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150-611: The Klaipėda Region ( Lithuanian : Klaipėdos kraštas ) or Memel Territory ( German : Memelland or Memelgebiet ) was defined by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in 1920 and refers to the northernmost part of the German province of East Prussia , when, as Memelland , it was put under the administration of the Entente 's Council of Ambassadors . The Memel Territory, together with other areas severed from Germany (the Saar and Danzig ),

300-686: A Lithuanian press ban in the parts of Lithuania that had become part of the Russian Empire . The Prussian Lithuanians could publish their own newspapers and books, even helping Lithuanians in Russia to bypass their press ban by publishing their newspapers, such as Auszra and Varpas . The northern part of East Prussia beyond the Neman River was detached from East Prussia at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 , dividing

450-493: A Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with

600-652: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian

750-473: A border settlement agreement that included the status of the Memel Territory. Importantly, the annexation gave Lithuania control of a year-round, ice-free Baltic port. Lithuania made full use of Klaipėda's port, modernizing and adapting it largely for its agricultural exports. The port reconstruction was certainly one of the larger long-term investment projects enacted by the government of Lithuania in

900-488: A loyal constituent part of the German community...moreover, Memel is an entirely German town...which has never in its whole history belonged to Lithuania or to Poland. To this claim, the Allied Powers responded the following: The Allied and associated Powers reject the suggestion that the cession of the district of Memel conflicts with the principles of nationality. The district in question has always been Lithuanian;

1050-708: A membership of 30,000 individuals. Two dozen pro-Lithuanian representatives of the Prussian Lithuanian National Council signed the Act of Tilsit , asking to unite the Klaipėda Region with Lithuania; the idea was not supported by the majority of Prussian Lithuanians. World War I was followed by severe economical hardships and inflation in Germany. In 1923, the Republic of Lithuania occupied

1200-399: A neologism to distinguish themselves from Lithuanians. Inhabitants of the Klaipėda Region continuously voted for German or German-oriented parties. Nazi Germany invaded Klaipėda after the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania . The inhabitants were allowed to choose Lithuanian citizenship. Only 500 asked for citizenship, and only 20 were awarded it. The reunification of Klaipėda with Germany

1350-608: A policy of "Lithuanization". This was met by even more opposition, as religious and regional differences slowly became insurmountable. After the December 1926 coup d'état , Antanas Smetona came to power. As the status of the Memel Territory was regulated by international treaties, the Memel Territory became an oasis of democracy in Lithuania. Lithuanian intelligentsia often held marriages in Memel/Klaipėda, since Memel Territory

1500-516: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of

1650-410: A result of this backlash, Odry left his post shortly after coming to Memel and handed the responsibility of the administration over to High Commissioner Gabriel Jean Petisné . During the period of French administration, the idea of an independent state of Memelland grew in popularity among local inhabitants. The organisation Deutsch-Litauischer Heimatbund (German-Lithuanian homeland federation) promoted

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1800-500: A second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to

1950-559: A separate ethnic group. The common state united some aspects of, traditions and folk culture. who viewed its rulers as their own rulers. Hanging portraits of the rulers of the House of Hohenzollern in the home was widespread. The Pietist congregational movement attracted large numbers of Prussian Lithuanians: evangelical fellowships ( German : Stundenhalter , Lithuanian : Surinkimininkai ) were very active in Prussia, as they were in

2100-742: A separate ethnic sub-group. For Prussian Lithuanians loyalty to the German state, strong religious beliefs, and the mother tongue were the three main criteria of self-identification. Due to differences in religion and loyalties to a different state, the Prussian Lithuanians did not consider Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy to be part of their community. They used the exonym Samogitians ( Lithuanian : Źemaicziai , German : Szameiten ) to denote Lithuanians of Lithuania Major. As with other closely related groups with differing religions (e.g. Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia), antagonism

2250-402: A separate parliament, two official languages, the capacity to raise its own taxes, charge custom duties, and manage its cultural and religious affairs, and was allowed a separate judicial system, separate citizenship, internal control of agriculture and forestry, as well as a separate social security system. The Council of Ambassadors accepted the resulting arrangement and confirmed the autonomy of

2400-627: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There

2550-651: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing

2700-878: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of

2850-642: Is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as

3000-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in

3150-549: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents

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3300-637: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he

3450-498: Is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single phoneme (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter i represents either the vowel [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,

3600-441: Is quite similar to standard Lithuanian except for the number of German loanwords . The Lithuanian language which was spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was influenced by Polish and Ruthenian , while in Prussia it was influenced more heavily by the German language. Thus, while Lithuanians used Slavic loanwords and translations, Prussian Lithuanians used German loanwords and translations, and some Slavic loanwords. Literature in

3750-708: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of

3900-658: The Directorate of the Klaipėda Region and the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union , a church of united administration of Lutheran and Reformed congregations, the mostly Lutheran congregations (and a single Reformed one in Klaipėda) in the Klaipėda Region were disentangled from the old-Prussian Ecclesiastical Province of East Prussia and formed the Regional Synodal Federation of

4050-809: The Federal Republic of Germany . No property restoration was performed by the Republic of Lithuania for owners prior to 1945. Although maintaining that the Memel Territory in 1939 was re-annexed by Germany and acknowledging that Lithuania itself was occupied in 1940 by the Soviets, Lithuania, after regaining independence on 11 March 1990, did not restore autonomy to the Memel Territory. [REDACTED] Media related to Memelland at Wikimedia Commons 55°27′N 21°24′E  /  55.450°N 21.400°E  / 55.450; 21.400 Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] )

4200-764: The Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in the 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c.   1 AD, however in c.   500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts

4350-582: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As

4500-697: The Great Seimas of Vilnius , a conference held in 1905. The first Prussian Lithuanian elected to the Reichstag , Jonas Smalakys , was a fierce agitator for the integrity of the German Empire . In 1879, Georg Sauerwein published the poem Lietuwininkais esame mes gime in the newspaper Lietuwißka Ceitunga . The 7th stanza was dedicated to Wilhelm I, German Emperor . There was no national Germanization policy until 1873; Prussian Lithuanians voluntarily adopted German language and culture. After

4650-811: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to

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4800-456: The Klaipėda Region (Memelland) during the interwar years – Memellanders (Lithuanian: Klaipėdiškiai , German: Memelländer ). Modern Lithuanian historiography uses the term Lietuvininkai or sometimes a neologism unknown to Lietuwininkai themselves, Mažlietuviai . The usage of Lietuvininkai is problematic as it is a synonym of the word Lietuviai ("Lithuanians"), and not the name of

4950-587: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following

5100-528: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of

5250-729: The Occupation of the Ruhr in Germany, and the French administration in Memel did not take any significant counteractive measures against the rebels. On 19 January, the territory was annexed by Lithuania, and the fait accompli was eventually confirmed by the Council of Ambassadors in 1924. In the Klaipėda Convention , signed by the Council of Ambassadors and Lithuania, the area was granted

5400-662: The Protestant Reformation , most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran) . There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all Prussian Lithuanians were murdered or expelled after World War II , when East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union . The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast , while the southern part

5550-633: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict

5700-900: The Skalvians who lived along the Neman (Memel) River . In March 1226, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II issued the Golden Bull of Rimini , which provided that the Teutonic Knights would possess lands taken beyond the Masovian border in exchange for securing Masovia. After uprisings of the Baltic Prussian tribes in 1242 through 1274 failed, the Order conquered many remaining western Balts in Lithuania Minor , including

5850-720: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and

6000-437: The Unification of Germany in 1871, when part of Lithuania became integrated with the new nation of Germany, learning the German language was made compulsory in state schools. Studying the German language provided the possibility for Prussian Lithuanians to become acquainted with Western European culture and values. However, Germanization also provoked a cultural movement among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1879 and 1896, petitions for

6150-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of

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6300-410: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,

6450-405: The displaced persons camps to make promises to former inhabitants that they could return and their property would be restored. In the period of 1945–50 about 8,000 persons were repatriated. Bilingual Lithuanian-German returners were viewed as Germans. The few remaining ethnic Germans were then forcibly expelled , with most opting to flee to what would become West Germany . People who remained in

6600-444: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,

6750-425: The monastic state of the Teutonic Knights over the centuries were influenced by German culture and the German language . They adopted the cultural values and social conventions of the German state, but preserved their Lithuanian language , traditions and folk culture. For centuries Prussian Lithuanians lived in a political and religious environment that was different from that of other Lithuanians and evolved into

6900-399: The 13th-century Prussian Crusade and wars between the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Order . This uninhabited area was named the wilderness in chronicles. Local tribes were resettled, either voluntarily or by force, in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno , a stable border between the two states

7050-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian

7200-453: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in

7350-432: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way

7500-401: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from

7650-403: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion

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7800-462: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that

7950-487: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of

8100-422: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as

8250-435: The German Empire), having remained unchanged since the Treaty of Melno in 1422, became a matter of discussion following World War I as the newly independent states of Poland and Lithuania emerged. The separatist Act of Tilsit was signed by a few pro-Lithuanian-oriented Prussian Lithuanians in 1918, demanding the unification of Prussian Lithuania with Lithuania proper . It is traditionally viewed by Lithuanians as expressing

8400-422: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania it was primarily based on the Polish style. Prussian Lithuanians used Gothic script . Lithuanians did not read Prussian Lithuanian publications and vice versa; the cultural communication was very limited. Attempts to create a unified newspaper and common orthography for all Lithuanian speakers at the beginning of the 20th century were unsuccessful. After 1905, modern Lithuanian orthography

8550-498: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in

8700-505: The Klaipėda Region during the Klaipėda Revolt . A secret report of 1923 by Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys , a Lithuanian professional counterintelligence officer, shows around 60 percent of the local inhabitants supported the revolt, 30 percent were neutral and 10 percent were against, namely the supporters of a freistadt status or reunification with Germany. Soon Lithuanian policies alienated the Prussian Lithuanians. People from Greater Lithuania were sent to assume public administration posts in

8850-409: The Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juozas Urbšys and his German counterpart Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Treaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany in exchange for a Lithuanian Free Zone for 99 years in the port of Memel, using the facilities erected in previous years. Hitler had anticipated this aboard a Kriegsmarine naval ship and at dawn sailed into Memel to celebrate

9000-726: The Lithuanian language appeared earlier in the Duchy of Prussia than in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The first book in Lithuanian was published in Königsberg in 1547 by Martynas Mažvydas , an émigré from Grand Duchy of Lithuania , while the first Lithuanian book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was printed in 1596 by Mikalojus Daukša . Many other authors who wrote in Lithuanian were not Prussian Lithuanians, but local Prussian Germans: Michael Märlin, Jakob Quandt, Wilhelm Martinius, Gottfried Ostermeyer, Sigfried Ostermeyer, Daniel Klein , Andrew Krause, Philipp Ruhig , Matttheus Praetorius, Christian Mielcke, Adam Schimmelpfennig, for example. The first major Lithuanian poet , Kristijonas Donelaitis ,

9150-485: The Lithuanian point of view, Memellanders were viewed as Germanized Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanized. There was also a strong denominational difference since about 95% of the inhabitants of Lithuania Minor were Lutherans while more than 90% of Greater Lithuanians were Catholics . Following the Agreement concerning the Evangelical Church of the Klaipėda Region ( German : Abkommen betr. die evangelische Kirche des Memelgebietes ) of 23 July 1925, concluded between

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9300-462: The Memel Territory (Landessynodalverband Memelgebiet) since, being ranked an old-Prussian ecclesiastical province of its own. An own consistory in Klaipėda was established in 1927, led by a general superintendent (at first F. Gregor, elected in 1927, succeeded by O. Obereiniger, elected by the regional synod in 1933). The Catholic parishes in the Klaipėda Region used to belong to the Bishopric of Ermland until 1926 and were then disentangled, forming

9450-465: The Memel Territory during the occupation period from 1923 to 1939 should emigrate. About 8,900 Lithuanians did so. At the same time, Germany expelled about 1,300 local Memel and Lithuanian Jews and about 40 Prussian Lithuanians. High Commissioners Plenipotentiaries Governors Transitional Commissioner for the Integration of Memelland After Nazi Germany took over the area in 1939, many Lithuanians and their organizations began leaving Memel and

9600-563: The Nazi era, was now completely wiped out by the Soviets, who made no distinction between Germans and Lithuanians. The situation was somewhat better in the former Memel Territory but even there churches and cemeteries were destroyed. Prussian Lithuanian surnames often consist of a patronymic with suffixes " -eit " and " -at ". It has the same role as the English suffix " -son " in the surnames Abrahamson and Johnson . Examples include: Abromeit, Grigoleit, Jakeit, Wowereit , Kukulat, Szameitat . Another type of Prussian Lithuanian surname use

9750-428: The Neman River and its delta, which was located in Germany and called the Memel River, to Lithuania, as this would provide her access to the Baltic Sea , while Lithuania itself should be part of Poland. These ideas were supported by the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau . In 1920, according to the Treaty of Versailles, the German area north of the Memel river was given the status of Territoire de Memel under

9900-411: The Neman River, the treaty border started north of Memelberg and ran southeasterly to the Neman. This border remained until 1918. After the Treaty of Melno was signed, many Lithuanians returned to northeastern Prussia, which became known as Lithuania Minor in the 16th century. After World War I ended in 1918, the Klaipėda Region was defined as a roughly triangular wedge, with the northern border being

10050-436: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while digraphs sz , cz (that are also common in the Polish orthography ) were replaced with š and č from the Czech orthography because formally they were shorter. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz

10200-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of

10350-459: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak  [ pl ] attested that many of

10500-430: The Skalvians, Nadruvians , and Yotvingians . In 1252, the Order constructed Memel Castle where the Dangė river flows into the Neman, at the north end of the Curonian Spit . In 1422, after centuries of conflict, the Order and the Polish–Lithuanian union signed the Treaty of Melno which defined a border between Prussia and Lithuania. Although Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania wanted the border to be coextensive with

10650-454: The Soviet Union incorporated the region into the Lithuanian SSR . Since 1990, the area of the Klaipėda Region has formed part of the independent Republic of Lithuania , as part of Klaipėda and Tauragė counties. The southern border established by the Treaty of Versailles defines the current international boundary between Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian Federation . The eastern boundaries of Prussia (from 1871, part of

10800-693: The Treaty of Melno border, the southern border following the Neman River, and on the west abutting the Baltic Sea . In 1923, fearing that the western powers would create a free state, Lithuanians took control of the region and, as part of larger regional negotiations, incorporated the region into the State of Lithuania . In March 1939, Lithuania acquiesced to Nazi demands and transferred the Klaipėda Region to Germany . As World War II came to an end in 1945,

10950-818: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text

11100-511: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in

11250-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla  [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and

11400-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz  [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in

11550-422: The administration of the Council of Ambassadors, and French troops were sent for protection. The German delegation at the Paris Peace Conference , under the leadership of Count Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau immediately protested this decision, stating on 9 May 1919: [Memellanders] including those whose mother-tongue is Lithuanian, have never desired a separation from Germany;...they have always proved themselves

11700-408: The area had been annexed from Lithuanian kingdom to the monastic state since the 13th century, and even many Lithuanian-speakers, regarding themselves as East Prussians , declared themselves "Memellanders/Klaipėdiškiai" in the official census (see below for demographic information) and did not want to belong to a Lithuanian national state due to strong Germanisation in the late 1800s. According to

11850-437: The centuries-old German–Lithuanian relations in the region. The authoritarian regime of Smetona enforced a policy of discrimination and Lithuanisation: it sent administrators from Lithuania, and German teachers, officials, and priests were fired from jobs. Local inhabitants—both Germans and Prussian Lithuanians—were not accepted for state service in Memel Territory. People were sent from Kaunas instead. Until 1938, no governor

12000-567: The civilians columns, or the extreme cold. However, many managed to flee by land or sea into those parts of Germany captured by the British and Americans. Among the latter were the pastors A. Keleris, J. Pauperas, M. Preikšaitis, O. Stanaitis, A. Trakis, and J. Urdse, who gathered those from the Lithuanian parishes and reorganised the Lithuanian church in the western zones of Allied-occupied Germany . The Red Army made no distinction between Germans of Prussian Lithuanian or German ethnicity. During

12150-658: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on

12300-604: The deceased were Prussian Lithuanians. To compensate for the loss, King Frederick II of Prussia invited settlers from Salzburg , the Palatinate , and Nassau to repopulate the area. Many of these Lutherans were members of the Pietism movement, which then spread among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1811 a teacher's seminary for Prussian Lithuanians was established in Karalene near Insterburg , which remained open until 1924. From

12450-466: The desire of Lithuania Minor to unite with Lithuania, but the majority of Prussian Lithuanians did not want to join with Lithuania, and the Prussian Lithuanians, at 26.6% of the population, did not make up a majority of the region. The division of Prussia was also promoted by Poland's Roman Dmowski in Versailles who acted on the orders of Józef Piłsudski . The purpose was to give the lower part of

12600-451: The earliest texts dating only to c.  1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c.   1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c.   1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name,

12750-480: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as

12900-458: The evacuation of East Prussia, Prussian Lithuanians, like other East Prussians, fled in an attempt to escape. Mass murder, rape, and looting were the common fate of those who did not succeed. After the end of war, some Prussian Lithuanians tried to return to their East Prussian homes, but they were discriminated against and denied food rations by the Soviets. All who remained at the war's end were expelled from Soviet's Kaliningrad Oblast and from

13050-632: The first anti-Nazi trial in Europe. Three members of the organizations were sentenced to death, and their leaders imprisoned. Following political and economic pressure from Germany, most were later released. The local parliament had 29 seats, one for every 5,000 inhabitants. Men and women over the age of 23 had the right to vote. See also the results of the January 1919 elections to the Nationalversammlung . A Lithuanian census carried out in

13200-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and

13350-565: The form of an unmarried woman was Kurßaitikê / Kurßaitukê. Since the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Prussian Lithuanians have typically been bilingual. The German language used by Prussian Lithuanians belongs to the Low Prussian dialect of Low German , Mundart des Ostgebietes subdialect. The Lithuanian language of Prussian Lithuanians could be divided into two main dialects: Samogitian dialect and Aukštaitian dialect . The standard Prussian Lithuanian language

13500-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of

13650-580: The former Klaipėda Region, which was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR in 1947. By 1945, there were only about 20,000 inhabitants left in the Klaipėda Region, compared to the 152,800 in 1939. The government of the Lithuanian SSR followed Soviet policy and viewed the Prussian Lithuanians as Germans. About 8,000 persons were repatriated from DP camps during 1945–50. However, their homes and farms were not returned as either Russians or Lithuanians had already occupied their property. Prussians who remained in

13800-540: The former Memel (Klaipėda) territory were fired from their jobs and otherwise discriminated against. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Prussian Lithuanians and their descendants did not regain lost property in the Klaipėda region. In 1951 about 3,500 people from the former Memel Territory were expelled by the authority of the Lithuanian SSR to East Germany . After Konrad Adenauer 's visit to Moscow in 1958,

13950-432: The former Memel territory were dismissed from their jobs. Families of notable local Lithuanians, who had opposed German parties before the war, were deported to Siberia . In 1951, the Lithuanian SSR expelled 3,500 people from the former Memel Territory to East Germany . In 1958, when emigration was allowed, the majority of the surviving population, both Germans and Prussian Lithuanians, emigrated to West Germany; this event

14100-586: The former citizens of Germany were allowed to emigrate, and the majority of Prussian Lithuanians in the Lithuanian SSR emigrated to West Germany . Only about 2,000 local Lithuanians chose to remain in the Klaipėda Region and virtually none in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The majority of Prussian Lithuanians today live in the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with 65,000 refugees from Lithuania proper, mostly Roman Catholic, who made their way to

14250-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to

14400-543: The idea of a Freistaat Memelland , which later should return to Germany. It had 30,000 members, both ethnic Germans and Lithuanians, or about 21% of the total population. On 9 January 1923, three years after the Versailles Treaty had become effective, Lithuania occupied the territory during the Klaipėda Revolt , mainly by militias that had entered the region from Lithuania. At the same time, France had started

14550-556: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by

14700-442: The interwar period. The inhabitants of the area were not given a choice on the ballot as to whether they wanted to be part of the Lithuanian state or part of Germany. Since the pro-German political parties had an overall majority of more than 80% in all elections to the local parliament (see election statistics below) in the interwar period, there can be little doubt that such a referendum would have been in favour of Germany. In fact,

14850-794: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced

15000-889: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of

15150-421: The majority of the populace is Lithuanian in origin and in speech and that fact the city of Memel itself is in large parts German is no justification for maintaining the district under German sovereignty, particularly from the view of the fact that the port of Memel is the only sea outlet for Lithuania Following the evacuation of German troops from Memel, the French took over the temporary military administration of

15300-444: The mid-18th century, a majority of Prussian Lithuanians were literate; in comparison, the process was much slower in the Grand Duchy. The nationalistic Lithuanian national revival in the late 19th century was not popular with Prussian Lithuanians. To them integration with Lithuania was not understandable and not acceptable. The idea of Lithuanian–Latvian unity was more popular than idea of Lithuanian-Prussian Lithuanian unity during

15450-500: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It

15600-472: The new Territorial Prelature of Klaipėda under Prelate Justinas Staugaitis . The government of Lithuania faced considerable opposition from the region's autonomous institutions, among them the Parliament of the Klaipėda Region . As the years passed, claims were becoming more and more vocal about a re-integration into a resurgent Germany. It was only during the latter period that Lithuania then instituted

15750-408: The number of Lithuanian speakers in the city of Klaipėda itself increased over time due to urbanization and migration from villages into cities and later also from remaining Lithuania (in the city of Klaipėda, Lithuanian-speaking people made up 21.5% in 1912, 32.6% in 1925, and 38.7% in 1932*). Foreign citizens might include some Germans who opted for German citizenship instead of Lithuanian (although at

15900-458: The number was 5,000, in 1939–30,000. Lithuania introduced a hard-line Lithuanisation campaign that led to even deeper antagonism between local Prussian Lithuanians, Memellanders, Germans and newcomers. By late 1938, Lithuania had lost control of the situation in the Territory. In the early hours of 23 March 1939, after an oral ultimatum had caused a Lithuanian delegation to travel to Berlin ,

16050-433: The region in 1925 found its total population was 141,000. Declared language was used to classify the inhabitants, and on this basis 43.5 percent were German, 27.6 percent were Lithuanian, and 25.2 percent were "Klaipėdan" ( Memeländisch ). Other sources give the interwar ethnic composition as 41.9 percent German, 27.1 percent Memeländisch, and 26.6 percent Lithuanian. Overall, Prussian Lithuanians were more rural than Germans;

16200-414: The region on 15 February 1920, under the leadership of General Dominique Odry. This was supplemented by a civilian one headed by Gabriel Jean Petisné in 1921. The French Administration proved problematic, as they were accused by the Lithuanian population of siding too closely with the pro-German Landes Directorium and then subsequently accused of siding with Polish civilian and military representatives. As

16350-706: The region within the Republic of Lithuania. On 8 May 1924, a further Convention on the Klaipėda region confirmed the annexation, and a resulting autonomy agreement was signed in Paris. In the Lithuanian-German Arbitration and Settlement Agreement ( Schieds- und Vergleichsvertrag ) of 29 January 1928, the Republic of Lithuania and the Weimar Republic agreed "as a sign of the friendly nature of their relations" to conclude, among other items,

16500-449: The region. According to the Lithuanian view, the Prussian Lithuanians were Germanized Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanized. Prussian Lithuanians saw this Lithuanization policy as a threat to their own culture and began to support German political parties, and even started identifying themselves as Germans. During the 1925 census, 37,626 people declared themselves to be Lithuanians and 34,337 people identified themselves as Memellanders,

16650-565: The rest of the German Empire . About 40 percent of Lithuanians belonged to such fellowships, whose members lived by ascetic principles. Until the mid-19th century Prussian Lithuanians were mostly villagers. Their feudal mentality is reflected in the poem The Seasons by Kristijonas Donelaitis . The Seasons criticizes the tendency to adopt German ways, since this was often associated with decadent noblemen. Donelaitis called for Lithuanians to do their duty, to not envy those who went to town, to not complain or be lazy, and try to work as much as

16800-480: The return heim ins Reich of the Memelland. This proved to be the last of a series of bloodless annexations of territories separated from the German or Austrian Empire by the Treaty of Versailles, which had been perceived by many Germans as a humiliation. German forces seized the territory even before the official Lithuanian ratification. The United Kingdom and France, as after the revolt of 1923, took no action. It

16950-473: The return of the Lithuanian language to schools was signed by 12,330 and 23,058 Prussian Lithuanians from the districts of Memel , Heydekrug , Tilsit and Ragnit . In 1921, the French administration made a survey in the Klaipėda Region that showed that only 2.2 percent of Prussian Lithuanians would prefer purely Lithuanian schools. The Lithuanian language and culture were not persecuted in Prussia. By contrast, there were restrictive Russification policies and

17100-547: The same. In the Grammatica Litvanica Klein also established the letter W for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with V , notably by authors of the Varpas newspaper). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system

17250-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla  [ be ] , Petras Gaučas  [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański  [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through

17400-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in

17550-695: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in

17700-471: The suffixes " -ies" or " -us ": Kairies, Resgies, Baltßus, Karallus . A difference existed between female and male surnames in everyday speech. For example, while officially the wife of Kurschat (Prussian Lithuanian Kurßaitis or Kurßatis ) was also called Kurschat, in the Prussian Lithuanian language special forms were used in speech: the form of a wife's surname was Kurßaitê / Kurßatė and

17850-518: The surrounding area. Memel was quickly turned into a fortified naval base by the Germans. After the failure of the German invasion of the USSR the fate of East Prussia and Memel was sealed. By October 1944, the inhabitants of the area, without ethnic distinction, had to make a decision whether to stay or leave. Nearly all of the population was evacuated from the approaching Red Army , but the city itself

18000-532: The territories inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians between Weimar Germany and the Klaipėda Region (Memelland) under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors , which was formed to enforce the agreements reached in the Treaty of Versailles . The organisation "Deutsch-Litauischer Heimatbund" ( Lithuanian : Namynês Bundas ) sought reunification with Germany or to create an independent state of Memelland and had

18150-467: The time the German government pressured local Germans to take Lithuanian citizenship so that German presence would remain). There were more Lithuanian speakers in the north of the region (Klaipėdos apskritis and Šilutės apskritis) than in the south (Pagėgių apskritis). Other locals included people of other nationalities who had citizenship in Lithuania, such as Jews . In the 1930s, a novel by local author Ieva Simonaitytė based on family history illustrated

18300-618: The western occupation zones of Germany, by 1948 they had founded 158 schools in the Lithuanian language. Due to the emigration of many Lithuanians overseas and the assimilation of the remaining Prussian Lithuanians in Germany, the number of Lithuanian schools has now dwindled to only one, Litauisches Gymnasium/Vasario 16-osios gimnazija (Lithuanian High School) (in German) in Lampertheim in Hesse . Until 1990, this secondary boarding school

18450-434: The will of Albert, church services for Prussian Lithuanians were held in the Lithuanian language. Although Lithuanians who settled in Prussia were mainly farmers, in the 16th century there was an influx of educated Protestant immigrants from Lithuania, such as Martynas Mažvydas , Abraomas Kulvietis and Stanislovas Rapolionis , who became among the first professors at Königsberg University , founded in 1544. Martynas Mažvydas

18600-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of

18750-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,

18900-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of

19050-480: Was a zealous Protestant and urged citizens to stop all contact between Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a bid to curtail Catholic influence in the country. The Lithuanian-speaking population was dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 53 percent of residents in Lithuania Minor and more than 90 percent of

19200-480: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon

19350-469: Was appointed from local Prussian Lithuanians. This policy led the Prussian Lithuanian intelligentsia and some local Germans to organise a society in 1934 to oppose Lithuanian rule. This group was soon dismantled. Election results in Memel Territory were irritating for the authoritarian Smetona regime, and it attempted to "colonise" Memel Territory with Lithuanians. The Lithuanian settlements Jakai and Smeltė were built. The number of newcomers increased: in 1926

19500-847: Was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region ( German : Memelland ) was attached to Lithuania. The term Preußische Litauer ( Prussian Lithuanians in German) appeared in German texts of the 16th century. The term Kleinlitaw ( Lithuania Minor in German) was first used by Simon Grunau between 1517 and 1527. Prussian Lithuanians used various names for themselves: Prussians (Lithuanian: Prūsai , German: Preusch ), Prussian Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Pruſû Lietuwiai , Pruſû Lietuvininkai , Pruſißki Lietuvininkai , German: Preußische Litauer ), or simply Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Lietuw(i)ni(n)kai , German: Litauer ). Local self-designating terms found in literature, such as Sziszionißkiai ("people from here"), Burai (German: Bauern ), were neither politonyms nor ethnonyms . Another similar term appeared in

19650-441: Was called a repatriation of Germans by the Lithuanian SSR. Today these formerly Lutheran territories are mostly inhabited by Lithuanians who are Catholic and by Orthodox Russians. However, the minority Prussian Lithuanian Protestants historically were concentrated in these regions, and some remain to this day. Only a few thousand are left. Their continued emigration is facilitated by the fact they are considered German citizens by

19800-500: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view

19950-513: Was condemned by relatives, friends and neighbours. Only one Prussian Lithuanian, Dovas Zaunius , worked in the government of Lithuania between World War I and World War II . The antagonism persisted until the end of World War II. The territory where Prussian Lithuanians lived in ancient times was inhabited by the Old Prussian , Skalvian and Curonian tribes. The area between the rivers Alle and Neman became almost uninhabited during

20100-503: Was defended by the German army during the Battle of Memel until 28 January 1945. After its capture, only six people were found in the city. At the end of the war, the majority of the inhabitants had fled to the West to settle in Germany. Still, in 1945–46 there were around 35,000 local inhabitants, both Prussian Lithuanians and Germans. The government of the Lithuanian SSR sent agitators into

20250-606: Was established. Better living conditions in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights attracted many Lithuanians and Samogitians to settle there. Masurians and Curonians began moving into Prussia around the same time. After 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albert became duke of Prussia and converted to Protestantism . Many Prussian Lithuanians also became Protestants. By

20400-472: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on

20550-468: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages

20700-639: Was frequent between the Lutheran Prussian Lithuanians and the Catholic Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy, despite the common language. For example, inhabitants of Lithuania did not trust Prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region and tended to eliminate them from posts in government institutions. When Prussian Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė (Ewa Simoneit) chose the side of the Lithuanian Republic, she

20850-417: Was from East Prussia and reflected the Prussian Lithuanian lifestyle in his works. The first newspaper in the Lithuanian language, Nuſidawimai apie Ewangēliôs Praſiplatinima tarp Źydû ir Pagonû , was published by Prussian Lithuanians. Prior to World War I , the government and political parties financed the Prussian Lithuanian press. The Prussian Lithuanian orthography was based on the German style, while in

21000-463: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c.   400 BC and c.   600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c.   800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of

21150-651: Was met with joy by a majority of inhabitants. About 10,000 refugees, mostly Jews, fled the region. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Prussian Lithuanian activists living in Germany were persecuted. In 1938, Prussian and Lithuanian place names in East Prussia were translated into German or replaced by German names often unrelated to the Lithuanian toponym. For example, Lasdehnen (Lazdynai) became Haselberg , Jodlauken (Juodlaukiai) became Schwalbental, and so on. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis

21300-505: Was needed to be a good peasant: Towns were not large. People who emigrated to the major towns, Königsberg and Memel , usually became bilingual and eventually became Germanized. After World War II, virtually no Prussian Lithuanians remained in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and only a small number survived in the Lithuanian SSR. Their peasant culture, first threatened by Germanization in the German Empire and politically oppressed in

21450-535: Was not closed down until 1940, during World War II. Church services in Tilsit and Ragnit were held in the Lithuanian language until the evacuation of East Prussia in late 1944. The evacuation started late; the Red Army approached much faster than expected and cut off the territorial connection with other German-held territories by January 26, 1945. Many refugees perished due to Soviet low-flying strafing attacks on

21600-713: Was standardized while Prussian Lithuanian orthography remained the same – German Gothic script, a noun was begun with a capital letter, the letters ſ , ß , ʒ were used, and the construction of sentences was different from Lithuanian. Books and newspapers that were published in Lithuania in Roman type were reprinted in Gothic script in Memel Territory in 1923–39. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper [Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis] Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) ( German : Neues Tilsiter Wanderer )

21750-537: Was the only Lithuanian school outside areas controlled by the Soviet Union. It was attended by several well-known exiled Lithuanians, such as the singer Lena Valaitis . Communities of Prussian Lithuanians have developed in Canada , the United States , Sweden and Australia . However, a separate ethnic and cultural identity for Prussian Lithuanians is not as strong as it once was, and cultural differences are gradually vanishing. The Prussian Lithuanians that settled in

21900-493: Was the only place in Lithuania where civil marriage was in use, in the rest of Lithuania only church marriages were legitimized. Thus, Lithuanian opposition to Smetona's regime was also based in Memel Territory. At the start of the 1930s, certain leaders and members of pro-Nazi organizations in the region were put on trial by Lithuania "for crimes of terrorism". The 1934–5 trial of Neumann and Sass in Kaunas can be presented as

22050-453: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . The new letters š and č were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. Varpas , Tėvynės sargas , Ūkininkas ), however sz and cz continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906. Prussian Lithuanians Unlike most Lithuanians, who remained Roman Catholic after

22200-526: Was to remain under the control of the League of Nations until a future date, when the people of these regions would be allowed to vote on whether the land would return to Germany or not. Today, the former Memel Territory is controlled by Lithuania as part of Klaipėda and Tauragė counties. In 1226, Duke Konrad I of Masovia requested assistance against the Prussians and other Baltic tribes , including

22350-629: Was under these conditions that the Seimas was forced to approve the treaty, hoping that Germany would not press any other territorial demands upon Lithuania. Still, the reunion with Germany was welcomed by the majority of the population, both by Germans and by Memelanders. According to the treaty, the citizens of the Memel Territory were allowed to choose their citizenship: either German or Lithuanian. 303 people or, counting family members, 585, asked for Lithuanian citizenship but only 20 requests were granted. Another term stated that persons who had settled in

22500-677: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside

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