Editing Masurians (section)

===Masurians in the nineteenth century===
[[File:Plebiszit Sprache Ostpreussen 1920.png|thumb|right|Language according to 1910 Prussian census and results of [[1920 East Prussian plebiscite|1920 referendum]] in southern parts of [[East Prussia]]]]
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.<ref>Historia Polski: 1795–1918 – Page 311
Andrzej Chwalba – 2005 Wiosną 1848 r. polscy działacze narodowi z Pomorza nawiązali kontakty z Mazurami.</ref><ref>Polska, losy państwa i narodu Henryk Samsonowicz Iskry, 1992, page 349
</ref> For Piotr Wandycz the events of 1848 led to Polish national awakening in Masuria.<ref>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,</ref> 
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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Masuren – Ostpreussens vergessener Süden|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Pantheon|year=2006|isbn=3-570-55006-0|page=205|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title="Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte|date=February 2003|page=122|language=de}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1870s, [[German Empire|Imperial German]] officials restricted the usage of languages other than German in Prussia's eastern provinces.<ref>Clark, p. 580.</ref> The German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise the Masurians or to separate them culturally from neighboring Poles by creating a separate identity.<ref>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.
</ref> After 1871 Masurians who expressed sympathy for Poland were deemed "national traitors" by German nationalists (this increased especially after 1918).<ref name=Wang/> According to Wojciech Wrzesinki, Masurians did not receive any assistance or help from Polish movements at the time.<ref>Z księgi pieśni człowieka niemczonego Wojciech Kętrzyński Pojezierze, 1968, page 111 -</ref> 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.<ref name=Wang/>

====Population size====
Mother tongue of the inhabitants of [[Masuria]], by county, during the first half of the 19th century:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Ethno-linguistic structure of Masurian counties in the first half of the 19th century, according to German data<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsj1FBg0gvUC&pg=RA1-PA78|title=Die ländliche verfassung in den einzelnen provinzen der Preussischen Monarchie|last=von Haxthausen|first=August|publisher=Gebrüder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung|year=1839|location=Königsberg|pages=78–81|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jasiński|first=Grzegorz|date=2009|title=Statystyki językowe powiatów mazurskich z pierwszej połowy XIX wieku (do 1862 roku)|url=http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1-s97-130/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1-s97-130.pdf|journal=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie|language=pl|volume=1|pages=97–130|via=BazHum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Belzyt|first=Leszek|date=1996|title=Zur Frage des nationalen Bewußtseins der Masuren im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (auf der Basis statistischer Angaben)|url=https://www.zfo-online.de/index.php/zfo/article/viewFile/134/134|journal=Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung|language=de|volume=Bd. 45, Nr. 1|pages=35–71|via=zfo-online|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003002444/https://www.zfo-online.de/index.php/zfo/article/viewFile/134/134|archive-date=2019-10-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
!County (German name)
!Year
!Polish-speakers
!'''%'''
!German-speakers
!'''%'''
!Lithuanian-speakers
!'''%'''
!Total population
|-
![[Gołdap]] (Goldap)
|1831
|5845
|'''19%'''
|21463
|'''69%'''
|3614
|'''12%'''
|30922
|-
![[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%'''
|66
|'''0%'''
|24357
|-
![[Giżycko]] (Lötzen)
|1832
|20434
|'''89%'''
|2528
|'''11%'''
|25
|'''0%'''
|22987
|-
![[Pisz]] (Johannisburg)
|1825
|28552
|'''93%'''
|2146
|'''7%'''
|0
|'''0%'''
|30698
|-
![[Mrągowo]] (Sensburg)
|1831
|28753
|'''90%'''
|3209
|'''10%'''
|0
|'''0%'''
|31962
|-
![[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
!234,639
!78%
!63,360
!21%
!3,732
!1%
!301,731
|}