Editing Masuria (section)

=== German Empire ===
After the [[Unification of Germany]] into the [[German Empire]] in 1871, the last lessons that made use of the Polish language were removed from schools in 1872. Masurians who expressed sympathy for Poland were deemed "national traitors" by German public opinion, especially after 1918 when the new Polish republic laid claims to, up to then German, areas inhabited by Polish speakers.<ref name="Wang" /> 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; Berger concludes that such arguments of German nationalists were aimed at integrating Masurian (and Silesian) territory firmly into the German Reich.<ref name="Wang" />
[[File:Warmia i mazury.svg|thumb|right|A map of former historic [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] with the Masurian region in purple.<ref>Christofer Herrmann: ''Warmia i Mazury : przewodnik po zabytkach sztuki''. Bartąg: Wydawnictwo Artes, 2008. {{ISBN|978-83-61049-24-1}}. p. 36</ref>]]

During the period of the German Empire, the Germanisation policies in Masuria became more widespread; children using Polish in playgrounds and classrooms were widely punished by corporal punishment, and authorities tried to appoint Protestant pastors who would use only German instead of bilinguality and this resulted in protests of local parishioners.<ref name=Wang/> According to Jerzy Mazurek, the native Polish-speaking population, like in other areas with Polish inhabitants, faced discrimination of Polish language activities from Germanised local administration. In this climate a first resistance defending the rights of rural population was organized, according to Jerzy Mazurek usually by some teachers engaged in publishing Polish language newspapers.<ref>Kraj a emigracja: ruch ludowy wobec wychodźstwa chłopskiego do krajów Ameryki Łacińskiej (do 1939 roku) Jerzy Mazurek, page 281, Biblioteka Iberyjska, 2006</ref>

Despite [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] policies, such Polish language newspapers as the ''Pruski Przyjaciel Ludu'' (Prussian Friend of People) or the ''Kalendarz Królewsko-Pruski Ewangelicki'' (Royal Prussian Evangelical Calendar) or bilingual journals like the ''Oletzkoer Kreisblatt - Tygodnik Obwodu Oleckiego'' continued to be published in Masuria. In contrast to the Prussian-oriented periodicals, in the late 19th century such newspapers as ''Przyjaciel Ludu Łecki'' and ''Mazur'' were founded by members of the [[Warsaw]]-based ''Komitet Centralny dla Śląska, Kaszub i Mazur'' (Central Committee for Silesia, [[Kashubia]] and Masuria), influenced by Polish politicians like [[Antoni Osuchowski]] or [[Juliusz Bursche]], to strengthen the Polish identity in Masuria.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 209</ref> The ''Gazeta Ludowa'' (The Folk's Newspaper) was published in [[Lyck]] in 1896–1902, with 2,500 copies in 1897 and the ''Mazur'' in [[Szczytno|Ortelsburg]] (Szczytno) after 1906 with 500 copies in 1908 and 2,000 prior to World War I.<ref name="Andreas Kossert, Masuren, p. 210">{{Cite book|title=Masuren, Ostpreussens vergessener Süden|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Pantheon|year=2006|isbn=3-570-55006-0|pages=210, 211|language=de}}</ref>

[[File:Wojciech Kętrzyński 1881.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Wojciech Kętrzyński]] was a Polish historian born in Masuria who expressed that ethnic [[Masurs]] are closely related to Poles and emphasized [[Polonisation|Polish claims]] on the Masuria region.]]

Polish activists started to regard Masurians as "Polish brothers" after [[Wojciech Kętrzyński]] had published his pamphlet ''O Mazurach'' in 1872<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, pp. 205ff.</ref> and Polish activists engaged in active self-help against repressions by the German state<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> Kętrzyński fought against attempts to Germanise Masuria<ref>National cultures at the grass-root level Antonina Kłoskowska, page 228, Central European University Press, 2001</ref>
However, the attempts to create a Masurian Polish national consciousness, largely originating from nationalist circles of [[Province of Posen]] (Poznań) in the [[Prussian Partition]] of Poland, faced the resistance of the Masurians, who, despite having similar folk traditions and linguistics to Poles, regarded themselves as Prussians and later Germans.<ref name=Curp>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARxnK1u_WOEC&q=masurians
|title=A clean sweep? The politics of ethnic cleansing in Western Poland, 1945-1960|first1=T. David |last1=Curp|publisher=University of Rochester Press|year=2006|isbn=1-58046-238-3|page=16}}</ref><ref>Kossert, Andreas: ''Masuren. Ostpreussens vergessener Süden'', p. 212 Berlin 2006, {{ISBN|3-570-55006-0}}: "Sie wollten Preussen sein mit polnischer Muttersprache, wie sie es seit Jahrhunderten gewesen waren"</ref> and were loyal to the Hohenzollern dynasty, the Prussian and German state.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=guV98zleZ0sC&q=+masurians&pg=PA7|title=Labour and the Socialist movement in Europe before 1914|first1=Dick |last1=Geary|publisher=Berg publ.|year=1989|isbn=0-85496-200-X|page=7|access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xao3YPj0IoEC&q=+masurians+loyal&pg=PA222|title=The immigrant threat: the integration of old and new migrants in western Europe since 1850|first1=Leo  |last1=Lucassen|year=2005|isbn=0-252-03046-X|page=222|access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0b6HKgl9ewC&q=+masurians&pg=PA377|title=The many faces of Clio|first1=Q. Edward|last1=Wang|first2=Franz L.|last2=Fillafer|publisher=Berghahn books|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84545-270-4|page=378|access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref><ref name=Eberhardt/> After World War I the editor of the Polish language ''Mazur'' described the Masurians as "not nationally conscious, on the contrary, the most loyal subjects of the Prussian king".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV5uIIKJjkC&q=loyal&pg=PA55|title=Polish-speaking Germans? Language and national identity among the Masurians since 1871|first1=Richard |last1=Blanke|publisher=Böhlau |year=2001|isbn=3-412-12000-6|page=143}}</ref> However, a minority of Masurians did exist who expressed Polish identity<ref name=Wang377/>
After 1871 there appeared resistance among the Masurians towards Germanisation 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, a part of them joined the Pro-Polish faction of Masurians.<ref name=Wang377/> The programme of Germanisation started to unite and mobilise Polish people in Polish-inhabited territories held by Germany including Masuria<ref>A history of Eastern Europe: crisis and change Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries, page 293, Taylor & Francis, 2007</ref> A Polish-oriented party, the ''[[Mazurska Partia Ludowa]]'' ("People's Party of Masuria"), was founded in 1897. The eastern areas of the German Empire were systematically Germanised with changing of names and public signs, and the German state fostered cultural imperialism, in addition to giving financial and other support to German farmers, officials, and teachers to settle in the east.<ref>A history of eastern Europe: crisis and change Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries page 180, Routledge; 1st edition 1998</ref>

The German authorities in their efforts of Germanisation tried to claim the Masurian language separate from Polish by classifying it as a non-[[Slav]]ic<ref name="histclo.com">{{cite web|url=http://histclo.com/country/ger/reg/pru/grp-mas.html|title=German regions Prussia World War II|website=histclo.com|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814170326/http://histclo.com/country/ger/reg/pru/grp-mas.html|url-status=live}}</ref> language different from Polish one, this was reflected in official census<ref>Wang, Q. Edward; Fillafer, Franz L. (2007). The many faces of Clio: cross-cultural approaches to historiography. Berghahn Books. p. 375.</ref> Thus the Masurian population in 1890, 143,397 was reported to the Prussian census as having German as their language (either primary or secondary), 152,186 Polish and 94,961 [[Masurian language|Masurian]]. In 1910, the German language was reported by German authorities as used by 197,060, Polish by 30,121 and Masurian by 171,413. Roman Catholics generally opted for the Polish language, Protestants appreciated Masurian. In 1925, German authorities reported 40,869 inhabitants as having declared Masurian as their native tongue and 2,297 as Polish. However, the last result may have been a result of politics at the time, the desire of the population to be German after the trauma evoked by the 1920 plebiscite. So the province could be presented as - so-called - 'purely German'; in reality, the Masurian dialect was still in use among bilinguals.<ref name="histclo.com"/>

Throughout [[industrialisation]] in the late 19th century about 10 percent of the Masurian populace emigrated to the [[Ruhr Area]], where about 180,000 Masurians lived in 1914. [[Wattenscheid]], [[Wanne-Eickel|Wanne]] and [[Gelsenkirchen]] were the centers of Masurian emigration and Gelsenkirchen-[[Schalke]] was even called Klein (little)-[[Ortelsburg]] before 1914. Masurian newspapers like the ''Przyjaciel Ewangeliczny'' and the ''Gazeta Polska dla Ludu staropruskiego w Westfalii i na Mazurach'' but also the German language ''Altpreußische Zeitung'' were published.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 219</ref>

[[File:Arys Orzysz 011.jpg|thumb| Destructions of World War I at [[Orzysz|Arys]] (Orzysz)]]

During [[World War I]], the [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Battle of Tannenberg]] and the [[First Battle of the Masurian Lakes|First]] and [[Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes]] between Imperial Germany and the [[Russian Empire]] took place within the borders of Masuria in 1914. After the war, the [[League of Nations]] held the [[East Prussian plebiscite]] on 11 July 1920 to determine if the people of the southern districts of East Prussia wanted to remain within East Prussia or to join the [[Second Polish Republic]]. The German side terrorised the local population before the plebiscite using violence, Polish organisations and activists were harassed by German militias, and those actions included attacks and some supposed murders of Polish activists;<ref>Najnowsza historia Polski 1914-1993 Andrzej Albert, Wojciech Roszkowski Puls, page 95, 1994</ref> Masurs who supported voting for Poland were singled out and subjected to terror and repressions.<ref>Problemy narodowościowe w Kościele ewangelickim na Mazurach w latach 1918-1945, page 43 Ryszard Otello, Ośrodek Badań Naukowych im. Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Olsztynie, 2003</ref> In April 1920, the German ''Sicherheitswehr'' even battered Italian soldiers stationed in Ełk, two fatally.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=13 April 1920|title=Wiadomości potoczne|magazine=Gazeta Gdańska|location=Gdańsk|language=pl|issue=85|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=15 April 1920|title=Na Mazurach|magazine=Czas|location=Kraków|language=pl|issue=90|page=4}}</ref>

Names of those Masurs supporting the Polish side were published in German newspapers, and their photos presented in German shops; afterwards regular hunts were organised after them by German militias terrorizing the Polish minded population.<ref>Szkice z dziejów Pomorza: Pomorze na progu dziejów najnowszych Gerard Labuda, Książka i Wiedza, 1961</ref><ref>Historia Polski: 1914-1993 Wojciech Roszkowski Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN 1994:"Podobnie jak na Śląsku, bojówki niemieckie szerzyły wśród ludności polskiej terror".</ref><ref>Historia Warmii i Mazur: od pradziejów do 1945 roku, page 251, Stanisław Achremczyk - 1992</ref> At least 3,000 Warmian and Masurian activists who were engaged for the Polish side decided to flee the region.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barczewski|first=Walenty|title=Kiermasy na Warmii i inne pisma wybrane|publisher=Pojezierze|page=14}}</ref> At the same time also local police officials were engaged in active surveillance of the Polish minority and attacks against Polish activists.<ref>Plebiscyty na Warmii, Mazurach i Powiślu w 1920 roku: wybór źródeł, Piotr Stawecki, Wojciech Wrzesiński, Zygmunt Lietz, page 13, Ośrodek badań naukowych 1986</ref> Before the plebiscite Poles started to flee the region to escape the German harassment and Germanisation policies.<ref>Wojciech Wrzesiński, ''Ruch polski na Warmii, Mazurach i Powiślu w latach 1920-1939'', 1973, page 40.</ref>

The results determined that 99.32% of the voters in Masuria proper chose to remain with the province of [[East Prussia]]. Their traditional religious belief in [[Lutheranism]] kept them away from Polish national consciousness, dominated by [[Roman Catholicism]]. In fact almost only Catholics voted for Poland in the plebiscite. They were to be found as a majority in the villages around the capital Allenstein ([[Olsztyn]]) in Warmia, the same were Polish cultural activism got hold between 1919 and 1932.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/2003_2_1_kossert.pdf|title="Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=[[Institut für Zeitgeschichte]]|year=2003|page=124|language=de|access-date=2011-07-17|archive-date=2011-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930154717/http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/2003_2_1_kossert.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the contemporary Polish ethnographer [[Adam Chętnik]] accused the German authorities of 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|first=Krzysztof|last=Perłakowski|website=www.zwiazekkurpiow.pl|access-date=14 August 2018|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=25 May 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Moreover, the plebiscite took place during the time when [[Polish–Soviet War]] threatened to erase the Polish state. As a result, even many Poles of the region voted for Germany out of fear that if the area was allocated to Poland it would fall under [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rule.<ref>Debo, Richard K., "Survival and consolidation: the foreign policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921", McGill-Queen's Press, 1992, pg. 335</ref> After the plebiscite in German areas of Masuria attacks on Polish population commenced by German mobs, and Polish priests and politicians were driven from their homes<ref>Kazimierz Jaroszyk, ''1878-1941: o narodowy kształt Warmii i Mazur''. Wydawnictwo Pojezierze, 1986, page 89.</ref> After the plebiscite at least 10,000 Poles had to flee German held Masuria to Poland.<ref>Ruch polski na Warmii, Mazurach i Powiślu w latach 1920-1939 Wojciech Wrzesiński, page 40, 1973</ref>