Editing East Prussia (section)

=== World War II ===
[[File:EastPrussiaMap1944.png|thumb|upright|Map of East Prussian Districts in 1945]]
After the 1939 [[invasion of Poland]] by Nazi Germany opening World War II, the borders of East Prussia were revised. Regierungsbezirk Westpreußen became part of [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]], while Regierungsbezirk Zichenau ([[Ciechanów]]) was added to East Prussia. Originally part of the Zichenau region, the Sudauen ([[Suwałki]]) district in Sudovia was later transferred to the Gumbinnen region.
In 1939 East Prussia had 2.49&nbsp;million inhabitants, 85% of them ethnic Germans, the others [[Polish people|Poles]] in the south who, according to Polish estimates numbered in the interwar period around 300,000–350,000,<ref>Szkolnictwo polskie w Niemczech 1919–1939, Henryk Chałupczak Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej,page9 1996</ref> the [[Latvian Language|Latvian speaking]] [[Kursenieki]], and [[Lietuvininkai]] who spoke [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] in the northeast. Most German East Prussians, Masurians, Kursieniki, and Lietuvininkai were Lutheran, while the population of [[Warmia]] was mainly Roman Catholic due to the history of its bishopric. The East Prussian Jewish Congregation declined from about 9,000 in 1933 to 3,000 in 1939, as most fled from Nazi rule.

During [[World War II]], the Polish ethnic minorities of Catholic [[Warmians (ethnic group)|Warmians]] and Lutheran [[Masurians]] were persecuted by the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] government, which wanted to erase all aspects of Polish culture and Polish language in [[Warmia]] and [[Masuria]].<ref name=sa1>S. Achremczyk: ''Warmia'', Olsztyn 2000.</ref><ref name=sa2>S. Achremczyk: ''Historia Warmii i Mazur'', Olsztyn 1997</ref> The Jews who remained in East Prussia in 1942 were shipped to concentration camps, including [[Theresienstadt concentration camp|Theresienstadt]] in occupied [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Kaiserwald concentration camp|Kaiserwald]] in occupied Latvia, and camps in [[Maly Trostenets extermination camp|Minsk]] in occupied [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Denny |first=Isabel |title=The Fall of Hitler's Fortress City: The Battle for Königsberg, 1945 |year=2007 |publisher=Casemate |location=Havertown |pages=256 |isbn=978-1-935149-20-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/p_ostpreussen.html#einwohnerzahl |title=Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Preußen, Provinz Ostpreußen 1871 - 1945 |first=Michael |last=Rademacher |access-date=8 December 2016 |archive-date=30 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230220819/http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/p_ostpreussen.html#einwohnerzahl |url-status=dead }}</ref> Those who remained were later deported and killed in the [[Holocaust]].

[[File:Ostroleka-rynek-2wojna.jpg|thumb|left|German-annexed [[Ostrołęka]] during World War II]]
In 1939 the [[Zichenau (region)|Regierungsbezirk Zichenau]] was [[Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany|annexed by Germany]] and incorporated into East Prussia. Parts of it were transferred to other regions, e.g. [[Suwałki Region]] to [[Gumbinnen (region)|Regierungsbezirk Gumbinnen]] and [[Soldau (district)|Soldau]] (Działdowo) to [[Allenstein (region)|Regierungsbezirk Allenstein]]. Despite [[Nazi propaganda]] presenting all of the regions annexed as possessing significant German populations that wanted reunification with Germany, the Reich's statistics of late 1939 show that only 31,000 out of 994,092 people in this territory were ethnic Germans.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}

In the annexed pre-war Polish territory, the Polish population was subjected to [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|various crimes]], including mass arrests, [[Łapanka|roundups]], deportations to [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] and [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] (including teenagers),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wyczałkowski |first=Seweryn |year=1983 |title=Kilka danych o nauczaniu w czasie okupacji hitlerowskiej w Płocku 1939–1945 |journal=Notatki Płockie |publisher=Towarzystwo Naukowe Płockie |language=pl |volume=28 |issue=3 (116) |page=36 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kołakowski |first=Andrzej |editor-last=Kostkiewicz |editor-first=Janina |year=2020 |title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945) |language=pl |location=Kraków |publisher=[[Jagiellonian University|Uniwersytet Jagielloński]], [[Biblioteka Jagiellońska]] |page=78 |chapter=Zbrodnia bez kary: eksterminacja dzieci polskich w okresie okupacji niemieckiej w latach 1939–1945 }}</ref> executions, massacres (also as part of the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]'' and ''[[Aktion T4]]'') and [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expulsions]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Wardzyńska |first=Maria |year=2009 |title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion |language=pl |location=Warszawa |publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]] |pages=223–236 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wardzyńska |first=Maria |year=2017 |title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939–1945 |language=pl |location=Warszawa |publisher=IPN |pages=381–427 |isbn=978-83-8098-174-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Świecik |first=Józef |year=1983 |title=Tragiczne ostatnie dni okupacji niemieckiej w Płocku |journal=Notatki Płockie |publisher=Towarzystwo Naukowe Płockie |language=pl |volume=28 |issue=3 (116) |page=30 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Guzewicz |first=Wojciech |year=2008 |title=Eksterminacja duchowieństwa katolickiego na Suwalszczyźnie w okresie okupacji niemieckiej |journal=Studia Ełckie |language=pl |issue=10 |pages=141–157 }}</ref> The Jews were confined in [[Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany|ghettos]] and afterwards deported either deported to [[extermination camps]] or massacred in the region.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-065743, Ostpreußen, Ankunft von Umsiedlern aus Litauen.jpg|thumb|Eydtkau (now [[Chernyshevskoye]]) in 1941]]
Germany operated the [[Soldau concentration camp|Soldau]] and {{ill|Hohenbruch concentration camp|lt=Hohenbruch|de|KZ Hohenbruch}} concentration camps, mostly for Poles, multiple subcamps of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]] and several [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camps]], including [[Stalag I-A]], [[Stalag I-B]], Stalag I-C, Stalag I-D, Stalag I-E, [[Stalag I-F]], [[Macikai POW and GULAG Camps|Stalag Luft VI]], Oflag 52, Oflag 53, Oflag 60, Oflag 63 and Oflag 68 with multiple subcamps, for Polish, Belgian, [[French prisoners of war in World War II|French]], British, Serbian, Soviet, [[Italian Military Internees|Italian]], American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, South African, Czech and other [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] POWs in the province.<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 |pages=212–213, 217–218, 223, 387–392, 509 |isbn=978-0-253-06089-1 }}</ref> Pre-war Polish citizens made up the majority of [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced laborers]] in the province, with their numbers gradually increasing, but due to the influx of forced laborers of other nationalities, their overall percentage declined from 90% in 1940 to 62% in 1944.<ref name=bkp>{{cite magazine |last1=Koziełło-Poklewski |first1=Bohdan |last2=Badowska |first2=Stanisława |year=1974 |title=Praca przymusowa w Prusach Wschodnich w latach II wojny światowej |magazine=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie |language=pl |issue=1 |pages=45–47 }}</ref> Most Polish forced laborers in the province were deported from the pre-war Polish territories annexed into the province by Germany, with German labor offices recruiting forced laborers established in the cities of [[Ciechanów]], [[Ostrołęka]], [[Płock]] and [[Suwałki]].<ref name=bkp/>

Hitler's top-secret [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern front]] headquarters during the war, the ''[[Wolf's Lair]]'', was located in the village of [[Gierłoż, Kętrzyn County|Gierłoż]].

The [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]] was active in the province, both in the annexed pre-war territory of Poland, and in the pre-war territory of East Prussia, with activities in the latter including distribution of [[Polish underground press]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Chrzanowski |first=Bogdan |year=2022 |title=Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 |language=pl |location=Gdańsk |publisher=IPN |page=57 |isbn=978-83-8229-411-8 }}</ref> sabotage actions, executions of Nazis, theft of German weapons, ammunition and equipment,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brenda |first=Waldemar |year=2007 |title=Pogranicze Prus Wschodnich i Polski w działaniach polskiej konspiracji w latach II wojny światowej |journal=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie |issue=4 |language=pl |pages=515–517 }}</ref> and organization of transports of POWs who escaped German POW camps via the ports of [[Gdańsk]] and [[Gdynia]] to [[Neutral powers during World War II|neutral]] Sweden.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chrzanowski |first=Bogdan |title=Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945) |journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum |language=pl |volume=5 |page=30 |issn=0137-5377 }}</ref>

East Prussia was only slightly affected by the war until January 1945, when it was devastated during the [[East Prussian Offensive]]. Most of its inhabitants became refugees in bitterly cold weather during the [[Evacuation of East Prussia]].

====Evacuation of East Prussia====
{{main|Evacuation of East Prussia}}
[[File:Probsteikirche.jpg|thumb|Königsberg after the [[Bombing of Königsberg in World War II|RAF bombing]] in 1944]]
In 1944 the medieval city of [[Königsberg]], which had never been severely damaged by warfare in its 700 years of existence, [[Bombing of Königsberg in World War II|was almost completely destroyed]] by two [[RAF Bomber Command]] raids – the first on the night of 26/27 August 1944, with the second one three nights later, overnight on 29/30 August 1944. [[Winston Churchill]] (''The Second World War'', Book XII) had erroneously believed it to be "a modernized heavily defended fortress" and ordered its destruction.

[[Gauleiter]] [[Erich Koch]] delayed the evacuation of the German civilian population until the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] approached the East Prussian border in 1944. The population had been systematically misinformed by ''[[Endsieg]]'' Nazi propaganda about the real state of military affairs. As a result, many civilians fleeing westward were overtaken by retreating [[Wehrmacht]] units and the rapidly advancing [[Red Army]].

Reports of Soviet atrocities in the [[Nemmersdorf massacre]] of October 1944 and organized rape spread fear and desperation among the civilians. Thousands lost their lives during the sinkings (by Soviet submarine) of the evacuation ships ''[[Wilhelm Gustloff (ship)|Wilhelm Gustloff]]'', the ''[[Goya (ship)|Goya]]'', and the ''[[Dampfschiff General von Steuben|General von Steuben]]''. Königsberg surrendered on 9 April 1945, following the desperate four-day [[Battle of Königsberg]]. An estimated 300,000 died either in wartime bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, or through mistreatment by the Red Army or from hunger, cold and disease.<ref name="Andreas Kossert p. 342"/>

However, most of the German inhabitants, which then consisted primarily of women, children and old men, did manage to escape the Red Army as part of the largest exodus of people in human history: "A population which had stood at 2.2 million in 1940 was reduced to 193,000 at the end of May 1945."<ref>Beevor, Antony, ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', Penguin Books (2002). {{ISBN|0-670-88695-5 }}</ref><ref name="Chapters">Beevor, Antony, ''Berlin: The Downfall 1945'', chapters 1–8, Penguin Books (2002). {{ISBN|0-670-88695-5 }}</ref>