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Masuria ( ; ) is an area in northeastern Polandmarker famous today for its 2000 lakesmarker.

In the 11th-13th century, the territory was inhabited by the Old Prussians, also called Baltic Prussians, an Baltic ethnic group that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern coastal region of the Baltic Sea, in the area around the Vistulamarker and Curonianmarker Lagoons. They spoke a language now known as Old Prussian and followed a religion believed by modern scholars to be closely related to Lithuanian paganism. Although they bore the name of a 19th century German political entity, they were not "Germans." They were converted to Catholicism in the late-13th and 14th centuries, after conquest by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, and then to Protestantism in the early 16th century. In the 15th-19th centuries, the territory was part of the Duchy of Prussiamarker, the Kingdom of Prussiamarker and eventually the German Empiremarker. After the Unification of Germany in 1871, the policy of Germanization sought to eradicate linguistic roots of the Old Prussian and the Polish languages. As a result of the East Prussian plebiscite after World War I Masuria remained within Weimar Germanymarker. After World War II the area became Polish, the local populace was expelled or subsequently left the area.

Today, the region's economy relies largely on eco-tourism and agriculture. The 2,000 lakes for which the region is famous offer varieties of water sports, and vacation activities.

History

Kayaking on the Krutynia River


Old Prussians

By the 13th century Prussia was inhabited by the Baltic Old Prussians in the lands of Pomesania, Pogesania, Galindia, Bartia, and Sudovia. The region around the many lakes became since the 18th century unofficially known as Masuria. In the southern regions, dense wilderness existed longer than in most of Europe, enabling elk, aurochs, bears, and other mammals to survive. It is estimated that around 220,000 Old Prussians lived in the territory in 1200. This thick stretch of wilderness had already for centuries been a barrier against the attacks by would-be invaders. During the Baltic crusades of the 13th century, the Old Prussians used this remaining wilderness as defense against the knights of the Teutonic Order, whose goal was to convert and baptize, by force if necessary, the native population to Christianity; they did this mostly through conquest, which culminated in 1283 when the Knights destroyed the Prussian keep at Lyck (now Ełkmarker).

Following the Order's conquest of the area, Poles, began to settle in the southeast of the conquered region. German, French, Flemish, Danish, Dutch, and Norwegian colonists entered the area shortly afterward. The number of Polish settlers grew significantly again in the beginning of 15th century, especially after the first and the second treaties of Thorn, in 1411 and 1466 respectively. At the same time the original Prussian population had already through earlier warfare with the Teutonic Knights and years of attacks by Poland suffered severely. Later assimilation of the German settlers as well as the Polish immigrants and all others created the new Prussian identity.

Ducal Prussia

In Masuria the Polish language was still in use, because of the many settlers from Masovia. In the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466, the Teutonic Order came under the overlordship of the Polish crown. The conversion of Albert of Prussia to Lutheranism in 1525, brought all of ducal Prussiamarker and Masuria to Protestantism. While much of the countryside was populated by Polish-speakers, the cities remained centres of German mixed with Polish population, with the upper class more German than the lower class. The ancient Old Prussian language survived in parts of the countryside until the early 18th century. Areas that had many Polish-language speakers were known as the Polish departments (die polnischen Ämter in German).

Throughout the Northern Wars southern Prussian region (later Masuria) was devastated in 1656 by Tatar raiders fighting for the Polish Kingdom; the raids practically destroyed all the townships and killed 30% of the population within two weeks. From 1708–1711, approximately 50 percent of the inhabitants of the newly rebuilt villages died from the Black Death. Losses in population were partly compensated by migration of Protestant settlers or refugees from Scotlandmarker, Salzburgmarker (expulsion of Protestants 1731), Francemarker (Huguenot refugees after the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685), and especially from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including Polish brethren expelled from Poland in 1657. The last group of refugees to immigrate to Masuria were the Russianmarker Philipons in 1830 when they were granted asylum by King Frederick William III of Prussia.

Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire

After the death of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia in 1618, his son-in-law John Sigismund, Margrave of Brandenburg, inherited the duchy, including the lake-region (later Masuria), combining the two territories under a single dynasty and forming Brandenburg-Prussia. The still remaining nominal sovereignty of the King of Poland was revoked by the Treaty of Wehlau in 1657. The region became part of the Kingdom of Prussiamarker after the coronation of King Frederick I of Prussia. The lake-region (Masuria) became part of the newly-created administrative province of East Prussia upon its creation in 1773. The name Masuria began to be used officially after new administrative reforms in the Kingdom after 1818.

Germanisation was slow and mainly done through the educational system:After the Unification of Germany into the German Empiremarker in 1871, the Polish language was removed from schools in 1872, as part of Otto von Bismarck's Culture War. He also sought to limit the use of the Polish language in the new German empire. Despite this policy, such Polish-language newspapers as the Pruski Przyjaciel Ludu (Prussian People's Friend) or the Kalendarz Królewsko-Pruski Ewangelicki (Royal Prussian Evangelical Calendar) or bilingual journals like the Oletzkoer Kreisblatt - Tygodnik Obwodu Oleckiego continued to be published in Masuria. In contrast to the Prussian-oriented periodicals, in the late 19th century such newspapers as Przyjaciel Ludu Łecki and Mazur were founded by members of the Warsaw-based Komitet Centralny dla Slaska, Kaszub i Mazur (Central Committee for Silesia, Kashubia and Masuria), influenced by Polish politicians like Antoni Osuchowski or Juliusz Bursche, to strengthen an Polish identity in Masuria. The Gazeta Ludowa was published in Lyckmarker in 1896 –1902, with 2,500 copies in 1897 and the Mazur in Ortelsburgmarker after 1906 with 500 copies in 1908 and 2,000 prior to World War I.

A Polish-oriented party, the Mazurska Partia Ludowa ("Mazur People's Party"), was founded in 1897. However the great majority regarded themselves as Prussians and were loyal to the government and Polish parties never gained a significant percentage of votes in Masuria in the Reichstag elections, while candidates of the German Conservative Party were usually elected with a significant majority (94,6 % at Lötzenmarker in 1907,, 93,1 % at Lyckmarker in 1907.)

Of the Masurian population in 1890, 143,397 gave German as their language (either primary or secondary), 152,186 Polish, and 94,961 Masurian. In 1910, the German language was given by 197,060, Polish by 30,121, and Masurian by 171,413. In 1925, 40,869 people gave Masurian as their native tongue and 2,297 gave Polish. However, the last result may have been a result of politics at the time and a desire to present the province as purely German; in reality the Masurian dialect was still in use.

Throughout industrialization in the late 19th century about 10 percent of the Masurian populace emigrated to the Ruhr Area, where about 180,000 Masurians lived in 1914. Wattenscheidmarker,Wannemarker and Gelsenkirchenmarker were the centers of Masurian emigration and Gelsenkirchen-Schalke was even called Klein(little)-Ortelsburgmarker before 1914. Masurian newspapers like the Przyjaciel Ewangeliczny and the Gazeta Polska dla Ludu staropruskiego w Westfalii i na Mazurach but also the German-language Altpreußische Zeitung were published.

During World War I, the Battle of Tannenbergmarker and the First and Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes between Imperial Germany and the Russian Empiremarker took place within the borders of Masuria in 1914. After the war, the League of Nations held the East Prussian plebiscite on 11 July 1920 to determine if the people of the southern districts of East Prussia wanted to remain within East Prussia or to join the Second Polish Republicmarker. The referendum determined that 99.32% of the voters in Masuria proper (without the Ermlanddistricts) chose to remain with East Prussia. However, the ethnographer Adam Chętnik accused the German authorities of abuses and falsifications during the plebiscite. Moreover, the plebiscite took place during the time when Polish-Soviet War threatened to erase the Polish state. After 1933, the National Socialists conducted a systematic oppression of the Polish minority.

Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany

Masuria was the only region of Germany directly affected by the battles of World War I. Damaged towns and villages were reconstructed with the aid of several twin towns from western Germany like Cologne to Neidenburgmarker, Frankfurtmarker to Lötzenmarker and even Viennamarker to Ortelsburgmarker.huh However Masuria was still largely agrarian-oriented and suffered from the economical decline after World War I, additionally badly affected by the creation of the Polish Corridor, which raised freight costs to the traditional markets in Germany.The later implemented Osthilfe had only a minor influence on Masuria as it privileged larger estates, while Masurian farms were generally small.

Politically Masuria was still a heartland of Conservatism with the German National People's Party as strongest party. Polish Parties received usually about 5,000 votes in the elections to the Provincial Parliament

While the Nazi Party initially had only small success in Masuria, the Nazis succeeded especially in the elections of 1932 and 1933 with up to 81 percent of votes in the district of Neidenburgmarker and 80 percent in the district of Lyckmarker. The Nazis used the economical crisis, which had significant effects in far-off Masuria, as well as traditional anti-Polish sentiments while at the same time Nazi political rallies were organized in the Masurian dialect during the campaigning.

In 1938, the Nazi government (1933–1945) changed thousands of toponyms (especially names of cities and villages) of Old Prussian and Polish origin to newly-created German names; about 50% of the existing names were changed in 1938 alone, despite resistance by the Prussian people, who continued to use their traditional place names.

During World War II, Masuria was partially devastated by the retreating German and advancing Soviet armies during the Vistula-Oder Offensive. The region came under Polish rule at war's end in the Potsdam Conference. Most of the population fled to Germany or was killed during or after the war, while the rest was subject to a "nationality verification", often based only on the origin of surnames, organized by the communist government of Poland. As a result, the number of native Masurians remaining in Masuria was initially relatively high, while most of the population was subsequently expelled. Poles from Central Poland and the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union as well as Ukrainians expelled from Southern Poland throughout the Operation Wisla, were resettled in Masuria.

Masuria after World War II

In October 1946 37,736 persons were "verified" as Polish citizens while 30,804 remained "unverified". A center of such "unverified" Masurians was the district of Mragowomarker (Sensburg), where in early 1946 out of 28,280 persons 20,580 were "unverified", while in October 16,385 still refused to adopt Polish citizenship. However even those who complied with the often used pressure by Polish authorities were in fact treated as Germans because of their Lutheran faith and their often rudimentary knowledge of Polish. Names were "polonized" and the usage of German language in public was forbidden. In the late 1940s the pressure to sign the "verification documents" grew and in February 1949 the former chief of the stalinist secret Police of Lodzmarker, Mieczyslaw Moczar, started the "Great verification" campaign. Many unverified Masurians were imprisoned and accused of pro-Nazi or pro-American propaganda, even former pro-Polish activists and inmates of Nazi concentration camps were jailed and tortured. After the end of this campaign in the district of Mragowo (Sensburg) only 166 Masurians were still "unverified".

In 1950 1,600 Masurians left the country and in 1951, 35,000 people from Masuria and Warmia managed to obtain a declaration of their German nationality by the embassies of the US and Great Britain in Warsaw. Sixty-three percent of the Masurians in the district of Mragowo (Sensburg) received such a document. Soon after the political reforms of 1956, Masurians were given the opportunity to join their families in West Germanymarker. The majority (over 100 thousand) gradually left and after the improvement of German-Polish relations by the German Ostpolitik of the 1970s 55,227 persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to Western Germany in between 1971 and 1988., today approximately 5,000 Masurians still live in the area, many of them as members of the German minority 
As the Polish journalist Andrzej Wróblewsky stated, the Polish post-war policy succeeded in what the Prussian state never managed: the creation of a German national consciousness among the Masurians.


However Mazur remains the 14th most common surname in Polandmarker with almost 67,000 people bearing the name.

Most of the originally Protestant churches in Masuria are now used by the Polish Roman Catholic Church as the number of Lutherans in Masuria declined from 68,500 in 1950 to 21,174 in 1961 and further to 3,536 in 1981. Sometimes, like on 23 September 1979 in the village of Spychowomarker (Puppen), the Lutheran Parish was even forcefully driven out of their Church while liturgy was held.

Masuria was incorporated into the voivodeship system of administration in 1945. In 1999 Masuria was constituted with neighbouring Warmia as a single administrative province through the creation of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeshipmarker.

Landscape

Lakes

Masuria and the Masurian Lake Districtmarker are known in Polish as Kraina Tysiąca Jezior and in German as Land der Tausend Seen, meaning "land of a thousand lakes." These lakes were ground out of the land by glaciers during the Pleistocene ice age, when ice covered northeastern Europe. By 10,000 BC this ice started to melt. Great geological changes took place and even in the last 500 years the maps showing the lagoons and peninsulas on the Baltic Seamarker have greatly altered in appearance. As in other parts of northern Poland, such as from Pomerania on the Oder River to the Vistula River, this continuous stretch of lakes is popular among tourists.

Towns founded in Prussia



Famous people from Masuria



Notes

  1. Andreas Kossert, Masuren. Ostpreussens vergessener Süden
  2. Results of the elections at Lötzen
  3. Results of the elections at Lyck
  4. Andreas Kossert: "Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches, p. 124
  5. Związek Kurpiów - Adam Chętnik
  6. e.g. Provincial elections of 1925
  7. e.g. 5.308 votes or 0,58 % in 1929 (the results include all East Prussia i.e. Warmia)
  8. Clark, p. 640
  9. Bernd Martin, p. 55
  10. Andreas Kossert, Ostpreussen, Geschichte und Mythos p. 352; Kossert gives 35 % from Central Poland, 22.6 % from Eastern Poland, 10 % victims of Op. Wisla, 18.5 % Natives in 1950
  11. Andreas Kossert, Ostpreussen, Geschichte und Mythos, Siedler Verlag 2005, ISBN3-88680-808-4
  12. Frequency and geographic distribution of the surname Mazur in Poland


References

  • Mazury Entry on the region in Polish PWN Encyclopedia.


External links




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