000-250,000 forced labourers, the vast majority of whom were deported to the Soviet Union, including the Gulag camp system.[48] The largest camp with about 48,000 inmates was established at Deutsch Eylau (Iława).[48] Orphaned children who were left behind in the zone occupied by the Soviet Union were referred to as Wolf children.

Southern East Prussia to Poland

[edit]

Representatives of the Polish government officially took over the civilian administration of the southern part of East Prussia on 23 May 1945.[48] Subsequently, Polish expatriates from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union as well as Ukrainians and Lemkos from southern Poland, expelled in Operation Vistula, were settled in the area, initially organised as the Masurian District, later replaced by the Olsztyn Voivodeship in 1947, with a few counties incorporated into Białystok Voivodeship and to Gdańsk Voivodeship. The latter counted in 1950 689,000 inhabitants, 22.6% of them coming from areas annexed by the Soviet Union, 10% Ukrainians, and 18.5% of them pre-war inhabitants. It was dissolved in 1975 to form three smaller units: a much smaller homonymous Olsztyn Voivodeship, the bulk of Elbląg Voivodeship and a significant part of the Suwałki Voivodeship.

The remaining pre-war population was treated as Germanized Poles and a policy of re-Polonization was pursued throughout the country[49] Most of these "Autochthons" chose to emigrate to West Germany from the 1950s through 1980s (between 1970 and 1988 55,227 persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to Western Germany).[50] Local toponyms were Polonised by the Polish Commission for the Determination of Place Names,[51] though in most cases it was a restoration of historic Polish names.

Origin of the post-war population

[edit]

During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. The same area corresponding to pre-war southern parts of East Prussia (which became Polish in 1945) was inhabited in December 1950 by:

1950 population by place of residence back in 1939:[52]
Region (within 1939 borders): Number Percent
Autochthons (1939 DE/FCD citizens) 134,702 15.90%
Polish expellees from Kresy (USSR) 172,480 20.36%
Poles from abroad except the USSR 5,734 0.68%
Resettlers from the City of Warsaw 22,418 2.65%
From Warsaw region (Masovia) 158,953 18.76%
From Białystok region and Sudovia 102,634 12.11%
From pre-war Polish Pomerania 83,921 9.90%
Resettlers from Poznań region 7,371 0.87%
Katowice region (East Upper Silesia) 2,536 0.30%
Resettlers from the City of Łódź 1,666 0.20%
Resettlers from Łódź region 6,919 0.82%
Resettlers from Kielce region 20,878 2.46%
Resettlers from Lublin region 60,313 7.12%
Resettlers from Kraków region 5,515 0.65%
Resettlers from Rzeszów region 47,626 5.62%
place of residence in 1939 unknown 13,629 1.61%
Total pop. in December 1950 847,295 100.00%

Over 80% of the 1950 inhabitants were new in the region, less than 20% had resided in the province already back in 1939 (so called autochthons, who had German citizenship before World War II and were granted Polish citizenship after 1945). Over 20% of all inhabitants were Poles expelled from areas of Eastern Poland annexed by the USSR. The rest were mostly people from neighbouring areas located right next to East Prussia (almost 44% came from Masovia, Sudovia, Podlachia and pre-war Polish Pomerania) and southern Poland (≈16%).

Northern part to the Soviet Union

[edit]
Königsberg Castle, 1895
"Königsberg" license plate holder, 2009

In April 1946, northern East Prussia became an official province of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic as the "Kyonigsbergskaya Oblast", with the Klaipėda Region becoming part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. In June 1946 114,070 German and 41,029 Soviet citizens were registered in the Oblast, with an unknown number of disregarded unregistered persons. In July of that year, the historic city of Königsberg was renamed Kaliningrad to honour Mikhail Kalinin and the area named the Kaliningrad Oblast. Between 24 August and 26 October 1948 21 transports with in total 42,094 Germans left the Oblast to the Soviet Occupation Zone (which became East Germany). The last remaining Germans left in November 1949 (1,401 persons) and January 1950 (7 persons).[53]

The Prussian Lithuanians also experienced the same fate.

A similar fate befell the Curonians who lived in the area around the Curonian Lagoon. While many fled from the Red Army during the evacuation of East Prussia, Curonians that remained behind were subsequently expelled by the Soviet Union. Only 219 lived along the Curonian Spit in 1955. Many had German names such as Fritz or Hans, a cause for anti-German discrimination. The Soviet authorities considered the Curonians fascists. Because of this discrimination, many immigrated to West Germany in 1958, where the majority of Curonians now live.

After the expulsion of the German population ethnic Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians were settled in the northern part. In the Soviet part of the region, a policy of eliminating all remnants of German history was pursued. All German place names were replaced by new Russian names, with only a few instances of use of historical names, such as Domnovo and Talpaki, based on historical Polish names. The exclave was a military zone, which was closed to foreigners; Soviet citizens could only enter with special permission. In 1967 the remnants of Königsberg Castle were demolished on the orders of Leonid Brezhnev to make way for a new "House of the Soviets".

Modern status

[edit]

Although the 1945–1949 expulsion of Germans from the northern part of former East Prussia was often conducted in a violent and aggressive way by Soviet officials, the present Russian inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Oblast have much less animosity towards Germans. German names have been revived in commercial Russian trade and there is sometimes talk of reverting Kaliningrad's name to its historical name of Königsberg. The city centre of Kaliningrad was completely rebuilt, as Royal Air Force bombs in 1944 and the Soviet siege in 1945 had left it in ruins.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, some German groups have tried to help settle the Volga Germans from eastern parts of European Russia in the Kaliningrad Oblast. This effort was only a minor success, however, as most impoverished Volga Germans preferred to emigrate to the richer Federal Republic of Germany, where they could become German citizens through the right of return.

The Polish part of the region, divided in 1975 to form three units: the Olsztyn Voivodeship, the Elbląg Voivodeship, and the Suwałki Voivodeship, has been reestablished as a single entity in 1999 under the name of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, whose borders correspond closely to those of southern East Prussia. Since 2004, Poland and Lithuania have become European Union member states, and both the Polish part of the region as well as the Lithuanian Klaipėda Region, has thereafter become freely accessible by Germans, in line with the free movement of people policy.

Demographics

[edit]

Historical ethnic and religious structure

[edit]
Mother Tongues of East Prussia, according to the 1905 Census

In year 1824, shortly before its merger with West Prussia, the population of East Prussia was 1,080,000 people.[54] Of that number, according to Karl Andree, ethnic Germans were slightly more than half, while 280,000 (≈26%) were ethnically Polish and 200,000 (≈19%) were ethnically Lithuanian.[55] As of year 1819, there were also 20,000 strong ethnic Curonian and Latvian minorities as well as 2,400 Jews, according to Georg Hassel.[56] Similar numbers are given by August von Haxthausen in his 1839 book, with a breakdown by county.[57] However, the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants were Lutherans, not Roman Catholics like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in the Russian Empire. Only in southern Warmia Catholic Poles - so called Warmiaks (not to be confused with predominantly Protestant Masurians) - comprised the majority of population, numbering 26,067 people (≈81%) in county Allenstein (Polish: Olsztyn) in 1837.[57] Another minority in pre-war East Prussia were ethnically Russian Old Believers, also known as Philipponnen - their main town was Eckertsdorf (Wojnowo), in Sensburg district.[58][59][60]

In year 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 Evangelical Christians, 120,123 Roman Catholics, 864 Mennonites and 2,389 Jews.[61]

Ethnolinguistic composition by district

[edit]
Ethnolinguistic distribution in East Prussia (1905) by district
Districts of East Prussia (1910)

As of 1905, the province of East Prussia was divided into three government regions, known as Regierungsbezirke. These were the regions of Königsberg, Gumbinnen and Allenstein.

Ethnolinguistic structure of East Prussia by district (1905) [62]
District (Kreis) Regierungsbezirk Population German % Polish % Lithuanian %
Braunsberg Königsberg 54,751 54,548 99.6% 140 0.3% 12 0.0%
Fischhausen Königsberg 52,430 52,235 99.6% 90 0.2% 43 0.1%
Friedland Königsberg 40,822 40,784 99.9% 14 0.0% 5 0.0%
Gerdauen Königsberg 33,983 33,778 99.4% 146 0.4% 1 0.0%
Heiligenbeil Königsberg 43,951 43,909 99.9% 21 0.0% 2 0.0%
Heilsberg Königsberg 51,690 51,473 99.6% 124 0.2% 8 0.0%
Landkreis Königsberg Königsberg 45,486 45,342 99.7% 72 0.2% 12 0.0%
Stadtkreis Königsberg Königsberg 223,770 221,167 98.8% 594 0.3% 159 0.1%
Labiau Königsberg 51,295 45,659 89.0% 27 0.1% 5,293 10.3%
Memel Königsberg 61,018 33,508 54.9% 40 0.1% 26,328 43.1%
Mohrungen Königsberg 52,408 52,215 99.6% 113 0.2% 2 0.0%
Preußisch Eylau Königsberg 49,465 49,325 99.7% 91 0.2% 3 0.0%
Preußisch Holland Königsberg 38,599 38,505 99.8% 61 0.2% 4 0.0%
Rastenburg Königsberg 46,985 45,998 97.9% 723 1.5% 19 0.0%
Wehlau Königsberg 46,774 46,401 99.2% 178 0.4% 81 0.2%
Total (Königsberg) Königsberg 893,427 854,847 95.7% 2,434 0.3% 31,972 3.6%
Angerburg Gumbinnen 35,945 34,273 95.3% 1,499 4.2% 39 0.1%
Darkehmen Gumbinnen 32,285 32,137 99.5% 74 0.2% 17 0.1%
Goldap Gumbinnen 43,829 42,891 97.9% 436 1.0% 185 0.4%
Gumbinnen Gumbinnen 50,918 50,703 99.6% 21 0.0% 21 0.0%
Heydekrug Gumbinnen 43,268 19,124 44.2% 35 0.1% 23,279 53.8%
Landkreis Insterburg Gumbinnen 46,237 45,693 98.8% 68 0.1% 311 0.7%
Stadtkreis Insterburg Gumbinnen 28,902 28,412 98.3% 166 0.6% 62 0.2%
Niederung Gumbinnen 55,129 47,792 86.7% 47 0.1% 6,497 11.8%
Oletzko Gumbinnen 38,536 24,575 63.8% 12,451 32.3% 8 0.0%
Pilkallen Gumbinnen 46,230 41,982 90.8% 65 0.1% 3,668 7.9%
Ragnit Gumbinnen 54,741 45,525 83.2% 80 0.1% 8,394 15.3%
Stallupönen Gumbinnen 43,875 43,099 98.2% 90 0.2% 383 0.9%
Landkreis Tilsit Gumbinnen 46,441 25,322 54.5% 38 0.1% 20,674 44.5%
Stadtkreis Tilsit Gumbinnen 37,148 35,598 95.8% 37 0.1% 1,442 3.9%
Total (Gumbinnen) Gumbinnen 603,484 517,126 85.7% 15,107 2.5% 64,980 10.8%
Allenstein Allenstein 85,625 45,723 53.4% 38,701 45.2% 21 0.0%
Johannisburg Allenstein 50,452 13,651 27.1% 35,433 70.2% 5 0.0%
Lötzen Allenstein 41,609 21,997 52.9% 16,877 40.6% 27 0.1%
Lyck Allenstein 55,790 23,562 42.2% 30,555 54.8% 2 0.0%
Neidenburg Allenstein 57,325 16,304 28.4% 38,690 67.5% 5 0.0%
Ortelsburg Allenstein 69,464 17,221 24.8% 50,665 72.9% 58 0.1%
Osterode Allenstein 73,421 39,778 54.2% 33,129 45.1% 13 0.0%
Rößel Allenstein 50,390 42,555 84.5% 7,383 14.7% 15 0.0%
Sensburg Allenstein 49,187 21,960 44.6% 25,381 51.6% 13 0.0%
Total (Allenstein) Allenstein 533,263 242,751 45.5% 276,814 51.9% 159 0.0%
Total (East Prussia) - 2,030,174 1,614,724 79.5% 294,355 14.5% 97,111 4.8%

Administration

[edit]

The Prussian central government appointed for every province an Oberpräsident ("Upper President") carrying out central prerogatives on the provincial level and supervising the implementation of central policy on the lower levels of administration.

Since 1875, with the strengthening of self-rule, the urban and rural districts (Kreise) within each province (sometimes within each governorate) formed a corporation with common tasks and assets (schools, traffic installations, hospitals, cultural institutions, jails etc.) called the Provinzialverband (provincial association). Initially the assemblies of the urban and rural districts elected representatives for the provincial diets (Provinziallandtage), which were thus indirectly elected. As of 1919 the provincial diets (or as to governorate diets, the so-called Kommunallandtage) were directly elected by the citizens of the provinces (or governorates, respectively). These parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provincial associations. The provincial diet of East Prussia elected a provincial executive body (government), the provincial committee (Provinzialausschuss), and a head of province, the Landeshauptmann ("Land Captain"; till the 1880s titled Landdirektor, land director).[63]

Upper Presidents of East Prussia and Prussia

[edit]
1765–1791: Johann Friedrich von Domhardt, president of the Gumbinnen and Königsberg War and Demesnes Chambers
1791–1808: Friedrich Leopold von Schrötter, president of the Gumbinnen and Königsberg War and Demesnes Chambers, as of 1795 Minister for East and New East Prussia
1808–1814: vacancy?
1814–1824: Hans Jakob von Auerswald, upper president of East Prussia
1824–1842: Heinrich Theodor von Schön, upper president of Prussia, merged from East and West Prussia, since 1816 already upper president of West Prussia
1842–1848: Carl Wilhelm von Bötticher, upper president of Prussia
1848–1849: Rudolf von Auerswald, upper president of Prussia
1849–1850: Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell (1786–1865), upper president of Prussia
1850–1868: Franz August Eichmann, upper president of Prussia
1868–1869: vacancy
1869–1882: Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Georg von Horn, upper president of Prussia, after 1878 of East Prussia
1882–1891: Albrecht Heinrich von Schlieckmann, upper president of East Prussia
1891–1895: Count Udo zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, upper president of East Prussia
1895–1901: Count Wilhelm von Bismarck-Schönhausen, upper president of East Prussia
1901–1903: Hugo Samuel von Richthofen, upper president of East Prussia
1903–1907: Count Friedrich von Moltke, upper president of East Prussia
1907–1914: Ludwig von Windheim, upper president of East Prussia
1914–1916: Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe, upper president of East Prussia
1916–1918: Friedrich von Berg, upper president of East Prussia
1918–1919: Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe, upper president of East Prussia
1919–1920: August Winnig (SPD), upper president of East Prussia
1920–1932: Ernst Siehr (DDP), upper president of East Prussia
1932–1933: Wilhelm Kutscher (DNVP), upper president of East Prussia
1933–1945: Erich Koch (NSDAP), upper president of East Prussia

Elections to the provincial diets

[edit]
Summary of the East Prussian Provincial Diet direct election results
Parties %
1921
+/-
1921
Seats
1921
+/-
1921
%
1925
+/-
1925
Seats
1925
+/-
1925
%
1929
+/-
1929
Seats
1929
+/-
1929
%
1933
+/-
1933
Seats
1933
+/-
1933
SPD 24.1 20 24.8 +0.7 (-) 22 +2 (-4) 26 +1.2 23 +1 13.6 -12.4 12 -11
USPD 6 +6 merged
in SPD
DNVP[64] 13.4 +13.4 11 +11 45.6[65] 40 (+4) 31.2 (+17.8) 27 (+16) 12.7[64] -18.5 11 -16
DVP 3.6 +3.6 4 +4 8.7 (+5.1) 8 (+4) 0 -8
BWA 16 +16 0 -16 0 0 0 0
Zentrum 9.3 8 +8 6.9 -2.4 6 -2 8.1 +1.2 7 +1 7 -1.1 7 0
KPD[66] 7 +7 6 +6 6.9 -0.1 6 0 8.6 +1.7 8 +2 6 -2.6 6 -2
BWW 6 +6 0 -6 0 0 0 0
Parties %
1921
+/-
1921
Seats
1921
+/-
1921
%
1925
+/-
1925
Seats
1925
+/-
1925
%
1929
+/-
1929
Seats
1929
+/-
1929
%
1933
+/-
1933
Seats
1933
+/-
1933
DDP 5.7 +5.7 6 +6 3.6 -2.1 3 -3 2.8 -0.8 3 0 0 -3
NSDAP not run not run not run not run 4.3 4 +4 58.2 +53,9 51 +47
LL/WP[67] 2 +2 4.2 +4.2 4 +2 4 -1.2 4 0 0 -4
DFP not run not run not run not run 4.2 +4.2 4 +4 0 -4 0 0
CSVD not run not run not run not run not run not run not run not run 3 +3 3 +3 0 -3
AuA not run not run not run not run 2 +2 0 -2 0 0
FOW 2 +2 0 -2 0 0 0 0
Poles' Party 1 +1 0 -1 0 0 0 0
Others 2 +? 0 -2 0 0 0 0
Total
1921
85 Total
1925
87 Total
1929
87 Total
1933
87

Land Directors and Land Captains of East Prussia

[edit]
1876–1878: Heinrich Edwin Rickert (NLP, later DFP), titled land director
1878–1884: Kurt von Saucken-Tarputschen (Fortschritt, later DFP), titled land director
1884–1888: Alfred von Gramatzki (DKP), titled land director
1888–1896: Klemens von Stockhausen, titled land director
1896–1909: Rudolf von Brandt, titled land captain
1909–1916: Friedrich von Berg, titled land captain
1916–1928: Manfred Graf von Brünneck-Bellschwitz, titled land captain
1928–1936: Paul Blunk, titled land captain
1936–1941: Helmuth von Wedelstädt (NSDAP), titled land captain
1941–1945: vacancy
1941–1945: Reinhard Bezzenberger, first land councillor, per pro

Cities and towns

[edit]
City/Town District (Kreis) Pop. in 1939 Current Name Current Administrative Unit
Allenburg Landkreis Wehlau 2 694 Druzhba Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia)
Allenstein Landkreis Allenstein 50 396 Olsztyn Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (Poland)
Angerburg Landkreis Angerburg 10 922 Węgorzewo (Węgobork) Warmia-Masuria
Arys Landkreis Johannisburg 3 553 Orzysz Warmia-Masuria
Barten Rastenburg 1 541 Barciany Warmia-Masuria
Bartenstein Landkreis Bartenstein 12 912 Bartoszyce Warmia-Masuria
Bischofsburg Landkreis Rößel Biskupiec Warmia-Masuria
Bischofstein (Ostpreußen) Rößel 3 200 Bisztynek Warmia-Masuria
Braunsberg Landkreis Braunsberg 21 142 Braniewo Warmia-Masuria
Darkehmen/Angerapp Darkehmen Ozyorsk Kaliningrad
Domnau Bartenstein Domnovo Kaliningrad
Elbing Stadtkreis 85 952 Elbląg Warmia-Masuria
Eydtkuhnen Landkreis Stallupönen 4 922 Chernyshevskoye Kaliningrad
Fischhausen Landkreis Samland 3 879 Primorsk Kaliningrad
Frauenburg (Ostpreußen) Braunsberg 2 951 Frombork Warmia-Masuria
Friedland (Ostpreußen) Bartenstein Pravdinsk Kaliningrad
Gehlenburg Johannisburg Biała Piska Warmia-Masuria
Gerdauen Landkreis Gerdauen 5 118 Zheleznodorozhny Kaliningrad
Gilgenburg Landkreis Osterode 1 700 Dąbrówno Warmia-Masuria
Goldap Landkreis Goldap 12 786 Gołdap Warmia-Masuria
Gumbinnen Landkreis Gumbinnen 24 534 Gusev Kaliningrad
Guttstadt Landkreis Heilsberg Dobre Miasto Warmia-Masuria
Heiligenbeil Landkreis Heiligenbeil 12 100 Mamonovo Kaliningrad
Heilsberg Kreis Heilsberg Lidzbark Warmiński Warmia-Masuria
Heydekrug Landkreis Heydekrug 4 836 Šilutė Klaipėda County (Lithuania)
Hohenstein Osterode Olsztynek Warmia-Masuria
Insterburg Landkreis Insterburg 48 711 Chernyakhovsk Kaliningrad
Johannisburg Johannisburg Pisz (Jańsbork) Warmia-Masuria
Königsberg (Preußen) Stadtkreis 372 000 Kaliningrad Kaliningrad
Kreuzburg (Ostpreußen) Landkreis Preußisch Eylau Slavskoye Kaliningrad
Labiau Landkreis Labiau 6 527 Polessk Kaliningrad
Landsberg in Ostpreußen Preußisch Eylau Górowo Iławeckie Warmia-Masuria
Liebemühl Osterode Miłomłyn Warmia-Masuria
Liebstadt Mohrungen 2 742 Miłakowo Warmia-Masuria
Lötzen Landkreis Lötzen 13 000 Giżycko (Lec) Warmia-Masuria
Lyck Landkreis Lyck 16 482 Ełk Warmia-Masuria
Marggrabowa/Treuburg Landkreis Oletzko/Treuburg Olecko Warmia-Masuria
Marienburg in Westpreußen Marienburg Malbork Pomeranian Voivodeship (Poland)
Mehlsack Braunsberg Pieniężno (Melzak) Warmia-Masuria
Memel Stadtkreis 41 297 Klaipėda Klaipėda
Mohrungen Mohrungen 5 500 Morąg Warmia-Masuria
Mühlhausen Landkreis Preußisch Holland Młynary Warmia-Masuria
Neidenburg Landkreis Neidenburg 9 201 Nidzica (Nibork) Warmia-Masuria
Nikolaiken Landkreis Sensburg Mikołajki Warmia-Masuria
Nordenburg Gerdauen 3 173 Krylovo Kaliningrad
Ortelsburg Landkreis Ortelsburg 14 234 Szczytno Warmia-Masuria
Osterode (Ostpreußen) Osterode 19 519 Ostróda Warmia-Masuria
Passenheim Ortelsburg 2 431 Pasym Warmia-Masuria
Peterswalde Osterode Piertzwald Warmia-Masuria
Pillau Samland 12 000 Baltiysk Kaliningrad
Preußisch Eylau Preußisch Eylau 7 485 Bagrationovsk Kaliningrad
Preußisch Holland Preußisch Holland Pasłęk Warmia-Masuria
Ragnit Landkreis Tilsit-Ragnit 10 094 Neman Kaliningrad
Rastenburg Rastenburg 19 634 Kętrzyn (Rastembork) Warmia-Masuria
Rhein (Ostpreußen) Lötzen Ryn Warmia-Masuria
Rößel Rößel 5 000 Reszel Warmia-Masuria
Saalfeld Mohrungen Zalewo Warmia-Masuria
Schippenbeil Bartenstein Sępopol Warmia-Masuria
Schirwindt Landkreis Pillkallen Kutuzovo Kaliningrad
Pillkallen-Schlossberg Pillkallen Dobrovolsk Kaliningrad
Seeburg Rößel Jeziorany (Zybork) Warmia-Masuria
Sensburg Sensburg Mrągowo (Żądzbork) Warmia-Masuria
Soldau Neidenburg 5 349 Działdowo Warmia-Masuria
Stallupönen Stallupönen 6 608 Nesterov Kaliningrad
Tapiau Wehlau 9 272 Gvardeysk Kaliningrad
Tilsit Stadtkreis 59 105 Sovetsk Kaliningrad
Wartenburg (Ostpreußen) Landkreis Allenstein 5 841 Barczewo (Wartembork) Warmia-Masuria
Wehlau Wehlau 7 348 Znamensk Kaliningrad
Willenberg Ortelsburg 2 600 Wielbark Warmia-Masuria
Wormditt Braunsberg Orneta Warmia-Masuria
Zinten Heiligenbeil Kornevo Kaliningrad

See also

[edit]

Explanatory notes

[edit]
  1. ^ German: Ostpreußen [ˈɔstˌpʁɔɪ̯sn̩] ; Low Prussian: Ostpreißen; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Lithuanian: Rytų Prūsija
  2. ^ Part of pre-1918 county Nidzica with Działdowo and with around 27 thousand inhabitants;[17] as well as parts of county Ostróda near Dąbrówno, with areas around Groszki, Lubstynek, Napromek, Czerlin, Lewałd Wielki, Grzybiny and with around 4786 inhabitants.[19] Too small to form its own voivodeship, this territory was incorporated into the interwar Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2008), East Prussia Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Schaitberger, L. "Ostpreußen: The Great Trek". Archived from the original on 3 March 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  3. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Old-Prussian-language Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine; Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.): Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 2005, Prussian Archived 4 December 2024(Date mismatch)(Timestamp date length) at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ tenn@owlnet.rice.edu. "Sarmatian Review XV.1: Davies". Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b Andreas Kossert, Ostpreußen. Geschichte und Mythos, 2007 Pantheon Verlag, PDF edition, p. 342. According to Kossert East Prussia lost about 511,000 out of 2,490,000 inhabitants, thereof 311,000 civilians.
  6. ^ Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. pp. XXXI, XXXVII–XXXVIII.
  7. ^ Górski, p. 54
  8. ^ Górski, pp. 88–90, 99, 206–207, 217
  9. ^ Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215
  10. ^ a b c d Małłek, Janusz (1992). "Polityka miasta Królewca wobec Polski w latach 1525–1701". Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie (in Polish). No. 3–4. pp. 254–255.
  11. ^ "A Treatise on Political Economy". Archived from the original on 12 May 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2007.
  12. ^ "LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES OF THE RECOVERY OF OLD PRUSSIAN". Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  13. ^ Kętrzyński, Wojciech (1882). O ludności polskiej w Prusiech niegdyś krzyżackich (in Polish). Lwów: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. pp. 615–616.
  14. ^ Ciesielski, Tomasz (2010). "Prusy Wschodnie w trakcie polskiej wojny sukcesyjnej i wojny siedmioletniej". In Gieszczyński, Witold; Kasparek, Norbert (eds.). Wielkie wojny w Prusach. Działania militarne między dolną Wisłą a Niemnem na przestrzeni wieków (in Polish). Dąbrówno. p. 118. ISBN 978-83-62552-00-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ^ Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-Century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, and Analysis. Piotr Eberhardt,page 166, 2003 M E Sharpe Inc
  16. ^ "Gemeindeverzeichnis Deutschland". Archived from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  17. ^ a b Rocznik statystyki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1920/21, 1921
  18. ^ Jehke, Rolf. "Rbz. Allenstein: 10.1.1920 Abtretung des Kreises Neidenburg (teilweise) an Polen; 15.8.1920 Abtretung der Landgemeinden Groschken, Groß Lehwalde (teilweise), Klein Lobenstein (teilweise), Gut Nappern und der Gutsbezirke Groß Grieben (teilweise) und Klein Nappern (teilweise) an Polen". territorial.de. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  19. ^ Khan, Daniel-Erasmus (2004). Die deutschen Staatsgrenzen. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 78. ISBN 3-16-148403-7.
  20. ^ Matull, page 357
  21. ^ a b Robert S. Wistrich, Who's who in Nazi Germany, 2002, pp. 142-143.
  22. ^ Matull, Wilhelm (1973). "Ostdeutschlands Arbeiterbewegung: Abriß ihrer Geschichte, Leistung und Opfer" (PDF) (in German). Holzner Verlag. p. 350. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  23. ^ Die aufrechten Roten von Königsberg Archived 2 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine Spiegel.de, 28 June 2009 (in German)
  24. ^ Dan P. Silverman (1993). "Fantasy and Reality in Nazi Work-Creation Programs, 1933-1936". The Journal of Modern History. 65 (1): 113–151. doi:10.1086/244609. S2CID 143888997.
  25. ^ Tooze 2006, p. 44-45.
  26. ^ Richard Steigmann-Gall, The Holy Reich - Nazi Conceptions of Christianity 1919-1945, 2004, p. 102.
  27. ^ Neumärker, Uwe; et al. (2007). "Wolfsschanze": Hitlers Machtzentrale im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German) (3 ed.). Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-433-4.
  28. ^ Szkolnictwo polskie w Niemczech 1919-1939, Henryk Chałupczak Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej,page9 1996
  29. ^ S. Achremczyk: Warmia, Olsztyn 2000.
  30. ^ S. Achremczyk: Historia Warmii i Mazur, Olsztyn 1997
  31. ^ Denny, Isabel (2007). The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City: The Battle for Königsberg, 1945. Havertown: Casemate. p. 256. ISBN 978-1-935149-20-0.
  32. ^ Rademacher, Michael. "Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Preußen, Provinz Ostpreußen 1871 - 1945". Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  33. ^ Wyczałkowski, Seweryn (1983). "Kilka danych o nauczaniu w czasie okupacji hitlerowskiej w Płocku 1939–1945". Notatki Płockie (in Polish). 28 (3 (116)). Towarzystwo Naukowe Płockie: 36.
  34. ^ Kołakowski, Andrzej (2020). "Zbrodnia bez kary: eksterminacja dzieci polskich w okresie okupacji niemieckiej w latach 1939-1945". In Kostkiewicz, Janina (ed.). Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945) (in Polish). Kraków: Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Biblioteka Jagiellońska. p. 78.
  35. ^ Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. pp. 223–236.
  36. ^ Wardzyńska, Maria (2017). Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945 (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. pp. 381–427. ISBN 978-83-8098-174-4.
  37. ^ Świecik, Józef (1983). "Tragiczne ostatnie dni okupacji niemieckiej w Płocku". Notatki Płockie (in Polish). 28 (3 (116)). Towarzystwo Naukowe Płockie: 30.
  38. ^ Guzewicz, Wojciech (2008). "Eksterminacja duchowieństwa katolickiego na Suwalszczyźnie w okresie okupacji niemieckiej". Studia Ełckie (in Polish) (10): 141–157.
  39. ^ Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 212–213, 217–218, 223, 387–392, 509. ISBN 978-0-253-06089-1.
  40. ^ a b Koziełło-Poklewski, Bohdan; Badowska, Stanisława (1974). "Praca przymusowa w Prusach Wschodnich w latach II wojny światowej". Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie (in Polish). No. 1. pp. 45–47.
  41. ^ Chrzanowski, Bogdan (2022). Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 (in Polish). Gdańsk: IPN. p. 57. ISBN 978-83-8229-411-8.
  42. ^ Brenda, Waldemar (2007). "Pogranicze Prus Wschodnich i Polski w działaniach polskiej konspiracji w latach II wojny światowej". Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie (in Polish) (4): 515–517.
  43. ^ Chrzanowski, Bogdan. "Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945)". Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum (in Polish). 5: 30. ISSN 0137-5377.
  44. ^ Beevor, Antony, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books (2002). ISBN 0-670-88695-5
  45. ^ Beevor, Antony, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, chapters 1-8, Penguin Books (2002). ISBN 0-670-88695-5
  46. ^ Geoffrey K. Roberts, Patricia Hogwood (2013). The Politics Today Companion to West European Politics. Oxford University Press. p. 50. ISBN 9781847790323.; Piotr Stefan Wandycz (1980). The United States and Poland. Harvard University Press. p. 303. ISBN 9780674926851. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2020.; Phillip A. Bühler (1990). The Oder-Neisse Line: a reappraisal under international law. East European Monographs. p. 33. ISBN 9780880331746. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  47. ^ Andreas Kossert, Damals in Ostpreußen, p. 168, München 2008 ISBN 978-3-421-04366-5
  48. ^ a b c Ther, Philipp; Siljak, Anna (2001). Redrawing nations: ethnic cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948. Rowman&Littlefield Publishers. p. 109. ISBN 0-7425-1094-8.
  49. ^ Ethnic Germans in Poland and the Czech Republic:A Comparative Evaluation Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine by Karl Cordell and Stefan Wolff
  50. ^ Andreas Kossert, Ostpreußen - Geschichte und Mythos, p.352, ISBN 3-88680-808-4
  51. ^ The Polish toponymic guidelines[permanent dead link] (p.9)
  52. ^ Kosiński, Leszek (1960). "Pochodzenie terytorialne ludności Ziem Zachodnich w 1950 r. [Territorial origins of inhabitants of the Western Lands in year 1950]" (PDF). Dokumentacja Geograficzna (in Polish). 2. Warsaw: PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences), Institute of Geography: Tabela 1 (data by county). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2023 – via Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych.
  53. ^ Andreas Kossert, Damals in Ostpreußen, pp. 179–183, München 2008 ISBN 978-3-421-04366-5
  54. ^ Plater, Stanisław (1825). Jeografia wschodniéy części Europy czyli Opis krajów przez wielorakie narody słowiańskie zamieszkanych: obejmujący Prussy, Xsięztwo Poznańskie, Szląsk Pruski, Gallicyą, Rzeczpospolitę Krakowską, Krolestwo Polskie i Litwę (in Polish). Wrocław: u Wilhelma Bogumiła Korna. p. 17. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  55. ^ Andree, Karl (1831). Polen: in geographischer, geschichtlicher und culturhistorischer Hinsicht (in German). Verlag von Ludwig Schumann. p. 218.
  56. ^ Hassel, Georg (1823). Statistischer Umriß der sämmtlichen europäischen und der vornehmsten außereuropäischen Staaten, in Hinsicht ihrer Entwickelung, Größe, Volksmenge, Finanz- und Militärverfassung, tabellarisch dargestellt; Erster Heft: Welcher die beiden großen Mächte Österreich und Preußen und den Deutschen Staatenbund darstellt (in German). Verlag des Geographischen Instituts Weimar. p. 41.
  57. ^ a b Haxthausen, August (1839). Die Ländliche Verfassung in den Einzelnen Provinzen der Preussischen Monarchie (in German). pp. 75–91.
  58. ^ "Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Wojnowo (Eckersdorf)". wojnowo.net. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  59. ^ Tetzner, Franz (1902). Die Slawen in Deutschland: beiträge zur volkskunde der Preussen, Litauer und Letten, der Masuren und Philipponen, der Tschechen, Mährer und Sorben, Polaben und Slowinzen, Kaschuben und Polen. Braunschweig: Verlag von F. Vieweg. pp. 212–248.
  60. ^ "Old Believers in Poland - historical and cultural information". Poland's Linguistic Heritage. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  61. ^ Hoffmann, Johann Gottfried (1818). Übersicht der Bodenfläche und Bevölkerung des Preußischen Staates : aus den für das Jahr 1817 mtlich eingezogenen Nachrichten. Berlin: Decker. p. 51. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  62. ^ Belzyt, Leszek (1998). Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914 ; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar. Marburg: Herder-Inst. ISBN 978-3-87969-267-5.[permanent dead link]
  63. ^ In some Prussian provinces the same office continued to be called Landesdirektor also thereafter. Cf. article: "Landesdirektor", in: Der Große Brockhaus: Handbuch des Wissens in zwanzig Bänden: 21 vols.; Leipzig: Brockhaus, 151928–1935; vol. 11 (1932), p. 71.
  64. ^ a b In 1933 the DNVP ran under the list KFSWR, also including Der Stahlhelm and the LB.
  65. ^ DVP and DNVP formed the united list called Prussian Block (PB, Preußemblock).
  66. ^ In 1921 the party was named United Communist Party of Germany, VKPD.
  67. ^ In 1921 the Landliste (LL, Rural List) gained two seats, in 1926 the LL formed a united list with the WP and the East Prussian Farmers' Federation (OBB), in 1929 they all ran as part of the WP.

General bibliography

[edit]
Publications in English
  • Baedeker, Karl, Northern Germany, 14th revised edition, London, 1904.
  • Beevor, Antony (2002). "chapters 1-8". Berlin: The Downfall 1945. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-88695-5. Archived from the original on 5 February 2006. Retrieved 6 May 2006. (on the years 1944/45)
  • Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, " Nemesis at Potsdam". London, 1977. ISBN 0-8032-4910-1.
  • Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950, 1994, ISBN 0-312-12159-8
  • Carsten, F. L. "East Prussia". History 33#119 (1948), pp. 241–246. JSTOR 24402359. Historiography of medieval and early modern period.
  • Dickie, Reverend J.F., with E.Compton, Germany, A & C Black, London, 1912.
  • Douglas, R.M.: Orderly and Humane. The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War. Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0300166606.
  • von Treitschke, Heinrich, History of Germany - vol.1: The Wars of Emancipation, (translated by E & C Paul), Allen & Unwin, London, 1915.
  • Powell, E. Alexander, Embattled Borders, London, 1928.
  • Prausser, Steffen and Rees, Arfon: The Expulsion of the "German" Communities from Eastern Europe at the End of the Second World War. Florence, Italy, European University Institute, 2004.
  • Naimark, Norman: Fires of Hatred. Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2001.
  • Steed, Henry Wickham, Vital Peace - A Study of Risks, Constable & Co., London, 1936.
  • Newman, Bernard, Danger Spots of Europe, London, 1938.
  • Wieck, Michael: A Childhood Under Hitler and Stalin: Memoirs of a "Certified Jew", University of Wisconsin Press, 2003, ISBN 0-299-18544-3.
  • Woodward, E.L., Butler, Rohan; Medlicott, W.N., Dakin, Douglas, & Lambert, M.E., et al. (editors), Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, Three Series, Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), London, numerous volumes published over 25 years. Cover the Versailles Treaty including all secret meetings; plebiscites and all other problems in Europe; includes all diplomatic correspondence from all states.
  • Previté-Orton, C.W., Professor, The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge University Press, 1952 (2 volumes).
  • Balfour, Michael, and John Mair, Four-Power Control in Germany and Austria 1945-1946, Oxford University Press, 1956.
  • Kopelev, Lev, To Be Preserved Forever, ("Хранить вечно"), 1976.
  • Koch, H.W., Professor, A History of Prussia, Longman, London, 1978/1984, (P/B), ISBN 0-582-48190-2
  • Koch, H.W., Professor, A Constitutional History of Germany in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Longman, London, 1984, (P/B), ISBN 0-582-49182-7
  • MacDonogh, Giles, Prussia, Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1994, ISBN 1-85619-267-9
  • Nitsch, Gunter, Weeds Like Us, AuthorHouse, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4259-6755-0
  • Denny, Isabel (2007). The fall of Hitler's fortress city : the battle of Konigsberg, 1945. Havertown, Penn.: Casemate. ISBN 978-1-61200-058-9. OCLC 783289112.
  • Tooze, Adam (2006). The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-03826-8.
Publications in German
  • B. Schumacher: Geschichte Ost- und Westpreussens, Würzburg 1959
  • Boockmann, Hartmut: Ostpreußen und Westpreußen (= Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas). Siedler, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-88680-212-4
  • Buxa, Werner and Hans-Ulrich Stamm: Bilder aus Ostpreußen
  • Dönhoff, Marion Gräfin v. :Namen die keiner mehr nennt - Ostpreußen, Menschen und Geschichte
  • Dönhoff, Marion Gräfin v.: Kindheit in Ostpreussen
  • Falk, Lucy: Ich Blieb in Königsberg. Tagebuchblätter aus dunklen Nachkriegsjahren
  • Kibelka, Ruth: Ostpreußens Schicksaljahre, 1945-1948
  • Bernd, Martin (1998). Masuren, Mythos und Geschichte. Karlsruhe: Evangelische Akademie Baden. ISBN 83-85135-93-6.
  • Nitsch, Gunter: "Eine lange Flucht aus Ostpreußen", Ellert & Richter Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8319-0438-9
  • Wieck, Michael: Zeugnis vom Untergang Königsbergs: Ein "Geltungsjude" berichtet, Heidelberger Verlaganstalt, 1990, 1993, ISBN 3-89426-059-9.
Publications in French
Publications in Polish
  • K. Piwarski (1946). Dzieje Prus Wschodnich w czasach nowożytnych. Gdańsk.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Gerard Labuda, ed. (1969–2003). "Historia Pomorza", vol. I–IV. Poznań.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • collective work (1958–61). "Szkice z dziejów Pomorza", vol. 1–3. Warszawa.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Andreas Kossert (2009). PRUSY WSCHODNIE, Historia i mit. Warszawa. ISBN 978-83-7383-354-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
[edit]

54°43′N 20°31′E / 54.71°N 20.51°E / 54.71; 20.51 (Königsberg Castle)