126-511: The Ostflucht ( German: [ˈɔstflʊxt] ; "flight from the East") was the migration of Germans, in the later 19th century and early 20th century, from areas which were then eastern parts of Germany to more industrialized regions in central and western Germany. The migrants originated in East Prussia , West Prussia , Silesia , Pomerania and Posen ; they moved to provinces along
252-464: A Danish fleet led by Roskilde archbishop Absalon sacked Rügen . The Arkona temple was sieged and destroyed. After this main temple's fall, Rügen's capitol Charenza ( Venzer Burgwall ) capitulated, all other temples were given to the Danes for destruction and Jaromar I, Prince of Rügen became a Danish vassal. The Rani then converted to Christianity. From Rügen, which still had a strong navy and army,
378-596: A German majority (the Posen–West Prussia Border March, Lauenburg and Bütow Land , the southern and western rim of East Prussia , Ermland , Western Upper Silesia , and the part of Lower Silesia east of the Oder ), or mixed German– Czech with a German majority ( Glatz ). Virtually the entire German population of the territories that did not flee voluntarily in the face of the Red Army advance of 1945 ,
504-404: A further complication, the borders of the eponymous administrative units have been drawn disregarding mostly the historical ones. The Polish unit called województwo zachodniopomorskie ( West Pomeranian Voivodeship ) includes the whole Polish part of Hither Pomerania, but only the western two-thirds of Farther Pomerania, with the remaining easternmost one-third ( Słupsk , Ustka , Miastko ) forming
630-577: A kingdom. Subsequently, it entered into an alliance with Austria and Russia, invading Polish territories of Royal Prussia in the First Partition of Poland (1772), with Warmia being made part of the newly formed province of East Prussia in 1773. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, a minor part around Soldau was transferred to Poland, the Klaipėda Region formed a free city supervised by
756-615: A massive campaign of renaming of thousands of placenames , to remove traces of Polish, Lithuanian and Old Prussian origin. Germany invaded Poland without a declaration of war on 1 September 1939, heralding the start of the Second World War . The Third Reich annexed the Polish lands included the former Prussian Partition , comprising Pomerelia (the " Polish Corridor "), Chełmno Land , Greater Poland proper, Kuyavia , Łęczyca Land , Sieradz Land , Northern Masovia , as well as
882-777: A migration process known as the Ostsiedlung , and the Hanseatic League dominated the shores of the Baltic Sea . In Pomerania, Brandenburg , East Prussia , Lusatia , Kłodzko Land and Lower Silesia , the former West Slav ( Bohemians , Polabian Slavs and Poles ) or Baltic population became minorities in the course of the following centuries, but substantial numbers of them remained in areas such as Upper Silesia . In Greater Poland and in Eastern Pomerania ( Pomerelia ), German settlers always remained
1008-862: A minority. Some of the territories, such as Pomerelia and Masovia, reunited with Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries. Silesia, Lubusz Land and Lusatia (as parts of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown ) and the Duchy of Pomerania became more firmly incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire . In the course of the Partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire acquired vast territorial shares of
1134-480: A part of the neighbouring województwo pomorskie ( Pomeranian Voivodeship ). On the other hand, it stretches far more south than the historical region, to include the northern part of the historical Neumark ( Dębno , Chojna , Trzcińsko-Zdrój , Myślibórz , Nowogródek Pomorski , Lipiany , Barlinek , Pełczyce , Suchań , Choszczno , Recz , Drawno ), as well as a strip the historical Greater Poland ( Tuczno , Człopa , Mirosławiec , Wałcz , Czaplinek ), or even
1260-668: A political ultimatum caused a Lithuanian delegation to travel to Berlin, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšys and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Treaty of the Cession of the Memel Territory to Germany in exchange for a Lithuanian Free Zone in the port of Memel that used the facilities erected in the previous years. In the interwar period , the German administration, both Weimar and Nazi, conducted
1386-583: A replacement for the dissolved Holy Roman Empire the German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund), an association of 39 German-speaking states in Central Europe under the nominal leadership of the Austrian Empire . Its boundaries largely followed the ones of its predecessor, the Holy Roman Empire , defining the territory of Germany for much of the 19th century and confirming Pomerania , East Brandenburg and Silesia as its parts. On
SECTION 10
#17327661901531512-622: A result of his study of the Ostflucht and of methods of combatting it, carried out on behalf of the Verein für Socialpolitik . This German history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Polish history –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Former eastern territories of Germany In present-day Germany, the former eastern territories of Germany ( German : ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete ) refer to those territories east of
1638-673: A separate realm and becoming a part of the Habsburg monarchy in the aftermath of the Bohemian Revolt 's defeat in the Battle of White Mountain . After losing the 18th-century Silesian Wars , the Habsburg monarchy was forced to cede most of the region to the Kingdom of Prussia in the treaties of Breslau and of Berlin , retaining only Austrian Silesia . The ceded lands also included the (sometimes considered Moravian ) territories of
1764-563: A small area of Hither Pomerania including Szczecin – the region's principal city – and Świnoujście was transferred along with Farther Pomerania to Poland, and formed part of the Szczecin Voivodeship . The bulk of Vorpommern became part of the newly constituted Land (state) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern . The word "Vorpommern" was deleted from the state's name at the insistence of the Soviet military administration in 1947 and
1890-480: A small part of Pomerelia ( Biały Bór ). As a consequence, the common understanding of the term West Pomerania has recently started to shift towards this current administrative extent. Similarly, borders of the German districts Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald deviate from the historical ones in numerous locations. The name Pomorze Przednie , Przedpomorze – corresponding to Hither/Fore Pomerania German: Vorpommern –
2016-408: Is an administrative entity subordinate only to the state level. Consideration was given during an unsuccessful district reform project in 1994 to restoring the old boundary, but this was not implemented. The Ribnitz, Marlow and Fischland area of Vorpommern-Rügen were historically part of Mecklenburg. The old western boundary line was preserved in the division between the two Protestant church bodies of
2142-518: Is nowadays used in Polish almost exclusively when referring to the part located in Germany, while its usage in the full (historical German) meaning is limited to exact translations of German texts. It is also referred to as Pomorze Wołogoskie (Wolgast Pomerania). The major feature of Western Pomerania is its long Baltic Sea and lagoons coastline. Typical is a distinct "double coast", whereby offshore islands separate lagoons (so-called bodden ) from
2268-659: Is the method which, in so far as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble. A clean sweep will be made. The problem with the status of these territories was that the Potsdam Agreement was not a legally binding treaty , but a memorandum between the USSR, the US and the UK (to which neither France, nor Germany or Poland were party). It regulated
2394-438: Is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania , located mostly in north-eastern Germany , with a small portion in north-western Poland , at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea . Western Pomerania's boundaries have changed through the centuries as it belonged to various countries such as the Duchy of Pomerania (later part of the Holy Roman Empire ), Denmark, Sweden, as well as Prussia which incorporated it as
2520-635: The Cold War , had been indefinitely postponed; however, West Germany in 1972 recognised the Oder–Neisse line as the western boundary of Poland when the 1970 Treaty of Warsaw between West Germany and Poland took effect; and in 1973, the Federal Constitutional Court acknowledged the capability of East Germany to negotiate the Treaty of Zgorzelec as an international agreement binding as a legal definition of its boundaries. In signing
2646-612: The Duchies of Silesia to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown . Ecclesiastically, the Diocese of Wrocław covering Silesia remained a suffragan of the Polish Archdiocese of Gniezno until becoming exempt in 1821. The first German colonists arrived in the late 12th century, and large-scale German settlement started in the early 13th century during the reign of Henry I . New forms of agriculture, technology and law brought in by
SECTION 20
#17327661901532772-910: The Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg and the Pomeranian Evangelical Church prior to their absorption into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany . The Polish part encompasses the cities with powiat rights of Szczecin and Świnoujscie, the entire Police County , Gmina Goleniów in Goleniów County , as well as the part of Kamień County located on the island of Wolin ( Gmina Międzyzdroje , western part of Gmina Wolin and western part of Gmina Dziwnów ). There are four cities in
2898-733: The Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula and the islands of Hiddensee , Rügen , Usedom and Wolin . The old Hanseatic towns are also popular tourist destinations due to their brick gothic medieval architecture , downtown Stralsund is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Stralsund, Greifswald and Wolgast also have a shipyard industry, the Volkswerft in Stralsund and the Peenewerft in Wolgast produce large ships, while
3024-635: The HanseYachts shipyard in Greifswald is specialized in building yachts . In Mukran near Sassnitz on Rügen, there is an international ferry terminal linking Western Pomerania to Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and other oversee countries. An industrial complex northeast of Lubmin near Greifswald includes a shut-down nuclear power plant which is being deconstructed, and the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline which come ashore at this site. In Greifswald,
3150-622: The Helsinki Final Act in 1975, both West Germany and East Germany recognised the existing boundaries of post-war Europe, including the Oder–Neisse line, as valid in international law. In 1990, as part of the reunification of Germany , both German countries accepted clauses in the peace treaty with the four countries representing the Allies ( Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany ) to replace
3276-501: The Kingdom of Prussia . Through 1907, 2,300,000 people emigrated from Prussia's eastern provinces ( Pomerania , West Prussia , East Prussia , Posen , and Silesia ), while only 358,000 migrated into these provinces. Among the emigrants were 600,000 Poles. This loss of workforce hit farms, which made up for this by calling in seasonal workers from further east. Berlin and Brandenburg in the same time gained 1,200,000 inhabitants, while
3402-952: The Late Middle Ages . The northern part of East Prussia was annexed by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic as the Kaliningrad Oblast , now forming a Russian exclave . The post-war border between Germany and Poland along the Oder–Neisse line was defined in August 1945 by the Potsdam Agreement of the leaders of the three main Allies of World War II , the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and
3528-620: The League of Nations , albeit bound in some aspects by an imposed union with Poland. However, in areas such as Upper Silesia , no clear division between the mostly bilingual population was possible. After a first plebiscite, Upper Silesia was to stay part of Germany's territory. However, after the Silesian Uprisings , the area was divided in accord with the German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia . The parts of
3654-557: The League of Nations , annexed following the Klaipėda Revolt by Lithuania but reclaimed by Germany in 1938, while the bulk (including entire Warmia and Masuria) remained a part of Germany, following the East Prussian plebiscite , and became enlarged by the addition of the formerly West Prussian Malbork Land . In the Potsdam Agreement the description of the territories transferred is "The former German territories east of
3780-630: The Munich agreement . However, as distinct from other lost Czechoslovakian domains, it was not attached to Sudetengau (the administrative region covering the Sudetenland ) but to Prussia ( Upper Silesia ). By late 1938, Lithuania had lost control over the situation in the Memel Territory , which had been annexed by Lithuania in the Klaipėda putsch . In the early hours of 23 March 1939, after
3906-534: The Oder–Neisse line ", and permutations on this description are the most commonly used to describe any former territories of interwar Germany east of the Oder–Neisse line. The term has sometimes been confused with the name East Germany , a political term, used to be the common colloquial English name for the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and mirrored the common colloquial English term for
Ostflucht - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-838: The Ossolineum and the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów were both relocated to Wrocław , the former Breslau. The territories acquired by Poland after World War II are known there as the Recovered Territories . The territories Poland annexed had been ruled as part of Poland by the Piast dynasty in the High Middle Ages , with the exception of southern East Prussia , which originally was inhabited by Old Prussians and came under Polish suzerainty in
4158-895: The Pane (Peene) River, the Redarians around the temple of Rethra , the Wollinians on the isle of Wolin , the Tollensians around the Tollense River and the Ukrainians around the Uecker River in the Uckermark . The collective term Liutizians also covers some of these tribes, as they allied in the late 10th century to secure their sovereignty. The Lutician alliances headquarters were at Rethra, where delegates from
4284-610: The Potsdam Agreement , whereby Germany renounced all claims to territory outside East and West Germany. As the result of this treaty, Germany's recognition of the Oder–Neisse line as the border was formalised by the re-united Germany in the German–Polish Border Treaty on 14 November 1990 and by the repeal of Article 23 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany under which German states outside
4410-430: The Potsdam Conference , held from 17 July until 2 August 1945, placed all of the areas east of the Oder–Neisse line, whether recognised by the international community as part of Germany until 1939 or occupied by Germany during World War II, under the jurisdiction of other countries, pending a final Peace Conference. The Allies also agreed that: XII. Orderly transfer of German populations. The Three Governments [of
4536-662: The Province of Pomerania . Today, the region embraces the whole area of Pomerania west of the Oder River , small bridgeheads east of the river, as well as the islands in the Szczecin Lagoon . Its majority forms part of Germany and has been divided between the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg , with the cities of Stralsund and Greifswald , as well as towns such as Ribnitz-Damgarten (Damgarten only), Bergen auf Rügen ( Rügen Island), Anklam , Wolgast , Demmin , Pasewalk , Grimmen , Sassnitz (Rügen Island), Ueckermünde , Torgelow , Barth , and Gartz . The cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście , as well as
4662-552: The Rhine and Ruhr rivers. Most of the migrants were ethnic Germans, but many migrants to the Ruhr were of Polish ethnicity, later known as Ruhrpolen . The United States , which had been the major destination of emigrants from the German East, lost much of its attraction with the closing of the American frontier and the end of large-scale land runs in the 1890s. At the same time, the Ruhr area prospered, leading to high demand for labor, especially in coal mining and heavy industries. This led to an East-to-West migration within
4788-508: The Ruhr area and surrounding provinces ( Westphalia and Palatinate ) gained 640,000 people. At the same time, increased immigration into the eastern German regions by Poles from western Russia caused imbalances and upheavals there, especially in Upper Silesia . The emigration of Germans, and the higher Polish birth rate in the eastern provinces caused concern among German nationalists. This led to some special measures: The sociologist Max Weber first came to public attention in Germany as
4914-417: The Second Peace of Thorn (1466), Warmia and the Malbork Land (comprising northern parts of Pomesania and Pogesania ) became subject to the Polish Crown as a part of Royal Prussia , a region initially holding considerable autonomy and continuing to use the German language as official, but ultimately becoming fully integrated with the Crown of Poland upon conclusion of the Union of Lublin . Masuria and
5040-443: The Silesian duke Bolesław II Rogatka sold it to the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg in 1249. Brandenburg also acquired the castellany of Santok from Duke Przemysł I of Greater Poland and made it the nucleus of its Neumark ("New March") region. The Bishopric of Lebus remained a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Gniezno until 1424, when it passed under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg . The Lubusz Land
5166-429: The Teutonic Knights in the 13th and 14th centuries. Under the Teutonic Order, the region's towns were founded, woodlands were cleared and marshlands made arable to be settled by colonists, predominantly from German-speaking areas but also from neighboring Polish and Lithuanian lands. The area became predominantly German during the Ostsiedlung , either almost exclusively ( Sambia , Natangia , and Bartia together forming
Ostflucht - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-501: The University of Greifswald runs several institutions and the major hospitals of the region. Also, Greifswald is the site of innovative scientific research, like the Wendelstein physics research center and biotechnology enterprises, most notably the federal Friedrich Loeffler Institute for animal diseases like BSE . Away from the coastal tourist resorts, the rural areas of Western Pomerania have often maintained an agricultural character. A study published on 18 May 2009 revealed that
5418-421: The fragmentation of Poland after the death of Polish ruler Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1138. The Dukes of Pomerania then became independent, and later were vassals of the Duchy of Saxony from 1164 to 1181, of the Holy Roman Empire from 1181 to 1185, of Denmark from 1185 to 1227 and finally, from 1227 on, were under the Holy Roman Empire (including periods of vassalage to the Margraves of Brandenburg ). By
5544-408: The 12th century and 13th century, Western Pomerania changed from a pagan and Slavic to a Christian and German country ( Ostsiedlung ). The Slavs ( Wends ) were first excluded from the villages and privileges of the German settlers. They later merged with the German majority. Western Pomerania then was part of the Duchy of Pomerania , the areas north of the Peene River ( Principality of Rugia ) joined
5670-417: The 5th century. By the 6th and 7th century, West Slavic people populated the region. If they met a substantial Rugian population and whether and/or how these were assimilated by the Slavs is not known. The Slavic inhabitants, also referred to as part of the Wilzen/ Veleti , diverged into several small tribes, listed from Northwest to Southeast: The Rujanes or Rani around Rügen , the Circipanes around
5796-427: The Confederation (a failed attempt to include these lands in the German Empire (1848–49) was undertaken by the Frankfurt Parliament ), as did the Austrian-held partition of Poland (the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria ), Transleithania , as well as the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland and the French region of Alsace. In the following years, Prussia superseded Austria in the role of the primary driving force of
5922-415: The Consulate of Poland, arrested by the Gestapo . During the war, Germany operated the Stalag II-C, Stalag 322, Stalag Luft I and Stalag Luft II prisoner-of-war camps for British, American, French , Belgian, Serbian and Soviet POWs with numerous forced labour subcamps in the region. The Polish resistance movement was active in Szczecin and conducted espionage of the Kriegsmarine , infiltrated
6048-431: The Danish put pressure on Pomerania. Bogislaw I duke of Pomerania made his duchy a part of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in 1181, after he had allied with Henry the Lion since 1164. But the new alliance did not prevent the Danes from successfully raiding and in 1186 conquering all of Pomerania. Danish rule ended when in 1227 the Danish navy was defeated in Bornhöved by the Germans, Pomerania except for Rügen (until 1345 with
6174-423: The Duchies of Troppau and of Krnov north of the Opava river, as well as the strategically important Kłodzko Land, a part of the core territory of the Kingdom of Bohemia. As the result of the peaceful influx of German -speakers, Lusatia, Silesia and the Kłodzko Land became predominantly German-speaking. Czech continued to be spoken in parts of Austrian Silesia, in the Hlučín Region of Upper Silesia and in
6300-440: The Federal Republic could formerly have declared their accession. Germany went from a territory of 468,787 km before the 1938 annexation of Austria to 357,022 km after the 1990 reunification of Germany, a loss of 24%. Despite its acquisition of the formerly German territory, the war also saw Poland's territory reduced by about 20% overall because of its losses in the east to the Soviets. Farther Pomerania comprised
6426-441: The German settlers, took root in the region, also benefiting the Slavic population. By the late 14th century, 130 towns and 1300 villages had adopted German law . Silesian cities such as Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg), Lwówek Śląski (Löwenberg) and Złotoryja (Goldberg) had typical architecture, being centered around a central square, the ring, which became known in Polish as rynek . German craftsmen and miners also started settling
SECTION 50
#17327661901536552-411: The German state, and control over the borderlands would shift back and forth between the two polities over the centuries to come. Mieszko's son and successor, king Bolesław I Chrobry , upon the 1018 Peace of Bautzen expanded the southern part of the realm but lost control over the lands of Western Pomerania on the Baltic coast. After pagan revolts and a Bohemian invasion in the 1030s, Duke Casimir I
6678-405: The Kłodzko Land were contested between Bohemia and Poland. Several independent duchies formed, and eventually some attached themselves to the Kingdom of Bohemia , an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire , while the Kłodzko Land became a constituent part of the kingdom itself. In the 14th century, the Treaty of Namysłów had King Casimir III the Great give up all Polish claims to Silesia and ceded
6804-414: The Peene River and Wolin , which is assumed to be identical with Vineta and Jomsborg . Important pagan temple sites were Arkona and Rethra. Other local strongholds were Dimin ( Demmin ) in the Circipan and Stetin ( Szczecin ) in the Pomeranian area. At the beginning of the second millennium, western Pomeranian tribes were surrounded by the expanding states of Denmark in the North, Piast Poland in
6930-411: The Poles had been expelled. The remainder of Polish territory was annexed by the Soviet Union (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact ) or made into the German-controlled General Government occupation zone. After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, the district of Białystok , which included the Białystok , Bielsk Podlaski , Grajewo , Łomża , Sokółka , Volkovysk and Grodno counties,
7056-422: The Polish districts of the region had a population of about 520,000 in 2012 (cities of Szczecin , Świnoujście and Police County combined). So overall, about 1 million people live in the historical region of Western Pomerania today. The German prefix Vor- denotes a location closer to the speaker, and is the equivalent of " Fore "/" Front "/" Hither " in English and Anterior / Citerior / Cis- in Latin (with
7182-472: The Pomeranian duke, who appointed the castellans . These castellanies were converted from their pagan to Christian religion in Usedom , 1128. Except for the Rani living North of the Ryck River and Demmin , all western Pomeranian territories had become united and Christian. Wartislaw's dependency on Poland loosened in the following years and, in 1135 with the death of Polish king Boleslaw III , Wartislaw's duchy regained independence. About ten years later, he
7308-506: The Potsdam protocols, without German agreement to an Oder–Neisse line boundary there could be no Peace Treaty and no German Reunification. The debate affected Cold War politics and diplomacy and played an important role in the negotiations leading up to the reunification of Germany in 1990. Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania , also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania , Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania ( German : Vorpommern ; Polish : Pomorze Przednie ),
7434-415: The Restorer (reigned 1040–1058) again united most of the former Piast realm, including Silesia and Lubusz Land , on both sides of the middle Oder River but without Western Pomerania, which returned to of the Polish state only under Bolesław III Wrymouth from 1116 to 1121, when the noble House of Griffins established the Duchy of Pomerania . On Bolesław's death in 1138, Poland was for almost 200 years
7560-434: The Southeast and the German Holy Roman Empire in the Southwest. While the eastward expansion of the latter could be halted for some time by a Slavic uprising of the Southern ( Heveller ) and Western ( Obotrites ) neighbors of the western Pomeranian tribes, which even was supported by the Liutizian alliance, the Pomeranians East of the Oder River were conquered by the Polish state in the late 10th century and remained vassals of
7686-421: The Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain], having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner. because in the words of Winston Churchill Expulsion
SECTION 60
#17327661901537812-447: The United States; and was formally recognized by East Germany in 1950, by the Treaty of Zgorzelec , under pressure from Stalin . In 1952, recognition of the Oder–Neisse line as a permanent boundary was one of Stalin's conditions for the Soviet Union to agree to a reunification of Germany (see Stalin Note ). The offer was rejected by Konrad Adenauer , Chancellor of West Germany , at least in part because one of Stalin's other conditions
7938-425: The annexed areas of Poland into administrative units: The territories had an area of 94,000 km and a population of 10,000,000. Throughout the war, the annexed Polish territories were subject to German colonisation. Because of the lack of settlers from Germany itself, the colonists were primarily ethnic Germans relocated from other parts of Eastern Europe. The ethnic Germans were then resettled in homes from which
8064-400: The area. In contrast the Polish-speaking parts of Lower and Middle Silesia, commonly described until the late 19th century as the Polish side , were mostly Germanised in the 18th and 19th centuries, except for a few patches and a larger area along the northeastern frontier. Originally inhabited mainly by the pagan Old Prussians , the regions were conquered and incorporated into the state of
8190-404: The central part of the region), mixed German- Lithuanian (the North-Eastern part called Lithuania Minor including Sudovia , Nadrovia and Scalovia ), or mixed German – Polish ( Masurians , Warmiacy ) comprising the southern ( Sasna and Galindia , together forming Masuria ) and western ( Warmia , Pomesania , and Pogesania , the latter two together forming Powiśle ) rim of the region. By
8316-417: The city of Szczecin , consisting mostly of large housing estates , thus having along with the resort locality of Trzebież a semi-urban character, in spite of neither holding town rights nor being seats of a municipality, and despite being several-fold more populated than the seats of the respective municipalities that they are parts of. You can sort this complete table of cities and towns by clicking one of
8442-474: The corresponding antonyms in German, English and Latin being Hinter- , " Hinder "/" Rear "/" Farther " and Posterior / Ulterior / Trans- , respectively). Historically the name "Hither Pomerania" has been used, but in modern English the German region is more commonly called "Western Pomerania" or by its native name. The formerly widespread local dialect term is Low German : Vörpommern . The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po more , which means "land by
8568-604: The current eastern border of Germany , i.e. the Oder–Neisse line , which historically had been considered German and which were annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union after World War II . In contrast to the lands awarded to the restored Polish state by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I , the German territories lost with the post-World War II Potsdam Agreement were either almost exclusively inhabited by Germans before 1945 (the bulk of East Prussia , Lower Silesia , Farther Pomerania , and parts of Western Pomerania , Lusatia , and Neumark ), mixed German– Polish with
8694-400: The demised Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . During the Napoleonic era the Greater Polish territories and the Chełmno Land formed part of the Duchy of Warsaw following the Treaties of Tilsit , and Danzig was granted a status of a Free City . However, after the Congress of Vienna , the Polish duchy was again partitioned between Russia and Prussia. The Congress of Vienna established as
8820-505: The duchy in 1325. From that time onwards, the region shares a common history with Farther Pomerania . Pomerania came under Swedish military control in 1630 during the Thirty Years' War . Swedish sovereignty over Vorpommern, including Stettin, was confirmed by the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Treaty of Stettin (1653) , and from that time onwards much of the region formed Swedish Pomerania . Possession of this region remained an issue of conflict in European politics and Swedish rule
8946-426: The dynasty of Piasts until 1007, had to pay tribute to the Poles after 1042, and were conquered again in 1121. In spite of his surrender or even with military help from the succeeding Poles, the Pomeranian duke Wartislaw I of the House of Griffins successfully started conquering the areas west of his burgh in Szczecin the years after 1121. These lands were considerably weakened by previous warfare: The coast
9072-508: The eastern Hohenzollern-ruled territories with a predominantly Polish population (especially the formerly Polish territories of Posen and West Prussia) increasingly became a target of aggressive Germanisation efforts , German settlement, anti-Catholic campaigns ( Kulturkampf ), as well as disfranchisement and expropriations of Poles, and finally annexed following the North German Confederation Treaty (1866). At
9198-538: The eastern part of the Prussian Province of Pomerania . It stretched roughly from the Oder River in the west to Pomerelia in the east, and roughly corresponds to today's Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship . Along with Farther Pomerania, a small area of Western Pomerania including Stettin (now Szczecin ) and Swinemünde (now Świnoujście ) was transferred to Poland in 1945. The Pomeranian parts of
9324-476: The eastern territories with a predominantly or almost exclusively German population (East Brandenburg, East Prussia, Hither and Farther Pomerania, and the bulk of Silesia ) remained with Germany. The historically Polish and strategically vital for Poland but predominantly German-speaking city of Danzig formed henceforth with its surrounding areas the Free City of Danzig , a self-governing territory supervised by
9450-677: The end of the Middle Ages , because of an influx of Germanic settlers, the assimilation of the Slavic population, the introduction of German town law , the influence of Germanic customs, and the trade of the Hanse , the area had been largely Germanized . Following the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Farther Pomerania became part of Brandenburg–Prussia . In 1772 the Lauenburg and Bütow Land and
9576-670: The end of the war. The precise location of the border was left open, and the western Allies also accepted in general the principles of the Oder River being the future western border of Poland and of population transfer being the way to prevent future border disputes. The open questions were whether the border should follow the Eastern or Lusatian Neisse rivers and whether Stettin , the traditional seaport of Berlin , should remain in Germany or be included in Poland. Originally, Germany
9702-453: The entire state of Mecklenburg was abolished by East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR) in 1952. The Pomeranian districts were made part of the GDR's Bezirk Rostock (coastal region) and Bezirk Neubrandenburg , with a small area around Gartz becoming part of Bezirk Frankfurt/Oder . The 1945–1952 state was reconstituted, with minor border adjustments, as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at
9828-785: The former Starostwo of Draheim were annexed by the King in Prussia and integrated into the Province of Pomerania of the Kingdom of Prussia , though not into the Holy Roman Empire, and did not become part of Germany until being included in the German Confederation in 1815. After the Napoleonic Wars , Swedish Pomerania was merged into the Prussian province in 1815, both now constituting the Province of Pomerania . In 1938,
9954-491: The former eastern territories of Germany had been under Polish rule several times from the late 10th century on, when Mieszko I acquired at least significant parts of them. Mieszko's son Bolesław I established a bishopric in the Kołobrzeg area in 1000–1005–07, before the area was lost by Poland again to pagan Slavic tribes. The Duchy of Pomerania was established as a vassal state of Poland in 1121, which it remained until
10080-559: The former province of Posen and of West Prussia that were not restored as part of the Second Polish Republic were administered as Grenzmark Posen-Westpreußen (the German Province of Posen–West Prussia) until 1939. The defeat of Germany and the imposed terms of peace left a sense of injustice among the population. The subsequent interwar economic crisis acted as a fertile ground for irredentist claims that
10206-486: The historic post-war German Democratic Republic, and its counterpart five successor states in the current reunited Germany . However, because people and institutions in the states traditionally considered as Middle Germany , like the three southern new states Saxony-Anhalt , the Free State of Saxony and the Free State of Thuringia , still use the term Middle Germany when referring to their area and its institutions,
10332-633: The independent allied tribes held their meetings. Whether or not the Rani were part of the Veleti or later the Lutizians is disputed. The Slavic tribes referred to as Pomeranians settled east of the Oder River. In this era, large mixed Slavic and Scandinavian settlements were built at the natural havens of the bay-rich coast, the most important of which were Ralswiek (Rügen), Altes Lager Menzlin at
10458-468: The international recognition of the Polish government-in-exile, which had been evacuated in 1939. The conference agreed that the Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line and that Poland would receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany, but the exact border was to be determined later. A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up to decide whether Germany
10584-519: The issue of the eastern German border, which was confirmed as being along the Oder–Neisse line, but the final article of the memorandum said that the final decisions concerning Germany, and hence the detailed alignment of Germany's eastern boundaries, would be subject to a separate peace treaty; at which the three Allied signatories committed themselves to respect the terms of the Potsdam memorandum. Hence, so long as these Allied Powers remained committed to
10710-518: The last Rugian duke's death) fell to the HRE. The Rügen and Pomerania dukes called in many German settlers and aristocrats to resettle parts of their duchies devastated in the wars before and to settle new areas by turning woodland into fields. Settlers came from North German Lower Saxony. Some settlers from the Harz mountains in central Germany settled near Stettin. Cities and monasteries were founded. Between
10836-445: The latter of them covering the area known as Dreikaiserbäder (three emperors baths) consisting of the former municipalities of Ahlbeck , Bansin and Heringsdorf. Towns in the Polish part include Police , Goleniów , Wolin , Międzyzdroje , Nowe Warpno , and the left-bank part of Dziwnów . In addition, the highly populated villages of Mierzyn , Przecław , Warzymice and Bezrzecze constitute in fact direct residential extensions of
10962-433: The local German industry, distributed underground Polish press, and facilitated escapes of Polish and British POWs who fled from German POW camps via the city's port to neutral Sweden (see also: Poland–Sweden relations ). In the final stages of the war, in 1945, German-perpetrated death marches of Allied POWs from Stalag XX-B and Stalag Luft IV passed through the region. At the end of World War II in 1945,
11088-681: The main ethnic groups of three of the western republics of the Soviet Union – and many towns that were primarily inhabited by Poles and Jews. The Jewish communities in this region were mostly exterminated in the Holocaust and the Polish communities were mostly expelled to the restored Polish state after World War II, the communist ruled Polish People's Republic . Poles from the northern part of Kresy were primarily resettled in Pomerania and Poles from Galicia were primarily resettled in Silesia , e.g.
11214-528: The narrower sense, the designation may also refer to the western part of the area only, alternatively called for precision Pomorze Szczecińskie ( Szczecin Pomerania), encompassing the entire German Pomerania combined with the Polish part of the historical Middle Pomerania up to Rega . In such case, the remainder of Farther Pomerania is called Pomorze Środkowe ( contemporary Middle Pomerania ) or Pomorze Koszalińsko-Słupskie (Koszalin-Słupsk Pomerania). As
11340-493: The nearby mainland, roughly matching the administrative districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald , though those districts' boundaries with Mecklenburg proper do not match the pre-1945 demarcation. The region is mentioned in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state constitution as one of the two constituting regions of the state with the right to form a Landschaftsverband , which
11466-489: The northern part of the dissolved Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia became part of the province. At the turn of the 20th century, the total population of the province of almost 1.7 million inhabitants had a Polish-speaking minority of less than 1%. The medieval Lubusz Land , on both sides of the Oder River up to the Spree in the west, including Lubusz ( Lebus ) itself, also formed part of Mieszko's realm. Poland lost Lubusz when
11592-559: The open sea, forming a unique landscape. The islands Kirr , Hiddensee , Ummanz , Dänholm , Rügen , Öhe , Riems , Vilm , Greifswalder Oie , Usedom , Karsibór and Wolin , as well as the islands of the city of Szczecin are located in Western Pomerania. The largest city in Western Pomerania is Szczecin on the Polish side and Stralsund on the German side. Today it is still an important town economically. The towns of Stralsund and Greifswald together, after Rostock, are
11718-524: The other German state of West Germany . When focusing on the period before World War II, "eastern Germany" is used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe ( East Elbia ), as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt , but because of the border changes in the 20th century, after World War II the term "East Germany" and eastern Germany in English has meant
11844-544: The other hand, the remaining parts of the lands ruled by the House of Hohenzollern which were not included in the Holy Roman Empire, namely the German-speaking Prussian nucleus ( East Prussia ), and the newly acquired predominantly Polish- or Kashubian-speaking territorial share of the collapsed and dismembered Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ( Grand Duchy of Posen and West Prussia ), continued as external to
11970-639: The parts of Upper Silesia located in Poland, including the former Czechoslovak part of Cieszyn Silesia annexed by Poland in 1938. The Senate of the Free City of Danzig , elected by the Volkstag already also dominated by the Nazi Party at that time, voted to become a part of Germany again, but Poles and Jews were deprived of their voting rights and all non- Nazi political parties were banned. Two decrees by Adolf Hitler (8 and 12 October 1939) divided
12096-533: The region's mountainous areas. The Bohemian Lands were under the rule of the House of Jagiellon in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary until the Battle of Mohács in 1526. Afterwards, they were ruled in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary and the Archduchy of Austria by the Holy Roman Emperors of the House of Habsburg , finally ceasing de facto (but not de jure ) to exist as
12222-399: The region, namely Szczecin and Świnoujście on the Polish side, as well as Stralsund and Greifswald on the German side of the border. Major towns in the German part of the region include Bergen auf Rügen , Demmin , Anklam , Wolgast and Pasewalk . The municipalities of Binz , Zingst , Zinnowitz and Heringsdorf do not have town rights, but are in fact semi-urban localities, with
12348-473: The restoration of German unity and secured this position by abolishing the German Confederation in the Peace of Prague . Austria was in turn transformed into poly-ethnic Austria-Hungary , abstained from further German unification efforts and abandoned forced Germanization. Thus, the planned German unification was to be accomplished in the Lesser German solution version. With rise of nationalism ,
12474-462: The sea". The adjective for the region is (Western) Pomeranian (German: pommersch , Polish : pomorski ), inhabitants are called (Western) Pomeranians (German: Pommern , Polish: Pomorzanie ). The Polish names for the historical region, Pomorze Zachodnie (Western Pomerania) or Pomorze Nadodrzańskie ( Oder Pomerania), have usually been applied to the entire narrower Pomerania, including Farther Pomerania , but excluding Pomerelia . In
12600-542: The second largest centres of population in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In addition the region has the highest population density of the four planning regions in the state. Western Pomerania has several national parks: Another region in Western Pomerania under extensive conservation protection is the Peene Valley . German Vorpommern is understood today as comprising the islands of Rügen and Usedom and
12726-723: The southern part of Pomesania and Pogesania stayed part of the rump Teutonic state (called thereafter Monastic Prussia or Teutonic Prussia ) which became a German fief of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , finally secularised in 1525 to become the Ducal Prussia . The latter later emancipated, taking advantage of the Russo-Swedish Deluge , and merged with the Electorate of Brandenburg to form Brandenburg–Prussia, shortly thereafter becoming
12852-675: The southernmost fragment ( Amt Gartz (Oder) ) remains part of the Uckermark district within Brandenburg . In 2012, the Pomeranian Evangelical Church merged with the Mecklenburgian and Northalbingian Evangelical Churches. Since the administrative reform of 1999, the Polish part is located within the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and encompasses the cities with powiat rights Szczecin and Świnoujście ,
12978-531: The spread of the Christian faith. In 1124, he invited Otto von Bamberg to mission in his duchy east of the Oder River. By 1128, Wartislaw I had expanded his duchy west to the County of Gützkow and Circipania and south to the Uckermark . He invited Otto von Bamberg again to mission in these pagan areas West of the Oder River, too. The former Liutizian principalities were turned into castellanies subordinate to
13104-560: The term Ostdeutschland is still ambiguous. As various Germanic tribes had left present-day Poland and East Germany, West Slavic tribes moved to these places from the 6th century onward. Duke Mieszko I of the Polans , from his stronghold in the Gniezno area, united various neighboring tribes in the second half of the 10th century, formed the first Polish state and became the first historically recorded Piast duke. His realm bordered
13230-652: The territory ceded to Poland, Czechoslovakia and Lithuania in 1919–1922 should be returned to Germany, which paved the way for the Nazi takeover of the government . In October 1938 Hlučín Area ( Hlučínsko in Czech, Hultschiner Ländchen in German) of Moravian-Silesian Region , which had been ceded to Czechoslovakia under the Treaty of Versailles, was annexed by the Third Reich as a part of areas lost by Czechoslovakia under
13356-561: The territory of the German Democratic Republic. In German, only one corresponding term Ostdeutschland exists, meaning both East Germany and Eastern Germany. The rather ambiguous German term never gained as widespread use for the GDR during its existence, as did the English designation, or the derived demonym Ossi (Eastie), and only following the German reunification has it started to be commonly used to denote both
13482-562: The three Partitions of Poland and had been part of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the German Empire for the 100 years of the non-existence of Polish state. The territories retroceded to Poland in 1919 were those with a Polish majority, such as Greater Poland , as well as Pomerelia , historically the part of Poland providing its access to the sea. Restoration of Pomerelia to Poland meant the loss of Germany's territorial contiguousness to East Prussia making it an exclave . Most of
13608-568: The time of German Unification in 1871, the Kingdom of Prussia was the largest and dominant part of the North German Confederation , the predecessor of the newly formed German Empire . The Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which ended the war, restored the independence of Poland, known as the Second Polish Republic , and Germany was compelled to cede territories to it, most of which were taken by Prussia in
13734-501: The time of German reunification in 1990. Vorpommern is a constitutional region of the state, yet not an administrative entity. After the administrative reforms of September 2011, the bulk of Western Pomerania is within the districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald ; however, some west central areas including Demmin and Altentreptow are within Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, while
13860-496: The towns of Police , Goleniów , Wolin , Międzyzdroje , Nowe Warpno , and (the left-bank part of) Dziwnów are part of Poland. The German part forms about one-third of the present-day north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , while the Polish part constitutes the westernmost border areas of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship . German Western Pomerania had a population of about 470,000 in 2012 (districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald combined) – while
13986-550: The unilateral implementation of a Polish government in these areas. After World War II, several memoranda of the US State Department warned against awarding Poland such extensive lands, apprehensive of creation of new long-standing tension in the area. In particular, the State Department acknowledged that Polish claims to Lower Silesia had no ethnic or historic justification. Under Stalin's pressure,
14112-576: The upper columns. The list does not include the former town of Dąbie , which currently is a neighbourhood of Szczecin; it also does not include the Brandenburgian city of Schwedt whose parts located north of Wesel , acquired in contemporary times, belong to historic Western Pomerania. Popular tourist resorts can be found all along the Baltic beaches of the Pomeranian part (Darß-Zingst) of
14238-749: The war. The status of Poland was discussed but this was complicated by the fact that Poland was then controlled by the Red Army . The conference agreed to reorganise the Provisionary Polish Government , which had been set up by the Red Army, by the inclusion of some politicians of the Polish government-in-exile , and to transform it into the Provisional Government of National Unity , with an unfulfilled promise to hold democratic and fair elections . That effectively ended
14364-609: The wealth situation of people in Vorpommern is on a mean range in Germany, with 27% of the population regarded as indigent – that is living with below 60% of an average German income. In prehistoric times, the area was inhabited by megalith cultures. In the first half of the first millennium, the East Germanic Rugians are reported in the area, who are known to later set up a kingdom far South in Pannonia in
14490-750: The western part of the Kłodzko Land ( Czech Corner ). Sorbian was spoken in parts of Lusatia, while Polish prevailed in Middle Silesia north of the Oder river, in parts of Austrian Silesia and in Upper Silesia . In the latter case, the Germans who arrived during the Middle Ages became mostly Polonised , especially with the advent of the industrial revolution which created employment and business opportunities, attracting numerous Poles to
14616-562: Was subjected to fragmentation and ruled by Bolesław's sons and by their successors, who were often in conflict with one another. Władysław I the Elbow-high , who was crowned king of Poland in 1320, achieved a partial reunification, but the Silesian and Masovian duchies remained independent Piast holdings. In the 12th to the 14th centuries, German settlers, most of whom spoke Low German , moved into Central and Eastern Europe in
14742-782: Was "attached to" but not incorporated into East Prussia, and Eastern Galicia ( District of Galicia ), which included the cities of Lwów , Stanislawów and Tarnopol , was made part of the General Government. The final decision to move Poland 's boundary westward was made by the United States , the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, shortly before
14868-594: Was a period marked by the ravages of warfare. A part of the region south of the Peene river ( Old Western Pomerania ) came under Prussian sovereignty after the Stockholm peace treaty in 1720 . Under the Treaty of Kiel , the remnants of Swedish Pomerania ( New Western Pomerania ) were briefly transferred to Denmark in 1814, but the 1815 Congress of Vienna ceded the territory to Prussia. From 1815, all of Western Pomerania
14994-434: Was for Germany to never join NATO ( similarly to Austria ). The then official West German government position on the status of the former territories of Germany east of the Oder and Neisse rivers was that the areas were "temporarily under Polish [or Soviet] administration", because the border regulation at the Potsdam Conference had been taken as preliminary provisions to be revisited at a final peace conference which, due to
15120-535: Was integrated into the Prussian Province of Pomerania , administered as the Region of Stralsund (New Western Pomerania) and Region of Stettin (the old Western Pomeranian region). Stralsund was fused into Stettin in 1932. From May to September 1939, before and during the German invasion of Poland , which started World War II , Polish people in the region, particularly in Szczecin, were targeted by Nazi repressions, with Polish organizations attacked and Polish leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, and even some staff of
15246-431: Was part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown from 1373 to 1415. After Germanic tribes left the area in the Migration Period , Lechitic tribes began to settle Silesia, while Lusatia was settled by the Milceni and the Polabian Slavs and the Kłodzko Land was settled by Bohemians . In the 10th century Mieszko I of Poland made Silesia part of his realm. From the 10th century to the 12th century, Silesia, Lusatia and
15372-420: Was raided by the Danes , which destroyed Jomsborg in 1043, shifting the power in the Oder delta South to Pomeranian Stettin. Rethra was raided and devastated by the Germans in winter 1068/69, the Lutizian alliance fell apart, and instead the Lutizian tribes started fighting against each other (" Liutizischer Bruderkrieg ", Liutizian civil war). Wartislaw's aim was not only the expansion of his duchy, but also
15498-428: Was slain by pagans near Stolpe . Stolpe Abbey was erected at this site by Wartislaw's successor, Ratibor I . The 1147 Wendish Crusade initiated by the Holy Roman Empire ended when the Demmin and Stettin citizens persuaded the crusaders that they were already Christians. By the middle of the 12th century, the Principality of Rügen in northwestern Pomerania remained the last pagan state in Central Europe. In 1168,
15624-421: Was to be divided into six nations and, if so, what borders and interrelations the new German states would have. To pressure the Western Allies regarding the verbal commitments of Tehran and Yalta, the Soviets began transferring regions east of the Oder–Neisse line to Polish control, although these areas were still officially part of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. The US government strongly protested to
15750-454: Was to retain Stettin, and the Poles were to annex all of East Prussia with Königsberg . Eventually, however, Stalin decided to keep Königsberg for strategic grounds (it would also be a year-round warm-water port for the Soviet Navy) and argued that the Poles should receive Stettin instead. The wartime Polish government-in-exile had little say in the decisions. The Yalta Conference agreed to split Germany into four occupation zones after
15876-410: Was violently expelled to Germany , with their possessions being looted and stolen. The ceding of the east German lands to Poland was done in large part to compensate Poland for losing the Kresy lands east of the Curzon line , a region that was annexed by the Soviet Union after the German invasion of Poland in 1939. This territory had large populations of Ukrainians , Belarusians and Lithuanians –
#152847