Mazurians (ethnic group)
Encyclopedia
The Masurians or Mazurs or Masurs are a Lechitic
sub-ethnic group
in the Masovian
and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
s in Poland
. They are descended from Masovians
, Polish settlers from Masovia who moved to Prussia especially during and after the Protestant Reformation
and were primarily Protestant. In the 19th century the Masuria
region of East Prussia
was named after the Masurians.
, the inhabitants of the northern Duchy of Masovia
were called Mazury in Polish. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Polish settlers from northern Masovia moved to the southern territories of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
that was previously the land of the Baltic Old Prussians
who were conquered by the Teutonic Knights
in the 13th and 14th centuries. The northern part of this state was soon settled by settlers from Germany and was therefore Germanised. On the other hand the southern part - Masuria
- was Polonised by the incoming Masovians approximately in the same period. In 1466 those territories became a fief of Poland.
Because of the influx of Masovians into the southern lakeland, the area started to be known as "Masuria
" from the 18th century. During the Protestant Reformation
, Masurians, like most inhabitants of Ducal Prussia, became Lutheran
Protestants
, while the neighboring Masovians remained Roman Catholic
. In 1525 the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief until 1657, was founded from the secularized order's territory and became the first Protestant state ever existing. The small minority of Protestant Masovians in southern Catholic Masovia inside Poland emigrated later to Prussian Masuria. Masuria became part of the Kingdom of Prussia
in 1701 and the Prussian-led German Empire
in 1871.
During the 1840s, the folklorist Gustaw Gizewiusz
collected Masurian folk songs which were later included in Oskar Kolberg
's compilation Dzieła Wszystkie.
Beginning in the 1870s, Imperial German
officials restricted the usage of languages other than German in Prussia's eastern provinces, due to increasing Slavic
nationalist tensions in the region. The German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise the Masurians or separate them culturally from neighboring Poles by creating a separate identity. Many Masurians emigrated to the Ruhr Area
, especially to Gelsenkirchen
. Despite those official efforts German scholars usually considered Masurians as a group of Poles. In all German geographical atlases published at the beginning of the 20th century, the southern part of East Prussia was marked as an ethnically Polish area with a number of Poles estimated at 300,000.
Support for Germany was strong amongst the Masurians during World War I
. In 1920, the East Prussian plebiscite
was held under the supervision of the League of Nations
, with British, French and Italian troops stationed in Masuria, to determine the new border between the Second Polish Republic
and German East Prussia
. Although a small group of Masurians did vote for Poland, the vast majority (99.32% in Masuria proper) opted to remain in Prussia
. However, the contemporary Polish ethnographer Adam Chętnik accused the German authorities of abuses and falsifications during the plebiscite.
Support for the Nazi Party was high in Masuria, especially in elections in 1932 and 1933. Nazi political rallies were organized in the Masurian dialect during the campaigning. Several Masurian towns and villages had their original Slavic or Baltic Prussian names changed to new German names by Nazi Germany
in 1938. During World War Two, Polish speakers were persecuted and killed by the Nazis in Masuria. Along with the majority of ethnic German East Prussians, many Masurians fled
to western Germany as the Soviet
Red Army
approached East Prussia
in 1945 during World War II
. The post-war Potsdam Conference
placed Masuria - and the rest of southern East Prussia
- under Polish administration. Many Masurians who were classified as Germans were expelled
with military force. After 1956 many who had remained in Poland emigrated to West Germany
, today approximately 5,000 Masurians still live in the area, many of them as members of the German minority
. Speculations about the reasons of this emigration vary from the economical situation and the undemocratic - communist system in Poland to the shrinking perspective of a return of Masuria to Germany.
Mazur remains the 14th most common surname in Poland
with almost 67,000 people bearing the name. According to the ethnographer Adam Chętnik
, the Masurians were most closely related to the Kurpie
branch of the Poles. The Masurians have also been studied by the sociologist Andrzej Sakson
.
Lechitic languages
The Lechitic languages include three languages spoken in Central Europe, mainly in Poland, and historically also in the eastern and northern parts of modern Germany. This language group is a branch of the larger West Slavic language family...
sub-ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
in the Masovian
Masovian Voivodeship
-Administrative division:Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties : 5 city counties and 37 "land counties"...
and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship
Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, or Warmia-Masuria Province , is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn...
s in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. They are descended from Masovians
Masovians
The Masovians or Mazovians are a Lechitic tribe or an ethnic group associated with the region of Mazovia. They were first referenced by Nestor the Chronicler in the 11th century. Originally, their main settlements were in the area of Płock, Łomża, Wizna, Czersk, Ciechanów, Płońsk, Zakroczym and...
, Polish settlers from Masovia who moved to Prussia especially during and after the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and were primarily Protestant. In the 19th century the Masuria
Masuria
Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its 2,000 lakes. Geographically, Masuria is part of two adjacent lakeland districts, the Masurian Lake District and the Iława Lake District...
region of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
was named after the Masurians.
History
In the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the inhabitants of the northern Duchy of Masovia
Duchy of Masovia
The Duchy of Masovia with its capital at Płock was a medieval duchy formed when the Polish Kingdom of the Piasts fragmented in 1138. It was located in the historic Masovian region of northeastern Poland...
were called Mazury in Polish. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Polish settlers from northern Masovia moved to the southern territories of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
that was previously the land of the Baltic Old Prussians
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
who were conquered by the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
in the 13th and 14th centuries. The northern part of this state was soon settled by settlers from Germany and was therefore Germanised. On the other hand the southern part - Masuria
Masuria
Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its 2,000 lakes. Geographically, Masuria is part of two adjacent lakeland districts, the Masurian Lake District and the Iława Lake District...
- was Polonised by the incoming Masovians approximately in the same period. In 1466 those territories became a fief of Poland.
Because of the influx of Masovians into the southern lakeland, the area started to be known as "Masuria
Masuria
Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its 2,000 lakes. Geographically, Masuria is part of two adjacent lakeland districts, the Masurian Lake District and the Iława Lake District...
" from the 18th century. During the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, Masurians, like most inhabitants of Ducal Prussia, became Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
Protestants
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, while the neighboring Masovians remained Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. In 1525 the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief until 1657, was founded from the secularized order's territory and became the first Protestant state ever existing. The small minority of Protestant Masovians in southern Catholic Masovia inside Poland emigrated later to Prussian Masuria. Masuria became part of the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
in 1701 and the Prussian-led German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871.
During the 1840s, the folklorist Gustaw Gizewiusz
Gustaw Gizewiusz
Gustaw Herman Marcin Gizewiusz, or Gustav Gisevius was a Polish political figure, folklorist, and translator. He was married to a Mazur Polish woman, who encouraged him to become a political figure...
collected Masurian folk songs which were later included in Oskar Kolberg
Oskar Kolberg
Henryk Oskar Kolberg, , was a Polish ethnographer, folklorist, and composer.- Life :He was born in Przysucha, the son of Juliusz Kolberg, a professor at Warsaw University, and Fryderyka Mercoeur...
's compilation Dzieła Wszystkie.
Beginning in the 1870s, Imperial German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
officials restricted the usage of languages other than German in Prussia's eastern provinces, due to increasing Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
nationalist tensions in the region. The German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise the Masurians or separate them culturally from neighboring Poles by creating a separate identity. Many Masurians emigrated to the Ruhr Area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
, especially to Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
. Despite those official efforts German scholars usually considered Masurians as a group of Poles. In all German geographical atlases published at the beginning of the 20th century, the southern part of East Prussia was marked as an ethnically Polish area with a number of Poles estimated at 300,000.
Support for Germany was strong amongst the Masurians during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1920, the East Prussian plebiscite
East Prussian plebiscite
The East Prussia plebiscite , also known as the Allenstein and Marienwerder plebiscite or Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle plebiscite , was a plebiscite for self-determination of the regions Warmia , Masuria and Powiśle, which had been in parts of East Prussia and West Prussia, in accordance with...
was held under the supervision of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, with British, French and Italian troops stationed in Masuria, to determine the new border between the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
and German East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. Although a small group of Masurians did vote for Poland, the vast majority (99.32% in Masuria proper) opted to remain in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. However, the contemporary Polish ethnographer Adam Chętnik accused the German authorities of abuses and falsifications during the plebiscite.
Support for the Nazi Party was high in Masuria, especially in elections in 1932 and 1933. Nazi political rallies were organized in the Masurian dialect during the campaigning. Several Masurian towns and villages had their original Slavic or Baltic Prussian names changed to new German names by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1938. During World War Two, Polish speakers were persecuted and killed by the Nazis in Masuria. Along with the majority of ethnic German East Prussians, many Masurians fled
Evacuation of East Prussia
The evacuation of East Prussia refers to the evacuation of the German civilian population and military personnel in East Prussia and the Klaipėda region between 20 January, and March 1945, as part of the evacuation of German civilians towards the end of World War II...
to western Germany as the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
approached East Prussia
East Prussian Offensive
The East Prussian Offensive was a strategic offensive by the Red Army against the German Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front . It lasted from 13 January to 25 April 1945, though some German units did not surrender until 9 May...
in 1945 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The post-war Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
placed Masuria - and the rest of southern East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
- under Polish administration. Many Masurians who were classified as Germans were expelled
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
with military force. After 1956 many who had remained in Poland emigrated to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, today approximately 5,000 Masurians still live in the area, many of them as members of the German minority
German minority in Poland
The registered German minority in Poland consists of 152,900 people, according to a 2002 census.The German language is used in certain areas in Opole Voivodeship , where most of the minority resides...
. Speculations about the reasons of this emigration vary from the economical situation and the undemocratic - communist system in Poland to the shrinking perspective of a return of Masuria to Germany.
Mazur remains the 14th most common surname in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
with almost 67,000 people bearing the name. According to the ethnographer Adam Chętnik
Adam Chętnik
Adam Chętnik was a Polish ethnographer who studied the Kurpie. He is the author of several books on the Kurpie residing in Puszcza Zielona. In 1927 he founded Skansen Kurpiowski in Nowogród, an open air museum dedicated to Kurpie culture. He published over 100 scholarly works...
, the Masurians were most closely related to the Kurpie
Kurpie
Kurpie is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance, and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods...
branch of the Poles. The Masurians have also been studied by the sociologist Andrzej Sakson
Andrzej Sakson
Andrzej Sakson is a Polish sociologist and historian. Since 2004 he has been the director of the Western Institute in Poznań....
.
See also
- WarmiakWarmiakThe Warmiak are a Polish ethnic group from Warmia who are mostly Roman Catholics and who speak their own dialect of Polish, called gwara warminska ....
- Lietuvininks
- KurseniekiKurseniekiThe Kuršininkai are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit. "Kuršininkai" refers only to inhabitants of Lithuania and former East Prussia that speak a Lithuanian language dialect....
- MazurkaMazurkaThe mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
- List of Medieval Slavic tribes