The bulk of the ancestral lands of the BalticOld Prussians were enclosed within East Prussia. During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusadingTeutonic Knights. After theconquest they were gradually converted to Christianity. As a result of the medievalOstsiedlung,Germans became the dominant ethnic group, whilePoles (Masurians) andLithuanians formed sizeable minorities. From the 13th century, the region of Prussia was part of themonastic state of the Teutonic Knights. After theSecond Peace of Thorn in 1466 the eastern part (what would later become East Prussia) became afief of thePolish Crown, while the western part was incorporated into the Crown as part of the autonomous province ofRoyal Prussia. In 1525, with thePrussian Homage, the territory became theDuchy of Prussia, a vassal duchy of Poland.[2] It gained full sovereignty in 1657, when Poland renounced its feudal rights in theTreaty of Bromberg.
Because the duchy was outside of the coreHoly Roman Empire, the prince-electors ofBrandenburg were able to proclaim themselvesKing beginning in 1701. After the annexation of most of western (Royal) Prussia in theFirst 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 withWest Prussia to form theProvince of Prussia. The Polish and Lithuanian minorities were subjected to Germanisation policies.
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 ahumid continental climate which was most pronounced inLithuania Minor and at higher elevations in the south in the region ofMasuria, while the northwesternmost coastal parts approached anoceanic climate.
In the northeast of the province, the riverŠešupė (German:Scheschuppe), a left-tributary of the Neman, formed the border with theRussian Empire, and today forms the border betweenKaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania. TheKlaipėda 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 theElchniederung [de], a vast partially-drainedbog, 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 theRomincka Forest (German:Rominter Heide), a famous hunting-ground for Prussian nobility. On the eastern end of the forest isLake Vištytis (German:Wystiter See), and to the south are theSzeskie Hills [pl] (German:Seesker Höhen). TheAngrapa river (German:Angerapp), a tributary of the Pregel, flows outLake Mamry (German:Mauersee) on the northern end of theMasurian Lake District. The largest lake in the province wasŚniardwy (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, theŁyna (German:Alle), extending almost to the southern border withCongress Poland, winding its course northward through southernWarmia and the central portion of the province. In the southernmost regions, the rivers flow to the south, emptying into theNarew andVistula rivers. The highest elevation of East Prussia at 312 meters above sea level wasDylewska Góra (German:Kernsdorfer Höhe), found in the southwest near the border with West Prussia.
Ethnic settlement in East Prussia by the 14th century
At the instigation of DukeKonrad I of Masovia, theTeutonic Knights took possession ofPrussia in the 13th century and created amonastic state to administer the conqueredOld 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 theKingdom of Poland and embroiled them in several wars, culminating in thePolish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War, whereby the united armies of Poland andLithuania, defeated the Teutonic Order at theBattle of Grunwald in 1410. In 1440, the anti-TeutonicPrussian Confederation was founded, and various cities and nobles of the region joined it.[5] In 1454, upon the Confederation's request KingCasimir IV of Poland signed the act of incorporation of the entire region into the Kingdom of Poland.[6] The Teutonic Knights' defeat was formalised in theSecond Peace of Thorn in 1466 ending theThirteen Years' War. The restoration ofPomerelia to Poland was confirmed, andWarmia also was confirmed part of Poland,[7] with both co-forming the newly created autonomous province ofRoyal Prussia (from 1569 within the largerGreater Poland Province). The remainder of historic Prussia (the territory that later formed East Prussia) became a Polishfief andprotectorate held by the Teutonic Knights.[8] 1466 and 1525 arrangements by kings of Poland were not verified by theHoly Roman Empire, as well as the previous gains of theTeutonic Knights, were not verified.[citation needed]
The Administrator of Prussia, the grandmaster of the Teutonic OrderMaximilian III, son of emperorMaximilian II died in 1618. When Maximilian died, Albert's line died out, and the Duchy of Prussia passed to the Electors of Brandenburg, formingBrandenburg-Prussia. Taking advantage of theSwedish 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 ofWehlau,Labiau, andOliva, Elector and DukeFrederick 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 inKönigsberg (Polish:Królewiec).[9] A confederation was formed in the city to maintain Poland's sovereignty over the city and region.[9] The Brandenburg Elector and his army, however, entered the city and abducted and imprisoned the leader of the city's anti-Elector oppositionHieronymus Roth.[9] 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.[9] Theabsolutist 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 theTeutonic Order grandmasters under jurisdiction of the Emperor. In return for supporting EmperorLeopold I in theWar of the Spanish Succession, ElectorFrederick III was allowed to crown himself "King in Prussia" in 1701. The new kingdom ruled by theHohenzollern dynasty became known as theKingdom 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 asAltpreußen ("Old Prussia"), the province of Prussia, or "East Prussia".
Approximately one-third of East Prussia's population died in theGreat Northern War plague outbreak andfamine of 1709–1711,[10] including the last speakers ofOld Prussian.[11] The plague, probably brought by foreign troops during theGreat Northern War, killed 250,000 East Prussians, especially in the province's eastern regions. Crown PrinceFrederick William I led the rebuilding of East Prussia, founding numerous towns. In 1724, Frederick William I prohibitedPoles,Samogitians and Jews from settling in Lithuania Minor, and initiated German colonization to change the region's ethnic composition.[12] Thousands of Protestants expelled from theArchbishopric of Salzburg were allowed to settle in depleted East Prussia. In 1756Russia 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,[13] however, ultimately Russia only occupied the region for four years during theSeven Years' War before withdrawing in 1762 and did not make Poland an offer of territorial exchange.
In the 1772First Partition of Poland, the Prussian kingFrederick the Great annexed neighboringRoyal Prussia, i.e., the Polish voivodeships ofPomerania (Gdańsk Pomerania orPomerelia),Malbork,Chełmno and thePrince-Bishopric of Warmia, thereby connecting his Prussian andFarther Pomeranian lands and cutting the rest of Poland from theBaltic coast. The territory of Warmia was incorporated into the lands of former Ducal Prussia, which, by administrative deed of 31 January 1772 were namedEast Prussia. The former Polish Pomerelian lands beyond theVistula River together with Marienburg (Malbork) andCulmer Land (Chełmno Land) formed the Province ofWest Prussia with its capital atMarienwerder (Kwidzyn) in 1773. The PolishPartition Sejm ratified the cession on 30 September 1772, whereafter Frederick officially went on to call himself a King "of" Prussia.
The former Ducal Prussiandistricts ofEylau (Iława), Marienwerder,Riesenburg (Prabuty) andSchönberg (Szymbark) passed to West Prussia. Until thePrussian reforms of 1808, the administration in East Prussia was transferred to theGeneral War and Finance Directorate inBerlin, represented by two local chamber departments:
German chamber department at Königsberg with the districts of:
From 1824 to 1878, East Prussia was combined with West Prussia to form theProvince of Prussia, after which they were reestablished as separate provinces. Along with the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East Prussia became part of theGerman Empire during theunification of Germany in 1871.
From 1885 to 1890 Berlin's population grew by 20%,Brandenburg and theRhineland gained 8.5%,Westphalia 10%, while East Prussia lost 0.07% and West Prussia 0.86%.[citation needed] 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 theRuhr Area and Berlin (seeOstflucht).
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 1,698,465Protestants, 269,196Roman Catholics, and 13,877 Jews. TheLow Prussian dialect predominated in East Prussia, althoughHigh Prussian was spoken inWarmia. The numbers ofMasurians,Kursenieki andPrussian Lithuanians decreased over time due to the process ofGermanization. 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.[14]Kursenieki inhabited the areas around the Curonian lagoon, while Lithuanian-speaking Prussians concentrated in the northeast in (Lithuania Minor). TheOld Prussian ethnic group became completely Germanized over time and theOld Prussian language died out in the 18th century. East Prussia also had the easternmost and northernmost points
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 theAbschwangen massacre on 8/29/1914. The region had to be rebuilt because of damage caused by the war.
On 11 July 1920, amidst the backdrop of thePolish-Soviet War in which theSecond Polish Republic appeared to be on the brink of defeat, theEast 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 theWeimar Germany Province of East Prussia. 96.7% of the people voted to remain within Germany (97.89% in the East Prussian plebiscite district).
AfterAdolf 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 theReichstag, was murdered here.[19] This period was characterized by efforts tocollectivize the local agriculture and ruthlessness in dealing with Koch's critics inside and outside theNazi Party.[20] He also had long-term plans for mass-scale industrialization of the largely agricultural province. These actions made him unpopular among the local peasants.[20] In 1932 the local paramilitarySA had already started to terrorise their political opponents. On the night of 31 July 1932 there was a bomb attack on the headquarters of theSocial Democrats in Königsberg, theOtto-Braun-House. The Communist politicianGustav Sauf was killed; the executive editor of the Social Democratic newspaper"Königsberger Volkszeitung",Otto Wyrgatsch; and theGerman People's Party politicianMax von Bahrfeldt were all severely injured. Members of theReichsbanner were assaulted while the local Reichsbanner Chairman ofLötzen,Kurt Kotzan, was murdered on 6 August 1932.[21][22]
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 toHitler that unemployment had been banished entirely from the province, a feat that gained admiration throughout theReich.[23] In actuality, the Erich Koch Plan had been a staged propaganda event organized byWalther Funk and theReich 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.[24] Koch's industrialization plans provoked conflict withRichard Walther Darré, who held the office of the Reich Peasant Leader (Reichsbauernführer) and Minister of Agriculture. Darré, aneopaganist rural romantic, wanted to enforce his vision of an agricultural East Prussia. When his "Land" representatives challenged Koch's plans, Koch arrested them.[25]
After the 1939invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany opening World War II, the borders of East Prussia were revised. Regierungsbezirk Westpreußen became part ofReichsgau 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,[27] theLatvian speakingKursenieki, andLietuvininkai who spokeLithuanian 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.
DuringWorld War II, the Polish ethnic minorities of CatholicWarmians 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.[28][29] The Jews who remained in East Prussia in 1942 were shipped to concentration camps, includingTheresienstadt in occupiedCzechoslovakia,Kaiserwald in occupied Latvia, and camps inMinsk in occupiedByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.[30][31] Those who remained were later deported and killed in theHolocaust.
Germany operated theSoldau andHohenbruch [de] concentration camps, mostly for Poles, multiple subcamps of theStutthof concentration camp and severalprisoner-of-war camps, includingStalag 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 otherAllied POWs in the province.[38] Pre-war Polish citizens made up the majority offorced 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.[39] 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 ofCiechanów,Ostrołęka,Płock andSuwałki.[39]
ThePolish 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 ofPolish underground press,[40] sabotage actions, executions of Nazis, theft of German weapons, ammunition and equipment,[41] and organization of transports of POWs who escaped German POW camps via the ports of Danzig andGdynia toneutral Sweden.[42]
East Prussia was only slightly affected by the war until January 1945, when it was devastated during theEast Prussian Offensive. Most of its inhabitants became refugees in bitterly cold weather during theEvacuation of East Prussia.
In 1944 the medieval city ofKönigsberg, which had never been severely damaged by warfare in its 700 years of existence,was almost completely destroyed by twoRAF 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 theEastern Front approached the East Prussian border in 1944. The population had been systematically misinformed byEndsieg Nazi propaganda about the real state of military affairs. As a result, many civilians fleeing westward were overtaken by retreatingWehrmacht units and the rapidly advancingRed Army.
Reports of Soviet atrocities in theNemmersdorf 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 shipsWilhelm Gustloff, theGoya, and theGeneral von Steuben. Königsberg surrendered on 9 April 1945, following the desperate four-dayBattle 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.[4]
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."[43][44]
FollowingNazi Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland and theSoviet Union according to thePotsdam Conference, pending a final peace conference with Germany. Since a peace conference never took place, the region was effectively ceded by Germany.[45] Southern East Prussia was placed under Polish administration, while northern East Prussia was divided between the Soviet republics ofRussia (theKaliningrad Oblast) andLithuania (the constituent counties of theKlaipėda Region). The city of Königsberg was renamedKaliningrad 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 was subsequently expelled in accordance with thePotsdam Agreement.
Expulsion of Germans from East Prussia after World War II
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.[46] Many more were prevented from returning,[citation needed] and the German population of East Prussia was almost completelyexpelled 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 theGulag camp system.[47] The largest camp with about 48,000 inmates was established atDeutsch Eylau (Iława).[47] Orphaned children who were left behind in the zone occupied by the Soviet Union were referred to asWolf children.
An illustration of the changing borders in Eastern Europe before, during, and after World War II (Map is written in German.)
Changes in Germany's borders as a result of both World Wars, with the partition of East Prussia
Representatives of the Polish government officially took over the civilian administration of the southern part of East Prussia on 23 May 1945.[47] Subsequently, Polishexpatriates fromPolish lands annexed by the Soviet Union as well asUkrainians andLemkos from southern Poland, expelled inOperation Vistula, were settled in the area, initially organised as theMasurian District, later replaced by theOlsztyn Voivodeship in 1947, with a few counties incorporated intoBiałystok Voivodeship and toGdańsk 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 ofElbląg Voivodeship and a significant part of theSuwałki Voivodeship.
The remaining pre-war population was treated as Germanized Poles and a policy of re-Polonization was pursued throughout the country[48] 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).[49] Local toponyms were Polonised by the PolishCommission for the Determination of Place Names,[50] though in most cases it was a restoration of historic Polish names.
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:[51]
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 beforeWorld War II and were granted Polish citizenship after 1945). Over 20% of all inhabitants were Poles expelled from areas ofEastern Poland annexed by theUSSR. The rest were mostly people from neighbouring areas located right next to East Prussia (almost 44% came fromMasovia,Sudovia,Podlachia andpre-war Polish Pomerania) and southern Poland (≈16%).
In April 1946, northern East Prussia became an official province of theRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic as the "Kyonigsbergskaya Oblast", with theKlaipėda Region becoming part of theLithuanian 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 ofKönigsberg was renamedKaliningrad to honourMikhail Kalinin and the area named theKaliningrad Oblast. Between 24 August and 26 October 1948 21 transports with in total 42,094 Germans left the Oblast to theSoviet Occupation Zone (which became East Germany). The last remaining Germans left in November 1949 (1,401 persons) and January 1950 (7 persons).[52]
A similar fate befell theCuronians who lived in the area around theCuronian Lagoon. While many fled from theRed Army during the evacuation of East Prussia, Curonians that remained behind were subsequently expelled by theSoviet 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 Curoniansfascists. 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 ethnicRussians,Belarusians, andUkrainians 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 asDomnovo andTalpaki, based on historical Polish names. The exclave was amilitary zone, which was closed to foreigners; Soviet citizens could only enter with special permission. In 1967 the remnants ofKönigsberg Castle were demolished on the orders ofLeonid Brezhnev to make way for a new "House of the Soviets".
Although the 1945–1949expulsion 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, asRoyal Air Force bombs in 1944 and the Soviet siege in 1945 had left it in ruins.
The Polish part of the region, divided in 1975 to form three units: the Olsztyn Voivodeship, theElbląg Voivodeship, and theSuwałki Voivodeship, has been reestablished as a single entity in 1999 under the name ofWarmian-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 LithuanianKlaipėda Region, has thereafter become freely accessible by Germans, in line with thefree movement of people policy.
Mother Tongues of East Prussia, according to the 1905 Census
In year 1824, shortly before itsmerger withWest Prussia, the population of East Prussia was 1,080,000 people.[53] Of that number, according toKarl Andree, ethnic Germans were slightly more than half, while 280,000 (≈26%) wereethnically Polish and 200,000 (≈19%) wereethnically Lithuanian.[54] As of year 1819, there were also 20,000 strong ethnicCuronian and Latvian minorities as well as 2,400 Jews, according to Georg Hassel.[55] Similar numbers are given byAugust von Haxthausen in his 1839 book, with a breakdown by county.[56] However, the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants wereLutherans, notRoman Catholics like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in theRussian Empire. Only in southernWarmiaCatholic Poles – so calledWarmiaks (not to be confused with predominantlyProtestant Masurians) – comprised the majority of population, numbering 26,067 people (≈81%) incounty Allenstein (Polish:Olsztyn) in 1837.[56] Another minority in pre-war East Prussia were ethnically RussianOld Believers, also known asPhilipponnen – their main town was Eckertsdorf (Wojnowo), in Sensburg district.[57][58][59]
Ethnolinguistic distribution in East Prussia (1905) by districtDistricts of East Prussia (1910)
As of 1905, the province of East Prussia was divided into three government regions, known asRegierungsbezirke. These were the regions ofKönigsberg,Gumbinnen andAllenstein.
Ethnolinguistic structure of East Prussia by district (1905)[62]
The Prussian central government appointed for every province anOberpräsident ("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 ruraldistricts (Kreise) within each province (sometimes within eachgovernorate) 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 theprovincial 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, theLandeshauptmann ("Land Captain"; till the 1880s titled Landdirektor, land director).[63]
^abAndreas 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.
^Górski, Karol (1949).Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. pp. XXXI,XXXVII–XXXVIII.
^abcdMałłek, Janusz (1992). "Polityka miasta Królewca wobec Polski w latach 1525–1701".Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie (in Polish). No. 3–4. pp. 254–255.
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^Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-Century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, and Analysis. Piotr Eberhardt,page 166, 2003 M E Sharpe Inc
^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.S2CID143888997.
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^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.
^Wardzyńska, Maria (2009).Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa:IPN. pp. 223–236.
^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.ISBN978-83-8098-174-4.
^Świecik, Józef (1983). "Tragiczne ostatnie dni okupacji niemieckiej w Płocku".Notatki Płockie (in Polish).28 (3 (116)). Towarzystwo Naukowe Płockie: 30.
^Guzewicz, Wojciech (2008). "Eksterminacja duchowieństwa katolickiego na Suwalszczyźnie w okresie okupacji niemieckiej".Studia Ełckie (in Polish) (10):141–157.
^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.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
^abKoziełło-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.
^Chrzanowski, Bogdan (2022).Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 (in Polish). Gdańsk: IPN. p. 57.ISBN978-83-8229-411-8.
^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.
^Chrzanowski, Bogdan. "Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945)".Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum (in Polish).5: 30.ISSN0137-5377.
^Beevor, Antony,Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin Books (2002).ISBN0-670-88695-5
^Beevor, Antony,Berlin: The Downfall 1945, chapters 1–8, Penguin Books (2002).ISBN0-670-88695-5
^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.
^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.
^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.
^abIn 1933 the DNVP ran under the list KFSWR, also includingDer Stahlhelm and theLB.
^DVP and DNVP formed the united list called Prussian Block (PB, Preußemblock).
^In 1921 the party was named United Communist Party of Germany, VKPD.
^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.
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,ISBN0-299-18544-3.
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 theVersailles Treaty including all secret meetings; plebiscites and all other problems in Europe; includes all diplomatic correspondence from all states.
Denny, Isabel (2007).The fall of Hitler's fortress city : the battle of Konigsberg, 1945. Havertown, Penn.: Casemate.ISBN978-1-61200-058-9.OCLC783289112.
Tooze, Adam (2006).The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy. New York: Viking.ISBN978-0-670-03826-8.
Publications in German
B. Schumacher:Geschichte Ost- und Westpreussens, Würzburg 1959
Boockmann, Hartmut:Ostpreußen und Westpreußen (= Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas). Siedler, Berlin 1992,ISBN3-88680-212-4
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
Spuren der Vergangenheit / Следы Пρошлого (Traces of the past) This site by W.A. Milowskij, a Kaliningrad resident, contains hundreds of interesting photos, often with text explanations, of architectural and infrastructural artifacts of the territory's long German past(in German and Russian)
Growing up in East Prussia An oral history project, documenting the German history of East Prussia with memories and reports by contemporary witnesses(in German and Polish)
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