History of Pomerania (1806–1933)

The new parliament (Landtag) assembled first on October 3, 1824. Based on two laws of June 5^[9] and July,^[10] 1823, the Landtag was constituted by 25 lords and knights, 16 representatives of the towns, and eight from the rural communities.^[11]

Subordinate to the provincial Landtag were two Kommunallandtag assemblies, one for former Swedish Pomerania (Western Pomerania north of the Peene river) and one for the former Prussian part.^[12]

The counties each assembled a Kreisstand, where the knights of the county had a vote each and towns also just one vote.^[12][13]

Throughout its existence, the province was a stronghold of the conservative parties.^[14]

Reorganisation of Catholic Church institutions in Pomerania

With the conversion of most Pomeranians to

The affairs of the Roman Catholic Church in the

In the 19th century, the first overland routes ("Chaussee") and railways were introduced in Pomerania. In 1848, 126.8 Prussian miles of new streets had been built. On October 12, 1840, construction of the Berlin–

The construction of narrow-gauge railways was enhanced by a special decree[16] of July 28, 1892, implementing Prussian financial aid programs. In 1900, the total of narrow-gauge railways had passed the 1,000 kilometer threshold.^[17]

From 1910 to 1912, most of the province was supplied with electricity as the main lines were built. Plants were built since 1898.^[18]

The

With the infrastructural improvements, mass tourism to the Baltic coast started. The tourist resort ("Ostseebad") Binz had 80 visitors in 1870, 10,000 in 1900, and 22,000 in 1910. The same phenomenon occurred in other tourist resorts.^[21]

Agricultural reform

On March 2, 1850, a law was passed[26] settling the conditions on which peasants and farmers could capitalize their property rights and feudal service duties, and thus get a long-term credit (41 to 56 years to pay back). This law made way for the establishment of "Rentenbank" credit houses and "Rentengut" farms. Subsequently, the previous rural structure changed dramatically as farmers, who used this credit to bail out their feudal duties, were now able to self determine how to use their land (so-called "regulated" peasants and farmers, "regulierte Bauern"). This was not possible before, when the jurisdiction had sanctioned the use of farmland and feudal services according not to property rights, but to social status within rural communities and estates.^[27]

From 1891 to 1910, 4,731 "Rentengut" farms were set up, most (2,690) with a size of 10 to 25

In 1869, Friedrich Albrecht Graf zu Eulenburg drafted a county reform ("Kreisreform") that was promoted by Bismarck. The reform passed the House of Lords on December 7, 1872. Most important, the reform cut the linkage between noble status and the right to vote, the latter now depended on property (one had to be above a certain tax threshold) and not on status, aiming against the overrepresentation of the knights compared to burghers.^[28]

On June 29, 1875, a new constitution for the province was passed ("Provinzialordnung"^[29]), which entered into force in 1876. It redefined the responsibilities of the provincial administration (headed by the Oberpräsident) and the self-administrative institutions ("Provinzialverband", comprising the provincial parliament ("Provinziallandtag"), a "Landeshauptmann" (head) and a "Landesausschuß" (commission)). The Provinzialverband was financed directly from the Prussian state budget. The Landtag was responsible for streets, welfare, education, and culture. Landownership was not a criterion to become elected anymore. The provincial Landtag (Provinziallandtag) was elected by the county representative assemblies ("Kreistag" for counties, "Stadtverordnetenversammlung" for town districts) for a six years' term. A subordinate Kommunallandtag only existed for Regierungsbezirk Stralsund, until it was abolished in 1881.^[30]

In 1891, a county reform was passed,^[31] allowing more communal self-government. Municipalities hence elected a "Gemeindevorstand" (head) and a "Gemeindevertretung" (communal parliament). Gutsbezirk districts, i.e. estates not included in counties, could be merged or dissolved.^[32]

Effect of Treaty of Versailles on territorial size

In contrast to the provinces of

• 1905: 1,684,326 (56 per km²), among them 1,616,550 Protestants, 50,206 Catholics, and 9,660 Jews.[34]
• 1925: 1,878,780^[33]

Languages

• 1900: The native language of the vast majority of the population was German; in the neighbourhood of the border to the
  Province of West Prussia there lived 14,162 persons using Polish as the language of communication, and (in the vicinity of the Leba Lake and of the Garde Lake) 310 persons whose mother tongue was Kashubian.^[34]

From 1807–1813 during the Napoleonic Wars, southern parts of West Prussia were added to the Duchy of Warsaw, a Napoleonic client state. In 1815 the province, restored to the Kingdom of Prussia, was administratively subdivided into the Regierungsbezirke Danzig and Marienwerder. From 1829 to 1878 West Prussia was combined with East Prussia to form the Province of Prussia, after which they were reestablished as separate provinces. The region became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany.

Population

• 1875 – 1,343,057 ^{[citation needed]}
• 1880 – 1,405,898 ^{[citation needed]}
• 1890 – 1,433,681 (717,532 Catholics, 681,195 Protestants, 21,750 Jews, others) ^{[citation needed]}
• 1900 – 1,563,658^[37] (800,395 Catholics, 730,685 Protestants, 18,226 Jews, others) ^{[citation needed]}
• 1905 – 1,641,936 (including 437,916 Poles, 99,357 Kashubians)^[37]

World War I and aftermath

As a result of the

In the course of the reestablishment of the

Due to these difficulties, ongoing after the East Prussian Plebiscite ended with a significant German success, the German Ministry for Transport established the Seedienst Ostpreußen ("Sea Service East Prussia") in 1922 to provide a ferry connection to the German exclave of East Prussia, independent of transit through Polish territory.

Land reform

In 1925, the Polish government enacted a land reform program intended to redistribute land from large landowners to small farmers. Because German landowners generally owned the biggest tracts of land, they were the first to be affected. The Polish

Most of the area was inhabited by Poles, Germans, and Kashubians. Since 1886, a Settlement Commission was set up by Prussia to enforce German settlement^[44] while at the same time Germans migrated west during the Ostflucht. In 1910 42,5% of the population was German (421,029 Germans) including German soldiers stationed in the area and public officials sent to administrate the area. In 1921 Germans counted 18,8% (175,771). Over the next decade, the German population decreased by another 70,000 to a share of 9,6%.^[45] Also, there was a Jewish minority. in 1905, Kashubians numbered about 72,500.^[46]

Exodus of the German population

The Versailles treaty had stipulated that Germans in the part of German Reich territory to be ceded to Poland, the Polish Corridor, had until 1922 to make the choice for Polish or German citizenship.

The book, Orphans of Versailles, states that as result of disloyalty of German citizens, who openly expressed their joy at Polish defeats in

In addition, the area was abandoned by numerous Germans (a number estimated at 10% of Germans[48]) who were public officials and other workers with no ties to the province or military personnel (German garrisons were included in Prussian censuses as part of population).

Free City of Danzig

The Free City of Danzig included the major city of

The Free City was to be represented abroad by Poland and forced to be in a customs union with it. The German railway line that connected the Free City with newly created Poland was to be administered by Poland. Similarly, the Westerplatte (until then a city beach), was also given to Poland, which created a military post within the city's harbour. There was also a separate Polish post-office established besides the existing municipal one.

League of Nations High Commissioners

Unlike

The Free City had a population of 357,000 (1919), 95% of whom were German-speakers,[50] with the rest mainly speaking either Kashubian or Polish.

The Treaty of Versailles, which had severed Danzig and surrounding villages from Germany, now required that the newly formed state had its own citizenship, based on residency. German inhabitants lost their German nationality with the creation of the Free City, but were given the right within the first two years of the state's existence to re-obtain it; however, if they did so they were required to leave their property and make their residence outside of the Free State of Danzig area in the remaining part of Germany.^[51]

It became clear almost at once that the overwhelming German majority population of the Free State resented the concessions which had been made to Poland and their dismemberment from Germany.^{[citation needed]} Professor Burckhardt, the League of Nations' High Commissioner in Danzig found, by 1939, his position as absolute arbiter in the endless disputes almost untenable.

Province of Pomerania

During the First World War, no battles took place in the province.^[52]

Nevertheless, the war affected society, economy, and administration. During the war, the provincial administrative institutions were subordinate to the military and headed by military officials.

After the Kaiser was forced to resign, the province became part of the Free State of Prussia within the Weimar Republic.^[52]

German Revolution of 1918–1919

During the

On November 12, 1918, a decree[56] was issued allowing farmworkers' unions to negotiate with farmers (Junkers). The decree further regulated work time and wages for farmworkers.^[57]

On May 15, 1919, street fights and plunder occurred following Communist assemblies in Stettin. The revolt was put down by the military. In late August, strikes of farmworkers occurred in the counties of

Conservative and right-wing groups evolved in opposition to the revolutions achievements.[58] Landowners formed the Pommerscher Landbund in February 1919, which by 1921 had 120,000 members and from the beginning was supplied with arms by the 2nd army corps in Stettin. Paramilitias ("Einwohnerwehr") formed throughout the spring of 1919.^[57]

Pommerscher Landbund units participated in the nationalist Kapp Putsch in Berlin, 1920.^[57]

Members of the "Iron Division" ("Eiserne Division"), a dissolved Freikorps in the Baltic, reorganized in Pomerania, where the Junkers hosted them on their estates as a private army.^[57]

Also, counter-revolutionary Pomeranians formed

The provincial and county parliaments (Landtag and Kreistag) were hence elected directly by the population, including women, in free and secret votes.[59]

The "Provinzialverband", which included all self-governmental institutions of the province such as the provincial parliament ("Provinziallandtag"), gained influence on the formerly Berlin-led provincial government: The Provinzialverband would hence elect the "Oberpräsident" (head of the administration) and appoint representatives for the Reichsrat assembly in Berlin. Furthermore, the Provinzialverband officials could hence self determine how to spend the money they received from Berlin.^[59]

Economy

The border changes however caused a severe decline in the province's economy.

As a counter-measure, Prussia invested in the Stettin port since 1923. While initially successful, a new economical recession led to the closure of one of Stettin's major shipyard, Vulcan-Werft, in 1927.^[61]

The province also reacted to the availability of new traffic vehicles. Roads were developed due to the upcoming cars and buses, four towns got electric street cars, and an international airport was built in

The Pomeranian agriculture underwent a crisis. Programs were started to regain soil that had turned into swamps during the wartime, and even to establish new settlements by setting up settlement societies. The results were mixed. On the one hand, 130,858 hectare of farmland were settled with 8,734 new-build settlements[63] until 1933. The settlers originated in Pomerania itself, Saxony and Thuringia, also refugees from the former Province of Posen^[64] settled in the province. On the other hand, people left the rural communities en masse and turned to Pomeranian and other urban centers (Landflucht). In 1925, 50.7% of the Pomeranians worked in agricultural professions, this percentage dropped to 38.2% in 1933.^[65]

With the economic recession, unemployment rates reached 12% in 1933, compared to an overall 19% in the empire.^[66]

References