Editing Masurians (section)

===Masurians in the twentieth century===
[[File:East Prussia Language Map 1905.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Mother Tongues of East Prussia, according to the 1905 Census; Masurians are indicated in shades of tan, in southern East Prussia]]
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.<ref>Lucassen, Leo ''The Immigrant Threat: The Integration of Old and New Migrants in Western Europe since 1850'' (Studies of World Migrations) p. 71.</ref> 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.<ref name="Google Books">Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski, ''Ethnic groups and population changes in 20th-century Central-Eastern Europe: history, data, analysis'', M.E. Sharpe, 2003, p. 166, {{ISBN|0-7656-0665-8}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=jLfX1q3kJzgC&dq=Masurians&pg=RA1-PA166 Google Books]
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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.<ref name=Wang377>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0b6HKgl9ewC&q=Germanization+Masuria|title=The many faces of Clio: cross-cultural approaches to historiography
|first1=Q. Edward|last1=Wang|first2=Franz L.|last2=Fillafer |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2007|isbn=9781845452704|page=377|access-date=31 January 2012}}</ref> 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.<ref>Kossert (2001), p. 44.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title = "Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches|last = Kossert|first = Andreas|date = 2002|journal = Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte|page =122}}</ref><ref>Blanke, pp. 45–47.</ref> This ethnically, but not nationally Polish identity was a repeated source of consternation for Polish national activists,<ref>Blanke, pp. 58–59.</ref> and decidedly pro-Polish political parties and press never gained widespread influence among the general populace.<ref>Kossert (2001), pp. 73–80.</ref> 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."<ref>Blanke, p. 15.</ref>

The Masurians evinced strong support for Germany during [[World War I]].<ref>Clark, p. 608.</ref> 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.<ref>''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"</ref> Polish ethnographer Adam Chętnik stated that the German authorities performed abuses and falsifications during the plebiscite,<ref name="chetnik">{{Cite web |url=http://www.zwiazekkurpiow.pl/portrety.php?subaction=showfull&id=1200333025&archive=&start_from=&ucat=29& |title=Związek Kurpiów – Adam Chętnik |access-date=2009-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525011546/http://www.zwiazekkurpiow.pl/portrety.php?subaction=showfull&id=1200333025&archive=&start_from=&ucat=29& |archive-date=2016-05-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Stefan Berger writes that the Masurians were subjected to huge psychological pressure and physical violence by German side to vote for Germany.<ref>Q. Edward Wang, Franz L. Fillafer, Georg G. Iggers</ref> Kossert admits irregularities during the referendum, but asserts that in general, its results truthfully reflected the overwhelmingly pro-German sentiment in southern East Prussia.<ref>Kossert (2001), p. 158.</ref> In Masuria proper the vast majority (99.32%) opted to remain in [[Prussia]].<ref>
[http://kossert.net/dateien/vfzg5122003.pdf Andreas Kossert: "Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches, p. 124] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723173024/http://kossert.net/dateien/vfzg5122003.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}</ref><ref>
[http://www.herder-institut.de//uploads/tx_himmat/003_2_003_Plebiszite.pdf Rocznik statystyki Rzczypospolitej Polskiej/Annuaire statistique de la République Polonaise 1 (1920/22), part 2, Warszawa 1923, S. 358.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722212004/http://www.herder-institut.de//uploads/tx_himmat/003_2_003_Plebiszite.pdf |date=2013-07-22 }}</ref> Attempts to create schools teaching Polish in interwar Germany were met with terror and violence.<ref>O polskości Warmii i Mazur w dawnych wiekach, Andrzej Wakar, Pojezierze, page 80, 1969</ref>

The time of the liberal Weimar republic saw a strong trend of conversion from the Polish language to the German language among the Masurians.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Germans and the East |editor= Charles W. Ingrao, Franz A. J. Szabo|author=Richard Blanke|contribution=Interwar Poland and the Problem of Polish-speaking Germans»pages=257-265}}</ref>

Support for the [[Nazi Party]] was high in Masuria, especially in elections in 1932 and 1933.<ref name="Clark, p. 640">Clark, p. 640.</ref> Nazis used the [[Masurian dialects|Masurian dialect]] for their political rallies during the campaigning.<ref name="Clark, p. 640"/> 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.<ref>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 [https://books.google.com/books?id=44xmAAAAMAAJ&q=Masuria+Nazi]</ref><ref>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</ref>{{request quotation|date=August 2013}} 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.<ref>''Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich'' by Michael Burleigh, page 209, 1988, Cambridge University Press</ref> 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.<ref>Słownik geograficzno-krajoznawczy Polski Iwona Swenson, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, page 440, 1998</ref>

In 1943, "Związek Mazurski" was reactivated secretly by Masurian activists of the [[Polish Underground State]] in Warsaw and led by Karol Małłek.<ref>Literatura polska w latach II wojny światowej Jerzy Świe̢ch, Instytut Badań Literackich (Polska Akademia Nauk), page 42
Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,</ref> 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".<ref>[http://www.muzeum.ketrzyn.pl/palace6.htm Pałace i dwory powiatu kętrzyńskiego – wartości historyczne i kulturowe] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040718035121/http://www.muzeum.ketrzyn.pl/palace6.htm |date=2004-07-18 }} Muzeum im Wojciecha Kętrzyńsiego w Kętrzynie</ref> Additionally a [[Masurian Institute]] was founded by Masurian activists in Radość near Warsaw in 1943.<ref name="O nas">[http://www.obn.olsztyn.pl/index1.php?id=o_nas/o_nas O nas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224073951/http://www.obn.olsztyn.pl/index1.php?id=o_nas%2Fo_nas |date=2018-12-24 }} Ośrodek Badań Naukowych imienia Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Olsztynie</ref> Andreas Kossert regards these claims as a presumption completely disregarding the actual conditions of the Masurian people.<ref>Kossert (2006), p. 360.</ref>

Along with the majority of ethnic German East Prussians, many Masurians [[Evacuation of East Prussia|fled]] to western Germany as the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Red Army]] [[East Prussian Offensive|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 [[expulsion of Germans after World War II|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 in Poland|German minority]].<ref name="Google Books"/> Speculations about the reasons of this emigration vary, from the economic situation and the undemocratic – communist – system in Poland<ref name="Google Books"/> to the shrinking prospect of a return of Masuria to Germany.<ref>[http://www1.bpb.de/themen/0WTLNY,4,0,Die_Deutschen_in_Polen.html#art4 Dr. Joachim Rogall, Die Deutschen in Polen] {{in lang|de}}</ref>

''Mazur'' remains the 14th most common [[Polish surnames|surname]] in [[Poland]], with almost 67,000 people bearing the name.<ref>[http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/mazur.html Frequency and geographic distribution of the surname Mazur in Poland]</ref> According to ethnographer [[Adam Chętnik]], the Masurians were most closely related to the [[Kurpie]] branch of the Poles.<ref name="chetnik"/> 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]].<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/ | title = Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Volume VI | location =Warszawa | year=1880–1914 |page=191 | language = pl}}
</ref><ref name=mazury>{{cite web | url =http://www.gwarypolskie.uw.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=18 | title =Dzieje wsi Mazury | first =Izabela | last =Stąpor | publisher =Zakład Historii Języka Polskiego i Dialektologii UW / Towarzystwo Kultury Języka | language =pl | access-date =2010-12-02 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160921051959/http://www.gwarypolskie.uw.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=18 | archive-date =2016-09-21 | url-status =dead }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Proportion of the Polish-speaking population in the Masurian districts of East Prussia.{{efn|According to Prussian censuses and Polish estimates. The first columns of each year refer to the results of the Prussian censuses. These are the total percentages for all people who were recorded as having "Masurian" or "Polish" as their mother tongue, sometimes bilingually with "German".<ref>Blanke, pp. 83 & 237.</ref>

The second columns of each year refer to two different Polish estimates. Those for 1861–1910 have been made by Belzyt in 1996 on the basis of the significantly higher number of Polish-speaking schoolchildren ({{Cite journal|title = Zur Frage des nationalen Bewusstseins der Masuren im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert|last = Belzyt|first = Leszek|date = 1996|journal = Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung}}), although Blanke reduces their validity by saying: "But one cannot simply extrapolate from the school enrollment figures, for Polish-Masurian families typically had more children than the German average. Moreover, a significant feature of Masurian life was that many people 'became' German only as adults, for which reason one would expect to find a lower percentage of Polish-speaking adults than schoolchildren. In consideration of these and other factors, Belzyt has basically split the difference between the two sets of figures in order to arrive at the above figures in parentheses." (Blanke, p. 84.)
The estimates for 1925 have been cited by Kossert,<ref>Kossert (2001), p. 174.</ref> (who claims to have taken them from Pohorecki<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Mazurzy w Prusach Wschodnich|last = Pohorecki|first = Władysław|date = 1932|journal = Sprawy Narodowościowe}}</ref>). They either lack an estimate for all of Masuria, or Kossert omitted that.}}

|-
! District !! 1861 (census) !! 1861 (estimate) !! 1890 (Census) !! 1890 (estimate) !! 1910 (census) !! 1910 (estimate) !! 1925 (census) !! 1925 (estimate)
|-
| Johannisburg (Pisz) || 82,4% || (90%) || 78,8% || (83%) || 68% || (77,9%) || 20,4% || (60–80%)
|-
| Lötzen (Giżycko) || 64,5% || (80%) || 50,6% || (65%) || 35,9% || (58,9%) || 4,4% || (25–40%)
|-
| Lyck (Ełk) || 78,6% || (85%) || 66,6% || (73%) || 51% || (68,9%) || 11,3% || (45–70%)
|-
| Neidenburg (Nidzica) || 81,6% || (87%) || 75,6% || (84%) || 66,6% || (80%) || 23,1% || (50–65%)
|-
| Oletzko (Olecko) || 57,7% || (75%) || 47,7% || (57%) || 29,6% || (51%) || 8% || (25–60%)
|-
| Ortelsburg (Szczytno) || 87,9% || (92%) || 78,1% || (85%) || 70,1% || (82,9%) || 30,4% || (65–75%)
|-
| Osterode (Ostróda) || 63,1% || (67%) || 54,3% || (63%) || 41,2% || (55,9%) || 11,7% || (25–45%)
|-
| Sensburg (Mrągowo) || 74,7% || (87%) || 62,2% || (72%) || 49,6% || (67,5%) || 12,8% || (40–50%)
|-
| '''Total''' || '''74,4%''' || '''(83%)''' || '''65,3%''' || '''(73,4%)''' || '''52,4%''' || '''(69%)''' || '''16,3%''' || (?)
|}
;Notes
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