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The Masurians or Mazurs (; ; Masurian: Mazurÿ), historically also known as Prussian Masurians (Polish language: Mazurzy pruscy), are an ethnic group originating from the region of Masuria, within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. They number around 5,000–15,000 people. In the 2011 Polish census, 1,376 individuals declared themselves to be Masurian as either a first or a secondary identification. Before World War II and its post-war expulsions, Masurians used to be a more numerous ethnic group found in the southern parts of East Prussia for centuries following the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Today, most Masurians live in what is now Germany and elsewhere.
Masurians are mostly descendants of colonists from Mazovia, but many of them have their roots in Germany, Lithuania, France, Austria, Scotland, the Netherlands and Russia. Some research also indicate the admixture of the remains of the Old Prussians. Piotr Szatkowski: Masurians – the disappearing testimony of the linguistic past of the Polish-German borderland. The contemporary language practices of descendants of the native population of Masuria These settlers moved to the Duchy of Prussia during and after the Protestant Reformation. They spoke the Masurian dialects. Since the mid-19th century, High German was increasingly used among Masurians as opposed to Low German used by most of East Prussia's German population. Many Masurians were often bilingual in German and Polish languages. In the 19th century, the Masuria region of East Prussia was named after the Masurians.
Like most of the East Prussian population, they favored Protestantism and adopted Lutheranism in 1525 when Albert, Duke of Prussia secularized the duchy and converted. Roman Catholic Warmiaks and Masovians were not affected, as they inhabited parts that formally belonged to the Kingdom of Poland.
After World War II, many Masurians were classified as Germans and therefore mostly expelled along with them or emigrated after 1956 from what was now Poland to post-war Germany. Although most of them left for the West Germany, some also ended up in East Germany. Conclusion of the war and ensuing resettlements saw an ethnic conflict between leaving Masurians and incoming Kurpie mainly on religious (Protestant–Catholic) grounds.
Because of the influx of Masovians into the southern lakeland, the area started to be known as "Masuria" from the 18th century. During the Protestant Reformation, the Masurians, like most inhabitants of Ducal Prussia, became Lutheranism Protestantism, while the neighboring Masovians remained Roman Catholic. In 1525, the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief until 1657, was founded from the secularized order's territory and became the first ever officially Protestant state. The small minority of Protestant Masovians in southern Catholic Masovia inside Poland emigrated later to Prussian Masuria. Masuria became part of the Kingdom of Prussia at the Kingdom's founding in 1701, and part of the Prussian-led German Empire at the Empire's founding in 1871.
Masurians referred to themselves in the 19th century as "Polish Prussians" or as "Staroprusaki" (Old Prussians).
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. Some early writers about Masurians – like Max Toeppen – postulated them as mediators between German and Slav cultures.
During the 1840s, the folklorist Gustaw Gizewiusz (Gustav Gisevius) collected Masurian folk songs which were later included in Oskar Kolberg's compilation Dzieła Wszystkie. Kolberg, Oskar. Dzieła Wszystkie
Beginning in the 1870s, German Empire officials restricted the usage of languages other than German in Prussia's eastern provinces.Clark, p. 580. The German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise the Masurians or to separate them culturally from neighboring Poles by creating a separate identity.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.
After 1871 Masurians who expressed sympathy for Poland were deemed "national traitors" by German nationalists (this increased especially after 1918). According to Wojciech Wrzesinki, Masurians did not receive any assistance or help from Polish movements at the time.Z księgi pieśni człowieka niemczonego Wojciech Kętrzyński Pojezierze, 1968, page 111 - 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.
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. 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.Kossert (2001), p. 44.Blanke, pp. 45–47. This ethnically, but not nationally Polish identity was a repeated source of consternation for Polish national activists,Blanke, pp. 58–59. and decidedly pro-Polish political parties and press never gained widespread influence among the general populace.Kossert (2001), pp. 73–80. 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."Blanke, p. 15.
The Masurians evinced strong support for Germany during World War I.Clark, p. 608. In 1920, the League of Nations supervised the East Prussian plebiscite – with British, French and Italian troops stationed in Masuria – to determine the new border between the Second Polish Republic and German East Prussia. The plebiscite was organized by the local German authorities. 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" Polish ethnographer Adam Chętnik stated that the German authorities performed abuses and falsifications during the plebiscite, and Stefan Berger writes that the Masurians were subjected to huge psychological pressure and physical violence by German side to vote for Germany.Q. Edward Wang, Franz L. Fillafer, Georg G. Iggers Kossert admits irregularities during the referendum, but asserts that in general, its results truthfully reflected the overwhelmingly pro-German sentiment in southern East Prussia.Kossert (2001), p. 158. In Masuria proper the vast majority (99.32%) opted to remain in Prussia.
Andreas Kossert: "Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches, p. 124
Rocznik statystyki Rzczypospolitej Polskiej/Annuaire statistique de la République Polonaise 1 (1920/22), part 2, Warszawa 1923, S. 358. Attempts to create schools teaching Polish in interwar Germany were met with terror and violence.O polskości Warmii i Mazur w dawnych wiekach, Andrzej Wakar, Pojezierze, page 80, 1969
The time of the liberal Weimar republic saw a strong trend of conversion from the Polish language to the German language among the Masurians.
Support for the Nazi Party was high in Masuria, especially in elections in 1932 and 1933.Clark, p. 640. Nazis used the Masurian dialect for their political rallies during the campaigning. 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.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 [7]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 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. Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich by Michael Burleigh, page 209, 1988, Cambridge University Press 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.Słownik geograficzno-krajoznawczy Polski Iwona Swenson, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, page 440, 1998
In 1943, "Związek Mazurski" was reactivated secretly by Masurian activists of the Polish Underground State in Warsaw and led by Karol Małłek.Literatura polska w latach II wojny światowej Jerzy Świe̢ch, Instytut Badań Literackich (Polska Akademia Nauk), page 42
Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 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". Pałace i dwory powiatu kętrzyńskiego – wartości historyczne i kulturowe Muzeum im Wojciecha Kętrzyńsiego w Kętrzynie Additionally a Masurian Institute was founded by Masurian activists in Radość near Warsaw in 1943. O nas Ośrodek Badań Naukowych imienia Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Olsztynie Andreas Kossert regards these claims as a presumption completely disregarding the actual conditions of the Masurian people.Kossert (2006), p. 360.
Along with the majority of ethnic German East Prussians, many Masurians fled to western Germany as the Soviet Union Red Army approached East Prussia in 1945 in the final European campaigns of World War II. The post-war Potsdam Conference placed Masuria – and the rest of southern East Prussia – under Polish administration. Many Masurians who were classified as Germans were expelled with military force. After 1956, many who had remained in Poland emigrated to West Germany. As of 2003, approximately 5,000 Masurians still lived in the area, many of them as members of the German minority. Speculations about the reasons of this emigration vary, from the economic situation and the undemocratic – communist – system in Poland to the shrinking prospect of a return of Masuria to Germany. Dr. Joachim Rogall, Die Deutschen in Polen
Mazur remains the 14th most common Polish surnames in Poland, with almost 67,000 people bearing the name. Frequency and geographic distribution of the surname Mazur in Poland According to ethnographer Adam Chętnik, the Masurians were most closely related to the Kurpie branch of the Poles. A group of Masurians migrated south and became one of the main components of the Lasowiacy, who live in the northern part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship.
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.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
For Piotr Wandycz the events of 1848 led to Polish national awakening in Masuria.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,
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. (2025). 9783570550069, Pantheon. ISBN 9783570550069
Population size
Mother tongue of the inhabitants of Masuria, by county, during the first half of the 19th century:
Masurians in the twentieth century
Before World War I many Masurians emigrated to the Ruhr Area, especially to Gelsenkirchen. Here, Masurians were not distinguished apart from the Poles and both groups were seen as inferior to Germans, culturally or even racially.Lucassen, Leo The Immigrant Threat: The Integration of Old and New Migrants in Western Europe since 1850 (Studies of World Migrations) p. 71. Despite those official efforts, German scholars usually considered Masurians as a group of Poles. In all German geographical atlases published at the beginning of the 20th century, the southern part of East Prussia was marked as an ethnically Polish area, with the number of Poles estimated at 300,000.Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski, Ethnic groups and population changes in 20th-century Central-Eastern Europe: history, data, analysis, M.E. Sharpe, 2003, p. 166, Google Books
+Proportion of the Polish-speaking population in the Masurian districts of East Prussia.
(60–80%) (25–40%) (45–70%) (50–65%) (25–60%) (65–75%) (25–45%) (40–50%) (?)
Notable Masurians
See also
Notes
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