West Prussia

West Prussia (German: Westpreußen; Polish: Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia. After Germany was defeated in 1918, in February 1920 it handed over West Prussia's central parts to become the so-called Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig, while the parts remaining with the German Weimar Republic became the new Posen-West Prussia or were joined to the Province of East Prussia as Regierungsbezirk West Prussia. The territory was included within Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia from 1939–45, after which it became part of Poland.

West Prussia is also used as a general name for the region in historical context from the 13th century to 1945. In the Middle Ages, it was inhabited by Slavic tribes: by Pomeranians in Pomerelia west to Vistula river, by Old Prussians and later Masovians in Kulmerland, and by Old Prussians (mainly Pomesanians) in the part of the region located east to Vistula river and north to Kulmerland. Due to immigration and cultural changes, the population became mixed over centuries and consisted of Germans, Kashubians, Poles, as well as Slovincians, Huguenots, Mennonites, and Scots, among others.

Most of the territory of West Prussia is today part of Poland’s Pomeranian Voivodeship, which has Danzig as its capital.

History

In the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the towns of Pomerelia and western Prussia rebelled against the Teutonic Knights and sought the assistance of King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland. By the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), Pomerelia and western Prussia became the Polish province of Royal Prussia, which received special rights, especially in Danzig (Gdańsk). Royal Prussia became part of the Polish Crown in 1569 per Union of Lublin. Eastern Prussia, on the other hand, remained with the Teutonic Knights, who were reduced to vassals of Poland by the Peace of Thorn. This territory became the Duchy of Prussia in 1525 and removed the Polish suzerainty in 1657 Treaty of Wehlau.

Most of Royal Prussia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1772 First Partition of Poland, and became the Province of West Prussia the following year, with the exception of Warmia, which became part of the Province of East Prussia. The Polish administrative and legal code was replaced by the Prussian system, and 750 schools were built from 1772-1775.^[1] Both Protestant and Roman Catholic teachers taught in West Prussia, and teachers and administrators were encouraged to be able to speak both German and Polish. Frederick II of Prussia also advised his successors to learn Polish, a policy followed by the Hohenzollern dynasty until Frederick III decided not to let William II learn the language.^[1] Frederick looked upon many of his new citizens with scorn. Already during his early days Frederick detested the Poles and gave evidence to his prejudice against Polish people;in a letter from 1735 he calls them "dirty" and "vile apes"^[2] He had nothing but contempt for the szlachta, the numerous Polish nobility, and wrote that Poland had "the worst government in Europe with the exception of Ottoman Empire".^[3] He considered West Prussia as uncivilized as Colonial Canada^[4] and compared the Poles to the Iroquois.^[3] In a letter to his brother Henry, Frederick wrote about the province that "it is a very good and advantageous acquisition, both from a financial and a political point of view. In order to excite less jealousy I tell everyone that on my travels I have seen just sand, pine trees, heath land and Jews. Despite that there is a lot of work to be done; there is no order, and no planning and the towns are in a lamentable condition."^[5] Frederick invited German immigrants to redevelop the province,^[1] also hoping they would displace the Poles.^[6] Many German officials also regarded the Poles with contempt.^[4] According to Jerzy Surdykowski, Frederick the Great brought up 300,000 colonists on territories he conquered and enforced Germanization^[7] According to Christopher Clark 54 percent of the annexed area's and 75 percent of the urban populace were German-speaking Protestants.^[8] Further Polish areas were annexed in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, including cities of Danzig (Gdańsk) and Toruń (Thorn). Some of the areas of Greater Poland annexed in 1772 that formed the Netze District were added to West Prussia in 1793 as well.

From 1807–13 during the Napoleonic Wars, southern parts of West Prussia were incorporated in the Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815 the province, again annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, was administratively subdivided into the Regierungsbezirke Danzig and Marienwerder. From 1824-1878 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. It underwent German measures aimed at Germanisation of conquered Polish territories which included settlement of 150,000 German colonists on territories conquered from Poland by Prussia.^[9]

The Polish historian Andrzej Chwalba points out several other measures that were enforced by the German state as part of Germanisation policy:

• Ethnic Germans were favoured in government contracts and only they won them, while Poles always lost.^[9]
• Ethnic Germans were also promoted in investment plans, supply contracts.^[9]
• German craftsmen in Polish territories received the best locations in cities from authorities so that they could start their own business and prosper.^[9]
• Soldiers received orders that banned them from buying in Polish shops and from Poles under the threat of arrest.^[9]
• German merchantmen were encouraged to settle in Polish territories.^[9]
• Tax incentives and beneficial financial arrangements were proposed to German officials and clerks if they would settle in Polish inhabited provinces.^[9]

After the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, most of West Prussia was granted to the Second Polish Republic (the Polish Corridor) or the Free City of Danzig, while small parts in the west and east of the former province remained in Weimar Germany. The western remainder formed Posen-West Prussia in 1922, while the eastern remainder became part of Regierungsbezirk West Prussia within East Prussia.

The region was included in the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia within Nazi Germany during World War II and settled with 130,000 German colonists,^[10] while between 120,000 to 170,000 Poles and Jews were ethnically cleansed by the Germans.^[11] As in all other areas Poles and Jews were classified as "Untermenschen" by the German state, with their fate being slavery and extermination. Many West Prussian Germans fled westward as the Red Army advanced on the Eastern Front. All of the areas occupied by Nazis were restored to Poland according to the post-war Potsdam Agreement in 1945, along with further neighbouring areas of former Nazi Germany. The vast majority of the remaining German population of the region which had not fled before was subsequently expelled westward. Many German civilians were deported to labor camps like Vorkuta in the Soviet Union, where a large number of them perished or were later reported missing. In 1949, the refugees established the non-profit Landsmannschaft Westpreußen to represent West Prussians in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Historical population

From 1885 to 1890 West Prussia's population decreased by 1%.

• 1875 - 1,343,057
• 1880 - 1,405,898
• 1890 - 1,433,681 (717,532 Catholics, 681,195 Protestants, 21,750 Jews, others)
• 1900 - 1,563,658 (800,395 Catholics, 730,685 Protestants, 18,226 Jews, others)
• 1905 - 1.641.936 (including 437.916 Polish speakers, 99.357 Kashubian speakers)^[13]

According to the official German census of 1910 in the areas that became Polish after 1918 42 percent of the populace were ethnic German in 1910 (including German military, civil clerks and settlers).^[14]

Contemporary sources in late 19th and early 20th centuries, gave the number of Kashubians between 80,000 to 200,000.^[15]

Subdivisions

Note: Prussian provinces were subdivided into districts called "Kreise" (singular "Kreis", abbreviated "Kr."). Cities would have their own "Stadtkreis" (urban district) and the surrounding rural area would be named for the city, but referred to as a "Landkreis" (rural district).

Population according to the German census 1905:

Office holders

• Administration of West Prussia before 1919

See also

• History of Pomerania

Notes

References

• Blanke, Richard (1993). Orphans of Versailles. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 316. ISBN 0-8131-1803-4. 
• Koch, H. W. (1978). A History of Prussia. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. p. 326. ISBN 0-88029-158-3. 
• MacDonogh, Giles (2001). Frederick the Great: A Life in Deed and Letters. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 436. ISBN 0-312-27266-9. 
• Ritter, Gerhard (1974). Frederick the Great: A Historical Profile. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 207. ISBN 0-520-02775-2. 
• de Zayas, Alfred-Maurice (1994). A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the Eastern European Germans 1944-1950. New York: St. Martin's Press. 
• Rota, Andrea (2010). Wiedersehen mit der Familie, Wiedersehen in der Heimat. SÖHNE von Volker Koepp. In Elena Agazzi, Erhard Schütz (Ed.): Heimkehr: eine zentrale Kategorie der Nachkriegszeit. Geschichte, Literatur und Medien. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. p. 257-268. ISBN: 978-3-428-53379-4

External links

• www.westpreussen-online.de (German)
• Administrative subdivision of the province in 1910 (German)
• Das Westpreußenlied (Real Audio)
• West Prussia FAQ
• East and West Prussia Gazetteer