Prussian Lithuanians

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Prussian Lithuanians
Lietuvininkai
Kleinlitauener
Low German (Low Prussian dialect) and Lithuanian
Religion
Lutheranism (majority), Romuva
Related ethnic groups
Old Prussians, Kursenieki, Lithuanians, Latvians, Baltic Germans

The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai

Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania Major, or Lithuania proper). Prussian Lithuanians contributed greatly to the development of written Lithuanian, which for a long time was considerably more widespread and in more literary use in Lithuania Minor than in Lithuania proper.[3]

Unlike most Lithuanians, who remained

Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran)
.

There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all Prussian Lithuanians were murdered or

expelled after World War II, when East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast, while the southern part was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region (German
: Memelland) was attached to Lithuania.

Ethnonyms and identity

The term Preußische Litauer (Prussian Lithuanians in German) appeared in German texts of the 16th century. The term Kleinlitaw (Lithuania Minor in German) was first used by

ethnonyms. Another similar term appeared in the Klaipėda Region (Memelland) during the interwar years – Memellanders[4] (Lithuanian: Klaipėdiškiai, German: Memelländer). Modern Lithuanian historiography uses the term Lietuvininkai[5] or sometimes a neologism unknown to Lietuwininkai themselves, Mažlietuviai. The usage of Lietuvininkai is problematic as it is a synonym
of the word Lietuviai ("Lithuanians"), and not the name of a separate ethnic sub-group.

For Prussian Lithuanians loyalty to the German state, strong religious beliefs, and the mother tongue were the three main criteria of self-identification.

exonym Samogitians (Lithuanian: Źemaicziai, German: Szameiten) to denote Lithuanians of Lithuania Major.[7] As with other closely related groups with differing religions (e.g. Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia), antagonism was frequent between the Lutheran Prussian Lithuanians and the Catholic Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy, despite the common language. For example, inhabitants of Lithuania did not trust Prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region and tended to eliminate them from posts in government institutions.[8] When Prussian Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė (Ewa Simoneit) chose the side of the Lithuanian Republic, she was condemned by relatives, friends and neighbours.[9] Only one Prussian Lithuanian, Dovas Zaunius, worked in the government of Lithuania[citation needed] between World War I and World War II
. The antagonism persisted until the end of World War II.

History

Distribution of the Baltic tribes, c. 1200
Main articles:
History of Prussia and Lithuania Minor § History
Main article:
History of the Germans in Poland

Early history

Prussian Lithuanians in 1744

The territory where Prussian Lithuanians lived in ancient times was inhabited by the

Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno, a stable border between the two states was established. Better living conditions in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights attracted many Lithuanians and Samogitians to settle there.[10] Masurians and Curonians
began moving into Prussia around the same time.

After 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order

Königsberg University, founded in 1544. Martynas Mažvydas was a zealous Protestant and urged citizens to stop all contact between Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a bid to curtail Catholic influence in the country.[11]

The

Insterburg, which remained open until 1924. From the mid-18th century, a majority of Prussian Lithuanians were literate; in comparison, the process was much slower in the Grand Duchy.[citation needed
]

19th century

Lietuvininks we are born was dedicated to German Emperor Wilhelm I (Lithuanian
: Vilhelmas I)

The nationalistic

Lithuanian national revival in the late 19th century was not popular with Prussian Lithuanians. To them integration with Lithuania was not understandable and not acceptable.[6][4] The idea of Lithuanian–Latvian unity was more popular than idea of Lithuanian-Prussian Lithuanian unity during the Great Seimas of Vilnius, a conference held in 1905.[13]

Prussian Lithuanians with national costumes in the 19th century

The first Prussian Lithuanian elected to the

Wilhelm I, German Emperor
.

There was no national

Auszra and Varpas
.

Districts of East Prussia
Lithuanian-speaking population in the Kingdom of Prussia[16]
District (Kreis) Region (Regierungsbezirk) 1825 1834 1846
Number % Number % Number %
Labiau Königsberg 8,806 28.3 11,993 33.0 14,454 32.3
Memel Königsberg 19,422 52.5 22,386 59.6 26,645 58.1
Heydekrug Gumbinnen 16,502 71.9 18,112 71.8 22,475 68.7
Insterburg Gumbinnen 10,108 25.0 9,537 18.3 5,399 9.3
Niederung Gumbinnen 18,366 49.1 20,173 45.7 20,206 41.0
Pillkallen Gumbinnen 11,271 38.5 10,687 34.1 13,820 34.4
Ragnit Gumbinnen 15,711 47.8 18,443 46.6 19,888 42.6
Stallupönen Gumbinnen 5,435 20.7 5,312 16.8 5,907 15.7
Tilsit Gumbinnen 18,057 47.5 22,471 50.5 26,880 48.6

Between the two World Wars

Main article: Klaipėda Region
See also: Klaipėda Revolt
A 1938 reproduction of the Act of Tilsit, signed in 1918

The northern part of East Prussia beyond the

Republic of Lithuania occupied the Klaipėda Region during the Klaipėda Revolt
.

A secret report of 1923 by

Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys, a Lithuanian professional counterintelligence officer, shows around 60 percent of the local inhabitants supported the revolt, 30 percent were neutral and 10 percent were against, namely the supporters of a freistadt status or reunification with Germany.[15] Soon Lithuanian policies alienated the Prussian Lithuanians. People from Greater Lithuania were sent to assume public administration posts in the region. According to the Lithuanian view, the Prussian Lithuanians were Germanized Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanized.[4] Prussian Lithuanians saw this Lithuanization policy as a threat to their own culture and began to support German political parties, and even started identifying themselves as Germans.[8] During the 1925 census, 37,626 people declared themselves to be Lithuanians and 34,337 people identified themselves as Memellanders, a neologism to distinguish themselves from Lithuanians. Inhabitants of the Klaipėda Region continuously voted for German or German-oriented parties.[14]

Nazi Germany invaded Klaipėda after the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania. The inhabitants were allowed to choose Lithuanian citizenship. Only 500 asked for citizenship, and only 20 were awarded it.[citation needed] The reunification of Klaipėda with Germany was met with joy by a majority of inhabitants.[4] About 10,000 refugees, mostly Jews, fled the region.[17]

World War II and after

After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Prussian Lithuanian activists living in Germany were persecuted.[

Ragnit were held in the Lithuanian language until the evacuation of East Prussia
in late 1944.

The evacuation started late; the Red Army approached much faster than expected and cut off the territorial connection with other German-held territories by January 26, 1945. Many refugees perished due to Soviet low-flying strafing attacks on the civilians columns,[18] or the extreme cold. However, many managed to flee by land or sea into those parts of Germany captured by the British and Americans.[18] Among the latter were the pastors A. Keleris, J. Pauperas, M. Preikšaitis, O. Stanaitis, A. Trakis, and J. Urdse, who gathered those from the Lithuanian parishes and reorganised the Lithuanian church in the western zones of Allied-occupied Germany.[18]

Expulsion after World War II

Further information:
Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)

The Red Army made no distinction between Germans of Prussian Lithuanian or German ethnicity.[18] During the evacuation of East Prussia, Prussian Lithuanians, like other East Prussians, fled in an attempt to escape.[18] Mass murder, rape, and looting were the common fate of those who did not succeed. After the end of war, some Prussian Lithuanians tried to return to their East Prussian homes, but they were discriminated against and denied food rations by the Soviets.[18]

All who remained at the war's end were expelled from Soviet's

DP camps during 1945–50. However, their homes and farms were not returned as either Russians or Lithuanians had already occupied their property. Prussians who remained in the former Memel (Klaipėda) territory were fired from their jobs and otherwise discriminated against.[19] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Prussian Lithuanians and their descendants did not regain lost property in the Klaipėda region.[20]

1950 and beyond

In 1951 about 3,500 people from the former Memel Territory were expelled by the authority of the Lithuanian SSR to East Germany. After Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow in 1958, the former citizens of Germany were allowed to emigrate, and the majority of Prussian Lithuanians in the Lithuanian SSR emigrated to West Germany. Only about 2,000 local Lithuanians chose to remain in the Klaipėda Region and virtually none in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The majority of Prussian Lithuanians today live in the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with 65,000 refugees from Lithuania proper, mostly Roman Catholic, who made their way to the western occupation zones of Germany, by 1948 they had founded 158 schools in the Lithuanian language.[21]

Due to the emigration of many Lithuanians overseas and the assimilation of the remaining Prussian Lithuanians in Germany, the number of Lithuanian schools has now dwindled to only one, Litauisches Gymnasium/Vasario 16-osios gimnazija (Lithuanian High School) (in German) in Lampertheim in Hesse.[21] Until 1990, this secondary boarding school was the only Lithuanian school outside areas controlled by the Soviet Union. It was attended by several well-known exiled Lithuanians, such as the singer Lena Valaitis.

Communities of Prussian Lithuanians have developed in Canada, the United States, Sweden and Australia.[citation needed] However, a separate ethnic and cultural identity for Prussian Lithuanians is not as strong as it once was, and cultural differences are gradually vanishing.[citation needed]

Culture and traditions

Lietuvininkai attire and church clothing from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century (left and right) and folk costume from the Memel coast (in the middle; 1914), The History Museum of Lithuania Minor
Reconstruction of a kanklės-harp (kanklės-arfa) from Lithuania Minor on the basis of Teodor Lepner's 1744 book "Der Preussische Litauer",[22] National Museum of Lithuania
A Prussian Lithuanian cemetery

The Prussian Lithuanians that settled in the

monastic state of the Teutonic Knights over the centuries were influenced by German culture and the German language. They adopted the cultural values and social conventions of the German state, but preserved their Lithuanian language,[4] traditions and folk culture. For centuries Prussian Lithuanians lived in a political and religious environment that was different from that of other Lithuanians and evolved into a separate ethnic group. The common state united some aspects of, traditions and folk culture.[4] who viewed its rulers as their own rulers.[7] Hanging portraits of the rulers of the House of Hohenzollern
in the home was widespread.

The

ascetic principles.[4]

Until the mid-19th century Prussian Lithuanians were mostly villagers. Their feudal mentality is reflected in the poem The Seasons by Kristijonas Donelaitis. The Seasons criticizes the tendency to adopt German ways, since this was often associated with decadent noblemen. Donelaitis called for Lithuanians to do their duty, to not envy those who went to town, to not complain or be lazy, and try to work as much as was needed to be a good peasant:

There, in the city, one is laid up with his gout;
Another's aches and pains require a doctor's aid.
Why do these countless ills torment the luckless rich?
Why does untimely death so often strike them down?
It is because they scorn the fruitful work of boors,
Lead sinful lives, loaf, sleep too long and eat too much.
But here we simple boors, held by the lords as knaves,
Fed on unwinnowed bread and pallid buttermilk,
Work on the quick each day, as simple folk must do.[23]

Towns were not large. People who emigrated to the major towns, Königsberg and Memel, usually became bilingual and eventually became Germanized.[dubious – discuss]

After World War II, virtually no Prussian Lithuanians remained in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and only a small number survived in the Lithuanian SSR. Their peasant culture, first threatened by Germanization in the German Empire and politically oppressed in the Nazi era, was now completely wiped out by the Soviets, who made no distinction between Germans and Lithuanians. The situation was somewhat better in the former Memel Territory but even there churches and cemeteries were destroyed.[24]

Personal names

Prussian Lithuanian surnames often consist of a

patronymic with suffixes "-eit" and "-at". It has the same role as the English suffix "-son" in the surnames Abrahamson and Johnson. Examples include: Abromeit, Grigoleit, Jakeit, Wowereit
, Kukulat, Szameitat.

Another type of Prussian Lithuanian surname use the suffixes "-ies" or "-us": Kairies, Resgies, Baltßus, Karallus.

A difference existed between female and male surnames in everyday speech. For example, while officially the wife of Kurschat (Prussian Lithuanian Kurßaitis or Kurßatis) was also called Kurschat, in the Prussian Lithuanian language special forms were used in speech: the form of a wife's surname was Kurßaitê / Kurßatė and the form of an unmarried woman was Kurßaitikê / Kurßaitukê.

Language

Since the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Prussian Lithuanians have typically been bilingual.[4]

German

The German language used by Prussian Lithuanians belongs to the

Mundart des Ostgebietes subdialect.[citation needed
]

Lithuanian

Lithuanian language in Prussia by Franz Oskar Tetzner in 1902

The Lithuanian language of Prussian Lithuanians could be divided into two main dialects:

Samogitian dialect and Aukštaitian dialect. The standard Prussian Lithuanian language is quite similar to standard Lithuanian except for the number of German loanwords. The Lithuanian language which was spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was influenced by Polish and Ruthenian
, while in Prussia it was influenced more heavily by the German language. Thus, while Lithuanians used Slavic loanwords and translations, Prussian Lithuanians used German loanwords and translations, and some Slavic loanwords.

Prussian Lithuanian literature

The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Pakajaus Paſlas!: Lietuwos Brolams bei Seſerims Diewo-Ʒodi ir Surinkimus apſakas was published between 1881 and 1939.

Literature in the Lithuanian language appeared earlier in the Duchy of Prussia than in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first book in Lithuanian was published in Königsberg in 1547 by Martynas Mažvydas, an émigré from Grand Duchy of Lithuania, while the first Lithuanian book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was printed in 1596 by Mikalojus Daukša. Many other authors who wrote in Lithuanian were not Prussian Lithuanians, but local Prussian Germans: Michael Märlin, Jakob Quandt, Wilhelm Martinius, Gottfried Ostermeyer, Sigfried Ostermeyer, Daniel Klein, Andrew Krause, Philipp Ruhig, Matttheus Praetorius, Christian Mielcke, Adam Schimmelpfennig, for example. The first major Lithuanian poet, Kristijonas Donelaitis, was from East Prussia and reflected the Prussian Lithuanian lifestyle in his works. The first newspaper in the Lithuanian language, Nuſidawimai apie Ewangēliôs Praſiplatinima tarp Źydû ir Pagonû, was published by Prussian Lithuanians. Prior to World War I, the government and political parties financed the Prussian Lithuanian press.

Orthography

The Prussian Lithuanian

ʒ
were used, and the construction of sentences was different from Lithuanian.

Books and newspapers that were published in Lithuania in Roman type were reprinted in Gothic script in

Memel Territory in 1923–39. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis (German
: Neues Tilsiter Wanderer) was published in Tilsit in Gothic style until 1940, when it was closed by the Nazis.

Notable Prussian Lithuanians

See also

References

  1. ^ Nijolė Strakauskaitė (March 30, 2007). "Naujame albume – "Šiaurės Atlantidos" reginiai" (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  2. ISBN 5-420-01525-0
    .
  3. ISBN 978-609-437-204-9
    . Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  4. ^
    ISSN 1392-3358
    . Memellanderers defined themselves separately not by ethnicity but by birthplace. Traditionally they were more inclined towards the German element and German structures but they did not regard themselves as German. They did not regard themselves as Lithuanian either.
  5. ISBN 9986-475-03-1
    .
  6. ^
    ISSN 1392-3358
    . Loyalty to state power, great religiosity and mother language were three self-identifying priorities of mažlietuviai. Daugumai mažlietuvių integracinės Didžiosios ir Mažosios Lietuvos apraiškos buvo nesuprantamos ir nepriimtinos.
  7. ^
    ISSN 1392-3358
    .
  8. ^ a b Silva Pocytė (February 2003). "Didlietuviai: an example of committee of Lithuanian organizations' activities (1934–1939)". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  9. ^ Elena Bukelienė (March 15, 1997). "Ieva Simonaitytė ir žemaičiai" (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  10. ^
    ISBN 9986-39-112-1
    .
  11. ^ Bernardas Aleknavičius (2006). "Kodėl mes išlikome?" (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  12. ^ Gruodytė, Stefanija; Matulevičius, Algirdas. "Maras Lietuvoje". Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 15 January 2023.
  13. ^ Pivoras, S. (1998). "Lietuvių ir latvių bendradarbiavimas priešinantis tautinei priespaudai XIX a. pabaigoje – XX a. pradžioje". Lietuvos istorijos studijos. 6.
  14. ^ a b c d Arnašius, Helmutas (2002). "Vokiečiai Klaipėdoje". Mokslas Ir Gyvenimas (in Lithuanian). 7–8. Archived from the original on 2008-05-31. Retrieved 2007-10-30. Šis procesas nebuvo skatinamas kokių nors germanizacijos užmačių, jis savaime brendo aukštos ir žemos civilizacijų bei kultūrų sankirtoje.
  15. ^ a b (in Lithuanian)Ko neįstengė suprasti Lietuvos valdžia ir klaipėdiškiai 1923–1939 metais?
  16. ^ Belzyt, Leszek. "Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat ( 1998 )".
  17. ISBN 9986-9216-9-4. Archived from the original
    on 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  18. ^ a b c d e f Albertas Juška, Mažosios Lietuvos Bažnyčia XVI-XX amžiuje, Klaipėda: 1997, pp. 742–771, here after the German translation Die Kirche in Klein Litauen (section: 9. Kleinlitauer – Kriegsflüchtlinge; (in German)) on: Lietuvos Evangelikų Liuteronų Bažnyčia, retrieved on 28 August 2011.
  19. ISSN 1392-3358. Archived from the original
    on 2006-09-27.
  20. ^ "Tries knygos apie lietuvininkų tragediją" (in Lithuanian). Archived from the original on 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2007-03-31. "Kai kurie ir iš nepriklausomos Lietuvos išvažiuoja į Vokietiją, nes čia ne visiems pavyksta atgauti žemę ir sodybas, miestuose ir miesteliuose turėtus gyvenamuosius namus. Vis dar yra net nebandomų sudrausminti piktavalių, kurie lietuvininkams siūlo "grįžti" į "faterliandą"." Tr.: Even some from independent Lithuania have emigrated to Germany, because not all are able to have their land, farms and city homes returned. Some still want the Lietuvininkai to "return" to the Vaterland
  21. ^ a b "History" on: Lithuanian High School, retrieved on 28 August 2001.
  22. ^ Mažosios Lietuvos kanklės-arfa. 1984 m.
  23. ^ "The Seasons by Kristijonas Donelaitis – Summer Toils". www.efn.org. Archived from the original on 1999-11-10.
  24. ^ "Tv3.lt naujienos – svarbiausios žinios iš Lietuvos ir užsienio".

External links

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