Editing Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (section)

== History ==
The region was originally inhabited by several pagan [[Old Prussians|Old Prussian]] clans, including the [[Bartians]], [[Pogesanians]] and [[Warmians]], from whom the name ''Warmia'' originated. During the northern Crusade, the Old Prussians were conquered by the Catholic [[Teutonic Order]]; their land was granted to the order by the pope, and the region became part of the theocratic [[State of the Teutonic Order]]. The Order encouraged colonization by German settlers in Warmia (''[[Ostsiedlung]]'') and Polish colonists from the region of [[Masovia]], called [[Masurians]] (''Mazurzy''), hence the name [[Masuria]]. The Old Prussians were heavily decimated during the crusade and the following revolt. What remained of them became Christianized and assimilated into the newcomers and thus became extinct.

[[File:Jan Matejko, Bitwa pod Grunwaldem.jpg|thumb|left|[[Battle of Grunwald]], painting by [[Jan Matejko]] (1878)]]

During the Teutonic rule, the region experienced a process of urbanization and economic boost due to the expansion of the [[Hanseatic League]] into the region. The Order later attacked their former ally [[Kingdom of Poland (1025-1385)|Poland]] and conquered the region of [[Pomerelia]], beginning a long-lasting conflict with Poland, which subsequently entered into an alliance with [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]]. In Masuria, the Poles and Lithuanians defeated the Order at the [[Battle of Grunwald]]. The wars eventuated in a rebellion by the urban populations of Pomerelia and Warmia, who were affected by the Teutons' numerous wars; upon the urban populations' request, the region was incorporated into Poland by King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]], and after the [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)|Thirteen Years' War]] it remained under Polish suzerainty, but was divided into two parts: [[Elbląg]] and [[Prince-Bishopric of Warmia|Warmia]] were incorporated directly into the Kingdom of Poland, while Masuria became a Polish [[fief]] under the control of the Teutonic Order, also considered an integral part of "one and indivisible" Kingdom of Poland.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=Poznań|pages=96–97, 214–215|language=pl}}</ref>
[[File:Elbląg- miedzioryt z XVIII wieku.jpg|thumb|left|[[Elbląg]] was one of the main port cities of the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] and one of the largest and most influential cities in the entire [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].]]
The state of the Teutonic Order ceased to exist in 1525 when Grandmaster [[Albert, Duke of Prussia|Albert Hohenzollern]] introduced secularisation, proclaimed the [[Duchy of Prussia]], and became a vassal of [[Sigismund I of Poland]]. The Prussian Hohenzollern line became extinct in 1618 with the death of Albert Frederick, and the Duchy was inherited by the Brandenburgian line; Prussia simultaneously entered into a [[personal union]] with the electorate of Brandenburg known as [[Brandenburg-Prussia]], remaining under Polish suzerainty until the [[Treaty of Oliva]] in 1660. The throne was inherited by Frederick I of Prussia who wanted to unite the Duchy with Brandenburg and also wanted to proclaim himself king of Prussia and therefore participated in the Russian-initiated [[Partitions of Poland]] in which Warmia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, and henceforth became part of the newly established province of [[East Prussia]]. Together with the rest of the Kingdom, the region became part of the North German Confederation and the [[German Empire]].

[[File:Działdowo - Monument to victims of KL Soldau.jpg|thumb|Monument to victims of the German Nazi [[Soldau concentration camp]] in [[Działdowo]]]]

In 1914, the province turned into a battlefield, seeing notable battles such as the [[Battle of Tannenberg]] as part of the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]] of [[World War I]]. Later, the region became part of the [[Weimar Republic]], and [[Nazi Germany]], whereas some areas in the south became again part of Poland, following the restoration of its independence in 1918. In the interbellum, the Polish population was subjected to persecution from both the pre-Nazi and Nazi authorities of Germany. With the German [[invasion of Poland]] at the start of [[World War II]] in 1939, the Germans eventually carried out mass arrests of local Poles, shut down or seized Polish newspapers and libraries,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|pages=41–42}}</ref> and occupied the pre-war Polish areas of the present-day province, in which they established the [[Soldau concentration camp]], and carried out massacres of Poles, including at [[Bratian]], [[Nawra, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Nawra]], [[Malinowo, Działdowo County|Malinowo]] and [[Komorniki, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Komorniki]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warsaw|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|pages=177, 228–229, 235–236}}</ref> Several subcamps of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]] were located in the region. [[Stalag I-B]], a major [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|German prisoner-of-war camp]] for Polish, Belgian, [[French prisoners of war in World War II|French]], [[Italian Military Internees|Italian]], Serbian and Soviet POWs,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=390|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> and [[Wolf's Lair]], [[Adolf Hitler]]'s first [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] military headquarters were located in Masuria. After the end of World War II, the German population was expelled in accordance with the [[Potsdam Agreement]], whereas many Masurians emigrated in the following decades.

===Ethnic and religious structure===
In year 1824, shortly before its [[Province of Prussia|merger]] with [[West Prussia]], the population of East Prussia was 1,080,000 people.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://obc.opole.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=8541|title=Jeografia wschodniéy części Europy czyli Opis krajów przez wielorakie narody słowiańskie zamieszkanych: obejmujący Prussy, Xsięztwo Poznańskie, Szląsk Pruski, Gallicyą, Rzeczpospolitę Krakowską, Krolestwo Polskie i Litwę|last=Plater|first=Stanisław|publisher=u Wilhelma Bogumiła Korna|year=1825|location=Wrocław|pages=17|language=pl}}</ref> Of that number, according to [[Karl Andree]], Germans were slightly more than half, while 280,000 (~26%) were [[Polish people|ethnically Polish]] and 200,000 (~19%) were [[Prussian Lithuanians|ethnically Lithuanian]],<ref name="Karl Andree">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xgUEAAAAYAAJ&pg=P218|title=Polen: in geographischer, geschichtlicher und culturhistorischer Hinsicht|last1=Andree|first1=Karl|publisher=Verlag von Ludwig Schumann|year=1831|page=218|language=de}}</ref> however large portions of its German and Lithuanian populations lived in the northern half of the region, outside of the present Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. As of year 1819 there were also some 2,400 Jews, according to Georg Hassel.<ref>{{Cite book|title=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|last=Hassel|first=Georg|publisher=Verlag des Geographischen Instituts Weimar|year=1823|pages=41|language=de}}</ref> Similar numbers are given by [[August von Haxthausen]] in his 1839 book, with a breakdown by county.<ref name="Haxthausen">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsj1FBg0gvUC&pg=PA75|title=Die Ländliche Verfassung in den Einzelnen Provinzen der Preussischen Monarchie|last1=Haxthausen|first1=August|year=1839|pages=75–91|language=de}}</ref> But the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants were [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], not [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholics]] like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in the [[Russian Empire]]. Only in Southern [[Warmia]] [[Catholic Church in Poland|Catholic Poles]] – so called [[Warmiak]]s (not to be confused with predominantly [[Masurians|Protestant Masurians]]) – comprised the majority of population, numbering 26,067 people (~81%) in [[Landkreis Allenstein|county Allenstein]] (Polish: [[Olsztyn]]) in 1837.<ref name="Haxthausen"/> Another minority in 19th-century East Prussia, were ethnically Russian Old Believers, also known as [[Philipons|Philipponnen]] – their main town was Eckersdorf ([[Wojnowo, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Wojnowo]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wojnowo.net/wojnowo-history|title=Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Wojnowo (Eckersdorf)|website=wojnowo.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=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|last=Tetzner|first=Franz|publisher=Verlag von F. Vieweg|year=1902|location=Braunschweig|pages=212–248}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.inne-jezyki.amu.edu.pl/Frontend/Language/Details/28|title=Old Believers in Poland – historical and cultural information|website=Poland's Linguistic Heritage}}</ref> The Polish population was subjected to [[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|Germanisation]] and ''[[Kulturkampf]]'' policies.

In year 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Christians]], 120,123 [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]], 864 [[Mennonites]] and 2,389 Jews.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10001094?page=57|title=Übersicht der Bodenfläche und Bevölkerung des Preußischen Staates : aus den für das Jahr 1817 mtlich eingezogenen Nachrichten|last=Hoffmann|first=Johann Gottfried|publisher=Decker|year=1818|location=Berlin|pages=51}}</ref>

The Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship has the largest number of ethnic [[Ukrainian minority in Poland|Ukrainians living in Poland]]<ref>{{in lang|pl}} [http://www.mswia.gov.pl/portal/pl/61/37/ Mniejszości narodowe i etniczne w Polsce] on the pages of [[Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration]]. Retrieved on 9 September 2007</ref> due to forced relocations (such as [[Operation Vistula]]) carried out by the Soviet and [[Polish Communist]] authorities.

[[Pasłęk]] in the western part of the voivodeship is considered the first place in present-day Poland where [[Dutch people|Dutch]] immigrants settled (in 1297).<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom III |url=https://archive.org/details/slownik-3 |year=1882|language=pl |location=Warszawa |publisher=nakł. Filipa Sulimierskiego i Władysława Walewskiego |page=96}}</ref> There is a claim that they were participants in the killing of [[Floris V, Count of Holland]] in 1296, who then fled east, which is alluded to by Dutch poet [[Joost van den Vondel]] in his work ''Gijsbrechcie van Aemstel'' (1637).<ref>{{cite book|last=Morciniec|first=Norbert|title=Historia literatury niderlandzkiej do końca 19. wieku|year=2019|language=pl|publisher=Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT|location=Wrocław|page=106|isbn=978-83-7977-424-1}}</ref>