Editing Kaliningrad Oblast (section)

=== 19th century ===

====Napoleonic invasion and occupation====
After the defeats of [[Battle of Jena–Auerstedt|Jena–Auerstedt]], the Kingdom of Prussia was invaded and [[Fall of Berlin (1806)|Berlin was occupied]] by the French. The Court of Prussia fled to Königsberg, asking for Russian help. Russia intervened, leading to the bloody [[Battle of Eylau]] and [[Battle of Friedland]] in 1807. Following a French victory in the latter, both sides signed the [[Treaties of Tilsit]].<ref name="auto1"/>

====Historical ethnic and religious structure====
In 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 [[Evangelical Church in Germany|Protestants]], 120,123 [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], 2,389 [[Jews]], and 864 [[Mennonites]].<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|page=51|access-date=17 January 2023|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032011/https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10001094?page=57|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Пос. Чистые пруды, музей К.Донелайтиса.JPG|thumb|Memorial Museum of [[Kristijonas Donelaitis]] in [[Chistye Prudy, Kaliningrad Oblast|Chistye Prudy]]]]

In 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|page=17|language=pl|access-date=23 December 2018|archive-date=23 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223163913/http://obc.opole.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=8541|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Karl Andree]], Germans were slightly more than half of the people, 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://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xgUEAAAAYAAJ|title=Polen: in geographischer, geschichtlicher und culturhistorischer Hinsicht|last1=Andree|first1=Karl|publisher=Verlag von Ludwig Schumann|year=1831|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xgUEAAAAYAAJ/page/n227 218]|language=de}}</ref> As of 1819, there were also 20,000-strong{{Clarify|reason=Did both these two minorities have 20,000 people, or is that the combined population?|date=January 2023}} ethnic [[Kursenieki|Curonian]] and [[Latvians|Latvian]] minorities as well as 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|page=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> However, the majority of East Prussian Polish and Lithuanian inhabitants were [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], not [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] like their ethnic kinsmen across the border in the [[Russian Empire]]. Only in southern [[Warmia]] did [[Catholic Church in Poland|Catholic Poles]]—so called [[Warmians (ethnic group)|Warmians]] (not to be confused with predominantly [[Masurians|Protestant Masurians]])—comprise the majority of the population, numbering 26,067 people (~81%) in [[Landkreis Allenstein|county Allenstein]] (Polish: [[Olsztyn]]) in 1837.<ref name="Haxthausen"/>

====German culture and Germanization====
[[file:Etnoregionai.png|thumb|Historic [[Lithuania Minor]] (red) comprised the eastern part of the [[Prussia (region)|Prussian region]] that is now Kaliningrad Oblast]]
[[file:Curonians kursenieki in 1649.png|thumb|[[Curonian Spit]] in 1649, inhabited by the [[Kursenieki]]]]
[[file:Cranz Damenbad 1900.jpg|thumb|Resort town of Cranz ([[Zelenogradsk]] today) as it looked circa 1900. It was a destination for [[List of German artists|German artists]] and [[intelligentsia]]]]

In the 19th century, East Prussia was commonly viewed by German commentators as culturally backwards and a part of the "German mission in the East" rather than a core German territory. Pan-Germanist politician [[:de:Ernst Hasse (Politiker)|Ernst Hasse]] criticised the lack of folk identity and [[imagined community]]: "It is the case that there is almost no common folk identity [Landsmannschaften] among the Poseners and Prussians at all. [...] Who can recognise a Posener or Prussian by dialect and character? Distinct features hardly exist."<ref name="tilse">{{cite book |author=Mark Jonathan Breedon Tilse |title=Nations in synthesis: the ideology and practices of transnationalism in the Prussian East, 1871-1914 |type= Doctoral thesis |publisher=University of London |date=2008 |id=PQ ETD 591343 |page=63 }}</ref> While the north of East Prussia was overwhelmingly German, the south was majority Slavic and mostly composed of Poles and [[Masurians]]. There was also a slight Lithuanian majority in the north-eastern area of East Prussia, [[Lithuania Minor]].<ref name="polugodina">{{cite journal |author1=Maria Polugodina |author2=Theocharis Grigoriadis |title=East Prussia 2.0: Persistent Regions, Rising Nations |journal=Discussion Paper |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin |location=Berlin |date=2020 |volume=2020/8 |issue=1 |doi=10.17169/refubium-26889 |page=8 }}</ref> Regional and local identities were particularly strong in East Prussia - local Polish population often identified with Masuria rather than Poland, and Prussian Lithuanians also did not actively identify themselves with the Lithuanian nation.<ref>{{harvnb|Maria Polugodina|Theocharis Grigoriadis|2020|p=9}}</ref> Moreover, confessional identity often prevailed over the national one - German authorities were concerned about the "Catholic-Polish axis"; German Catholics were alienated from the German nation because of the [[Kulturkampf]] legislation, and tended to support the Polish national movement. An East German newspaper ''Thorner Zeitung'' reported in 1871 that "not only Polish Catholics, but also a great number of German Catholics, are willing to vote for a Polish party candidate".<ref>{{harvnb|Mark Jonathan Breedon Tilse|2008|pp=177–178}}</ref>

By the end of the 19th century, East Prussia had a significant Polish minority, and German nationalist circles warned of the prospect of [[Polonization]] of East Prussia.<ref name="srokowski">{{cite book |last1=Srokowski |first1=Stanisław |author-link=Stanisław Srokowski |title=East Prussia |publisher=The Baltic Pocket Library |location=Toruń |date=1934 |page=22 |url=https://kpbc.umk.pl/Content/248439/PDF/Gromadzenie_POPC_027_75.pdf |access-date=27 July 2023 |archive-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727021352/https://kpbc.umk.pl/Content/248439/PDF/Gromadzenie_POPC_027_75.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The perceived weakness of Germanness of East Prussia was also reinforced by the [[Ostflucht]], as East Prussia suffered from both underindustrialisation and rural overpopulation. After 1876, farm prices in East Prussia fell by 20 percent, which encouraged local landowners to hire foreign workers from [[Congress Poland]], incidentally strengthening the Polish element in the region. The increased Slavic immigration to the region generated by the requirement of the [[Junker]]s for cheap labour and better economic conditions in West Germany caused many German inhabitants to leave the region.<ref>{{harvnb|Mark Jonathan Breedon Tilse|2008|p=42}}</ref> Most Germans moved to work in the industrial heartland of western Germany, while others migrated abroad. Poles and Lithuanians of East Prussia also had much higher birth-rate and natural increase rates than the Germans, and rarely emigrated.<ref name="Srokowski 1934 21–22">{{harvnb|Srokowski|1934|pp=21–22}}</ref> Discussing the situation in East Prussia, Polish geographer [[Stanisław Srokowski]] remarked:

{{Blockquote|text=The Poles who live in the southern and western parts of East Prussia and the Lithuanians of the north-west have succeeded better than the Germans in reconciling their mode of life with their earnings. This has, of course, led to a lower standard of life, but it has enabled them to adapt themselves to actual conditions and even to prosper where the Germans fail. Moreover, both these national minorities in East Prussia are bound to the soil by centuries of tradition: they are not comparative new-comers like the majority of the Germans there. For these reasons, the Poles and Lithuanians in that province hardly ever emigrate from the land of their birth, especially as the emigration in question is not so attractive for them as for the Germans: proceeding to central or western Germany, the former would really be going to a foreign country, amongst people not speaking their language and having other customs than theirs.<ref name="Srokowski 1934 21–22">{{harvnb|Srokowski|1934|pp=21–22}}</ref>}}

The Memel Territory ([[Klaipėda region]]), formerly part of northeastern East Prussia as well as Prussian Lithuania, was annexed by Lithuania in 1923. In 1938, Nazi Germany radically renamed about a third of the place names of this area, replacing [[Old Prussian language|Old Prussian]] and [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] names with newly invented German names.