Editing Masuria

{{short description|Region of northeastern Poland}}
{{Redirect|Mazury}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                     = Masuria
| native_name              = Mazury 
| native_name_lang         = pl
| settlement_type          = Ethnographic and geographic region
| image_skyline = {{multiple image
| border = infobox
| total_width = 270
| image_style = border:1;
| perrow = 2/2/2
| image1 = Jezioro Niegocin w okolicach Giżycka 065.jpg{{!}}Lake Niegocin
| image2 = Mikołajki miasto.jpg{{!}}Aerial view of Mikołajki
| image3 = Grunwald - wzgórze pomnikowe i główna alejka prowadząca do niego od strony parkingu.jpg{{!}}Grunwald battlefield, a Historic Monument of Poland
| image4 = Ełk 13.05.2018 As 03.jpg{{!}}Aerial view of Ełk, the largest city of the region
| image5 = 2021-07 Kętrzyn (6).jpg{{!}}Brick Gothic Saint George Basilica in Kętrzyn, northern Masuria
| image6 = Nidzica Castle, Poland, 2015, 09.jpg{{!}}Medieval castle in Nidzica, southern Masuria
| caption1 = [[Lake Niegocin]]
| caption2 = [[Mikołajki]]
| caption3 = [[Battle of Grunwald|Grunwald battlefield]]
| caption4 = [[Ełk]]
| caption5 = Saint George Basilica in [[Kętrzyn]]
| caption6 = Castle in [[Nidzica]]}}
| image_map                = Mazury na mapie adm. Polski.svg
| map_alt                  = 
| map_caption              = Location of Masuria (shown in blue) on the map of [[Poland]]
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = [[Poland]]
| subdivision_type1        = [[Voivodeships of Poland|Voivodeship]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship|Warmian–Masurian]]
| area_total_km2           = 10,000
| area_land_km2            = 
| area_water_km2           = 
| population_total         = 500,000
| population_density_km2   = auto
| population_demonym       = [[Masurians|Masurian]]
| timezone                 = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset               = +1
| timezone_DST             = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset_DST           = +2
| seat_type                = Largest city
| seat                     = [[Ełk]]
| blank_name_sec2          = Primary airport
| blank_info_sec2          = [[Olsztyn-Mazury Airport]]
| blank1_name_sec2         = [[Highways in Poland|Highways]]
| blank1_info_sec2         = [[File:S5-PL.svg|32px|link=Expressway S5 (Poland)]] [[File:S7-PL.svg|32px|link=Expressway S7 (Poland)]] [[File:S16-PL.svg|32px|link=Expressway S16 (Poland)]] [[File:S51-PL.svg|32px|link=Expressway S51 (Poland)]] [[File:S61-PL.svg|32px|link=Expressway S61 (Poland)]]
| website                  = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| image_flag               = Flag of Masurians.svg
}}

'''Masuria''' ({{langx|pl|Mazury}} {{IPA|pl|maˈzurɨ||LL-Q809 (pol)-Poemat-Mazury.wav}}; {{langx|pl|label=[[Masurian dialects|Masurian]]|Mazurÿ}}; {{langx|de|Masuren}} {{IPA|de|maˈzuːʁən||De-Masuren.ogg}}) is an ethnographic and geographic [[region]] in northern and northeastern [[Poland]], known for its 2,000 lakes.<ref>It was a finalist in the Internet-based poll [[New7Wonders of Nature]]</ref> Masuria occupies much of the [[Masurian Lake District]]. Administratively, it is part of the [[Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship]] (administrative area/province). Its biggest city, often regarded as its capital, is [[Ełk]]. The region covers a territory of some 10,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> which is inhabited by approximately 500,000 people.

Masuria is bordered by [[Warmia]], [[Powiśle (region)|Powiśle]] and [[Chełmno Land]] in the west, [[Mazovia]] in the south, [[Podlachia]] and [[Suwałki Region]] in the east, and [[Lithuania Minor]] in the north.

== History ==
=== Prehistory and early history ===
Some of the earliest archeological finds in Masuria were found at [[Dudka, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Dudka]] and [[Szczepanki, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Szczepanki]] sites and belonged to the [[subneolithic]] [[Zedmar culture]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kozicka |first1=Magdalena |date=2017 |title=Absolute chronology of the Zedmar culture: Re-thinking radiocarbon dates |url=https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/geochr-2015-0067 |journal=Geochronometria |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=256–268 |doi=10.1515/geochr-2015-0067 |bibcode=2017Gchrm..44..256K |s2cid=67850528 |access-date=2023-07-15 |archive-date=2023-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715192943/https://sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/geochr-2015-0067 |url-status=dead |doi-access=free }}</ref> Indo-European settlers first arrived in the region during the 4th millennium BC, which in the Baltic would diversify into the [[Centum and satem languages|satem]] [[Balto-Slavic]] branch which would ultimately give rise to the [[Balts]] as the speakers of the [[Baltic languages]].<ref name=dee/> The Balts would have become differentiated into Western and Eastern Balts in the late 1st millennium BC. The region was inhabited by ancestors of [[Western Balts]] – [[Old Prussians]], [[Sudovians]]/[[Jotvingians]], [[Scalvians]], [[Nadruvians]], and [[Curonians]] while the eastern Balts settled in what is now [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]] and [[Belarus]].<ref name=dee>{{cite web  |url= https://deepbaltic.com/2016/03/02/the-old-prussians-the-lost-relatives-of-latvians-and-lithuanians/  |title= The Old Prussians: the Lost Relatives of Latvians and Lithuanians  |date= March 2, 2016  |publisher= deep baltic  |author= Agris Dzenis  |access-date= September 6, 2020  |archive-date= August 13, 2020  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200813192908/https://deepbaltic.com/2016/03/02/the-old-prussians-the-lost-relatives-of-latvians-and-lithuanians/  |url-status= live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Prussia |title= Prussia, region |publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= September 6, 2020 |archive-date= May 8, 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150508092225/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/480893/Prussia |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=WILLEKE |first1=AUDRONE |date=1990 |title=The Image of the Heathen Prussians in German Literature |url= |journal=Colloquia Germanica |volume=23 |issue=3/4 |pages=223–239 |publisher=[[Jstor]] |doi= |jstor=23980816 |pmc= |pmid= |access-date= |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

The Greek explorer [[Pytheas]] (4th century BC) may have referred to the territory as ''Mentenomon'' and to the inhabitants as ''Guttones'' (neighbours of the ''[[Teutones]]'', probably referring to the [[Goths]]).<ref>{{cite book|title=Sledzenia Poczatkow Narodu Litewskiego I Poczatki Jego Dziejow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdNiAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA222|year=1837|publisher=Marcinowski|pages=222–|access-date=2023-07-15|archive-date=2023-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001134151/https://books.google.com/books?id=HdNiAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA222|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web  |url= https://book-city.de/onAir/bookview.php?bookId=9815&chapterId=6  |title= Zur Urgeschichte der Deutschen  |publisher= book-city  |access-date= September 6, 2020  }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In AD&nbsp;98 [[Tacitus]] described one of the tribes living near the Baltic Sea ({{langx|la|Mare Suebicum}}) as ''[[Aesti|Aestiorum gentes]]'' and [[amber]]-gatherers.<ref>{{cite web  |url= https://www.academia.edu/30203687  |title= LITHUANIAN AMBER ARTIFACTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM AND THEIR PROVENANCE WITHIN THE LIMITS OF EASTERN BALTIC REGION  |publisher= Academia  |author= Audrone Bliujiene  |access-date= September 6, 2020  |archive-date= March 13, 2022  |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220313160535/https://www.academia.edu/30203687  |url-status= live  }}</ref>

=== Old Prussians ===
{{further|Old Prussians}}
Before the 13th century, the territory was inhabited by Old (Baltic) Prussians, a Baltic [[ethnic group]] that lived in [[Prussia (region)|Prussia]] (the area of the southeastern coastal region of the Baltic Sea neighbouring of the Baltic Sea around the [[Vistula Lagoon]] and the [[Curonian Lagoon]]). A part of the territory later called Masuria was then known as [[Galindia]] and was probably a peripheral, deeply forested and lightly populated area. Inhabitants of the now Masuria spoke a language now known as [[Old Prussian]] and had their own [[Prussian mythology|mythology]]. Although a 19th-century German political entity bore their name, they were not Germans. They were converted to [[Roman Catholicism]] in the 13th century, after [[Prussian Crusade|conquest]] by the [[Knights of the Teutonic Order]].

Estimates range from about 170,000 to 220,000 Old Prussians living in the whole of Prussia around 1200.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Ostpreussen, page 28</ref> The wilderness was their natural barrier against attack by would-be invaders. During the [[Northern Crusades]] of the early 13th century, the Old Prussians used this wide forest as a broad zone of defence. They did so again against the Knights of the [[Teutonic Order]], who had been invited to Poland by [[Konrad I of Masovia]] in 1226.<ref name="britannica">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/589204/Teutonic-Order|title=Teutonic Order - religious order|access-date=14 August 2018}}</ref>  The order's goal was to convert the native population to [[Christianity]] and baptise it by force if necessary.  In the subsequent conquest, which lasted over 50 years, the original population was partly exterminated, particularly during the major Prussian rebellion of 1261–83. But several Prussian noble families also accommodated the Knights in order to hold their power and possessions.<ref name="britannica" />

=== Teutonic Order ===
[[File:Jan Matejko, Bitwa pod Grunwaldem.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Battle of Grunwald]] was fought in Masuria in 1410]]
After the Order's acquisition of Prussia, [[Polish people|Poles]] (or more specifically, [[Masovians|Mazurs]], that is inhabitants of the adjacent region of [[Mazovia]]) began to settle in the southeastern part of the conquered region. [[German people|German]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]], [[Flemings|Flemish]], and [[Danish people|Danish]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://worldcometomyhome.blogspot.com/2012/09/0335-poland-warmian-masurian-land-of.html|title=WORLD, COME TO MY HOME!: 0335 POLAND (Warmia-Masuria) - Land of a thousand lakes|first=Danut|last=Ivanescu|date=19 September 2012|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814170346/https://worldcometomyhome.blogspot.com/2012/09/0335-poland-warmian-masurian-land-of.html|url-status=live}}</ref> colonists entered the area afterward, from the northwest. The number of Polish settlers grew significantly again at the beginning of the 15th century, especially after the [[Peace of Thorn (1411)|first]] and the [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)|second]] treaties of Thorn ([[Toruń]]), in 1411 and 1466 respectively, following the [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–66)|Thirteen Years' War]] and the final defeat of the order.<ref name="britannica" /> The [[Battle of Grunwald]] took place in western Masuria in 1410. It was one of the largest battles of [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Europe and ended in a Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights. In 1440 the anti-Teutonic [[Prussian Confederation]] was founded, and various towns of Masuria 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=XXXVII–XXXVIII}}</ref> Western Masuria with [[Ostróda]], was, next to the [[Chełmno Land]], the place of the most widespread participation of the nobility in the foundation of the Confederation.<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]]|page=608}}</ref> In 1454 upon the Confederation's request King [[Casimir IV of Poland]] signed the act of incorporation of the entire region including Masuria to [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Poland]] and after the subsequent Thirteen Years' War Masuria became a part of Poland as a [[fief]] held by the [[Grand Master of the Teutonic Order]].<ref>Górski, pp. 54, 96–97, 214–215</ref>

=== Ducal Prussia ===
The [[Prussian Homage|secularization]] of the [[Teutonic Order]] in Prussia and the conversion of [[Albert I, Duke of Prussia|Albert of Prussia]] to [[Lutheranism]] in 1525 brought Prussia including the area later called Masuria to [[Protestantism]]. The Knights untied their bonds to the Catholic Church and became land-owning noblemen and the [[Duchy of Prussia]] was established as a vassal state of Poland. The [[Polish language]] predominated due to the many immigrants from [[Mazovia]], who additionally settled the southern parts of Ducal Prussia, till then virgin part of (later Masuria) in the 16th century. While the southern countryside was inhabited by these - meanwhile Protestant - Polish-speakers, the very small southern towns constituted a mixed Polish and German-speaking population. The ancient [[Old Prussian language]] survived in parts of the countryside in the northern and central parts of Ducal Prussia until the early 18th century. At that time they proved to be assimilated into the mass of German-speaking villagers and farmers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t12271.htm|title=What language did East Prussians speak? - Antimoon Forum|website=www.antimoon.com|access-date=14 August 2018}}</ref> Areas that had many Polish language speakers were known as the Polish Departments.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 81</ref>

[[Image:Święta Lipka, Bazylika Nawiedzenia NMP.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Święta Lipka Sanctuary|Saint Mary's Sanctuary]] in [[Święta Lipka]] at the border of historical [[Warmia]] and Masuria was consecrated by [[Jesuits]] in 1619. It was once the site of apparitions and miracles and is one of Poland's finest examples of [[Baroque architecture]], listed as a [[List of Historic Monuments (Poland)|Historic Monument of Poland]].<ref>{{Cite Polish law|title=Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 20 kwietnia 2018 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii "Święta Lipka - sanktuarium pielgrzymkowe"|year=2018|number=961}}</ref>]]
Masuria became one of the leading centers of Polish [[Protestantism]]. In the mid-16th century [[Ełk|Lyck (Ełk)]] and [[Węgorzewo|Angerburg (Węgorzewo)]] became significant Polish printing centers.<ref>Erwin Kruk, ''Warmia i Mazury'', Wrocław 2003, p. 62 (in Polish)</ref> A renowned Polish high school, which attracted Polish students from different regions, was founded in Ełk in eastern Masuria in 1546 by [[Hieronim Malecki]], Polish translator and publisher, who contributed to the creation of the standards and patterns of the Polish literary language.<ref name=esb>{{cite magazine|last=Sukertowa-Biedrawina|first=Emilia|year=1958|title=Z zagadnień walki o szkołę polską w diecezji ełckiej w pierwszej połowie XIX wieku|magazine=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie|language=pl|issue=1|pages=63–65}}</ref> The westernmost part of Masuria, the [[Ostróda|Osterode (Ostróda)]] county, in 1633 came under the administration of one of the last dukes of the [[Piast dynasty]], [[John Christian of Brieg]].

After the death of [[Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia]] in 1618, his son-in-law [[John Sigismund, Margrave of Brandenburg]], inherited the duchy (including Masuria), combining the two territories under a single dynasty and forming [[Brandenburg-Prussia]]. In 1656, during the [[Battle of Prostki]], the forces of [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], including 2,000 [[Crimean Khanate|Tatar raiders]], beat the allied [[Swedish Empire|Swedish]] and [[Brandenburg-Prussia|Brandenburg]] army capturing [[Bogusław Radziwiłł]]. The war resulted in the destruction of most towns, 249 villages and settlements, and 37 churches were destroyed. Over 50% of the population of Masuria died within the years 1656–1657, 23,000 were killed, another 80,000 died of diseases and famine, and 3,400 people were enslaved and deported to Russia.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 74</ref><ref name="prostki">Sławomir Augusiewicz, ''Prostki 1656'', [[Bellona Publishing House|Bellona]] Publishing, [[Warsaw]] 2001. {{ISBN|978-83-11-09323-2}}<br />'''^''' Jacek Płosiński, ''Potop szwedzki na Podlasiu 1655-1657'', Inforteditions Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN|83-89943-07-7}}</ref> The [[Treaty of Wehlau]] ended the sovereignty of Poland in 1657.

[[File:Wegorzewo Hartknoch 1684.jpg|thumb|right|17th-century view of [[Węgorzewo|Węgobork]] (now Węgorzewo), a typical Masurian town]]
From 1709 to 1711, in all of Ducal Prussia between 200,000 and 245,000 out of 600,000 inhabitants died from the [[Black Death]]. In Masuria the death toll varied regionally; while 6,789 people died in the district of [[Ryn|Rhein (Ryn)]] only 677 died in Seehesten ([[Szestno]]). In Lötzen ([[Giżycko]]) 800 out of 919 people died.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Ostpreussen, p. 96</ref><ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 85</ref> Losses in population were compensated by migration of Protestant settlers or refugees from [[Scotland]], [[Salzburg]] ([[Salzburg#Religious conflict|expulsion of Protestants 1731]]), [[France]] ([[Huguenot]] refugees after the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] in 1685), and especially from the counterreformed [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], including [[Polish brethren]] expelled from Poland in 1657. The last group of refugees to emigrate to Masuria were the [[Russia]]n [[Philipons]] (as 'Old Believers' opposed to the State Church) in 1830, when King [[Frederick William III of Prussia]] granted them asylum.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.taz.de/4/reise/europa/polen/begegnungen-am-gruenen-fluss/|title=Begegnungen am grünen Fluss|first1=Gabriele|last1=Lesser|newspaper=[[Die Tageszeitung]]|language=de|access-date=2009-10-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091002010621/http://www.taz.de/4/reise/europa/polen/begegnungen-am-gruenen-fluss|archive-date=2009-10-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Kingdom of Prussia ===
The region became part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] with the coronation of King [[Frederick I of Prussia]] in 1701 in [[Königsberg]]. Masuria became part of a newly created administrative province of [[East Prussia]] upon its creation in 1773. The name ''Masuria'' began to be used officially after new administrative reforms in Prussia after 1818.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visit.olsztyn.eu/en/category/2/the-history-of-olsztyn|title=The history of Olsztyn - zobacz The history of Olsztyn|website=visit.olsztyn.eu|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814170211/http://visit.olsztyn.eu/en/category/2/the-history-of-olsztyn|url-status=live}}</ref> Masurians referred to themselves during that period as "Polish Prussians" or as "Staroprusaki" (Old Prussians)<ref name=Wang>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0b6HKgl9ewC&q=Germanization+Masuria
|title=The many faces of Clio: cross-cultural approaches to historiography
|first1=Q. Edward|last1=Wang|first2=Franz L.|last2=Fillafer |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2007|isbn=9781845452704|page=375|access-date=31 January 2012}}</ref> During the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and [[History of Poland (1795–1918)|Polish national liberation struggles]], in 1807, several towns of northern and eastern Masuria were taken over by Polish troops under the command of generals [[Jan Henryk Dąbrowski]] and [[Józef Zajączek]]. Some Masurians showed considerable support for the [[November Uprising|Polish uprising]] in 1831, and maintained many contacts with [[Russian Partition|Russian-held areas]] of Poland beyond the border of Prussia, the areas being connected by common culture and language; before the uprising people visited each other's country fairs and much trade took place, with smuggling also widespread.<ref name=Wang/> Nevertheless, their Lutheran belief and a traditional adherence to the Prussian royal family kept Masurians and Poles separated. Some early writers about Masurians - like [[Max Toeppen]] - postulated Masurians in general as mediators between German and Slav cultures.<ref name= Wang/>
[[File:Lithuania Minor and Masuria within East Prussia.png|thumb|alt=Lithuania Minor and Masuria within East Prussia|Masuria within East Prussia]]
[[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|Germanisation]] policies in Masuria included various strategies, first and foremost they included attempts to propagate the [[German language]] and to eradicate the Polish language as much as possible; German became the obligatory language in schools from 1834 on.<ref name="Wang" /> In 1813 the old Polish school in Ełk, founded in 1546, was transformed into a German gymnasium.<ref name=esb/> Fryderyk Tymoteusz Krieger, superintendent of the school, actively defended the rights of local Poles to use the Polish language, becoming the first pastor in Masuria to protest against the initiated Germanization of Polish schools in the region.<ref name=esb/> Prussian authorities launched investigations against Krieger three times.<ref name=esb/> Polish people who had acquired knowledge of the German language, including children whose parents did not speak German, were officially classified as ethnic Germans by the authorities, and were denied the right to attend Polish church services.<ref>Sukertowa-Biedrawina, p. 67</ref> In 1836, a [[synod]] was organized in [[Olecko]] which protested against Germanization policies.<ref name=aw>{{cite book|last=Wakar|first=Andrzej|editor-last=Wakar|editor-first=Andrzej|year=1974|title=Olecko. Z dziejów miasta i powiatu|language=pl|location=[[Olsztyn]]|publisher=Pojezierze|pages=122–127|chapter=Zarys historyczny}}</ref> The synod's protest was signed by all the pastors in the Olecko County, and its arguments were later used by the well-known defenders of the Polish language in Masuria, [[Gustaw Gizewiusz]] and [[Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongovius]].<ref name=aw/> The protests were successful, however, the campaign of Germanization was resumed in 1865 and later intensified.<ref name=aw/> The Lutheran churches and their vicars principally exerted their spiritual care in Polish as concerned to Polish mother tongue parishioners.

[[Resistance movements in partitioned Poland (1795–1918)|Polish secret resistance]] was active and smuggled weapons through the region to the [[Russian Partition]] of Poland during the [[January Uprising]] of 1863–1864.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Groniewska|first=Barbara|year=1960|title=Rola Prus Wschodnich w powstaniu styczniowym|magazine=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie|language=pl|issue=1|pages=15–16, 22, 39}}</ref> Polish insurgents fled from the Russians to Masuria and found shelter in various towns and villages.<ref>Groniewska, pp. 6, 16, 30–32</ref> Some insurgents reorganized in Masuria to return to the Russian Partition of Poland and continue the fight.<ref>Groniewska, pp. 33, 35–36</ref> Newly formed Polish units from the Prussian Partition of Poland also passed through Masuria, and even clashed with Prussian troops in the region.<ref>Groniewska, pp. 33–34</ref> Several local resistance members, smugglers and insurgents were arrested and imprisoned by the Prussians.<ref>Groniewska, pp. 18, 34, 40</ref> Local residents protested against the deportation of insurgents to the Russian Partition.<ref>Groniewska, p. 42</ref>

==== Ethno-linguistic structure ====

Mother tongue of the inhabitants of Masuria, by county, during the first half of the 19th century:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Ethno-linguistic structure of Masurian counties in the first half of the 19th century, according to German data<ref name=avh>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsj1FBg0gvUC&pg=RA1-PA78|title=Die ländliche verfassung in den einzelnen provinzen der Preussischen Monarchie|last=von Haxthausen|first=August|publisher=Gebrüder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung|year=1839|location=Königsberg|pages=78–81|language=de}}</ref><ref name=gj>{{Cite journal|last=Jasiński|first=Grzegorz|date=2009|title=Statystyki językowe powiatów mazurskich z pierwszej połowy XIX wieku (do 1862 roku)|url=http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1-s97-130/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1-s97-130.pdf|journal=Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie|language=pl|volume=1|pages=97–130|via=BazHum|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-date=2019-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003002441/http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1-s97-130/Komunikaty_Mazursko_Warminskie-r2009-t1-s97-130.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Belzyt|first=Leszek|date=1996|title=Zur Frage des nationalen Bewußtseins der Masuren im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (auf der Basis statistischer Angaben)|url=https://www.zfo-online.de/index.php/zfo/article/viewFile/134/134|journal=Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung|language=de|volume=Bd. 45, Nr. 1|pages=35–71|via=zfo-online|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003002444/https://www.zfo-online.de/index.php/zfo/article/viewFile/134/134|archive-date=2019-10-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
!County (German name)
!Year
!'''Polish-speakers'''
!'''%'''
!'''German-speakers'''
!'''%'''
!'''Lithuanian-speakers'''
!'''%'''
!Total population
|-
![[Pisz]] (Johannisburg)
|1825
|28,552
|'''93%'''
|2,146
|'''7%'''
|0
|'''0%'''
|30,698
|-
![[Nidzica]] (Neidenburg)
|1825
|27,467
|'''93%'''
|2,149
|'''7%'''
|1
|'''0%'''
|29,617
|-
![[Szczytno]] (Ortelsburg)
|1825
|34,928
|'''92%'''
|3,100
|'''8%'''
|0
|'''0%'''
|38,028
|-
![[Ełk]] (Lyck)
|1832
|29,246
|'''90%'''
|3,413
|'''10%'''
|4
|'''0%'''
|32,663
|-
![[Giżycko]] ('''Lötzen)'''
|1832
|20,434
|'''89%'''
|2,528
|'''11%'''
|25
|'''0%'''
|22,987
|-
![[Mrągowo]] (Sensburg)
|1825
|22,391
|'''86%'''
|3,769
|'''14%'''
|5
|'''0%'''
|26,165
|-
![[Olecko]] (Oletzko)
|1832
|23,302
|'''84%'''
|4,328
|'''16%'''
|22
|'''0%'''
|27,652
|-
![[Ostróda]] (Osterode)
|1828
|23,577
|'''72%'''
|9,268
|'''28%'''
|0
|'''0%'''
|32,845
|-
![[Węgorzewo]] (Angerburg)
|1825
|12,535
|'''52%'''
|11,756
|'''48%'''
|60
|'''0%'''
|24,351
|-
![[Gołdap]] '''(Goldap)'''
|1825
|3,940
|'''16%'''
|17,412
|'''70%'''
|3,559
|'''14%'''
|24,911
|-
!TOTAL
!1825-32
!'''226,372'''
!78%
!59,869
!21%
!3,676
!1%
!289,917
|}

The Darkehmen/Darkiejmy (now [[Ozyorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast|Ozyorsk]]) and [[Gołdap]] counties, as transitional counties between Masuria and the [[Lithuania Minor]] region to the north, were inhabited by notable numbers of both ethnic Poles and Lithuanians.<ref name=avh/><ref name=gj/>

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

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

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

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

Polish activists started to regard Masurians as "Polish brothers" after [[Wojciech Kętrzyński]] had published his pamphlet ''O Mazurach'' in 1872<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, pp. 205ff.</ref> and Polish activists engaged in active self-help against repressions by the German state<ref name=Wang377>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0b6HKgl9ewC&q=Germanization+Masuria|title=The many faces of Clio: cross-cultural approaches to historiography
|first1=Q. Edward|last1=Wang|first2=Franz L.|last2=Fillafer |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2007|isbn=9781845452704|page=377|access-date=31 January 2012}}</ref> Kętrzyński fought against attempts to Germanise Masuria<ref>National cultures at the grass-root level Antonina Kłoskowska, page 228, Central European University Press, 2001</ref>
However, the attempts to create a Masurian Polish national consciousness, largely originating from nationalist circles of [[Province of Posen]] (Poznań) in the [[Prussian Partition]] of Poland, faced the resistance of the Masurians, who, despite having similar folk traditions and linguistics to Poles, regarded themselves as Prussians and later Germans.<ref name=Curp>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARxnK1u_WOEC&q=masurians
|title=A clean sweep? The politics of ethnic cleansing in Western Poland, 1945-1960|first1=T. David |last1=Curp|publisher=University of Rochester Press|year=2006|isbn=1-58046-238-3|page=16}}</ref><ref>Kossert, Andreas: ''Masuren. Ostpreussens vergessener Süden'', p. 212 Berlin 2006, {{ISBN|3-570-55006-0}}: "Sie wollten Preussen sein mit polnischer Muttersprache, wie sie es seit Jahrhunderten gewesen waren"</ref> and were loyal to the Hohenzollern dynasty, the Prussian and German state.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=guV98zleZ0sC&q=+masurians&pg=PA7|title=Labour and the Socialist movement in Europe before 1914|first1=Dick |last1=Geary|publisher=Berg publ.|year=1989|isbn=0-85496-200-X|page=7|access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xao3YPj0IoEC&q=+masurians+loyal&pg=PA222|title=The immigrant threat: the integration of old and new migrants in western Europe since 1850|first1=Leo  |last1=Lucassen|year=2005|isbn=0-252-03046-X|page=222|access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0b6HKgl9ewC&q=+masurians&pg=PA377|title=The many faces of Clio|first1=Q. Edward|last1=Wang|first2=Franz L.|last2=Fillafer|publisher=Berghahn books|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84545-270-4|page=378|access-date=2012-01-06}}</ref><ref name=Eberhardt/> After World War I the editor of the Polish language ''Mazur'' described the Masurians as "not nationally conscious, on the contrary, the most loyal subjects of the Prussian king".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV5uIIKJjkC&q=loyal&pg=PA55|title=Polish-speaking Germans? Language and national identity among the Masurians since 1871|first1=Richard |last1=Blanke|publisher=Böhlau |year=2001|isbn=3-412-12000-6|page=143}}</ref> However, a minority of Masurians did exist who expressed Polish identity<ref name=Wang377/>
After 1871 there appeared resistance among the Masurians towards Germanisation efforts, the so-called Gromadki movement was formed which supported use of Polish language and came into conflict with German authorities; while most of its members viewed themselves as loyal to the Prussian state, a part of them joined the Pro-Polish faction of Masurians.<ref name=Wang377/> The programme of Germanisation started to unite and mobilise Polish people in Polish-inhabited territories held by Germany including Masuria<ref>A history of Eastern Europe: crisis and change Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries, page 293, Taylor & Francis, 2007</ref> A Polish-oriented party, the ''[[Mazurska Partia Ludowa]]'' ("People's Party of Masuria"), was founded in 1897. The eastern areas of the German Empire were systematically Germanised with changing of names and public signs, and the German state fostered cultural imperialism, in addition to giving financial and other support to German farmers, officials, and teachers to settle in the east.<ref>A history of eastern Europe: crisis and change Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries page 180, Routledge; 1st edition 1998</ref>

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

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

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

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

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

The results determined that 99.32% of the voters in Masuria proper chose to remain with the province of [[East Prussia]]. Their traditional religious belief in [[Lutheranism]] kept them away from Polish national consciousness, dominated by [[Roman Catholicism]]. In fact almost only Catholics voted for Poland in the plebiscite. They were to be found as a majority in the villages around the capital Allenstein ([[Olsztyn]]) in Warmia, the same were Polish cultural activism got hold between 1919 and 1932.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/2003_2_1_kossert.pdf|title="Grenzlandpolitik" und Ostforschung an der Peripherie des Reiches|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=[[Institut für Zeitgeschichte]]|year=2003|page=124|language=de|access-date=2011-07-17|archive-date=2011-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930154717/http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/2003_2_1_kossert.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the contemporary Polish ethnographer [[Adam Chętnik]] accused the German authorities of abuses and falsifications during the plebiscite.<ref name="chetnik">{{cite web|url=http://www.zwiazekkurpiow.pl/portrety.php?subaction=showfull&id=1200333025&archive=&start_from=&ucat=29&|title=Związek Kurpiów|first=Krzysztof|last=Perłakowski|website=www.zwiazekkurpiow.pl|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160525011546/http://www.zwiazekkurpiow.pl/portrety.php?subaction=showfull&id=1200333025&archive=&start_from=&ucat=29&|archive-date=25 May 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Moreover, the plebiscite took place during the time when [[Polish–Soviet War]] threatened to erase the Polish state. As a result, even many Poles of the region voted for Germany out of fear that if the area was allocated to Poland it would fall under [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] rule.<ref>Debo, Richard K., "Survival and consolidation: the foreign policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921", McGill-Queen's Press, 1992, pg. 335</ref> After the plebiscite in German areas of Masuria attacks on Polish population commenced by German mobs, and Polish priests and politicians were driven from their homes<ref>Kazimierz Jaroszyk, ''1878-1941: o narodowy kształt Warmii i Mazur''. Wydawnictwo Pojezierze, 1986, page 89.</ref> After the plebiscite at least 10,000 Poles had to flee German held Masuria to Poland.<ref>Ruch polski na Warmii, Mazurach i Powiślu w latach 1920-1939 Wojciech Wrzesiński, page 40, 1973</ref>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the 1920s Masuria remained a heartland of conservatism with the [[German National People's Party]] as strongest party.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 294</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Preussen/Ostpreussen/PL2.html|title=Ostpreußen: Wahl zum Provinziallandtag 1925|website=www.gonschior.de|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924050654/http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Preussen/Ostpreussen/PL2.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Blanke/> The [[Nazi Party]], having absorbed the conservative one, became the strongest party already in the Masurian constituencies in the elections of 1930<ref name=Blanke>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV5uIIKJjkC&q=NSDAP+Masuria&pg=PA55|title=Polish-speaking Germans? Language and national identity among the Masurians since 1871|first1=Richard |last1=Blanke|publisher=Böhlau |year=2001|isbn=3-412-12000-6|pages=253, 254}}</ref> and received its best results in the poorest areas of Masuria with the highest rate of Polish speakers.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, pp. 300, 306</ref> Especially in the elections of 1932&nbsp;and 1933 they reached up to 81 percent of votes in the district of [[Neidenburg]] and 80 percent in the district of [[Lyck]].<ref name="Clark, p. 640">Clark, p. 640</ref><ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 299</ref> The Nazis used the economic crisis, which had significant effects in far-off Masuria, as well as traditional anti-Polish sentiments<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 300</ref> while at the same time Nazi political rallies were organised in the [[Masurian dialects|Masurian dialect]] during the campaigning.<ref name="Clark, p. 640"/><ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 306</ref>

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

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

Due to severe persecution, from 1936 Polish organizations carried out their activities partly in conspiracy.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|page=38}}</ref> Before the war the Nazi German state sent undercover operatives to spy on Polish organisations and created lists of people that were to be executed or sent to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]].<ref name="Maria"/> Information was gathered on who sent children to Polish schools, bought Polish press or took part in Polish ceremonies and organised repressions against these people were executed by Nazi militias.<ref name="Maria"/> Polish schools, printing presses and headquarters of Polish institutions were attacked as well as homes of the most active Poles; shops owned by Poles were vandalised or demolished.<ref name="Maria"/> Polish masses were dispersed, and Polish teachers were intimidated as members of the [[SS]] gathered under their locals performing songs like "Wenn das Polenblut vom Messer spritzt, dann geht's noch mal so gut" ("When Polish blood spurts from the knife, everything will be better").<ref name="Maria">{{cite magazine|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2003|title="Intelligenzaktion" na Warmii, Mazurach i północnym Mazowszu|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|issue=12-1 (35-36)|pages=38–42|issn=1641-9561}}</ref>

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

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

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

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

=== World War II ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-070980, Soldau, Umsiedlung Litauendeutscher.jpg|thumb|left|[[Baltic German]] settlers from Soviet occupied Lithuania arriving in German-occupied [[Działdowo]], 1941]]
With the start of the German [[invasion of Poland]] and [[World War II]] on 1 September 1939, the German minority in the parts of Masuria attached to Poland after World War I organised themselves in paramilitary formations called ''[[Selbstschutz]]'' (selfdefense) and begun to engage in massacres of local Polish population; Poles were imprisoned, tortured and murdered<ref>Z ałacznik do Uchwały Nr.XXVII Lokalny Program Rewitalizacji Miasta Działdowa. Ogólna charakterystyka, rys historyczny miasta Działdowa [http://www.dzialdowo.um.gov.pl/?p=document&action=save&id=3334&bar_id=1634] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327190622/http://www.dzialdowo.um.gov.pl/?p=document&action=save&id=3334&bar_id=1634|date=2012-03-27}} Urząd Miejski Miasta Działdowa</ref><ref>Biuletyn Głównej Komisji Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce, Tomy 18-19, Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce
Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Sprawiedliwości, page 167, 1968</ref> while Masurians were sometimes forcefully placed on [[Volksliste]].<ref>Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947 by Tadeusz Piotrowski, page 83 2007, McFarland & Company, Inc.</ref><ref>Historia polityczna Polski 1935-1945 	
Paweł Piotr Wieczorkiewicz, page 164, Książka i Wiedza 2005</ref>

From now on conscripted Masurians had to serve without exception in the [[Wehrmacht|German army]] invading Poland, and Russia two years later on. In addition, the ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe V]]'' Nazi paramilitary death squads entered German-occupied Działdowo to commit [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|crimes against the Polish population]].<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=IPN|page=54}}</ref> Only some of the Polish activists from Działdowo County were caught by the Germans, as most managed to flee and hide under assumed names in the [[General Government]] (German-occupied central Poland).<ref>Cygański, p. 44</ref> Arrested Polish activists from the pre-war German part of Masuria were mostly deported to concentration camps, incl. {{ill|Hohenbruch concentration camp|lt=Hohenbruch|de|KZ Hohenbruch}}, [[Soldau concentration camp|Soldau]], [[Stutthof concentration camp|Stutthof]], [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp|Sachsenhausen]], [[Gusen concentration camp|Gusen]] and [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|Ravensbrück]].<ref>Cygański, p. 43</ref>

In 1939, the German occupiers established a [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] for captured Polish soldiers in Działdowo.<ref name="mw">{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=IPN|page=227}}</ref> In December 1939 it was converted into a camp for Polish civilians arrested during the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]'',<ref name="mw" /> and afterwards converted into the [[Soldau concentration camp]], where 13,000 people were murdered by the Nazi German state during the war. Notable victims included the Polish bishops [[Antoni Julian Nowowiejski]] and [[Leon Wetmański]], as well as the nun Mieczysława Kowalska. Additionally, almost 1,900 mentally ill patients from East Prussia and annexed areas of Poland were murdered there as well, in what was known as [[Action T4]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqLDEKVk2nMC&q=soldau++1558&pg=PA140|title=The Origins of Nazi Genocide: from Euthanasia to the Final Solution|first1=Henry|last1=Friedlander|year=1995|isbn=0-8078-2208-6|page=140}}</ref> [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]] in Masuria was organised by Paweł Nowakowski "Leśnik" commander of the [[Home Army]]'s Działdowo district.<ref>{{cite book|last=Śląski|first=Jerzy|year=1986|title=Polska walcząca, 1939–1945, Tomy 5-6|publisher=Instytut Wydawniczy Pax|page=165}}</ref> The resistance operated one of the region's main smuggling points for [[Polish underground press]] in Ełk.<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>

[[File:Gierloz Wilczy Szaniec 53.jpg|thumb|right|Remnants of the [[Wolf's Lair]] in [[Gierłoż, Kętrzyn County|Gierłoż]]]]
The Nazis believed that in future, the Masurians, as a separate non-German entity, would 'naturally' disappear in the end, while those who would cling to their "foreigness" as one Nazi report mentioned, would be deported.<ref>Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich by Michael Burleigh, page 209, 1988, Cambridge University Press</ref> Local [[Jews]] were considered by the Nazis to be [[Untermensch|subhuman]] and were to be exterminated. The Nazi authorities also executed Polish activists in Masuria and those who remained alive were sent to concentration camps.<ref>{{cite book|last=Swenson|first=Iwona|title=Słownik geograficzno-krajoznawczy Polski|year=1998|language=pl|publisher=[[Polish Scientific Publishers PWN|Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN]]|page=440}}</ref>

In Masuria, Germany also established and operated the [[Stalag I-B]] and Oflag 63 prisoner-of-war camps for Polish, Belgian, [[French prisoners of war in World War II|French]], [[Italian Military Internees|Italian]], Serbian and Soviet POWs,<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=218, 390|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> and built the [[Wolf's Lair]], [[Adolf Hitler]]'s first [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] military headquarters where the [[20 July Plot|20 July assassination attempt]] occurred in 1944. In August 1943 the [[Uderzeniowe Bataliony Kadrowe]] [[Raid on Mittenheide|attacked the village of Mittenheide (Turośl)]] in southern Masuria.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/specjal_040612/specjal_a_8.html |title=Kazimierz Krajewski, Shock in the Reich, Rzeczpospolita Daily |access-date=2011-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605071645/http://www.rzeczpospolita.pl/specjal_040612/specjal_a_8.html |archive-date=2011-06-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1943, "Związek Mazurski" was reactivated secretly by Masurian activists of the [[Polish Underground State]] in Warsaw and led by Karol Małłek.<ref>Literatura polska w latach II wojny światowej Jerzy Świe̢ch, Instytut Badań Literackich (Polska Akademia Nauk), page 42
Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,</ref> Związek Mazurski opposed Nazi Germany and asked Polish authorities during the war to liquidate German large landowners  after the victory over Nazi Germany to help in agricultural reform and settlement of Masurian population, Masurian iconoclasts opposed to Nazi Germany requested to remove German heritage sites "regardless of their cultural value".<ref>[http://www.muzeum.ketrzyn.pl/palace6.htm Pałace i dwory powiatu kętrzyńskiego - wartości historyczne i kulturowe] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040718035121/http://www.muzeum.ketrzyn.pl/palace6.htm |date=2004-07-18 }} Muzeum im Wojciecha Kętrzyńsiego w Kętrzynie</ref> Additionally a [[Masurian Institute]] was founded by Masurian activists in Radość near Warsaw in 1943.<ref name="O nas">[http://www.obn.olsztyn.pl/index1.php?id=o_nas/o_nas O nas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224073951/http://www.obn.olsztyn.pl/index1.php?id=o_nas%2Fo_nas |date=2018-12-24 }} Ośrodek Badań Naukowych imienia Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Olsztynie</ref>

In the final stages of [[World War II]], Masuria was partially devastated by the retreating [[Wehrmacht|German]] and advancing [[Red Army|Soviet]] armies during the [[Vistula-Oder Offensive]]. During the Soviet offensive, [[Rape during the Soviet occupation of Poland|wartime rape was especially common in the region]], as well as [[ethnic cleansing]] of the remaining German population. Already on May 23, 1945, the Soviets granted that a Polish administration be established in the region, which aroused British and American protest.<ref>{{cite book|title=Polen und die Deutschland-Frage 1939-1949| volume=23|author=Viktoria Vierheller|publisher=Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik|year= 1970|pages=105|language=de}} {{cite book|title=Niederschlesien 1942 bis 1949: alliierte Diplomatie und Nachkriegswirklichheit|author=Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach|publisher=Bergstadtverlag Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn|pages=96–97}}</ref>

However, per the decisions made at the earlier [[Yalta Conference]] and the [[Potsdam Conference]] the region passed to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, pending a final peace conference with 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}}</ref><ref>{{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=2022-07-10|archive-date=2024-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111155012/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XaFaNshCrkC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{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=2022-07-10|archive-date=2024-01-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111154906/https://books.google.com/books?id=riBpAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of the population fled to Germany or was killed during or after the war, while those which stayed were subject to a "nationality verification", organised by the [[History of Poland (1945–1989)|communist government]] of Poland. As a result, the number of native Masurians remaining in Masuria was initially relatively high, while most of the population was subsequently [[expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]]. Poles from central Poland and the [[Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union]] as well as [[Ukrainians]] expelled from southern Poland throughout the [[Operation Vistula]], were resettled in Masuria.<ref>Andreas Kossert, Ostpreussen, Geschichte und Mythos p. 352; Kossert gives 35 % from Central Poland, 22.6 % from Eastern Poland, 10 % victims of Op. Vistula, 18.5 % Natives in 1950</ref>

=== Masuria after World War II ===
[[File:Budynek w Parku etnograficznym w Węgorzewie.jpg|thumb|right|A reconstructed Masurian house in an open-air museum near [[Węgorzewo]]]]
According to the Masurian Institute, the Masurian members of resistance against Nazi Germany who survived the war became active in 1945 in the region, working in [[Olsztyn]] in cooperation with new state authorities in administration, education and cultural affairs.<ref name="O nas"/> Historic Polish names for most of towns of Masuria were restored, but for some places [[Commission for the Determination of Place Names|new names were determined]] even if there were historic Polish names.

On 16 February 1946, the village of [[Gajrowskie]] was the site of the largest battle between Polish [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1953)|anti-communist partisans]] and communist forces in Masuria.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wydminy.pl/skwer-zolnierzy-wykletych-w-wydminach/|title=Skwer Żołnierzy Wyklętych w Wydminach|website=Wydminy.pl|language=pl|access-date=12 December 2024}}</ref>

German author Andreas Kossert describes the post-war process of "national verification" as based on an ethnic racism which categorised the local populace according to their alleged ethnic background.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p.363, 364: "Ähnlich wie die NS-Volkslisten seit 1939 im Reichsgau Wartheland und in Danzig-Westpreussen die Germanisierbarkeit der dort lebenden Deutschen und kleiner polnischer Gruppen festlegte, indem sie sie nach einem biologischen Rassismus in vier Kategorien einteilten, nahm die polnische Provinzverwaltung nach 1945 eine Klassifizierung der Bewohner Masurens nach einem ethnischen Rassismus vor."</ref> A Polish-sounding last name or a Polish-speaking ancestor was sufficient to be regarded as "autochthonous" Polish.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV5uIIKJjkC&q=autochton&pg=PA287
|title=Polish-speaking Germans? language and national identity among the Masurians since 1871|first1= Richard |last1=Blanke|publisher=Böhlau|year=2001|isbn=3-412-12000-6|page=285}}</ref>
In October 1946, 37,736 persons were "verified" as Polish citizens while 30,804 remained "unverified". A center of such "unverified" Masurians was the district of [[Mrągowo]], where in early 1946 out of 28,280 persons, 20,580 were "unverified", while in October, 16,385 still refused to adopt Polish citizenship.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ostpreussen. Geschichte und Mythos|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Siedler|year=2005|isbn=3-88680-808-4|page=353|language=de}}</ref> However, even those who complied with the often used pressure by Polish authorities were in fact treated as Germans because of their Lutheran faith and their often rudimentary knowledge of Polish. Names were "Polonised" and the usage of the German language in public was forbidden. In the late 1940s the pressure to sign the "verification documents" grew and in February 1949 the former chief of the [[Ministry of Public Security of Poland|stalinist secret Police (UB)]] of [[Łódź]], [[Mieczysław Moczar]], started the "Great verification" campaign. Many unverified Masurians were imprisoned and accused of pro-Nazi or pro-American propaganda, even former pro-Polish activists and inmates of Nazi concentration camps were jailed and tortured. After the end of this campaign in the district of Mrągowo only 166 Masurians were still "unverified".<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 366</ref>

In 1950, 1,600 Masurians left the country and in 1951, 35,000 people from Masuria and [[Warmia]] managed to obtain a declaration of their German nationality by the embassies of the United States and Great Britain in Warsaw. Sixty-three percent of the Masurians in the district of Mrągowo received such a document.<ref>Kossert, Andreas: Masuren, p. 367</ref> In December 1956, Masurian pro-Polish activists signed a memorandum to the Communist Party leadership:
<blockquote>"The history of the people of Warmia and Masuria is full of tragedy and suffering. Injustice, hardship and pain often pressed on the shoulders of Warmians and Masurians... Dislike, injustice and violence surrounds us...They (Warmians and Masurians) demand respect for their differentness, grown in the course of seven centuries and for freedom to maintain their traditions".<ref>Andreas Kossert :”Masuren”, pp. 371, 372</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Pasym Kościół ewangelicko-augsburski 03.jpg|thumb|right|An active [[Lutheran]] church in [[Pasym]]]]

Soon after the political reforms of 1956, Masurians were given the opportunity to join their families in [[West Germany]]. The majority (over 100 thousand) gradually left, and after the improvement of [[Germany|German]]-[[Poland|Polish]] relations by the German [[Ostpolitik]] of the 1970s, 55,227 persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to West Germany in between 1971 and 1988.<ref name=AK,358>{{cite book|title=Ostpreussen. Geschichte und Mythos|first1=Andreas|last1=Kossert|publisher=Siedler|year=2005|isbn=3-88680-808-4|page=358|language=de}}</ref> Today, between 5,000 and 6,000 [[Masurians]] still live in the area, about 50 percent of them members of the [[German minority in Poland]]; the remaining half is ethnic Polish.<ref name=Eberhardt>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLfX1q3kJzgC&q=Masurians&pg=RA1-PA166
|title=Ethnic groups and population changes in 20th century Central-Eastern Europe: history, data, analysis |access-date=2009-10-08 |publisher= Piotr Eberhardt, Jan Owsinski|year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7656-0665-5}}</ref> As the Polish journalist [[Andrzej Krzysztof Wróblewski|Andrzej K. Wróblewski]] stated, the Polish post-war policy succeeded in what the Prussian state never managed: the creation of a German national consciousness among the Masurians.<ref name=AK,358/>

Most of the originally [[Protestantism|Protestant]] churches in Masuria are now used by the Polish [[Roman Catholic Church]] as the number of Lutherans in Masuria declined from 68,500 in 1950 to 21,174 in 1961 and further to 3,536 in 1981. Sometimes, like on 23 September 1979 in the village of [[Spychowo]], the Lutheran Parish was even forcefully driven out of their church while liturgy was held.<ref name=AK,358/><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3eNOIYcwnmwC&q=puppen+ortelsburg&pg=PA116
|title=Studien zur osteuropäischen Kirchengeschichte und Kirchenkunde |access-date=2009-07-27 |publisher= Peter Hauptmann |year=1984 |language=de |isbn=978-3-525-56382-3}}</ref>

=== Modern Masuria ===
In most of modern Masuria the native population has virtually disappeared.<ref name=Eberhardt/> Masuria was incorporated into the [[Voivodeships of Poland#Polish voivodeships 1945-1975 (14+2/17+5)|voivodeship system]] of administration in 1945. In 1999 Masuria was constituted with neighbouring [[Warmia]] as a single administrative province through the creation of the [[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www10.dict.cc/wp_examples.php?lp_id=1&lang=en&s=Masurian |title=Masurian |access-date=2018-08-14 |archive-date=2018-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814232608/http://www10.dict.cc/wp_examples.php?lp_id=1&lang=en&s=Masurian |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Today, numerous summer music festivals take place in Masuria, including the largest [[reggae]] festival in Poland in [[Ostróda]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emazury.com/index.php?JEZ=pl&LIS=miasta&MENU=ostroda&GL=ostroda_reggae_festival|title=Ostróda - Ostróda Reggae Festival|website=eMazury.com|access-date=4 November 2019|language=pl|archive-date=27 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927100947/http://www.emazury.com/index.php?JEZ=pl&LIS=miasta&MENU=ostroda&GL=ostroda_reggae_festival|url-status=live}}</ref> the largest [[Piknik Country|country music festival]] in Poland in [[Mrągowo]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mojemazury.pl/372868,Piknik-Country-w-Mragowie-to-juz-35-lat.html|title=Piknik Country w Mrągowie - to już 35 lat|website=Moje Mazury|access-date=4 November 2019|language=pl|archive-date=4 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104134737/http://mojemazury.pl/372868,Piknik-Country-w-Mragowie-to-juz-35-lat.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and one of Poland's largest [[hip hop music]] festivals in [[Giżycko]] and [[Ełk]].

The Masurian [[Szczytno-Szymany International Airport]] gained international attention as press reports alleged the airport to be a so-called ''"[[black site]]"'' involved in the [[CIA]]'s network of [[extraordinary renditions]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6212843.stm |title=Hunt for CIA "black site" in Poland |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=28 December 2006 |access-date=23 July 2011 |archive-date=16 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016011300/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6212843.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Landscape ==

[[Image:Krutynia splyw.jpg|thumb|right|Kayaking on the [[Krutynia]] river]]

Masuria and the [[Masurian Lake District]] are known in Polish as ''Kraina Tysiąca Jezior'', meaning "land of a thousand lakes." These lakes were ground out of the land by glaciers during the [[Pleistocene]] [[Quaternary glaciation|ice age]] around 14,000 - 15,000 years ago, when ice covered northeastern Europe. From that period originates the horn of a reindeer found in the vicinity of [[Giżycko]].<ref name="goldap">{{in lang|pl}} [http://www.dkgoldap.fr.pl/publikacje/pliki/krajobraz.pdf Krajobraz kulturowy powiatu gołdapskiego, at www.dkgoldap.fr.pl] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601114809/http://www.dkgoldap.fr.pl/publikacje/pliki/krajobraz.pdf |date=2010-06-01 }}</ref>  By 10,000 BC this ice started to melt. Great geological changes took place and even in the last 500 years the maps showing the lagoons and peninsulas on the [[Baltic Sea]] have greatly altered in appearance. More than in other parts of northern Poland, such as from [[Pomerania]] (from the [[Oder|River Oder]] to the [[Vistula|River Vistula]]), this continuous stretch of lakes is popular among tourists. The terrain is rather hilly, with connecting lakes, rivers and streams. Forests account for about 30% of the area.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} [http://www.strefamazury.pl/object_info/wm/3/przyroda Mazury, at www.strefamazury.pl] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100730125021/http://strefamazury.pl/object_info/wm/3/przyroda |date=2010-07-30 }}</ref><ref>{{in lang|pl}} [http://www.bryk.pl/teksty/liceum/geografia/geografia_spo%C5%82eczno_ekonomiczna/19622-charakterystyka_pojezierza_mazurskiego_i_wigierskiego_parku_narodowego.html Charakterystyka Pojezierza Mazurskiego, at www.bryk.pl] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006161200/http://www.bryk.pl/teksty/liceum/geografia/geografia_spo%C5%82eczno_ekonomiczna/19622-charakterystyka_pojezierza_mazurskiego_i_wigierskiego_parku_narodowego.html |date=2011-10-06 }}</ref> The northern part of Masuria is covered mostly by the broadleaved forest, while the southern part is dominated by [[pine]] and [[Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests|mixed forests]].<ref>{{cite report |title=The participation of macromycetes in selected forest communities of the Masurian Landscape Park (NE Poland) |citeseerx = 10.1.1.856.8111}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.e-masuria.com/|title=Masuria - Krutyn - Boat and canoeing trips on the Krutynia River|website=www.e-masuria.com|access-date=14 August 2018|archive-date=14 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814170027/http://www.e-masuria.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The two largest lakes of Poland, [[Śniardwy]] and [[Lake Mamry|Mamry]], are located in Masuria.

== Cities and towns ==
[[File:Ełk 13.05.2018 As 08.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ełk]]]]
[[File:Skyline of Ostróda.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ostróda]]]]
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Biała Piska]]
* [[Działdowo]]
* [[Ełk]]
* [[Giżycko]]
* [[Gołdap]]
* [[Kętrzyn]]
* [[Korsze]]
* [[Mikołajki]]
* [[Miłomłyn]]
* [[Mrągowo]]
* [[Nidzica]]
* [[Olecko]]
* [[Olsztynek]]
* [[Orzysz]]
* [[Ostróda]]
* [[Pasym]]
* [[Pisz]]
* [[Ruciane-Nida]]
* [[Ryn]]
* [[Szczytno]]
* [[Węgorzewo]]
* [[Wielbark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Wielbark]]
{{div col end}}
[[File:Замок Гижицко.JPG|thumb|right|[[Giżycko]]]]
[[File:Stare miasto w miejscowości Szczytno.jpg|thumb|right|[[Szczytno]]]]
[[File:647026 Nidzica Ratusz 02.JPG|thumb|right|[[Nidzica]]]]

== Notable people from Masuria ==
*[[Richard Altmann]] (1852–1900), pathologist
*[[Leszek Błażyński]] (1949–1992), boxer
*[[Kurt Blumenfeld]] (1884–1963), politician
*[[Abraham Calovius]] (1612–1686), Lutheran theologian
*[[Roman Czepe]] (born 1956), politician
*[[Lucas David]] (1503–1583), historian
*[[Ferdinand Gregorovius]] (1821–1891), historian
*[[Lothar Gall]] (1936–2024), historian 
*[[Gustaw Gizewiusz]] (1810–1848), Protestant pastor, supporter of Polish language teaching and resistance against Germanisation
*[[Georg Andreas Helwing]] (1666–1748), botanist
*[[Paul Hensel (politician)|Paul Hensel]] (1867–1944), politician
*[[Andreas Hillgruber]] (1925–1989), historian
*[[Wojciech Kętrzyński]] (1838–1918), activist and historian
*[[Hans Hellmut Kirst]] (1914–1989), author
*[[Georg Klebs]] (1857–1913), botanist
*[[Walter Kollo]] (1878–1940), composer
*[[Horst Kopkow]] (1910–1996), spy
*[[Udo Lattek]] (1935-2015), football coach
*[[Siegfried Lenz]] (1926-2014), author
*[[Wolf Lepenies]] (born 1941), political scientist
*[[Johannes von Leysen]] (1310–1388), founder and first mayor of Allenstein
*[[Albert Lieven]] (1906–1971), actor
*[[Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongovius]] (1764–1855), Protestant pastor and philosopher
*[[Celestyn Myślenta]] (1588–1653), Lutheran theologian and rector of the [[University of Königsberg]]
*[[Rodolphe Radau]] (1835–1911), astronomer
*[[Karl Bogislaus Reichert]] (1811–1883), anatomist
*[[Nicholas von Renys]] (1360-1411), knight
*[[Fritz Richard Schaudinn]] (1871–1906), zoologist
*[[Paweł Sobolewski]] (born 1979), footballer
*[[Helmuth Stieff]] (1901–1944), general
*[[Bethel Henry Strousberg]] (1823–1884), industrialist
*[[Arno Surminski]] (born 1934), writer
*[[Kurt Symanzik]] (1923–1983), physicist
*[[August Trunz]] (1875–1963), founder of the [[Prussica-Sammlung Trunz]]
*[[Ernst Wiechert]] (1887–1950), poet and writer
*[[Wilhelm Wien]] (1864–1928), physicist, Nobel Prize winner

== See also ==
*[[Masurians]]
*[[Masurian dialects]]
*[[Śniardwy|Śniardwy Lake]]
*[[Dylewska Góra]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
* {{in lang|pl}}  [https://web.archive.org/web/20050406004346/http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/45810_1.html Mazury] Entry on the region in Polish PWN Encyclopedia.
* {{cite book | first = Bernd | last = Martin | title = Masuren, Mythos und Geschichte | url = http://www.ev-akademie-baden.de/buch/hf/hf22.htm | publisher = Ewangelische Akademie Baden | location = Karlsruhe | year = 1998 | isbn = 3-87210-122-6 | language = de | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060628234805/http://ev-akademie-baden.de/buch/hf/hf22.htm | archive-date = 2006-06-28 }}
* {{cite book | first = Erwin | last = Kruk | title = Warmia i Mazury | publisher = Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie | location = Wrocław | year = 2003 | isbn = 83-7384-028-1 |language=pl}}
* {{cite book | first = Andreas | last = Kossert | title = Masuren. Ostpreußens vergessener Süden | publisher = Pantheon | year = 2006 | isbn = 3-570-55006-0|language=de}}
* {{cite book | first = Andreas | last = Kossert | title = Ostpreussen, Geschichte und Mythos | publisher = Siedler | year = 2005 | isbn = 3-88680-808-4|language=de}}
* {{cite book | first = Andreas | last = Kossert | title = Mazury, Zapomniane południe Prus Wschodnich | year = 2004 | isbn = 83-7383-067-7|language=pl}}
* {{cite book|last=Clark|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Clark|title=Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600–1947|year=2006|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ironkingdomrised00chri/page/776 776]|isbn=0-674-02385-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ironkingdomrised00chri/page/776}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Masuria}}

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{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Regions of Poland]]
[[Category:Geography of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Natural regions of Europe]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Poland]]
[[Category:Masuria (region)| ]]