Editing Masuria (section)

=== Interbellum ===
==== Polish Masuria — the Działdowo county ====
[[File:Działdowo widok z lotu ptaka.jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of [[Działdowo]]]]
The region of [[Działdowo]] (Soldau), where according to the official German census of 1910 ethnic Germans formed a minority of 37.3%,<ref>{{cite book|url=http://web.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect11.htm|title=The Rebirth of Poland; History 557 Lecture Notes|first1=Anna M.|last1=Cienciala|author-link=Anna M. Cienciala|year=2002|access-date=2012-02-01|archive-date=2013-05-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130515153155/http://web.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect11.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> was excluded from the plebiscite and became part of Poland. This was reasoned with placing the railway connection between [[Warsaw]] and [[Danzig]] (Gdańsk), of vital importance to Poland as it connected central Poland with its recently obtained seacoast, completely under Polish sovereignty. Działdowo itself counted about 24,000 people of which 18,000 were Masurians.<ref>Andrzej Sakson, ''Mazurzy: Społeczność pogranicza'', Instytut Zachodni, 1990, page 59.</ref>

According to the municipal administration of [[Gmina Rybno, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Rybno]], after World War I Poles in Działdowo believed that they will be quickly joined with Poland,<ref name="Koszelewy page 5">Plan odnowy miejscowości Koszelewy, Rys historyczny, page 5 Załącznik do Uchwały Nr XLII/9 /10 Rady Gminy Rybno z dnia 23 lutego 2010 r.</ref> they organised secret gatherings during which the issue of rejoining Polish state with help of Polish military was discussed.<ref name="Koszelewy page 5"/> According to the Rybno administration, most active Poles in that subregion included Jóżwiakowscy, Wojnowscy, Grzeszczowscy families working under the guidance of politician Leon Wojnowski who protested German attempts to remain Działdowo a part of Germany after the war; other local pro-Polish activists were Alfred Wellenger, Paczyński, Tadeusz Bogdański, Jóźwiakowski.<ref name="Koszelewy page 5"/><ref>Słownik biograficzny Warmii, Mazur i Powiśla XIX i XX wieku(do 1945 roku), Tadeusz Oracki, page 334, Instytut Wydawniczy Pax 1983</ref><ref>Interludium mazurskie:wspomnienia 1920-1939, Karol Małłek, page 11, Czytelnik, 1968</ref>

The historian Andreas Kossert describes that the incorporation happened despite protests of the local populace, the municipal authorities and the German Government,<ref>Andreas Kossert: Masuren - Ostpreussens vergessener Süden, 2006, page 284: "Als in Soldau bekannt wurde, dass das Gebiet ohne Abstimmung an Polen fallen sollte, entluden sich Wut, Trauer und Bestürzung. Hilflos sah sich die Soldauer Bevölkerung ohne jede Mitsprache der Entscheidung des Siegers ausgesetzt. Alle Proteste blieben vergeblich. Kommunale Körperschaften verwahrten sich einhellig gegen die Abtretung, führende deutsche Politiker - allen voran Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert - versuchten noch bis zur letzten Minute die alliierte Entscheidung rückgängig zu machen" (When it became known in Soldau that the area should fall to Poland without a vote, anger, sadness and dismay erupted. The Soldau population saw themselves helplessly and without a voice exposed to the decision of the winners. All protests were in vain. Local authorities unanimously opposed the cession, leading German politicians - led by President Friedrich Ebert - tried until the last minute to reverse the Allied decision.)</ref> According to Kossert, 6,000 inhabitants of the region soon left the area.<ref>{{cite book|title=Masuren, Ostpreussens vergessener Süden|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Pantheon |year=2006|isbn=3-570-55006-0|pages=283, 284|language=de}}</ref>

In 1920, the candidate of the German Party in Poland, Ernst Barczewski, was elected to the [[Sejm]] with 74.6 percent of votes and to the [[Polish Senate]] with 34.6% of votes for the [[Bloc of National Minorities]] in 1928.<ref>Andreas Kossert, Masuren - Ostpreussens vergessener Süden, 2006, p.284</ref> During the [[Polish–Soviet War]] Działdowo was briefly occupied by the [[Red Army]] regarded as liberator from the Polish authority by the local German population, which hoisted the German flag,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/08/16/96892651.pdf|title=NY Times report|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=23 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323210722/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/08/16/96892651.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80r6Mbnxf8IC&q=soldau&pg=PA37|title=Orphans of Versailles: The Germans in Western Poland, 1918-1939|first=Richard|last=Blanke|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|access-date=14 August 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=0813130417}}</ref> but it was soon recovered by the [[Polish Army]].

During the interwar period many native inhabitants of Działdowo subregion left and migrated to Germany.

==== Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany ====
[[File:Räuchermaränen.jpg|thumb|right|Fish treating and smoking in Nikolaiken ([[Mikołajki]]), 1920s]]
Masuria was the only region of Germany directly affected by the battles of World War I. Damaged towns and villages were reconstructed with the aid of several twin towns from western Germany like [[Cologne]] to [[Neidenburg]] (Nidzica), [[Frankfurt]] to [[Lötzen]] (Giżycko) and even [[Vienna]] to [[Ortelsburg]] (Szczytno). The architecture still is surprisingly distinct, being of modern Central European character. However, Masuria was still largely agrarian-oriented and suffered from the economic decline after World War I, additionally badly affected by the creation of the so-called [[Polish Corridor]], which raised freight costs to the traditional markets in Germany.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 264</ref> The later implemented [[Osthilfe]] had only a minor influence on Masuria as it privileged larger estates, while Masurian farms were generally small.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ostpreussen. Geschichte und Mythos|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Siedler|year=2005|isbn=3-88680-808-4|page=256|language=de}}</ref>

The interwar period was characterised by ongoing Germanisation policies, intensified especially under the Nazis.<ref>Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-Century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, and Analysis. Piotr Eberhardt, page 166, 2003 M E Sharpe Inc</ref>

In the 1920s Masuria remained a heartland of conservatism with the [[German National People's Party]] as strongest party.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 294</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Preussen/Ostpreussen/PL2.html|title=Ostpreußen: Wahl zum Provinziallandtag 1925|website=www.gonschior.de|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924050654/http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Preussen/Ostpreussen/PL2.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Blanke/> The [[Nazi Party]], having absorbed the conservative one, became the strongest party already in the Masurian constituencies in the elections of 1930<ref name=Blanke>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV5uIIKJjkC&q=NSDAP+Masuria&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|pages=253, 254}}</ref> and received its best results in the poorest areas of Masuria with the highest rate of Polish speakers.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, pp. 300, 306</ref> Especially in the elections of 1932&nbsp;and 1933 they reached up to 81 percent of votes in the district of [[Neidenburg]] and 80 percent in the district of [[Lyck]].<ref name="Clark, p. 640">Clark, p. 640</ref><ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 299</ref> The Nazis used the economic crisis, which had significant effects in far-off Masuria, as well as traditional anti-Polish sentiments<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 300</ref> while at the same time Nazi political rallies were organised in the [[Masurian dialects|Masurian dialect]] during the campaigning.<ref name="Clark, p. 640"/><ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 306</ref>

In 1938, the [[Nazism|Nazi]] government (1933–1945) [[1938 renaming of East Prussian placenames|changed thousands of still existing toponyms]] (especially names of cities and villages) of Old Prussian, Lithuanian and Polish origin to newly created German names; six thousand, that meant about 50% of the existing names were changed, but the countryside population stuck to their traditional names. Another renaming would take place after Masuria passed to Poland in 1945, with the bulk of the historic Polish names restored.<ref>Bernd Martin, p. 55</ref> 
[[File:Masovias 99. Stiftungsfest.jpg|thumb|left|German tourists sailing near Angerburg ([[Węgorzewo]]), 1929]]

According to German author Andreas Kossert, Polish parties were financed and aided by the Polish government in Warsaw, and remained splintergroups without any political influence,<ref>{{cite book|title=Masuren, Ostpreussens vergessener Süden|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Pantheon |year=2006|isbn=3-570-55006-0|pages=278, 280|language=de}}</ref> e.g. in the 1932 elections the Polish Party received 147 votes in Masuria proper.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHAcEB8jh1AC&q=autochthons+poland&pg=PA265|title=The Germans and the East|first1=Charles W.|last1=Ingrao|first2=Franz A.J.|last2=Szabo|publisher=Purdue University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-1-55753-443-9|page=265}}</ref> According to Wojciech Wrzesiński (1963), the Polish organisations in Masuria had decided to lower their activity in order to escape acts of terror performed against Polish minority activists and organisations by Nazi activists.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ruch polski na Warmii, Mazurach i Powiślu w latach 1920-1939|first1=Wojciech|last1=Wrzesiński|publisher= [[Western Institute]]|year=1963|page=202|language=pl}}</ref> Jerzy Lanc, a teacher and Polish national who had moved to Masuria in 1931 to establish a Polish school in [[Piasutno|Piassutten]] (Piasutno), died in his home of carbon monoxide poisoning,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://swietajno-szczycienskie.wm.pl/18830,Jerzy-Lanc-patronem-Srodowiskowego-Domu-Samopomocy-w-Piastunie.html|title=Jerzy Lanc patronem Środowiskowego Domu Samopomocy w Piastunie|work=[[Gazeta Olsztynska]]|date=27 September 2010|language=pl|access-date=2011-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327174318/http://swietajno-szczycienskie.wm.pl/18830,Jerzy-Lanc-patronem-Srodowiskowego-Domu-Samopomocy-w-Piastunie.html|archive-date=2012-03-27|url-status=dead}}</ref> most likely murdered by local German nationalists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://piasutno.w.interia.pl/Lanc.htm|title=Interia - Polska i świat: informacje, sport, gwiazdy.|website=piasutno.w.interia.pl|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826072841/http://piasutno.w.interia.pl/Lanc.htm|archive-date=2013-08-26|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>J. Golec, S. Bojda, Słownik biograficzny ziemi cieszyńskiej, t. 1, Cieszyn 1993, s. 173: Wszystko wskazywało na to, że był to mord z premedytacją. K. Kajzer, Zginął jak bohater, "Kalendarz Cieszyński 2001", Cieszyn 2000, s. 249: Okoliczności świadczyły o morderstwie.</ref><ref>[http://www.kalisz.ap.gov.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=596&Itemid=119 Archiwum Panstwowe w Kaliszu, "Jerzy Lanc (1901-1932)"]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>[http://www.kurekmazurski.pl/?art=10048 Sławomir Ambroziak, "Polska Szkola", ''Kurek Mazurski''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319205053/http://www.kurekmazurski.pl/?art=10048 |date=2012-03-19 }}</ref><ref>"Jerzy Lance", ''[[Internetowa encyklopedia PWN|Encyklopedia PWN]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20120503145612/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo.php?id=3930329]</ref>

Due to severe persecution, from 1936 Polish organizations carried out their activities partly in conspiracy.<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|page=38}}</ref> Before the war the Nazi German state sent undercover operatives to spy on Polish organisations and created lists of people that were to be executed or sent to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]].<ref name="Maria"/> Information was gathered on who sent children to Polish schools, bought Polish press or took part in Polish ceremonies and organised repressions against these people were executed by Nazi militias.<ref name="Maria"/> Polish schools, printing presses and headquarters of Polish institutions were attacked as well as homes of the most active Poles; shops owned by Poles were vandalised or demolished.<ref name="Maria"/> Polish masses were dispersed, and Polish teachers were intimidated as members of the [[SS]] gathered under their locals performing songs like "Wenn das Polenblut vom Messer spritzt, dann geht's noch mal so gut" ("When Polish blood spurts from the knife, everything will be better").<ref name="Maria">{{cite magazine|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2003|title="Intelligenzaktion" na Warmii, Mazurach i północnym Mazowszu|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|issue=12-1 (35-36)|pages=38–42|issn=1641-9561}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P017317, Ostpreußen, Masurisches Bauernhaus.jpg|thumb|right|Ethnic Masurian children and Masurian farmhouse near a lake in 1931]]

The Nazi anti-Polish activities further intensified in 1939.<ref name="Maria"/> Those Poles who were most active in politics were evicted from their own homes, while Polish newspapers and cultural houses were closed down in the region.<ref name="Maria"/> In an attempt to rig the results of an upcoming census and understate the number of Poles in the region, the Germans terrorized the Polish population and attacked Polish organizations.<ref>Cygański, p. 39</ref> In summer 1939 the German terror against the Poles even exceeded the terror from the period of the 1920 plebiscite.<ref name=mc40>Cygański, p. 40</ref> Polish church masses were banned between June and July in [[Warmia]] and Masuria.<ref name="Maria"/> In August 1939, Germany introduced [[martial law]] in the region, which allowed for even more blatant persecution of Poles.<ref name=mc40/>

In the final moments of August 1939 all remains of political and cultural life of Polish minority was eradicated by the Nazis, with imprisonment of Polish activists and liquidation of Polish institutions.<ref name="Maria"/> Seweryn Pieniężny, the chief editor of ''[[Gazeta Olsztyńska]]'', who opposed Germanisation of Masuria, was interned, and other Polish activists in Masuria were also arrested.<ref name="Maria"/><ref>Cygański, pp. 41–42</ref>

Directors of Polish schools and teachers were imprisoned, as was the staff of Polish pre-schools in the Masuria region.<ref name="Maria"/> They were often forced to destroy Polish signs, emblems and symbols of Polish institutions.<ref name="Maria"/>