Editing East Prussia

{{Short description|Historic province of Prussia and Germany}}
{{Redirect|Ostpreussen|the World War II ''vorpostenboot''|German trawler V 305 Ostpreussen}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox Former Subdivision
| native_name            = {{native name|de|Ostpreußen}}
| conventional_long_name = East Prussia
| common_name            = East Prussia
| subdivision            = [[Provinces of Prussia|Province]]
| nation                 = [[Prussia]]
| life_span              = 1772–1829<br/>1878–1945
| year_start             = 1772
| event_start            = [[First Partition of Poland|Established]]
| date_start             = 31 January
| year_end               = 1945
| event_end              = [[Potsdam Agreement|Disestablished]]
| date_end               = 1 August
| capital                = [[Königsberg]]
| event1                 = Province of Prussia
| date_event1            = 3 December 1829
| event2                 = Province restored
| date_event2            = 1 April 1878
| p1                     = Duchy of Prussia
| p2                     = Province of Prussia
| s1                     = Klaipėda Region
| s2                     = Marienwerder (region)
| s3                     = Second Polish Republic
| s4                     = Provisional Government of National Unity
| s5                     = Soviet Union
| image_flag             = Civil flag of Prussia 1701-1935.svg
| image_coat             = Coat of Arms of East Prussia.svg
| image_map              = Map-Prussia-EastPrussia.svg
| image_map_caption      = East Prussia (red), within the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], within the [[German Empire]], as of 1878
| image_map2             = East Prussia 1923-1939.svg
| image_map2_caption     = East Prussia after the First World War
| stat_area1             = 36993
| stat_year1             = 1905
| stat_pop1              = 2,030,174
| political_subdiv       = [[Gumbinnen (region)|Gumbinnen]]<br/>[[Königsberg (region)|Königsberg]]<br/>[[Allenstein (region)|Allenstein]] (from 1905)<br/> [[Marienwerder (region)|West Prussia]] (1922–1939)<br/>[[Zichenau (region)|Zichenau]] (from 1939)
| today                  = {{ubl|Poland|Lithuania|Russia ([[Kaliningrad Oblast]])}}
| anthem                 = ''[[Ostpreußenlied]]''<br>"Song of East Prussia"<br>(1930—1945)<br>{{center|[[File:Ostpreußenlied.ogg]]}}
| demonym                = East Prussian
}}
'''East Prussia'''{{refn|group=Note|{{langx|de|Ostpreußen}} {{IPA|de|ˈɔstˌpʁɔɪ̯sn̩||De-Ostpreußen.ogg}}; {{langx|de|Ostpreißen|label=[[Low Prussian dialect|Low Prussian]]}}; {{langx|pl|Prusy Wschodnie}}; {{langx|lt|Rytų Prūsija}}}} was a [[Provinces of Prussia|province]] of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the [[German Empire]] from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the [[Weimar Republic]]'s [[Free State of Prussia]], until 1945. Its capital city was [[Königsberg]] (present-day [[Kaliningrad]]). East Prussia was the main part of the [[Prussia (region)|region of Prussia]] along the southeastern [[Baltic Sea|Baltic Coast]].<ref>The [[Columbia Encyclopedia]], Sixth Edition (2008), [http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/East_Prussia.aspx East Prussia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604040755/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/East_Prussia.aspx |date=4 June 2011 }}</ref>

The bulk of the ancestral lands of the Baltic [[Old Prussians]] were enclosed within East Prussia. During the 13th century, the native Prussians were conquered by the crusading [[Teutonic Knights]]. After the [[Northern Crusades|conquest]] the indigenous Balts were gradually converted to Christianity. Because of [[Germanization]] and colonisation over the following centuries, [[Germans]] became the dominant ethnic group, while [[Polish people|Poles]] and [[Lithuanians]] formed sizeable minorities. From the 13th century, the region of Prussia was part of the [[monastic state of the Teutonic Knights]]. After the [[Second Peace of Thorn]] in 1466 it became a part of the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]], either directly ([[Warmia]]) or as a fief (remainder). In 1525, with the [[Prussian Homage]], the territory became the [[Duchy of Prussia]], a vassal duchy of Poland.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.exulanten.com/preussen.html |title=Ostpreußen: The Great Trek |first=L |last=Schaitberger |access-date=8 December 2016 |archive-date=3 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303074343/http://www.exulanten.com/preussen.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Old Prussian language]] had become extinct by the 17th or early 18th century.<ref>''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'': [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056977/Old-Prussian-language Old-Prussian-language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516010757/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056977/Old-Prussian-language |date=16 May 2008 }}; Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.): Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 2005, [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=prg Prussian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/2008/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=prg |date=30 November 2007 }}</ref>

Because the duchy was outside of the core [[Holy Roman Empire]], the prince-electors of Brandenburg were able to proclaim themselves [[List of monarchs of Prussia|King]] beginning in 1701. After the annexation of most of western [[Royal Prussia]] in the [[First Partition of Poland]] in 1772, eastern (ducal) Prussia was connected by land with the rest of the Prussian state and was reorganized as a province the following year. Between 1829 and 1878, the Province of East Prussia was joined with [[West Prussia]] to form the [[Province of Prussia]]. The Polish and Lithuanian populations were subjected to Germanisation policies, and later to outright persecution.

The [[Kingdom of Prussia]] became the leading state of the [[German Empire]] after its creation in 1871. However, the [[Treaty of Versailles]] following [[World War I]] granted West Prussia to Poland and made East Prussia an exclave of [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]] (the so-called [[Polish Corridor]] separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany), while the [[Klaipėda Region|Memel Territory]], part of the [[Lithuania Minor]] region, was detached and annexed by Lithuania in 1923. Following [[Nazi Germany]]'s defeat in World War II in 1945, war-torn East Prussia was divided at [[Joseph Stalin]]'s insistence between the [[Soviet Union]] (the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] became part of the [[Russian SFSR]], and the constituent counties of the [[Klaipėda Region]] in the [[Lithuanian SSR]]) and the [[People's Republic of Poland]] (the [[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~sarmatia/195/davies2.html |title=Sarmatian Review XV.1: Davies |last=tenn@owlnet.rice.edu |access-date=8 December 2016 }}</ref> The capital city Königsberg was renamed [[Kaliningrad]] in 1946. The German and the Masurian population of the province was largely [[Evacuation of East Prussia|evacuated]] during the war or expelled shortly afterwards in the [[1944–50 flight and expulsion of Germans|expulsion of Germans after World War II]]. An estimated 300,000 died either in wartime bombing raids, in the battles to defend the province, through mistreatment by the Red Army, or from hunger, cold and disease.<ref name="Andreas Kossert p. 342">Andreas Kossert, ''Ostpreußen. Geschichte und Mythos'', 2007 Pantheon Verlag, PDF edition, p. 342. According to Kossert East Prussia lost about 511,000 out of 2,490,000 inhabitants, thereof 311,000 civilians.</ref>

== Geography ==
[[File:East Prussia Physical Map.png|thumb|left|upright=1.4|Physical map of East Prussia in the year 1905]]
The landscape of East Prussia consisted of gently rolling plains and small hills, with flatter terrain in the north and more hills in the south. The province had a [[humid continental climate]] which was most pronounced in [[Lithuania Minor]] and at higher elevations in the south in the region of [[Masuria]], while the northwesternmost coastal parts approached an [[oceanic climate]].

In the northwest, the province bordered the [[Baltic Sea]], with the [[Vistula Spit]] and [[Curonian Spit]] separating the sea itself from the [[Vistula Lagoon]] and [[Curonian Lagoon]], respectively. The [[Sambia Peninsula]] ({{langx|de|Samland}}) juts into the Baltic Sea between these two lagoons. Most of the rivers of East Prussia emptied into the two lagoons; the [[Pregolya]] ({{langx|de|Pregel}}), [[Pasłęka]] ({{langx|de|Passarge}}), and [[Prokhladnaya (river)|Prokhladnaya]] ({{langx|de|Frisching}}) into the Vistula Lagoon, and the [[Neman]] ({{langx|de|Memel}}) and [[Minija]] ({{langx|de|Minge}}) into the Curonian Lagoon.

In the northeast of the province, the river [[Šešupė]] ({{langx|de|Scheschuppe}}), a left-tributary of the Neman, formed the border with the [[Russian Empire]], and today forms the border between [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] and Lithuania. The [[Klaipėda Region]] ({{langx|de|Memelland}}) was a portion of the province to the north of the Neman river. Adjacent to the Curonian Lagoon and the lower reaches of the Neman river could be found the {{interlanguage link|Elchniederung|de}}, a vast partially-drained [[bog]], much of it below sea-level.

Further south, the region becomes more hilly, with fewer bogs and more lakes. To the east, near the modern Polish-Russian border, was the [[Romincka Forest]] ({{langx|de|Rominter Heide}}), a famous hunting-ground for Prussian nobility. On the eastern end of the forest is [[Lake Vištytis]] ({{langx|de|Wystiter See}}), and to the south are the {{ill|Szeskie Hills|pl|Wzgórza Szeskie}} ({{langx|de|Seesker Höhen}}). The [[Angrapa|Angrapa river]] ({{langx|de|Angerapp}}), a tributary of the Pregel, flows out [[Lake Mamry]] ({{langx|de|Mauersee}}) on the northern end of the [[Masurian Lake District]]. The largest lake in the province was [[Śniardwy]] ({{langx|de|Spirdingsee}}), at 113.8 square kilometers in area.

The headwaters of the Pregel's numerous tributaries were found in southern East Prussia, with the longest, the [[Łyna (river)|Łyna]] ({{langx|de|Alle}}), extending almost to the southern border with [[Congress Poland]], winding its course northward through southern [[Warmia]] and the central portion of the province. In the southernmost regions, the rivers flow to the south, emptying into the [[Narew]] and [[Vistula]] rivers. The highest elevation of East Prussia at 312 meters above sea level was [[Dylewska Góra]] ({{langx|de|Kernsdorfer Höhe}}), found in the southwest near the border with West Prussia.

== Background ==
[[File:Image-Prussia ethnicity.JPG|thumb|left|Ethnic settlement in East Prussia by the 14th century]]
At the instigation of Duke [[Konrad I of Masovia]], the [[Teutonic Knights]] took possession of [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] in the 13th century and created a [[Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights|monastic state]] to administer the conquered [[Old Prussians]]. Local Old-Prussian (north) and Polish (south) toponyms were gradually Germanised. The Knights' expansionist policies, including occupation of Polish Pomerania with Gdańsk/Danzig and western Lithuania, brought them into conflict with the [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]] and embroiled them in several wars, culminating in the [[Polish-Lithuanian-Teutonic War]], whereby the united armies of Poland and [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]], defeated the Teutonic Order at the [[Battle of Grunwald]] in 1410. In 1440 the anti-Teutonic [[Prussian Confederation]] was founded, and various cities and nobles of the region joined it.<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 |language=pl |pages=XXXI, XXXVII–XXXVIII }}</ref> In 1454 upon the Confederation's request King [[Casimir IV of Poland]] signed the act of incorporation of the entire region to Poland.<ref>Górski, p. 54</ref> The Teutonic Knights' defeat was formalised in the [[Second Peace of Toruń]] in 1466 ending the [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–66)|Thirteen Years' War]]. The restoration of Pomerania/[[Pomerelia]] to Poland was confirmed, and [[Warmia]] also was confirmed part of Poland,<ref>Górski, pp. 88–90, 99, 206–207, 217</ref> with both co-forming the larger Polish provinces of [[Royal Prussia]] and [[Greater Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Greater Poland]]. The remainder of historic Prussia also became a part of "one and indivisible" Kingdom of Poland as a [[fief]] and [[protectorate]] held by the Teutonic Knights.<ref>Górski, pp. 96–97, 214–215</ref> 1466 and 1525 arrangements by kings of Poland were not verified by the [[Holy Roman Empire]], as well as the previous gains of the [[Teutonic Knights]], were not verified.
[[File:AGAD Stany pruskie oddaja swe ziemie krolowi polskiemu Kazimierzowi Jagiellonczykowi i koronie polskiej.jpg|thumb|Act of incorporation of the region into the Kingdom of Poland, 1454]]

The Teutonic Order lost eastern Prussia when Grand Master [[Albert, Duke of Prussia|Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach]] converted to [[Lutheranism]] and secularized the Prussian branch of the Teutonic Order in 1525. Albert established himself as the first duke of the [[Duchy of Prussia]] and a [[vassal]] of the Polish crown by the [[Prussian Homage]]. [[Walter von Cronberg]], the next Grand Master, was [[Enfeoffment|enfeoffed]] with the title to Prussia after the [[Diet of Augsburg]] in 1530, but the Order never regained possession of the territory. In 1569 the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] [[prince-elector]]s of the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] became co-regents with Albert's son, the feeble-minded [[Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia|Albert Frederick]].

The Administrator of Prussia, the grandmaster of the Teutonic Order [[Maximilian III, Archduke of Austria|Maximilian III]], son of emperor [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian II]] died in 1618. When Maximilian died, Albert's line died out, and the Duchy of Prussia passed to the Electors of Brandenburg, forming [[Brandenburg-Prussia]]. Taking advantage of the [[Deluge (history)|Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655]], and instead of fulfilling his vassal's duties towards the Polish Kingdom, by joining forces with the Swedes and subsequent treaties of [[Treaty of Wehlau|Wehlau]], [[Treaty of Labiau|Labiau]], and [[Treaty of Oliva|Oliva]], Elector and Duke [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William]] succeeded in revoking the king of Poland's sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia in 1660. There was strong opposition to the separation of the region from Poland, especially in [[Kaliningrad|Königsberg]] ({{langx|pl|link=no|Królewiec}}).<ref name=jm>{{cite magazine |last=Małłek |first=Janusz |year=1992 |title=Polityka miasta Królewca wobec Polski w latach 1525–1701 |magazine=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie |language=pl |issue=3–4 |pages=254–255 }}</ref> A confederation was formed in the city to maintain Poland's sovereignty over the city and region.<ref name=jm/> The Brandenburg Elector and his army, however, entered the city and abducted and imprisoned the leader of the city's anti-Elector opposition [[Hieronymus Roth]].<ref name=jm/> In 1663, the city burghers, forced by Elector Frederick William, swore an oath of allegiance to him, however, in the same ceremony they still also pledged allegiance to Poland.<ref name=jm/> The [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutist]] elector also subdued the noble estates of Prussia.

Although Brandenburg was a part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the Prussian lands were not within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and were with the administration by the [[Teutonic Order]] grandmasters under jurisdiction of the Emperor. In return for supporting Emperor [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]] in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], Elector [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick III]] was allowed to crown himself "[[King in Prussia]]" in 1701. The new kingdom ruled by the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern dynasty]] became known as the [[Kingdom of Prussia]]. The designation "[[Kingdom of Prussia]]" was gradually applied to the various lands of Brandenburg-Prussia. To differentiate it from the larger entity, the former Duchy of Prussia became known as ''Altpreußen'' ("Old Prussia"), the province of Prussia, or "East Prussia".

Approximately one-third of East Prussia's population died in the [[Great Northern War plague outbreak]] and [[famine]] of 1709–1711,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=274&chapter=38099&layout=html |title=A Treatise on Political Economy |access-date=3 November 2007 |archive-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512210537/https://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=274&chapter=38099&layout=html |url-status=dead }}</ref> including the last speakers of [[Old Prussian language|Old Prussian]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/princip.htm |title=LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES OF THE RECOVERY OF OLD PRUSSIAN |access-date=8 December 2016 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107204058/http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/princip.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The plague, probably brought by foreign troops during the [[Great Northern War]], killed 250,000 East Prussians, especially in the province's eastern regions. Crown Prince [[Frederick William I of Prussia|Frederick William I]] led the rebuilding of East Prussia, founding numerous towns. In 1724, Frederick William I prohibited [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Samogitians]] and Jews from settling in Lithuania Minor, and initiated German colonization to change the region's ethnic composition.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kętrzyński |first=Wojciech |author-link=Wojciech Kętrzyński |year=1882 |title=O ludności polskiej w Prusiech niegdyś krzyżackich |language=pl |location=Lwów |publisher=[[Ossolineum|Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich]] |pages=615–616 }}</ref> Thousands of Protestants expelled from the [[Archbishopric of Salzburg]] were allowed to settle in depleted East Prussia. In 1756 [[Russian Empire|Russia]] decided to go to war with the Kingdom of Prussia and annex the territory, which was then to be offered to Poland as part of a territorial exchange desired by Russia,<ref>{{cite book |last=Ciesielski |first=Tomasz |editor-last=Gieszczyński |editor-first=Witold |editor-last2=Kasparek |editor-first2=Norbert |year=2010 |title=Wielkie wojny w Prusach. Działania militarne między dolną Wisłą a Niemnem na przestrzeni wieków |language=pl |location=Dąbrówno |page=118 |chapter=Prusy Wschodnie w trakcie polskiej wojny sukcesyjnej i wojny siedmioletniej |isbn=978-83-62552-00-9 }}</ref> however, ultimately Russia only occupied the region for four years during the [[Seven Years' War]] before withdrawing in 1762 and did not make Poland an offer of territorial exchange.

== History as a province ==
[[File:1799 Cary Map of Prussia and Lithuania - Geographicus - Prussia-cary-1799.jpg|thumb|''New Map of the Kingdom of Prussia'', [[John Cary]] 1799, split into the eastern regions of [[Lithuania Minor]] (green), [[Natangians|Natangia]] (yellow), [[Sambia]] and [[Warmia]] (pink), the western ''Oberland'' territories with [[Kwidzyn|Marienwerder]] (blue), West Prussian [[Malbork|Marienburg]] (yellow) and [[Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)|Danzig]] (green)]]
In the 1772 [[First Partition of Poland]], the Prussian king [[Frederick the Great]] annexed neighboring [[Royal Prussia]], i.e., the Polish voivodeships of [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772)|Pomerania]] ([[Gdańsk Pomerania]] or [[Pomerelia]]), [[Malbork Voivodeship|Malbork]], [[Chełmno Voivodeship|Chełmno]] and the [[Prince-Bishopric of Warmia]], thereby connecting his Prussian and [[Province of Pomerania (1653–1815)|Farther Pomeranian]] lands and cutting the rest of Poland from the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coast. The territory of [[Warmia]] was incorporated into the lands of former Ducal Prussia, which, by administrative deed of 31 January 1772 were named ''East Prussia''. The former Polish Pomerelian lands beyond the [[Vistula]] River together with Malbork and [[Chełmno Land]] formed the Province of [[West Prussia]] with its capital at [[Kwidzyn|Marienwerder]] (Kwidzyn) in 1773. The Polish [[Partition Sejm]] ratified the cession on 30 September 1772, whereafter Frederick officially went on to call himself a King "of" Prussia.

The former Ducal Prussian [[Districts of Prussia|districts]] of [[Iława|Eylau]] (Iława), Marienwerder, [[Prabuty|Riesenburg]] (Prabuty) and [[Szymbark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Schönberg]] (Szymbark) passed to West Prussia. Until the [[Prussian reforms]] of 1808, the administration in East Prussia was transferred to the [[General War Commissariat|General War]] and Finance Directorate in [[Berlin]], represented by two local chamber departments:
* German chamber department at Königsberg with the districts of:
** [[Ushakovo, Kaliningrad Oblast|Brandenburg]]
** [[Nidzica|Neidenburg]]
** [[Kętrzyn|Rastenburg]]
** [[Sambia|Samland]]
** [[Gvardeysk|Tapiau]]
** [[Braniewo|Braunsberg]] (Ermland)
** [[Lidzbark Warmiński|Heilsberg]] (Ermland)
** [[Morąg|Mohrungen]] (Ermland)
* [[Lithuania Minor|Lithuanian]] chamber department at [[Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast|Gumbinnen]] (Gusev) with the districts of:
** [[Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast|Gumbinnen]]
** [[Chernyakhovsk|Insterburg]]
** [[Klaipėda|Memel]]
** [[Olecko]]
** [[Neman, Russia|Ragnit]]
** [[Czerniak, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Seehesten]] ([[Mrągowo|Sensburg]])
** [[Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Tilsit]]

On 31 January 1773, King [[Frederick II of Prussia|Frederick II]] announced that the newly annexed lands were to be known as the Province of [[West Prussia]], while the former [[Duchy of Prussia]] and the [[Prince-Bishopric of Warmia]] became the [[Province of East Prussia]].

===Napoleonic Wars===
[[File:Antoine-Jean Gros - Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Napoleon on the [[Battle of Eylau|Battlefield of Eylau]] in February 1807]]
After the disastrous defeat of the [[Royal Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars|Royal Prussian Army]] at the [[Battle of Jena-Auerstedt]] in 1806, [[Napoleon]] occupied Berlin and had the officials of the Prussian General Directorate swear an [[oath of allegiance]] to him, while King [[Frederick William III of Prussia|Frederick William III]] and his consort [[Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Louise]] fled via Königsberg and the [[Curonian Spit]] to [[Klaipėda|Memel]]. The French [[Grande Armée]] troops immediately took up pursuit but were delayed in the [[Battle of Eylau]] on 9 February 1807 by an East Prussian contingent under General [[Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq]]. Napoleon had to stay at the [[Finckenstein Palace]], but in May, after a siege of 75 days, his troops led by Marshal [[François Joseph Lefebvre]] were able to capture the city of [[Gdańsk|Danzig]], which had been tenaciously defended by General Count [[Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth|Friedrich Adolf von Kalkreuth]]. On 14 June, Napoleon ended the [[War of the Fourth Coalition]] with his victory at the [[Battle of Friedland]]. Frederick William and Queen Louise met with Napoleon for peace negotiations, and on 9 July the Prussian king signed the [[Treaties of Tilsit|Treaty of Tilsit]].

The succeeding Prussian reforms instigated by [[Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein]] and [[Karl August von Hardenberg]] included the implementation of an {{Lang|de|[[Oberlandesgericht]]}} appellation court at Königsberg, a [[municipal corporation]], [[economic freedom]] as well as [[emancipation]] of the [[serfdom|serfs]] and [[Jewish emancipation|Jews]]. In the course of the Prussian restoration by the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]], the East Prussian territories were re-arranged in the {{lang|de|[[Regierungsbezirk]]e}} of [[Gumbinnen (region)|Gumbinnen]] and [[Königsberg (region)|Königsberg]]. From 1905, the southern districts of East Prussia formed the separate ''Regierungsbezirk'' of [[Allenstein (region)|Allenstein]]. East and West Prussia were first united in [[personal union]] in 1824 and then merged in a [[real union]] in 1829 to form the [[Province of Prussia]]. The united province was again split into separate East and West Prussian provinces in 1878.

=== German Empire ===
[[File:Krönungszug Königsberg (1861).JPG|thumb|left|Coronation of [[William I, German Emperor|William I]] as [[King of Prussia]] at [[Königsberg Castle]] in 1861]]
From 1824 to 1878, East Prussia was combined with West Prussia to form the [[Province of Prussia]], after which they were reestablished as separate provinces. Along with the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East Prussia became part of the [[German Empire]] during the [[unification of Germany]] in 1871.

From 1885 to 1890 [[Berlin]]'s population grew by 20%, [[Brandenburg]] and the [[Rhineland]] gained 8.5%, [[Westphalia]] 10%, while East Prussia lost 0.07% and West Prussia 0.86%. This stagnancy in population despite a high birth surplus in eastern Germany was because many people from the East Prussian countryside moved westward to seek work in the expanding industrial centres of the [[Ruhr Area]] and Berlin (see ''[[Ostflucht]]'').
[[File:Ostpreussen 1890.jpg|thumb|upright|Map of the province of East Prussia in 1890]]

The population of the province in 1900 was 1,996,626 people, with a religious makeup of 1,698,465 [[Protestants]], 269,196 [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]], and 13,877 Jews. The [[Low Prussian]] dialect predominated in East Prussia, although [[High Prussian]] was spoken in [[Warmia]]. The numbers of [[Masurians]], [[Kursenieki]] and [[Prussian Lithuanians]] decreased over time due to the process of [[Germanization]]. The Polish-speaking population concentrated in the south of the province ([[Masuria]] and Warmia) and all German geographic atlases at the start of 20th century showed the southern part of East Prussia as Polish with the number of Polish-speakers estimated at the time to be 300,000.<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> [[Kursenieki]] inhabited the areas around the Curonian lagoon, while Lithuanian-speaking Prussians concentrated in the northeast in ([[Lithuania Minor]]). The [[Old Prussians|Old Prussian ethnic group]] became completely Germanized over time and the [[Old Prussian language]] died out in the 18th century.

=== World War I ===
At the [[German entry into World War I]], East Prussia became a [[Russian invasion of East Prussia (1914)|theatre of war]] when the [[Russian Empire]] invaded the country. The [[Imperial Russian Army]] encountered at first little resistance because the bulk of the [[Imperial German Army]] had been directed towards the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] according to the [[Schlieffen Plan]]. Despite early success and the capture of the towns of [[Rastenburg]] and [[Gumbinnen]], in the [[Battle of Tannenberg (1914)|Battle of Tannenberg]] in 1914 and the [[Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes]] in 1915, the Russians were decisively defeated and forced to retreat. The Russians were followed by the German Army advancing into Russian territory.

After the Russian army's first invasion the majority of the civilian population fled westwards, while several thousand remaining civilians were deported to Russia. Treatment of civilians by both armies was mostly disciplined, although 74 civilians were killed by Russian troops in the [[Abschwangen massacre]]. The region had to be rebuilt because of damage caused by the war.

=== Division after 1918 ===

{| class="wikitable"
|+Division between Germany (area which remained in East Prussia), Lithuania and Poland after [[World War I]]
!East Prussia
!Area in 1910 in <small>km<sup>2</sup></small>
!Share of territory
!Population in 1910
!After WW1 part of:
!Notes
|-
!<small>Given to:</small>
!<small>37,002&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> <ref name="gem1900">{{Cite web |url=http://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?preussen1900.htm |title=Gemeindeverzeichnis Deutschland |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=13 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513003529/https://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?preussen1900.htm |url-status=live }}</ref></small>
!100%
!<small>2,064,175</small>
!<small>Divided between:</small>
!
|-
|[[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]
|'''<small>565&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup></small>'''<ref name="GUS1">[[:pl:Plik:Rocznik Statystyki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - 1920-21.djvu|Rocznik statystyki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1920/21, 1921]]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.territorial.de/ostp/rball.htm |title=Rbz. Allenstein: 10.1.1920 Abtretung des Kreises Neidenburg (teilweise) an Polen; 15.8.1920 Abtretung der Landgemeinden Groschken, Groß Lehwalde (teilweise), Klein Lobenstein (teilweise), Gut Nappern und der Gutsbezirke Groß Grieben (teilweise) und Klein Nappern (teilweise) an Polen. |last=Jehke |first=Rolf |website=territorial.de |access-date=10 June 2019 |archive-date=4 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004164413/http://www.territorial.de/ostp/rball.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
|'''<small>2%</small>'''
|'''<small>2%</small>'''
|[[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Pomeranian Voivodeship]]<br /><small>([[Działdowo]] area)</small>{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
|{{refn|Part of pre-1918 county [[Nidzica]] with [[Działdowo]] and with around 27 thousand inhabitants;<ref name="GUS1" /> as well as parts of county [[Ostróda]] near [[Dąbrówno]], with areas around [[Groszki, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Groszki]], [[Lubstynek]], [[Napromek]], [[Czerlin, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Czerlin]], [[Lewałd Wielki]], [[Grzybiny]] and with around 4786 inhabitants.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Die deutschen Staatsgrenzen |last=Khan |first=Daniel-Erasmus |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2004 |isbn=3-16-148403-7 |location=Tübingen |pages=78 }}</ref> Too small to form its own voivodeship, this territory was incorporated into the interwar [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Pomeranian Voivodeship]].|group=Note}}
|-
|Lithuania
|'''<small>2,828&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup></small>'''
|'''<small>8%</small>'''
|'''<small>7%</small>'''
|[[Klaipėda Region]]
|
|-
|East Prussia
|'''<small>33,609&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup></small>'''
|'''<small>90%</small>'''
|'''<small>91%</small>'''
|East Prussia
|
|}

=== Weimar Republic ===
[[File:East Prussia 1923-1939.svg|thumb|Inter-war East Prussia (from 1923 to 1939)]]
With the forced abdication of Emperor [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] in the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]], Germany became a [[Weimar Republic|republic]]. Most of the former Prussian provinces of West Prussia and [[Province of Posen|Posen]], territories annexed by Prussia in the 18th century [[Partitions of Poland]], were ceded to the [[Second Polish Republic]] according to the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. East Prussia became an [[Enclave and exclave|exclave]], being separated from mainland Germany. The [[Klaipėda Region]] was also separated from the province. Because most of West Prussia became part of the [[Second Polish Republic]] as the [[Polish Corridor]], the formerly West Prussian [[Marienwerder (region)|Marienwerder region]] became part of East Prussia as the administrative district (''Regierungsbezirk'') of West Prussia. Also, the [[Działdowo]] district in the [[Allenstein (region)|Allenstein]] region became part of the Second Polish Republic. The [[Seedienst Ostpreußen]] (Sea Service East Prussia) was established to provide an independent transport service to East Prussia.

On 11 July 1920, amidst the backdrop of the [[Polish-Soviet War]] in which the [[Second Polish Republic]] appeared to be on the brink of defeat, the [[East Prussian plebiscite]] in eastern West Prussia and southern East Prussia was held under Allied supervision to determine if the areas should join Poland or remain in the [[Weimar Germany]] Province of East Prussia. 96.7% of the people voted to remain within Germany (97.89% in the East Prussian plebiscite district).

The [[Klaipėda Region|Klaipėda Territory]] (Memelland), a [[League of Nations mandate]] since 1920, was occupied by the [[Lithuanian Armed Forces]] in 1923 and annexed without giving the inhabitants a choice by ballot.

=== Nazi Germany ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2008-0513-501, Königsberg, Adolf Hitler.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Erich Koch]] in Königsberg, 1936]]

After [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power]], opposition politicians were persecuted and newspapers banned. [[Erich Koch]], who headed the East Prussian Nazi party from 1928, led the district from 1932. The Otto-Braun-House was requisitioned to become the headquarters of the SA, which used the house to imprison and torture its opponents. [[Walter Schütz]], a communist member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]], was murdered here.<ref>Matull, page 357</ref> This period was characterized by efforts to [[collectivization|collectivize]] the local agriculture and ruthlessness in dealing with his {{clarify|date=January 2024|reason=Whose critics?}} critics inside and outside the [[Nazi Party]].<ref name="wistrich">Robert S. Wistrich, ''Who's who in Nazi Germany'', 2002, pp. 142–143.</ref> He also had long-term plans for mass-scale industrialization of the largely agricultural province. These actions made him unpopular among the local peasants.<ref name="wistrich"/> In 1932 the local paramilitary [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] had already started to terrorise their political opponents. On the night of 31 July 1932 there was a bomb attack on the headquarters of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] in Königsberg, the [[Otto Braun|Otto-Braun-House]]. The Communist politician [[Gustav Sauf]] was killed; the executive editor of the Social Democratic newspaper ''"Königsberger Volkszeitung"'', [[Otto Wyrgatsch]]; and the [[German People's Party]] politician [[Max von Bahrfeldt]] were all severely injured. Members of the [[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold|Reichsbanner]] were assaulted while the local Reichsbanner Chairman of [[Lötzen]], [[Kurt Kotzan]], was murdered on 6 August 1932.<ref name=Matull>{{cite web |url=http://library.fes.de/breslau/pdf/a20715/a20715_06.pdf |title=Ostdeutschlands Arbeiterbewegung: Abriß ihrer Geschichte, Leistung und Opfer |first1=Wilhelm |last1=Matull |publisher=Holzner Verlag |year=1973 |page=350 |language=de |access-date=14 February 2010 |archive-date=7 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507154014/http://library.fes.de/breslau/pdf/a20715/a20715_06.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/4374/die_aufrechten_roten_von_koenigsberg.html Die aufrechten Roten von Königsberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202213507/http://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topicalbumbackground/4374/die_aufrechten_roten_von_koenigsberg.html |date=2 February 2014 }} Spiegel.de, 28 June 2009 {{in lang|de }}</ref>

In the [[March 1933 German federal election]], the last contested pre-war German election, the local population of East Prussia voted overwhelmingly for [[Adolf Hitler]]'s [[Nazi Party]].

Through publicly funded emergency relief programs concentrating on agricultural land-improvement projects and road construction, the "Erich Koch Plan" for East Prussia allegedly made the province free of unemployment: on 16 August 1933 Koch reported to [[Hitler]] that unemployment had been banished entirely from the province, a feat that gained admiration throughout the [[Nazi Germany|Reich]].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=The Journal of Modern History |year=1993 |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=113–151 |title=Fantasy and Reality in Nazi Work-Creation Programs, 1933–1936 |author=Dan P. Silverman |doi=10.1086/244609 |s2cid=143888997 }}</ref> In actuality, the Erich Koch Plan had been a staged propaganda event organized by [[Walther Funk]] and the [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]] to promote the Nazi Party's work creation policies, with East Prussia chosen because it already had relatively low unemployment due to its agrarian economy.{{Sfn|Tooze|2006|p=44-45}} Koch's industrialization plans provoked conflict with [[Richard Walther Darré]], who held the office of the Reich Peasant Leader (''Reichsbauernführer'') and Minister of Agriculture. Darré, a [[Religious aspects of Nazism|neopaganist]] rural romantic, wanted to enforce his vision of an agricultural East Prussia.  When his "Land" representatives challenged Koch's plans, Koch arrested them.<ref name="steigmann-gall">[[Richard Steigmann-Gall]], ''The Holy Reich – Nazi Conceptions of Christianity 1919–1945'', 2004, p. 102.</ref>

In 1938 the [[Nazis]] [[1938 renaming of East Prussian placenames|changed about one-third of the toponyms of the area]], eliminating, Germanizing, or simplifying a number of [[Old Prussian]], as well as those Polish or Lithuanian names originating from [[Settler|colonists]] and [[refugees]] to Prussia during and after the [[Protestant Reformation]]. More than 1,500 places were ordered to be renamed by 16 July 1938 following a decree issued by [[Gauleiter]] and [[Oberpräsident]] [[Erich Koch]] and initiated by [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>{{cite book |title="Wolfsschanze": Hitlers Machtzentrale im Zweiten Weltkrieg |first=Uwe |last=Neumärker |edition=3 |publisher=Ch. Links Verlag |year=2007 |isbn=978-3-86153-433-4 |language=de |display-authors=etal }}</ref> Many who would not cooperate with the rulers of [[Nazi Germany]] were sent to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] and held prisoner there until their death or liberation.

After the [[1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania]], the [[Klaipėda region]] was integrated again into East Prussia.

=== 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>

==History after partition and annexation==

Following [[Nazi Germany]]'s defeat in [[World War II]] in 1945, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland and the [[Soviet Union]] according to the [[Potsdam Conference]], pending a final peace conference with Germany. Since a peace conference never took place, the region was effectively ceded by Germany.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Politics Today Companion to West European Politics |author=Geoffrey K. Roberts, Patricia Hogwood |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |page=50 |isbn=9781847790323 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q40tDwAAQBAJ }}; {{cite book |title=The United States and Poland |author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1980 |page=303 |isbn=9780674926851 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XaFaNshCrkC |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111155012/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XaFaNshCrkC |url-status=live }}; {{cite book |title=The Oder-Neisse Line: a reappraisal under international law |author=Phillip A. Bühler |series=East European Monographs |year=1990 |page=33 |isbn=9780880331746 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riBpAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=11 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111154906/https://books.google.com/books?id=riBpAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Southern East Prussia was placed under Polish administration, while northern East Prussia was divided between the Soviet republics of [[Russian SFSR|Russia]] (the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]) and [[Lithuanian SSR|Lithuania]] (the constituent counties of the [[Klaipėda Region]]). The city of Königsberg was renamed [[Kaliningrad]] in 1946. Most of the German population of the province had left during the evacuation at the end of the war, but several hundreds of thousands died during the years 1944–46 and the remainder were subsequently [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] in accordance with the [[Potsdam Agreement]].

===Expulsion of Germans from East Prussia after World War II===
Shortly after the end of the war in May 1945, Germans who had fled in early 1945 tried to return to their homes in East Prussia. An estimated number of 800,000 Germans were living in East Prussia during the summer of 1945.<ref>Andreas Kossert, Damals in Ostpreußen, p. 168, München 2008 {{ISBN|978-3-421-04366-5 }}</ref> Many more were prevented from returning,{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} and the German population of East Prussia was almost completely [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] by the communist regimes. During the war and for some time thereafter 45 camps were established for about 200,000–250,000 forced labourers, the vast majority of whom were deported to the Soviet Union, including the [[Gulag]] camp system.<ref name=Ther>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGmTs2SceAgC&q=masuria |title=Redrawing nations: ethnic cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944–1948 |first1=Philipp |last1=Ther |first2=Anna |last2=Siljak |publisher=Rowman&Littlefield Publishers |year=2001 |page=109 |isbn=0-7425-1094-8 }}</ref> The largest camp with about 48,000 inmates was established at [[Iława|Deutsch Eylau]] (Iława).<ref name=Ther/> Orphaned children who were left behind in the zone occupied by the Soviet Union were referred to as [[Wolf children]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="275px" widths="275px">
File:Karte viertepolnischeteilung.png|An illustration of the changing borders in Eastern Europe before, during, and after [[World War II]] (Map is written in German.)
File:German territorial losses 1919 and 1945.svg|Changes in Germany's borders as a result of both [[World Wars]], with the partition of East Prussia
</gallery>

===Southern East Prussia to Poland===
{{main|Masurian District|Olsztyn Voivodeship|Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship}}
Representatives of the Polish government officially took over the civilian administration of the southern part of East Prussia on 23 May 1945.<ref name=Ther/> Subsequently, Polish [[expatriate]]s from [[Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union|Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union]] as well as [[Ukrainians]] and [[Lemkos]] from southern Poland, expelled in [[Operation Vistula]], were settled in the area, initially organised as the [[Masurian District]], later replaced by the [[Olsztyn Voivodeship]] in 1947, with a few counties incorporated into [[Białystok Voivodeship (1945–75)|Białystok Voivodeship]] and to [[Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975)|Gdańsk Voivodeship]]. The latter counted in 1950 689,000 inhabitants, 22.6% of them coming from areas annexed by the Soviet Union, 10% Ukrainians, and 18.5% of them pre-war inhabitants. It was dissolved in 1975 to form three smaller units: a much smaller homonymous Olsztyn Voivodeship, the bulk of [[Elbląg Voivodeship]] and a significant part of the [[Suwałki Voivodeship]].

The remaining pre-war population was treated as Germanized Poles and a policy of re-[[Polonization]] was pursued throughout the country<ref>[http://www.stefanwolff.com/working-papers/EthnicGermansPolandandCzechRepublic.pdf Ethnic Germans in Poland and the Czech Republic:A Comparative Evaluation] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303180344/http://www.stefanwolff.com/working-papers/EthnicGermansPolandandCzechRepublic.pdf |date=3 March 2016 }} by Karl Cordell and Stefan Wolff</ref> Most of these "[[Autochthones|Autochthons]]" chose to emigrate to West Germany from the 1950s through 1980s (between 1970 and 1988 55,227&nbsp;persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to Western Germany).<ref>Andreas Kossert, Ostpreußen – Geschichte und Mythos, p.352, {{ISBN|3-88680-808-4 }}</ref> Local toponyms were Polonised by the Polish [[Commission for the Determination of Place Names]],<ref>[http://www.gugik.gov.pl/komisja/pliki/the_polish_toponymic_guidelines.pdf The Polish toponymic guidelines]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (p.9)</ref> though in most cases it was a restoration of historic Polish names.

==== Origin of the post-war population ====
During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. The same area corresponding to pre-war southern parts of East Prussia (which became Polish in 1945) was inhabited in December 1950 by:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+1950 population by place of residence back in 1939:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kosiński |first=Leszek |date=1960 |title=Pochodzenie terytorialne ludności Ziem Zachodnich w 1950 r. [Territorial origins of inhabitants of the Western Lands in year 1950] |url=http://rcin.org.pl/Content/33932/WA51_50482_r1960-z2_Dokumentacja-Geogr.pdf |journal=Dokumentacja Geograficzna |language=Polish |location=Warsaw |publisher=PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences), Institute of Geography |volume=2 |pages=Tabela 1 (data by county) |via=Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych |access-date=10 November 2023 |archive-date=2 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102195435/https://rcin.org.pl//Content/33932/WA51_50482_r1960-z2_Dokumentacja-Geogr.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
!Region (within 1939 borders):
!Number
!Percent
|-
|[[Indigenous peoples|Autochthons]] (1939 [[Nazi Germany|DE]]/[[Free City of Danzig|FCD]] citizens)
|134,702
|15.90%
|-
|[[Polish population transfers (1944–1946)|Polish expellees]] from [[Kresy]] ([[Soviet Union|USSR]])
|172,480
|20.36%
|-
|Poles from abroad except the USSR
|5,734
|0.68%
|-
|Resettlers from the [[Capital city of Warsaw (1919–39)|City of Warsaw]]
|22,418
|2.65%
|-
|From [[Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Warsaw region]] ([[Mazovia|Masovia]])
|158,953
|18.76%
|-
|From [[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Białystok region]] and [[Suwałki Region|Sudovia]]
|102,634
|12.11%
|-
|From [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|pre-war Polish Pomerania]]
|83,921
|9.90%
|-
|Resettlers from [[Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939)|Poznań region]]
|7,371
|0.87%
|-
|Katowice region ([[Silesian Voivodeship (1920–39)|East Upper Silesia]])
|2,536
|0.30%
|-
|Resettlers from the [[Łódź|City of Łódź]]
|1,666
|0.20%
|-
|Resettlers from [[Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Łódź region]]
|6,919
|0.82%
|-
|Resettlers from [[Kielce Voivodeship|Kielce region]]
|20,878
|2.46%
|-
|Resettlers from [[Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Lublin region]]
|60,313
|7.12%
|-
|Resettlers from [[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Kraków region]]
|5,515
|0.65%
|-
|Resettlers from [[Podkarpackie Voivodeship|Rzeszów region]]
|47,626
|5.62%
|-
|place of residence in 1939 unknown
|13,629
|1.61%
|-
!Total pop. in December 1950
!847,295
!100.00%
|}
Over 80% of the 1950 inhabitants were new in the region, less than 20% had resided in the province already back in 1939 (so called autochthons, who had German citizenship before [[World War II]] and were granted Polish citizenship after 1945). Over 20% of all inhabitants were Poles expelled from areas of [[Kresy|Eastern Poland]] annexed by the [[Soviet Union|USSR]]. The rest were mostly people from neighbouring areas located right next to East Prussia (almost 44% came from [[Mazovia|Masovia]], [[Suwałki Region|Sudovia]], [[Podlachia]] and [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|pre-war Polish Pomerania]]) and southern Poland (≈16%).

===Northern part to the Soviet Union===
{{main|Kaliningrad Oblast}}
[[File:Königsberg Castle.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Königsberg Castle]], 1895]]
[[File:Ru-koenigsberg.jpg|thumb|right|"Königsberg" license plate holder, 2009]]

In April 1946, northern East Prussia became an official province of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] as the "''Kyonigsbergskaya Oblast''", with the [[Klaipėda Region]] becoming part of the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. In June 1946 114,070 German and 41,029 Soviet citizens were registered in the Oblast, with an unknown number of disregarded unregistered persons. In July of that year, the historic city of [[Königsberg]] was renamed [[Kaliningrad]] to honour [[Mikhail Kalinin]] and the area named the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]. Between 24 August and 26 October 1948 21 transports with in total 42,094 Germans left the Oblast to the [[Soviet Occupation Zone]] (which became East Germany). The last remaining Germans left in November 1949 (1,401 persons) and January 1950 (7 persons).<ref>Andreas Kossert, Damals in Ostpreußen, pp. 179–183, München 2008 {{ISBN|978-3-421-04366-5 }}</ref>

The [[Prussian Lithuanians]] also experienced the same fate.

A similar fate befell the [[Kursenieki|Curonians]] who lived in the area around the [[Curonian Lagoon]]. While many fled from the [[Red Army]] during the evacuation of East Prussia, Curonians that remained behind were subsequently expelled by the [[Soviet Union]]. Only 219 lived along the Curonian Spit in 1955. Many had German names such as Fritz or Hans, a cause for anti-German discrimination. The Soviet authorities considered the Curonians [[fascists]]. Because of this discrimination, many immigrated to West Germany in 1958, where the majority of Curonians now live.

After the expulsion of the German population ethnic [[Russians]], [[Belarusians]], and [[Ukrainians]] were settled in the northern part. In the Soviet part of the region, a policy of eliminating all remnants of German history was pursued. All German place names were replaced by new Russian names, with only a few instances of use of historical names, such as [[Domnovo]] and [[Talpaki]], based on historical Polish names. The exclave was a [[closed city|military zone]], which was closed to foreigners; Soviet citizens could only enter with special permission. In 1967 the remnants of [[Königsberg Castle]] were demolished on the orders of [[Leonid Brezhnev]] to make way for a new "[[House of Soviets (Kaliningrad)|House of the Soviets]]".

===Modern status===

Although the 1945–1949 [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|expulsion of Germans]] from the northern part of former East Prussia was often conducted in a violent and aggressive way by Soviet officials, the present Russian inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Oblast have much less animosity towards Germans. German names have been revived in commercial Russian trade and there is sometimes talk of reverting Kaliningrad's name to its historical name of Königsberg. The city centre of Kaliningrad was completely rebuilt, as [[Royal Air Force]] bombs in 1944 and the Soviet siege in 1945 had left it in ruins.

Since the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, some German groups have tried to help settle the [[Volga Germans]] from eastern parts of [[European Russia]] in the [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]. This effort was only a minor success, however, as most impoverished Volga Germans preferred to emigrate to the richer Federal Republic of Germany, where they could become [[German nationality law|German citizens]] through the [[Right of return#Germany|right of return]].

The Polish part of the region, divided in 1975 to form three units: the Olsztyn Voivodeship, the [[Elbląg Voivodeship]], and the [[Suwałki Voivodeship]], has been reestablished as a single entity in 1999 under the name of [[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship]], whose borders correspond closely to those of southern East Prussia. Since 2004, Poland and Lithuania have become European Union member states, and both the Polish part of the region as well as the Lithuanian [[Klaipėda Region]], has thereafter become freely accessible by Germans, in line with the [[free movement of people]] policy.

== Demographics ==

=== Historical ethnic and religious structure ===
[[File:East Prussia Ethnic Map 1905.png|thumb|upright=1.4|Mother Tongues of East Prussia, according to the 1905 Census]]

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 |last=Plater |first=Stanisław |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 |publisher=u Wilhelma Bogumiła Korna |year=1825 |location=Wrocław |pages=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> Of that number, according to [[Karl Andree]], ethnic 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 |last1=Andree |first1=Karl |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xgUEAAAAYAAJ |title=Polen: in geographischer, geschichtlicher und culturhistorischer Hinsicht |publisher=Verlag von Ludwig Schumann |year=1831 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xgUEAAAAYAAJ/page/n227 218] |language=de }}</ref> As of year 1819, there were also 20,000 strong ethnic [[Kursenieki|Curonian]] and Latvian minorities as well as 2,400 Jews, according to Georg Hassel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hassel |first=Georg |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 |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 |last1=Haxthausen |first1=August |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsj1FBg0gvUC&pg=PA75 |title=Die Ländliche Verfassung in den Einzelnen Provinzen der Preussischen Monarchie |year=1839 |pages=75–91 |language=de }}</ref> However, 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 pre-war East Prussia were ethnically Russian [[Old Believers]], also known as [[Philipons|Philipponnen]] – their main town was Eckertsdorf ([[Wojnowo, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Wojnowo]]), in Sensburg district.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Wojnowo (Eckersdorf) |url=http://www.wojnowo.net/wojnowo-history |website=wojnowo.net |access-date=23 December 2018 |archive-date=23 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223163954/http://www.wojnowo.net/wojnowo-history |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tetzner |first=Franz |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 |publisher=Verlag von F. Vieweg |year=1902 |location=Braunschweig |pages=212–248 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Believers in Poland – historical and cultural information |url=http://www.inne-jezyki.amu.edu.pl/Frontend/Language/Details/28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223163909/http://www.inne-jezyki.amu.edu.pl/Frontend/Language/Details/28 |archive-date=23 December 2018 |access-date=23 December 2018 |website=Poland's Linguistic Heritage }}</ref>

In year 1817, East Prussia had 796,204 [[Evangelical Church in Germany|Evangelical Christians]], 120,123 [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]], 864 [[Mennonites]] and 2,389 Jews.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoffmann |first=Johann Gottfried |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 |publisher=Decker |year=1818 |location=Berlin |pages=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>

=== Ethnolinguistic composition by district ===
[[File:Sprachen in Ostpreußen 1905 06.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|Ethnolinguistic distribution in East Prussia (1905) by district]]
[[File:Prusy Wschodnie de.svg|thumb|Districts of East Prussia (1910)]]
As of 1905, the province of East Prussia was divided into three government regions, known as ''Regierungsbezirke.'' These were the regions of [[Königsberg (region)|Königsberg]], [[Gumbinnen (region)|Gumbinnen]] and [[Allenstein (region)|Allenstein]].
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Ethnolinguistic structure of East Prussia by district (1905)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Belzyt |first=Leszek |url=https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/search?isbn |title=Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 – 1914 ; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar |date=1998 |publisher=Herder-Inst. |isbn=978-3-87969-267-5 |location=Marburg}}{{Dead link|date=May 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
!District (Kreis)
!Regierungsbezirk
!Population
!German
!%
!Polish
!%
!Lithuanian
!%
|-
|Braunsberg
| rowspan="15" |[[Königsberg (region)|Königsberg]]
|54,751
|54,548
| rowspan="2" |99.6%
|140
|0.3%
|12
|0%
|-
|Fischhausen
|52,430
|52,235
|90
|0.2%
|43
|0.1%
|-
|Friedland
|40,822
|40,784
|99.9%
|14
|0%
|5
| rowspan="5" |0%
|-
|Gerdauen
|33,983
|33,778
|99.4%
|146
|0.4%
|1
|-
|Heiligenbeil
|43,951
|43,909
|99.9%
|21
|0%
|2
|-
|Heilsberg
|51,690
|51,473
|99.6%
|124
| rowspan="2" |0.2%
|8
|-
|Landkreis Königsberg
|45,486
|45,342
|99.7%
|72
|12
|-
|[[Königsberg|Stadtkreis Königsberg]]
|223,770
|221,167
|98.8%
|594
|0.3%
|159
|0.1%
|-
|[[Kreis Labiau|Labiau]]
|51,295
|45,659
|89%
|27
| rowspan="2" |0.1%
|5,293
|10.3%
|-
|Memel
|61,018
|33,508
|54.9%
|40
|26,328
|43.1%
|-
|[[Kreis Mohrungen|Mohrungen]]
|52,408
|52,215
|99.6%
|113
| rowspan="3" |0.2%
|2
| rowspan="4" |0%
|-
|Preußisch Eylau
|49,465
|49,325
|99.7%
|91
|3
|-
|Preußisch Holland
|38,599
|38,505
|99.8%
|61
|4
|-
|[[Kreis Rastenburg|Rastenburg]]
|46,985
|45,998
|97.9%
|723
|1.5%
|19
|-
|Wehlau
|46,774
|46,401
|99.2%
|178
|0.4%
|81
|0.2%
|-
|'''Total (Königsberg)'''
|'''Königsberg'''
|'''893,427'''
|'''854,847'''
|'''95.7%'''
|'''2,434'''
|'''0.3%'''
|'''31,972'''
|'''3.6%'''
|-
|[[Kreis Angerburg|Angerburg]]
| rowspan="14" |[[Gumbinnen (region)|Gumbinnen]]
|35,945
|34,273
|95.3%
|1,499
|4.2%
|39
| rowspan="2" |0.1%
|-
|[[Darkehmen (district)|Darkehmen]]
|32,285
|32,137
|99.5%
|74
|0.2%
|17
|-
|[[Kreis Goldap|Goldap]]
|43,829
|42,891
|97.9%
|436
|1%
|185
|0.4%
|-
|Gumbinnen
|50,918
|50,703
|99.6%
|21
|0%
|21
|0%
|-
|[[Landkreis Heydekrug|Heydekrug]]
|43,268
|19,124
|44.2%
|35
| rowspan="2" |0.1%
|23,279
|53.8%
|-
|Landkreis Insterburg
|46,237
|45,693
|98.8%
|68
|311
|0.7%
|-
|[[Chernyakhovsk|Stadtkreis Insterburg]]
|28,902
|28,412
|98.3%
|166
|0.6%
|62
|0.2%
|-
|Niederung
|55,129
|47,792
|86.7%
|47
|0.1%
|6,497
|11.8%
|-
|Oletzko
|38,536
|24,575
|63.8%
|12,451
|32.3%
|8
|0%
|-
|Pilkallen
|46,230
|41,982
|90.8%
|65
| rowspan="2" |0.1%
|3,668
|7.9%
|-
|Ragnit
|54,741
|45,525
|83.2%
|80
|8,394
|15.3%
|-
|Stallupönen
|43,875
|43,099
|98.2%
|90
|0.2%
|383
|0.9%
|-
|Landkreis Tilsit
|46,441
|25,322
|54.5%
|38
| rowspan="2" |0.1%
|20,674
|44.5%
|-
|[[Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Stadtkreis Tilsit]]
|37,148
|35,598
|95.8%
|37
|1,442
|3.9%
|-
|'''Total (Gumbinnen)'''
|'''Gumbinnen'''
|'''603,484'''
|'''517,126'''
|'''85.7%'''
|'''15,107'''
|'''2.5%'''
|'''64,980'''
|'''10.8%'''
|-
|[[Landkreis Allenstein|Allenstein]]
| rowspan="9" |[[Allenstein (region)|Allenstein]]
|85,625
|45,723
|53.4%
|38,701
|45.2%
|21
| rowspan="2" |0%
|-
|Johannisburg
|50,452
|13,651
|27.1%
|35,433
|70.2%
|5
|-
|Lötzen
|41,609
|21,997
|52.9%
|16,877
|40.6%
|27
|0.1%
|-
|Lyck
|55,790
|23,562
|42.2%
|30,555
|54.8%
|2
| rowspan="2" |0%
|-
|Neidenburg
|57,325
|16,304
|28.4%
|38,690
|67.5%
|5
|-
|Ortelsburg
|69,464
|17,221
|24.8%
|50,665
|72.9%
|58
|0.1%
|-
|Osterode
|73,421
|39,778
|54.2%
|33,129
|45.1%
|13
| rowspan="3" |0%
|-
|[[Kreis Rößel|Rößel]]
|50,390
|42,555
|84.5%
|7,383
|14.7%
|15
|-
|Sensburg
|49,187
|21,960
|44.6%
|25,381
|51.6%
|13
|-
|'''Total (Allenstein)'''
|'''Allenstein'''
|'''533,263'''
|'''242,751'''
|'''45.5%'''
|'''276,814'''
|'''51.9%'''
|'''159'''
|'''0%'''
|-
|'''Total (East Prussia)'''
|'''-'''
|'''2,030,174'''
|'''1,614,724'''
|'''79.5%'''
|'''294,355'''
|'''14.5%'''
|'''97,111'''
|'''4.8%'''
|}

==Administration==
The Prussian central government appointed for every province an ''Oberpräsident'' ("Upper President") carrying out central prerogatives on the provincial level and supervising the implementation of central policy on the lower levels of administration.

Since 1875, with the strengthening of self-rule, the urban and rural [[Districts of Prussia|districts (''Kreise'')]] within each province (sometimes within each [[Regierungsbezirk|governorate]]) formed a corporation with common tasks and assets (schools, traffic installations, hospitals, cultural institutions, jails etc.) called the Provinzialverband (provincial association). Initially the assemblies of the urban and rural districts elected representatives for the [[Provinziallandtag|provincial diets]] (''Provinzial[[landtag]]e''), which were thus indirectly elected. As of 1919 the provincial diets (or as to governorate diets, the so-called Kommunallandtage) were directly elected by the citizens of the provinces (or governorates, respectively). These parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provincial associations. The provincial diet of East Prussia elected a provincial executive body (government), the provincial committee (''Provinzialausschuss''), and a head of province, the ''[[Landeshauptmann#Landeshauptmann and Landesdirektor (Prussia)|Landeshauptmann]]'' ("Land Captain"; till the 1880s titled Landdirektor, land director).<ref>In some Prussian provinces the same office continued to be called Landesdirektor also thereafter. Cf. article: "Landesdirektor", in: ''Der Große Brockhaus: Handbuch des Wissens in zwanzig Bänden'': 21 vols.; Leipzig: Brockhaus, <sup>15</sup>1928–1935; vol. 11 (1932), p. 71.</ref>

===Upper presidents of East Prussia and Prussia===
: 1765–1791: [[Johann Friedrich von Domhardt]], president of the ''[[Gumbinnen]] and [[Königsberg]] War and Demesnes Chambers''
: 1791–1808: [[Friedrich von Schrötter|Friedrich Leopold von Schrötter]], president of the ''Gumbinnen and Königsberg War and Demesnes Chambers'', as of 1795 Minister for East and [[New East Prussia]] 
: 1808–1814: vacancy?
: 1814–1824: [[Hans Jakob von Auerswald]], upper president of East Prussia 
: 1824–1842: [[Theodor von Schön|Heinrich Theodor von Schön]], upper president of [[Province of Prussia|Prussia]], merged from East and West Prussia, since 1816 already upper president of West Prussia
: 1842–1848: [[Carl Wilhelm von Bötticher]], upper president of Prussia
: 1848–1849: [[Rudolf von Auerswald]], upper president of Prussia
: 1849–1850: [[Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell]] (1786–1865), upper president of Prussia
: 1850–1868: [[Franz August Eichmann]], upper president of Prussia
: 1868–1869: vacancy
: 1869–1882: [[Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Georg von Horn]], upper president of Prussia, after 1878 of East Prussia
: 1882–1891: [[Albrecht Heinrich von Schlieckmann]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1891–1895: Count [[Udo zu Stolberg-Wernigerode]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1895–1901: Count [[Wilhelm von Bismarck-Schönhausen]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1901–1903: [[Hugo Samuel von Richthofen]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1903–1907: Count [[Friedrich von Moltke]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1907–1914: [[Ludwig von Windheim]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1914–1916: [[Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1916–1918: [[Friedrich von Berg]], upper president of East Prussia
: 1918–1919: Adolf Tortilowicz von Batocki-Friebe, upper president of East Prussia
: 1919–1920: [[August Winnig]] ([[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]]), upper president of East Prussia
: 1920–1932: [[Ernst Siehr]] ([[German Democratic Party|DDP]]), upper president of East Prussia
: 1932–1933: [[Wilhelm Kutscher]] ([[German National People's Party|DNVP]]), upper president of East Prussia
: 1933–1945: [[Erich Koch]] ([[Nazi Party|NSDAP]]), upper president of East Prussia

===Elections to the provincial diets===

{{election table|title=Summary of the East Prussian Provincial Diet direct election results}}
|-style="background:#E9E9E9;"
!colspan="2" align="left"|Parties
!%<br>1921
!+/-<br>1921
!Seats<br>1921
!+/-<br>1921
!%<br>1925
!+/-<br>1925
!Seats<br>1925
!+/-<br>1925
!%<br>1929
!+/-<br>1929
!Seats<br>1929
!+/-<br>1929
!%<br>1933
!+/-<br>1933
!Seats<br>1933
!+/-<br>1933
|-
|bgcolor="red"|
|align="left"|[[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]]
|24.1
|
|20
|
|rowspan="1"|24.8 
|rowspan="2"| +0.7 (-) 
|rowspan="2"|22
|rowspan="2"| +2 (−4)
|rowspan="2"|26 
|rowspan="2"| +1.2
|rowspan="2"|23
|rowspan="2"| +1
|rowspan="2"|13.6 
|rowspan="2"| -12.4
|rowspan="2"|12
|rowspan="2"| -11
|-
|bgcolor="#ff2222"|
|align="left"|[[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|USPD]]
|
|
|6
| +6
| merged<br>in SPD
|-
|bgcolor="#63B8ff"|
|align="left"|[[German National People's Party|DNVP]]<ref name="KFSWR">In 1933 the DNVP ran under the list KFSWR, also including ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Der Stahlhelm]]'' and the [[Agricultural League|LB]].</ref>
|13.4
| +13.4
|11
| +11
|rowspan="2"|45.6<ref>DVP and DNVP formed the united list called Prussian Block (PB, Preußemblock).</ref>
|rowspan="2"| 
|rowspan="2"|40
|rowspan="2"| (+4)
|31.2 
| (+17.8)
|27
| (+16)
|12.7<ref name="KFSWR"/> 
| −18.5
|11
| −16
|-
|bgcolor="blue"|
|align="left"|[[German People's Party|DVP]]
|3.6
| +3.6
|4
| +4
|8.7
| (+5.1)
|8
| (+4)
|
|
|0
| −8
|-
|bgcolor="turquoise"|
|align="left"|[[Bund für Wirtschaft und Aufbau|BWA]]
|
|
|16
| +16
|
|
|0
| −16
| 
|
|0
| 0
| 
|
|0
| 0
|-
|bgcolor="#0000CD"|
|align="left"|[[Centre Party (Germany)|Zentrum]]
|9.3
|
|8
| +8
|6.9
| −2.4
|6
| −2
|8.1
| +1.2
|7 
| +1
|7 
| −1.1
|7
| 0
|-
|bgcolor="#8B0000"|
|align="left"|[[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]]<ref>In 1921 the party was named United Communist Party of Germany, VKPD.</ref>
|7
| +7
|6
| +6
|6.9 
| −0.1
|6 
| 0
| 8.6
| +1.7
| 8
| +2
| 6
| −2.6
| 6
| −2
|-
|bgcolor="black"|
|align="left"|[[Bund für Wirtschaft und Wiederaufbau|BWW]]
|
|
|6
| +6
|
|
|0
| −6
| 
|
|0
| 0
| 
|
|0
| 0
|-
!colspan="2" align="left"|Parties
!%<br>1921
!+/-<br>1921
!Seats<br>1921
!+/-<br>1921
!%<br>1925
!+/-<br>1925
!Seats<br>1925
!+/-<br>1925
!%<br>1929
!+/-<br>1929
!Seats<br>1929
!+/-<br>1929
!%<br>1933
!+/-<br>1933
!Seats<br>1933
!+/-<br>1933
|-
|bgcolor="yellow"|
|align="left"|[[German Democratic Party|DDP]]
|5.7
| +5.7
|6
| +6
|3.6
| −2.1
|3
| −3
|2.8 
| −0.8
|3
| 0
|
|
|0
| −3
|-
|bgcolor="brown"|
|align="left"|[[Nazi Party|NSDAP]]
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|
| 
|
| 
|4.3 
| 
|4
| +4
|58.2
| +53,9
|51
| +47
|-
|bgcolor="#CEB673"|
|align="left"|[[Landliste|LL]]/[[Reich Party of the German Middle Class|WP]]<ref>In 1921 the Landliste (LL, Rural List) gained two seats, in 1926 the LL formed a united list with the WP and the East Prussian Farmers' Federation (OBB), in 1929 they all ran as part of the WP.</ref>
|
|
|2
| +2
|4.2 
| +4.2
|4
| +2
|4 
| −1.2
|4
| 0
|
|
|0
| −4
|-
|bgcolor="#645D25"|
|align="left"|[[German Völkisch Freedom Party|DFP]]
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|4.2
| +4.2
|4
| +4
|
|
|0
| −4
|
|
|0
| 0
|-
|bgcolor="purple"|
|align="left"|[[Christian Social People's Service|CSVD]]
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|3
| +3
|3
| +3
|
|
|0
| −3
|-
|bgcolor="#ffDEAD"|
|align="left"|[[Aufwertung und Aufbau|AuA]]
|not run
|not run
|not run
|not run
|
|
|2
| +2
|
|
|0
| −2
|
|
|0
| 0
|-
|bgcolor="green"|
|align="left"|[[Für Ordnung und Wiederaufbau|FOW]]
|
|
|2
| +2
|
| 
|0
| −2
|
|
|0
| 0
|
|
|0
| 0
|-
|bgcolor="#553A26"|
|align="left"|[[Polish National Democratic Party (Germany)|Poles' Party]]
|
|
|1
| +1
|
|
|0
| −1
| 
|
|0
| 0
| 
|
|0
| 0
|-
|bgcolor="#eeeeee"|
|align="left"|Others
|
|
|2
| +?
|
|
|0
| −2
|
|
|0
| 0
|
|
|0
| 0
|-style="background:#E9E9E9;"
!colspan="2" align="left"|Total<br>1921
!align="center" colspan="2"|
!align="center" colspan="1"|85
!
!colspan="2" align="left"|Total<br>1925
!align="center" colspan="1"|87
!
!colspan="2" align="left"|Total<br>1929
!align="center" colspan="1"|87
!
!colspan="2" align="left"|Total<br>1933
!align="center" colspan="1"|87
!
|}

===Land Directors and Land Captains of East Prussia===
: 1876–1878: [[Heinrich Edwin Rickert]] ([[National Liberal Party (Germany)|NLP]], later [[German Free-minded Party|DFP]]), titled land director
: 1878–1884: [[Kurt von Saucken-Tarputschen]] ([[German Progress Party|Fortschritt]], later [[German Free-minded Party|DFP]]), titled land director
: 1884–1888: [[Alfred von Gramatzki]] ([[German Conservative Party|DKP]]), titled land director
: 1888–1896: [[Klemens von Stockhausen]], titled land director
: 1896–1909: [[Rudolf von Brandt]], titled land captain 
: 1909–1916: [[Friedrich von Berg]], titled land captain 
: 1916–1928: [[Manfred Graf von Brünneck-Bellschwitz]], titled land captain 
: 1928–1936: [[Paul Blunk]], titled land captain 
: 1936–1941: [[Helmuth von Wedelstädt]] ([[NSDAP]]), titled land captain 
: 1941–1945: vacancy
: 1941–1945: [[Reinhard Bezzenberger]], first land councillor, per pro

=== Cities and towns ===
{{Main|List of cities and towns in East Prussia}}
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!City/Town
!District (''Kreis'')
!Pop. in 1939
!Current Name
!Current Administrative Unit
|-
|[[Allenburg]] || [[Landkreis Wehlau]] || align=right |2 694 || [[Druzhba, Kaliningrad Oblast|Druzhba]] || [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] (Russia)
|-
|[[Allenstein]] || [[Landkreis Allenstein]] || align=right |50 396 || [[Olsztyn]] || [[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship]] (Poland) 
|-
|[[Angerburg]] || [[Kreis Angerburg|Landkreis Angerburg]]|| align="right" |10 922 || [[Węgorzewo]] ([[Węgobork]]) || rowspan="7" | Warmia-Masuria 
|-
|[[Orzysz|Arys]] || [[Landkreis Johannisburg]] || align=right |3 553 || [[Orzysz]] 
|-
|[[Barciany|Barten]] || [[Kreis Rastenburg|Rastenburg]]|| align="right" |1 541 || [[Barciany]] 
|-
|[[Bartenstein]] || [[Landkreis Bartenstein]] || align=right |12 912 || [[Bartoszyce]] 
|-
|[[Bischofsburg]] || [[Kreis Rößel|Landkreis Rößel]]|| || [[Biskupiec]] 
|-
|[[Bischofstein (Ostpreußen)]] || Rößel || align=right |3 200 || [[Bisztynek]] 
|-
|[[Braunsberg]] || [[Landkreis Braunsberg]] || align=right |21 142 || [[Braniewo]] 
|-
|[[Darkehmen]]/[[Ozyorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Angerapp]] || [[Darkehmen (district)|Darkehmen]]|| || [[Ozyorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Ozyorsk]] || rowspan="2" | Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Domnau]] || Bartenstein || || [[Domnovo]] 
|-
|[[Elbing]] || Stadtkreis  || align=right |85 952 || [[Elbląg]] || Warmia-Masuria 
|-
|[[Eydtkuhnen]] || [[Landkreis Stallupönen]] || align=right |4 922 || [[Chernyshevskoye]] || rowspan="2" |  Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Fischhausen]] || [[Landkreis Samland]] || align=right |3 879 || [[Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Primorsk]] 
|-
|[[Frauenburg (Ostpreußen)]] || Braunsberg || align=right |2 951 || [[Frombork]] || Warmia-Masuria 
|-
|[[Friedland (Ostpreußen)]] || Bartenstein || || [[Pravdinsk]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Gehlenburg]] || Johannisburg || || [[Biała Piska]] || Warmia-Masuria
|-		
|[[Gerdauen]] || [[Landkreis Gerdauen]] || align=right |5 118 || [[Zheleznodorozhny, Kaliningrad Oblast|Zheleznodorozhny]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Gilgenburg]] || [[Landkreis Osterode]] || align=right |1 700 || [[Dąbrówno]] || rowspan="2" |	Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Goldap]] || [[Kreis Goldap|Landkreis Goldap]]|| align="right" |12 786 || [[Gołdap]] 
|-
|[[Gumbinnen]] || [[Landkreis Gumbinnen]] || align=right |24 534 || [[Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast|Gusev]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Guttstadt]] || [[Landkreis Heilsberg]] || || [[Dobre Miasto]] || Warmia-Masuria	
|-
|[[Mamonovo|Heiligenbeil]] || [[Landkreis Heiligenbeil]] || align=right |12 100 || [[Mamonovo]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Lidzbark Warmiński|Heilsberg]] || [[Kreis Heilsberg]] || || [[Lidzbark Warmiński]] || Warmia-Masuria		
|-
|[[Šilutė|Heydekrug]] || [[Landkreis Heydekrug]] || align=right |4 836 || [[Šilutė]] || [[Klaipėda County]] (Lithuania)
|-
|[[Hohenstein (Ostpreußen)|Hohenstein]] || Osterode || || [[Olsztynek]] || Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Insterburg]] || [[Landkreis Insterburg]] || align=right |48 711 || [[Chernyakhovsk]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Johannisburg]] || Johannisburg || || [[Pisz]] (Jańsbork) || Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Königsberg (Preußen)]] || Stadtkreis || align=right |372 000 || [[Kaliningrad]] || rowspan="3" | Kaliningrad 
|-	
|[[Slavskoye, Russia|Kreuzburg (Ostpreußen)]] || [[Bagrationovsk|Landkreis Preußisch Eylau]]|| || [[Slavskoye, Russia|Slavskoye]] 
|-
|[[Labiau]] || [[Landkreis Labiau]] || align=right |6 527 || [[Polessk]] 
|-
|[[Landsberg in Ostpreußen]] || Preußisch Eylau || || [[Górowo Iławeckie]] || rowspan="6" | Warmia-Masuria	
|-
|[[Liebemühl]] || Osterode || || [[Miłomłyn]] 
|-
|[[Liebstadt]] || [[Kreis Mohrungen|Mohrungen]]|| align="right" |2 742  || [[Miłakowo]] 
|-
|[[Lötzen]] || [[Landkreis Lötzen]] ||	align=right |13 000 || [[Giżycko]] ([[Giżycko|Lec]]) 
|-
|[[Lyck]] || [[Landkreis Lyck]] || align=right |16 482 || [[Ełk]] 
|-
|[[Marggrabowa]]/[[Treuburg]] || [[Landkreis Oletzko]]/Treuburg || || [[Olecko]] 
|-
|[[Marienburg in Westpreußen]] || [[Kreis Marienburg (West Prussia)|Marienburg]]|| ||[[Malbork]] ||[[Pomeranian Voivodeship]] (Poland)
|-
|[[Mehlsack]] || Braunsberg || || [[Pieniężno]] ([[Melzak]]) || Warmia-Masuria	
|-
|[[Klaipėda|Memel]] || Stadtkreis || align=right |41 297 || [[Klaipėda]] || Klaipėda
|-
|[[Mohrungen]] || Mohrungen || align=right |5 500 || [[Morąg]] || rowspan="4" | Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Mühlhausen]] || [[Landkreis Preußisch Holland]] || || [[Młynary]] 
|-
|[[Neidenburg]] || [[Landkreis Neidenburg]] || align=right |9 201 || [[Nidzica]] ([[Nibork]]) 
|-
|[[Nikolaiken]] || [[Landkreis Sensburg]] || || [[Mikołajki]] 
|-
|[[Nordenburg]] || Gerdauen || align=right |3 173 || [[Krylovo, Kaliningrad Oblast|Krylovo]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Ortelsburg]] || [[Szczytno|Landkreis Ortelsburg]]|| align="right" |14 234 || [[Szczytno]] || rowspan="4" | Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Osterode (Ostpreußen)]] || Osterode || align=right |19 519  || [[Ostróda]] 
|-
|[[Passenheim]] || Ortelsburg || align=right |2 431 || [[Pasym]] 
|-
|[[Peterswalde]] || Osterode ||  || [[Pietrzwałd, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Piertzwald]] 
|-
|[[Pillau]] || Samland || align=right |12 000 || [[Baltiysk]] || rowspan="2" | Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Preußisch Eylau]] || Preußisch Eylau || align=right |7 485 || [[Bagrationovsk]] 
|-	
|[[Preußisch Holland]] || Preußisch Holland || || [[Pasłęk]] || Warmia-Masuria	
|-	
|[[Ragnit]] || [[Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Landkreis Tilsit-Ragnit]]|| align="right" |10 094 || [[Neman (town)|Neman]] || Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Rastenburg]] || Rastenburg || align=right |19 634 ||	[[Kętrzyn]] ([[Rastembork]]) || rowspan="5" | Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Rhein (Ostpreußen)]] || Lötzen || || [[Ryn]] 
|-
|[[Rößel]] || [[Kreis Rößel|Rößel]]|| align="right" |5 000 || [[Reszel]] 
|-
|[[Saalfeld]] || [[Morąg|Mohrungen]]|| || [[Zalewo]] 
|-
|[[Schippenbeil]] || [[Bartoszyce|Bartenstein]]|| || [[Sępopol]] 
|-
|[[Kutuzovo, Kaliningrad Oblast|Schirwindt]] || [[Landkreis Pillkallen]] || || [[Kutuzovo, Kaliningrad Oblast|Kutuzovo]] || rowspan="2" | Kaliningrad
|-
|[[Pillkallen-Schlossberg]] || [[Dobrovolsk|Pillkallen]]|| || [[Dobrovolsk]] 
|-		
|[[Jeziorany|Seeburg]] ||	[[Kreis Rößel|Rößel]]|| || [[Jeziorany]] ([[Zybork]])|| rowspan="3" | Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Sensburg]] || Sensburg || || [[Mrągowo]] ([[Żądzbork]]) 
|-
|[[Soldau]] || [[Nidzica|Neidenburg]]|| align="right" |5 349 || [[Działdowo]] 
|-
|[[Stallupönen]] || Stallupönen || align=right |6 608 || [[Nesterov]] || rowspan="3" | Kaliningrad 
|-
|[[Tapiau]] || [[Znamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Wehlau]]|| align="right" |9 272  || [[Gvardeysk]] 
|-
|[[Tilsit]] || Stadtkreis || align=right |59 105 || [[Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Sovetsk]] 
|-
|[[Wartenburg (Ostpreußen)]] || [[Landkreis Allenstein]]|| align="right" |5 841 || [[Barczewo]] ([[Wartembork]]) || Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Wehlau]] || Wehlau || align=right |7 348 || [[Znamensk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Znamensk]] || Kaliningrad
|-
|[[Wielbark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Willenberg]] || Ortelsburg || align=right |2 600 || [[Wielbark (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship)|Wielbark]] || rowspan="2" | Warmia-Masuria
|-
|[[Wormditt]] || Braunsberg || || [[Orneta]] 
|-
|[[Zinten]] || [[Mamonovo|Heiligenbeil]] || || [[Kornevo]] || Kaliningrad
|}

== See also ==
* [[Drang nach Osten]]
* [[Königsberger Klopse]]
* [[Königsberg marzipan]]
* [[Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen]]
* [[East Prussian Regional Museum]]
* {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

== Citations ==
{{reflist}}

== General bibliography ==
; Publications in English

* [[Baedeker]], Karl, ''Northern Germany'', 14th revised edition, London, 1904.
* {{cite book |last=Beevor |first=Antony |author-link=Antony Beevor |title=Berlin: The Downfall 1945 |url=http://www.antonybeevor.com/Berlin/berlinmenu.htm |year=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-670-88695-5 |chapter=chapters 1-8 |access-date=6 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060205201551/http://antonybeevor.com/Berlin/berlinmenu.htm |archive-date=5 February 2006 |url-status=dead}} (on the years 1944/45)
* Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, " Nemesis at Potsdam". London, 1977. {{ISBN|0-8032-4910-1}}.
* [[Alfred-Maurice de Zayas]], ''A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944–1950'', 1994, {{ISBN|0-312-12159-8}}
* Carsten, F. L. "East Prussia". ''History'' 33#119 (1948), pp.&nbsp;241–246. {{JSTOR|24402359}}. Historiography of medieval and early modern period.
* Dickie, Reverend J.F., with E.Compton, ''Germany'', [[A & C Black]], London, 1912.
* Douglas, R.M.: Orderly and Humane. The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War. Yale University Press, 2012. {{ISBN|978-0300166606}}.
* [[Heinrich von Treitschke|von Treitschke, Heinrich]], ''History of Germany'' – vol.1: ''The Wars of Emancipation'', (translated by E & C Paul), [[Allen & Unwin]], London, 1915.
* [[E. Alexander Powell|Powell, E. Alexander]], ''Embattled Borders'', London, 1928.
* Prausser, Steffen and Rees, Arfon: The Expulsion of the "German" Communities from Eastern Europe at the End of the Second World War. Florence, Italy, European University Institute, 2004.
* Naimark, Norman: Fires of Hatred. Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2001.
* Steed, Henry Wickham, ''Vital Peace – A Study of Risks'', Constable & Co., London, 1936.
* Newman, Bernard, ''Danger Spots of Europe'', London, 1938.
* [[Michael Wieck|Wieck, Michael]]: ''A Childhood Under Hitler and Stalin: Memoirs of a "Certified Jew"'', University of Wisconsin Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-299-18544-3}}.
* Woodward, E.L., Butler, Rohan; Medlicott, W.N., Dakin, Douglas, & Lambert, M.E., et al. (editors), ''Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919–1939'', Three Series, Her Majesty's Stationery Office ([[HMSO]]), London, numerous volumes published over 25 years. Cover the [[Versailles Treaty]] including all secret meetings; plebiscites and all other problems in Europe; includes all diplomatic correspondence from all states.
* [[Charles William Previté-Orton|Previté-Orton, C.W.]], professor, ''The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History'', [[Cambridge University Press]], 1952 (2 volumes).
* Balfour, Michael, and John Mair, ''Four-Power Control in Germany and Austria 1945–1946'', [[Oxford University Press]], 1956.
* [[Lev Kopelev|Kopelev, Lev]], ''To Be Preserved Forever'', ("Хранить вечно"), 1976.
* Koch, H.W., professor, ''A History of Prussia'', [[Longman]], London, 1978/1984, (P/B), {{ISBN|0-582-48190-2}}
* Koch, H.W., professor, ''A Constitutional History of Germany in the 19th and 20th Centuries'', [[Longman]], London, 1984, (P/B), {{ISBN|0-582-49182-7}}
* MacDonogh, Giles, ''Prussia'', [[Sinclair-Stevenson]], London, 1994, {{ISBN|1-85619-267-9}}
* Nitsch, Gunter, ''Weeds Like Us'', AuthorHouse, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-4259-6755-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Denny |first=Isabel |title=The fall of Hitler's fortress city : the battle of Konigsberg, 1945 |publisher=Casemate |publication-place=Havertown, Penn. |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-61200-058-9 |oclc=783289112}}
* {{cite book |last=Tooze |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Tooze |year=2006 |title=The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy |location=New York |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-03826-8}}

; Publications in German

* B. Schumacher: ''Geschichte Ost- und Westpreussens'', Würzburg 1959
* Boockmann, Hartmut: ''Ostpreußen und Westpreußen'' (= Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas). Siedler, Berlin 1992, {{ISBN|3-88680-212-4}}
* Buxa, Werner and Hans-Ulrich Stamm: ''Bilder aus Ostpreußen''
* Dönhoff, Marion Gräfin v. : ''Namen die keiner mehr nennt – Ostpreußen, Menschen und Geschichte''
* Dönhoff, Marion Gräfin v.: ''Kindheit in Ostpreussen''
* Falk, Lucy:  ''Ich Blieb in Königsberg. Tagebuchblätter aus dunklen Nachkriegsjahren''
* Kibelka, Ruth:  ''Ostpreußens Schicksaljahre, 1945–1948''
* {{cite book |first=Martin |last=Bernd |title=Masuren, Mythos und Geschichte |publisher=Evangelische Akademie Baden |location=Karlsruhe |year=1998 |isbn=83-85135-93-6}}
* Nitsch, Gunter: "Eine lange Flucht aus Ostpreußen", Ellert & Richter Verlag, 2011, {{ISBN|978-3-8319-0438-9}}
* [[Michael Wieck|Wieck, Michael]]: ''Zeugnis vom Untergang Königsbergs: Ein "Geltungsjude" berichtet,'' Heidelberger Verlaganstalt, 1990, 1993, {{ISBN|3-89426-059-9}}.

; Publications in French

* [[Pierre Benoît (novelist)|Pierre Benoît]], ''Axelle''
* [[Georges Blond]], ''L'Agonie de l'Allemagne''
* [[Michel Tournier]], ''Le Roi des aulnes''

; Publications in Polish

* {{cite book |author=K. Piwarski |title=Dzieje Prus Wschodnich w czasach nowożytnych |location=Gdańsk |year=1946}}
* {{cite book |editor=Gerard Labuda |title="Historia Pomorza", vol. I&ndash;IV |location=Poznań |year=1969–2003}}
* {{cite book |author=collective work |title="Szkice z dziejów Pomorza", vol. 1&ndash;3 |location=Warszawa |year=1958–1961}}
* {{cite book |author=Andreas Kossert |title=PRUSY WSCHODNIE, Historia i mit |location=Warszawa |year=2009 |isbn=978-83-7383-354-8}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.ebenrode.info/?page=gallery Pictures of East Prussia] Large archive 
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=nduuOHX8Nl8C&pg=PA230&dq=mitbelehnung+preussen#PPA230,M1 Brandenburg Prince-Electors co-inheritors 1568, co-regent 1577]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070104213706/http://users.foxvalley.net/~goertz/faqopr.html East Prussia FAQ]
* [http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/prussia-histories/ Extensive East & West Prussian Historical Materials] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914082324/http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/prussia-histories/ |date=14 September 2014 }} {{in lang|en|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070105163554/http://www.progenealogists.com/germany/prussia/index.html East and West Prussia Gazetteer]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070527063944/http://www.provinz-ostpreussen.de/home/index.html Provinz Ostpreußen] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.ostpreussen.net/ Ostpreußen.net] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.ostpreussen-info.de/ Ostpreußen Info – East Prussia Information] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200331152747/http://www.ordensland.de/ East- and West Prussia in Photos]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071027053810/http://www.milovsky-gallery.albertina.ru/ ''Spuren der Vergangenheit / Следы Пρошлого'' (Traces of the past)] This site by W.A. Milowskij, a Kaliningrad resident, contains hundreds of interesting photos, often with text explanations, of architectural and infrastructural artifacts of the territory's long German past {{in lang|de|ru}}
* [http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/provinz_ostpreussen.htm German Empire: Province of East Prussia] {{in lang|de}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=East Prussia |volume=8 |short=x}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9031793/East-Prussia Britannica 2007 article]
* [http://www.jugendzeit-ostpreussen.de/konzept_en.html Growing up in East Prussia] An oral history project, documenting the German history of East Prussia with memories and reports by contemporary witnesses {{in lang|de|pl}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130909053125/http://www.many-roads.com/galleries/Cartographic%20Documents/Historical%20Germany/Historical%20West%20and%20East%20Prussian%20Maps East & West Prussia Map Collection]
* [http://www.mennonitegenealogy.com/prussia/maps/eastprus.gif Historical borders of East Prussia] {{in lang|de}}

{{coord|54.71|N|20.51|E|display=title|name=Königsberg Castle}}

{{Territories and provinces of Prussia}}
{{Kaliningrad Oblast}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:East Prussia| ]]
[[Category:Provinces of Prussia]]
[[Category:1773 establishments in Prussia]]
[[Category:Former exclaves]]
[[Category:Kingdom of Prussia]]
[[Category:Regions of Europe]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]
[[Category:Partition (politics)]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Germany]]
[[Category:Former eastern territories of Germany]]
[[Category:Germany–Poland relations (1918–1939)]]