Masurians
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Languages | |
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Polish (Masurian dialects), German (High German dialects) | |
Religion | |
Lutheranism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Poles, Masovians |
The Masurians or Mazurs (
They are descended from
Like most of the East Prussian population, they favored
After
History
In the
Because of the influx of Masovians into the
Masurians referred to themselves in the 19th century as "Polish Prussians" or as "Staroprusaki" (Old Prussians).[3] Masurians showed considerable support for the Polish uprising in 1831, and maintained many contacts with Russian-held areas of Poland beyond the border of Prussia, the areas being connected by common culture and language; before the uprising people visited each other's country fairs and much trade took place, with smuggling also widespread.[3] Some early writers about Masurians – like Max Toeppen – postulated them as mediators between German and Slav cultures.[3]
During the 1840s, the folklorist Gustaw Gizewiusz (Gustav Gisevius) collected Masurian folk songs which were later included in Oskar Kolberg's compilation Dzieła Wszystkie.[4]
Masurians in the nineteenth century
According to Andrzej Chwalba or Henryk Samsonowicz, Polish national activists and Masurians already were engaged in cooperation in 1848 when Poles from Pomerania supported Masurian attempts to elect their representative Gustaw Gizewiusz who defended the use of Polish language and traditions.[5][6] For Piotr Wandycz the events of 1848 led to Polish national awakening in Masuria.[7] By contrast, Andreas Kossert writes that Polish interest in Masuria was inspired by a single poem published in 1872, "O Mazurach" by Wojciech Kętrzyński and that the unsuccessful attempts to create a Polish national spirit in Masuria were financed by Polish Nationalists from Posen (Poznan), Lemberg (Lviv) and Warsaw.[8][9]
Beginning in the 1870s, Imperial German officials restricted the usage of languages other than German in Prussia's eastern provinces.[10] The German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise the Masurians or to separate them culturally from neighboring Poles by creating a separate identity.[11] After 1871 Masurians who expressed sympathy for Poland were deemed "national traitors" by German nationalists (this increased especially after 1918).[3] According to Wojciech Wrzesinki, Masurians did not receive any assistance or help from Polish movements at the time.[12] According to Stefan Berger, after 1871 the Masurians in the German Empire were seen in a view that while acknowledging their "objective" Polishness (in terms of culture and language) they felt "subjectively" German and thus should be tightly integrated into the German nation-state; to Berger this argument went directly against the German nationalist demands in Alsace where Alsacians were declared German despite their "subjective" choice. Berger concludes that such the arguments of German nationalists were simply aimed at gathering as much territory as possible into the German Reich.[3]
Population size
Mother tongue of the inhabitants of Masuria, by county, during the first half of the 19th century:
County (German name) | Year | Polish-speakers | % | German-speakers | % | Lithuanian-speakers | % | Total population |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gołdap (Goldap) | 1825 | 3940 | 16% | 17412 | 70% | 3559 | 14% | 24911 |
Olecko (Oletzko) | 1832 | 23302 | 84% | 4328 | 16% | 22 | 0% | 27652 |
Ełk (Lyck) | 1832 | 29246 | 90% | 3413 | 10% | 4 | 0% | 32663 |
Węgorzewo (Angerburg) | 1825 | 12535 | 52% | 11756 | 48% | 60 | 0% | 24351 |
Giżycko (Lötzen) | 1832 | 20434 | 89% | 2528 | 11% | 25 | 0% | 22987 |
Pisz (Johannisburg) | 1825 | 28552 | 93% | 2146 | 7% | 0 | 0% | 30698 |
Mrągowo (Sensburg) | 1825 | 22391 | 86% | 3769 | 14% | 5 | 0% | 26165 |
Szczytno (Ortelsburg) | 1825 | 34928 | 92% | 3100 | 8% | 0 | 0% | 38028 |
Nidzica (Neidenburg) | 1825 | 27467 | 93% | 2149 | 7% | 1 | 0% | 29617 |
Ostróda (Osterode) | 1828 | 23577 | 72% | 9268 | 28% | 0 | 0% | 32845 |
Total | 1825/32 | 226,372 | 78% | 59,869 | 21% | 3,676 | 1% | 289,917 |
Masurians in the twentieth century
Before World War I many Masurians emigrated to the
There was resistance among the Masurians towards Germanization efforts, the so-called Gromadki movement was formed which supported use of Polish language and came into conflict with German authorities; while most of its members viewed themselves as loyal to the Prussian state, some of them joined the Pro-Polish faction of Masurians.[18] In general, popular resistance against linguistic Germanisation cannot be easily equated with anti-German sentiment or a strong attachment to the Polish national movement. Most of Masuria's small Polish-speaking intelligentsia remained decisively pro-Prussian, often adhering to an older, multi-ethnic model of Prussian identity, centred on loyalty to their king, not so much on the German language.[19][20][21] This ethnically, but not nationally Polish identity was a repeated source of consternation for Polish national activists,[22] and decidedly pro-Polish political parties and press never gained widespread influence among the general populace.[23] Richard Blanke summarised this long-standing attachment, going back to the late Middle Ages, as "Masurians became Prussian, in other words, before the Bretons (not to mention the Alsatians) became French."[24]
The Masurians evinced strong support for Germany during
The time of the liberal Weimar republic saw a strong trend of conversion from the Polish language to the German language among the Masurians.[33]
Support for the Nazi Party was high in Masuria, especially in elections in 1932 and 1933.[34] Nazis used the Masurian dialect for their political rallies during the campaigning.[34] The government of Nazi Germany changed the names of several Masurian towns and villages from their original Slavic or Baltic Prussian names to new German names in 1938. During World War II the Nazis persecuted and killed Polish speakers in Masuria and imprisoned Polish teachers as well as children who learned Polish.[35][36][need quotation to verify] The Nazis believed that in future, the Masurians as a separate non-German entity would disappear, while those who would cling to their "foreignness", as one Nazi report mentioned, would be deported.[37] Poles and Jews were considered by Nazis to be "untermenschen", subject to slavery and extermination, and Nazi authorities murdered Polish activists in Masuria. Those who were not killed were arrested and sent to concentration camps.[38]
In 1943, "Związek Mazurski" was reactivated secretly by Masurian activists of the Polish Underground State in Warsaw and led by Karol Małłek.[39] Związek Mazurski opposed Nazi Germany and asked Polish authorities during the war to liquidate German property after victory over Nazi Germany to help in agricultural reform and settlement of Masurian population, Masurians opposed to Nazi Germany requested to remove German heritage sites "regardless of their cultural value".[40] Additionally a Masurian Institute was founded by Masurian activists in Radość near Warsaw in 1943.[41] Andreas Kossert regards these claims as a presumption completely disregarding the actual conditions of the Masurian people.[42]
Along with the majority of ethnic German East Prussians, many Masurians
Mazur remains the 14th most common
District | 1861 (census) | 1861 (estimate) | 1890 (Census) | 1890 (estimate) | 1910 (census) | 1910 (estimate) | 1925 (census) | 1925 (estimate) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Johannisburg (Pisz) | 82,4% | (90%) | 78,8% | (83%) | 68% | (77,9%) | 20,4% | (60–80%) |
Lötzen (Giżycko) | 64,5% | (80%) | 50,6% | (65%) | 35,9% | (58,9%) | 4,4% | (25–40%) |
Lyck (Ełk) | 78,6% | (85%) | 66,6% | (73%) | 51% | (68,9%) | 11,3% | (45–70%) |
Neidenburg (Nidzica) | 81,6% | (87%) | 75,6% | (84%) | 66,6% | (80%) | 23,1% | (50–65%) |
Oletzko (Olecko) | 57,7% | (75%) | 47,7% | (57%) | 29,6% | (51%) | 8% | (25–60%) |
Ortelsburg (Szczytno) | 87,9% | (92%) | 78,1% | (85%) | 70,1% | (82,9%) | 30,4% | (65–75%) |
Osterode (Ostróda) | 63,1% | (67%) | 54,3% | (63%) | 41,2% | (55,9%) | 11,7% | (25–45%) |
Sensburg (Mrągowo) | 74,7% | (87%) | 62,2% | (72%) | 49,6% | (67,5%) | 12,8% | (40–50%) |
Total | 74,4% | (83%) | 65,3% | (73,4%) | 52,4% | (69%) | 16,3% | (?) |
- Notes
- ^ According to Prussian censuses and Polish estimates. The first columns of each year refer to the results of the Prussian censuses. These are the total percentages for all people who were recorded as having "Masurian" or "Polish" as their mother tongue, sometimes bilingually with "German".[47] The second columns of each year refer to two different Polish estimates. Those for 1861–1910 have been made by Belzyt in 1996 on the basis of the significantly higher number of Polish-speaking schoolchildren (Belzyt, Leszek (1996). "Zur Frage des nationalen Bewusstseins der Masuren im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert". Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung.), although Blanke reduces their validity by saying: "But one cannot simply extrapolate from the school enrollment figures, for Polish-Masurian families typically had more children than the German average. Moreover, a significant feature of Masurian life was that many people 'became' German only as adults, for which reason one would expect to find a lower percentage of Polish-speaking adults than schoolchildren. In consideration of these and other factors, Belzyt has basically split the difference between the two sets of figures in order to arrive at the above figures in parentheses." (Blanke, p. 84.) The estimates for 1925 have been cited by Kossert,[48] (who claims to have taken them from Pohorecki[49]). They either lack an estimate for all of Masuria, or Kossert omitted that.
Notable Masurians
- Gustaw Gizewiusz (1810–1848), pastor
- Lothar Gall (born 1936), historian
- Ferdinand Gregorovius (1821–1891), historian
- Georg Andreas Helwing (1666–1748), botanist
- Paul Hensel (1867–1944), Lutheran theologian and politician
- Wojciech Kętrzyński (1838–1918), historian
- Walter Kollo (1878–1940), composer
- Krystyn Lach-Szyrma (1790–1866), professor of philosophy
- Udo Lattek (1935–2015), football player
- Siegfried Lenz (1926–2014), author
- Hieronim Malecki (1527–1584), theologian, writer
- Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongovius (1764–1855), writer
- Celestyn Myślenta (1588–1653), theologian
- Rodolphe Radau (1835–1911), astronomer and mathematician
- Bethel Henry Strousberg (1823–1884), industrialist and railway entrepreneur
- Ernst Wiechert (1887–1950), poet
- Carl Gustav Sanio(1832–1891), botanist and professor
See also
- Róża(2011 film)
- Masurian dialects
- Warmiak
- Lietuvininks
- Kursenieki
- Mazurka
- List of Medieval Slavic tribes
Notes
- ^ Szatkowski, Piotr (2017-07-13). "Mazurska krew czy mazurski duch? Co dziś znaczy "być Mazurem"?" (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-01-20.
- ^ ISBN 9781845452704. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ Kolberg, Oskar. Dzieła Wszystkie Archived 2007-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Historia Polski: 1795–1918 – Page 311 Andrzej Chwalba – 2005 Wiosną 1848 r. polscy działacze narodowi z Pomorza nawiązali kontakty z Mazurami.
- ^ Polska, losy państwa i narodu Henryk Samsonowicz Iskry, 1992, page 349
- ^ The Lands of Partitioned Poland, 1795–1918 – Strona 149 Piotr Stefan Wandycz – 1974 In some cases these new developments operated to the advantage of the Poles. The year 1848 marked a Polish awakening in Silesia (Austrian and Prussian) and in the Masurian area,
- ISBN 3-570-55006-0.
- ^ Kossert, Andreas (February 2003). "Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches (in German). Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. p. 122.
- ^ Clark, p. 580.
- ^ McCook, B. (2002) "Becoming German: Lessons from the Past for the Present", in Leitkultur and Nationalstolz-Tabu – German Phenomena? Bonn, April 2002, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation pp. 33–42.
- ^ Z księgi pieśni człowieka niemczonego Wojciech Kętrzyński Pojezierze, 1968, page 111 -
- ^ von Haxthausen, August (1839). Die ländliche verfassung in den einzelnen provinzen der Preussischen Monarchie (in German). Königsberg: Gebrüder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung. pp. 78–81.
- ^ Jasiński, Grzegorz (2009). "Statystyki językowe powiatów mazurskich z pierwszej połowy XIX wieku (do 1862 roku)" (PDF). Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie (in Polish). 1: 97–130 – via BazHum.
- ^ Belzyt, Leszek (1996). "Zur Frage des nationalen Bewußtseins der Masuren im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (auf der Basis statistischer Angaben)". Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung (in German). Bd. 45, Nr. 1: 35–71. Archived from the original on 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2019-10-03 – via zfo-online.
- ^ Lucassen, Leo The Immigrant Threat: The Integration of Old and New Migrants in Western Europe since 1850 (Studies of World Migrations) p. 71.
- ^
- ISBN 9781845452704. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ Kossert (2001), p. 44.
- ^ Kossert, Andreas (2002). ""Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches". Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte: 122.
- ^ Blanke, pp. 45–47.
- ^ Blanke, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Kossert (2001), pp. 73–80.
- ^ Blanke, p. 15.
- ^ Clark, p. 608.
- ^ Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, and Analysis; Piotr Eberhardt, M.E. Sharpe, 2003, p. 166. "Although the plebiscite was carried out by the German administrative authorities"
- ^ a b "Związek Kurpiów – Adam Chętnik". Archived from the original on 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
- ^ Q. Edward Wang, Franz L. Fillafer, Georg G. Iggers
- ^ Kossert (2001), p. 158.
- ^ Andreas Kossert: "Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches, p. 124 Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rocznik statystyki Rzczypospolitej Polskiej/Annuaire statistique de la République Polonaise 1 (1920/22), part 2, Warszawa 1923, S. 358. Archived 2013-07-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ O polskości Warmii i Mazur w dawnych wiekach, Andrzej Wakar, Pojezierze, page 80, 1969
- ^ Richard Blanke. "Interwar Poland and the Problem of Polish-speaking Germans»pages=257-265". In Charles W. Ingrao, Franz A. J. Szabo (ed.). The Germans and the East.
- ^ a b Clark, p. 640.
- ^ Q. Edward Wang, Franz L. Fillafer, Georg G. Iggers, "The many faces of Clio: cross-cultural approaches to historiography, essays in honor of Georg G. Iggers", Berghahn Books, 2007 [1]
- ^ Maria Wardzyńska, "Intelligenzaktion" na Warmii, Mazurach oraz Północnym Mazowszu. Główna Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni Przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu. Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej nr. 12/1, 2003/2004, pages 38–42
- ^ Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich by Michael Burleigh, page 209, 1988, Cambridge University Press
- ^ Słownik geograficzno-krajoznawczy Polski Iwona Swenson, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, page 440, 1998
- ^ Literatura polska w latach II wojny światowej Jerzy Świe̢ch, Instytut Badań Literackich (Polska Akademia Nauk), page 42 Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,
- ^ Pałace i dwory powiatu kętrzyńskiego – wartości historyczne i kulturowe Archived 2004-07-18 at the Wayback Machine Muzeum im Wojciecha Kętrzyńsiego w Kętrzynie
- ^ O nas Archived 2018-12-24 at the Wayback Machine Ośrodek Badań Naukowych imienia Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Olsztynie
- ^ Kossert (2006), p. 360.
- ^ Dr. Joachim Rogall, Die Deutschen in Polen (in German)
- ^ Frequency and geographic distribution of the surname Mazur in Poland
- ^ "Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Volume VI" (in Polish). Warszawa. 1880–1914. p. 191.
- ^ Stąpor, Izabela. "Dzieje wsi Mazury" (in Polish). Zakład Historii Języka Polskiego i Dialektologii UW / Towarzystwo Kultury Języka. Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
- ^ Blanke, pp. 83 & 237.
- ^ Kossert (2001), p. 174.
- ^ Pohorecki, Władysław (1932). "Mazurzy w Prusach Wschodnich". Sprawy Narodowościowe.
References
- Blanke, R. (2001) Polish-speaking Germans?, Cologne: Böhlau. ISBN 3-412-12000-6.
- ISBN 0-674-02385-4.
- Kossert, A. (2001) Preußen, Deutsche oder Polen?, Wiesbaden: Harassowitz. ISBN 3-447-04415-2.
- Kossert, A. (2006) Masuren - Ostpreussens vergessener Süden (in German), Pantheon. ISBN 3-570-55006-0.