123-541: The Prussian Eastern Railway ( German : Preußische Ostbahn ) was a railway in the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany until 1918. Its main route, approximately 740 kilometers (460 mi) long, connected the capital, Berlin , with the cities of Danzig (now Gdańsk , Poland) and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad , Russia). At Eydtkuhnen (now Chernyshevskoye , Russia) it reached the German Empire 's border with
246-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
369-594: A fortress and most of the civilian population fled or were evacuated , with some 4,000 people opting to remain. In early 1945, Marienburg was the scene of fierce battles by the Nazis against the Red Army and was almost completely destroyed. The battle lasted until March 9, 1945. Following the town's military capture by the Red Army, the remaining civilian population disappeared; 1,840 people remain missing. In June 1945,
492-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
615-550: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
738-691: A Russian broad gauge track was laid next to the standard gauge track; this has been dismantled between Elbląg and Bogaczewo. This track is still present in Młynary, but unused. Between Chrusciel and Braniewo the ballast is missing and it is not usable. From Tczew to Bogaczewo the line is operated with electric trains. As the line passes through a sparsely populated area, far from urban areas, the Eastern Railway here only carries minor traffic. The short section of line from Kaliningrad to Kybartai in Lithuania
861-551: A bridge to the East Prussian city of Marienwerder . In the summer 1939 timetable four pairs of express trains, twelve D-trains and a pair of long-distance transit trains between Berlin and Königsberg operated on the line. The latter required a travel time of 6 hours and 36 minutes for the 590 kilometre long line from Königsberg to Berlin Silesian station. The railway network of the former East Prussian province in 1937 had
984-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1107-550: A largely single-track non-electrified main line, part of the tariff zone of the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association) and has been operated by Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn since 10 December 2006 with Bombardier Talent diesel multiple units. On 22 December 2006, the line speed was restored to 120 km/h between the 75.0 and 80.7 kilometre points for the first time in 60 years. This did not affect travel times or
1230-525: A length of 4,176 kilometers. On 22 January 1945, the last train ran from Königsberg to Berlin; after that no continuous rail traffic ran on this line. Since 1991 the term Ostbahn (Eastern Railway) has again been used to appeal to the nostalgia of tourists wishing to travel along parts of the former line. Substantial boundary changes were made as a result of the German defeat in World War II, so that
1353-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
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#17327866591061476-455: A new hotel in Malbork, a mass grave was found containing the remains of 2,116 people. All the dead were said to have been German residents of pre-1945 Marienburg, but they could not be individually identified, nor could the cause of their deaths be definitely established. A Polish investigation concluded that the bodies, along with the remains of some dead animals, may have been buried to prevent
1599-685: A newly built branch line to Strausberg Nord . In 1989, the U-Bahn line E (now U 5) was extended over the VnK line to Wuhletal station . It is the only station in Berlin where it is possible to transfer between S-Bahn and U-Bahn services on the same platform. In 1992, Birkenstein station was opened between Mahlsdorf and Hoppegarten . At the same time a second S-Bahn track went into operation on this section. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
1722-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1845-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1968-583: A separate pair of suburban tracks was laid next to the Frankfurt (Oder) line between the intersection of the long-distance lines at Rummelsburg and the start of the Stadtbahn. This required a grade-separation of the Stadtbahn tracks with the link to the Silesian station. The junction of the Ringbahn with the Stadtbahn and Stralau Rummelsburg station were entirely rebuilt in 1903. The two east–west lines and
2091-529: A sugar factory was established. Also following the war, the Old Town in Malbork was not rebuilt; instead the bricks from its ruins were used to rebuild the oldest sections of Warsaw and Gdańsk . As a result, with the exception of the Old Town Hall, two city gates and St. John's church, no pre-World War II buildings remain in the Old Town area. In place of the old town, a housing estate was built in
2214-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
2337-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
2460-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
2583-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
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#17327866591062706-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2829-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2952-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
3075-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
3198-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
3321-455: Is now part of the Poznań – Szczecin railway. In the middle of the line near the village of Lukatz, a railway station was created at a junction of a line to Küstrin . From this same station, the first 145 km long section of the Eastern Railway was built via Schneidemühl to Bromberg ; this was opened on 27 July 1851. The station near Lukatz was later called Kreuz (cross), which, from 1936,
3444-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
3567-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3690-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
3813-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
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3936-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
4059-606: Is the only part of the former Eastern Railway that still has an important function, as it is the transit route from Kaliningrad to the Russian heartland. It belongs to the Kaliningrad Railway and has been rebuilt to Russian gauge . The former border station at Chernyshevskoye was completely dismantled after Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union and border controls were abolished. Russian Railways now rebuilt
4182-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
4305-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
4428-709: The 22nd Air Base of the Polish Air Force . During the war, the Germans established the Stalag XX-B prisoner of war camp in the present-day district of Wielbark, among the prisoners of which were Polish, British, French, Belgian, Serbian, Italian, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian POWs. Also a forced labour camp was established, and several forced labour subcamps of the Stalag XX-B POW camp. Some expelled Poles from Pomerania were enslaved by
4551-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
4674-741: The Battle of Grunwald against advancing Poles and Lithuanians. The town was burned by the Teutonic Knights in 1410 before the siege of the castle by Poles, however it remained under Teutonic control after the siege. In 1457, during the Thirteen Years' War , the castle was sold to Poland by Czech mercenaries of the Teutonic Knights, and the Teutonic Order transferred its seat to Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia ). The town, under Mayor Bartholomäus Blume and others, resisted
4797-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
4920-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
5043-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
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5166-712: The Greater Poland Province ) after the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) . Within Poland, Malbork flourished thanks to the Polish grain and wood trade and craft development. New suburbs were created due to lack of space within the defensive walls. In the 17th century, Swedish invasions took place. During the Great Northern War in 1710, half of the population died of a cholera epidemic. After
5289-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
5412-536: The November Uprising stopped in the town and its environs on the way to their internment places, and later on, one of the insurgents' main escape routes from partitioned Poland to the Great Emigration led through the town. There were no World War I fights, however, the town felt the war's negative effects: the influx of refugees, inflation, unemployment, and food supply shortages. Under
5535-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
5658-545: The Railway division of the Eastern Railway ( Königliche Direktion der Ostbahn ) had been established in Bromberg. Minister von der Heydt then initiated the restart of the construction of the Eastern Railway with funds from the "Railway Fund". In 1848, construction had already been completed of the main line of the private Stargard-Posen Railway Company ( Stargard-Posener Eisenbahn ), between Stargard and Posen . This line
5781-531: The Russian Empire . The first part of the line opened in 1851, reaching Eydtkuhnen in 1860. By March 1880 the total route length reached 2,210 kilometers (1,370 mi), with a main parallel route in the south via Bromberg (now Bydgoszcz , Poland) and Thorn (now Toruń , Poland) to Insterburg (now Chernyakhovsk , Russia). The lines were the first part of the later Prussian State Railways ( German : Preußische Staatseisenbahnen ). From about 1840,
5904-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
6027-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
6150-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
6273-418: The Weimar era , Marienburg was located at the tripoint between Poland, Germany and the Free City of Danzig . The town was hit by an economic crisis following the end of World War I. After a brief recovery in the mid-1920s, the Great Depression was particularly severe in East Prussia. In January 1933, Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power and immediately began eliminating political opponents, so that in
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#17327866591066396-406: The malt house resumed work, in May a Polish post office was established and the first post-war Polish services were held in the St. John church, in September Polish schools were opened. In the following years, most of the war damage was removed, and in 1947 the railway bridge on the Nogat was rebuilt, after it was destroyed by the Germans in March 1945. A new road bridge was built in 1949. In 1946
6519-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
6642-400: The 13th century by the Knights of the Teutonic Order , the town is noted for its medieval Malbork Castle , built in the 13th century as the order's headquarters, which was also one of the residences of Polish kings and seat of notable early modern Polish institutions. The town was built in Prussia around the fortress Ordensburg Marienburg , which was founded in 1274 on the east bank of
6765-430: The 1840s, he had been involved in planning the line and since 1849 he had been in the technical management of the Railway division of the Eastern Railway. One of his successors was Albert von Maybach (1863–1867), previously Chairman of the Board of the Upper Silesian Railway ( Oberschlesische Eisenbahn ). On 1 October 1866, an 18 km of the line was opened towards Berlin from Küstrin to Gusow and, on 1 October 1867,
6888-465: The 1960s. In 1962, a pasta factory was established in Malbork, which soon became one of the largest pasta factories in Poland. The town's football clubs are Pomezania Malbork (men) and Jastrząb Malbork (women), both currently playing in the lower divisions. There are various other clubs in the town, dedicated to sports such as canoeing , swimming, triathlon and karate , as well as a number of youth sports clubs. The greatest landmark of Malbork
7011-447: The Eastern Railway connected at a level junction near Stralau Rummelsburg station . From 1 May 1888, trains could run through the Silesian Station over the Berlin Stadtbahn to the centre of Berlin and the lines to its west. Shortly afterwards another pair of tracks was added to the northern half of the Ringbahn to allow suburban trains to run independently of long-distance traffic. The interweaving of long-distance and suburban tracks at
7134-400: The Eastern Railway in recent years was the D-448/449 night train ( Stanislaw Moniuszko ), linking Berlin-Lichtenberg and Warsaw , which ran on the line as far as Piła Główna until 2009. Additionally, through carriages ran on the line to Gdynia , Kaliningrad and Kraków . The section within the current borders of Germany that connects Berlin with the Polish border near Küstrin-Kietz is now
7257-432: The Eastern Railway project. Only the events of the March Revolution of 1848 and the appointment of banker August von der Heydt as the Prussian Minister of Commerce and Industry—and therefore responsible for railways—led to progress on the issue. In August 1849, Von der Heydt laid before the diet a draft law for the construction of the Eastern Railway, which was adopted on 7 December 1849. Previously, on 5 November 1849,
7380-414: The Eastern Railway was a strategically important route on the basis of its orientation, work continued on this project despite the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1944, the predominantly suburban single-track line to Strausberg was put into operation, but services continued to be operated with steam trains. Electrical operations commenced in 1947–1948 in four stages. The S-Bahn route was later extended on
7503-635: The Eastern Railway. The Eastern Railway itself was also a significant economic factor. Its construction during an economic crisis created jobs on a large scale. At the height of its construction in June 1851, 12,000 workers were employed on building its track. The Royal Railway division of the Eastern Railway in Bromberg ( Bydgoszcz ) established ten operating offices in Berlin, Schneidemühl, Stolp , Danzig, Königsberg , Allenstein , Thorn , Bromberg, Stettin, and Posen. In 1880, its rolling stock included 265 passenger and express locomotives, 320 freight locomotives and 93 tank locomotives . A local railway industry
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#17327866591067626-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
7749-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
7872-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
7995-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
8118-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
8241-411: The Germans as forced labour in the town's vicinity. The Polish resistance was present in the town and would smuggle underground Polish press and data on German concentration camps and prisons, and organize transports of POWs who escaped the Stalag XX-B to the port city of Gdynia , from where they were further evacuated by sea to neutral Sweden . Near the end of World War II, the city was declared
8364-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
8487-644: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
8610-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
8733-456: The Poles for three further years. But when the Poles finally took control, Blume was hanged and quartered, and fourteen officers and three remaining Teutonic knights were thrown into dungeons, where they met a miserable end. A monument to Blume was erected in 1864, after the town's annexation by Prussia in the Partitions of Poland . The town became capital of the Malbork Voivodeship in the Polish province of Royal Prussia (and later also in
8856-541: The Polish Royal Mints was established here. The largest arsenal of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was located in the castle. Under continuous construction for nearly 230 years, the castle complex is actually three castles combined in one. A classic example of a medieval fortress, it is the world's largest brick castle and one of the most impressive of its kind in Europe. The castle was in
8979-461: The Prussian military urgently sought a railway connection to the Russian border for strategic reasons. The railway was also seen from the early years as a means of developing the underdeveloped areas of East Prussia and Pomerania . A lack of interest from the private sector led King Frederick William IV to initiate in 1845 preparatory work for the construction of the Eastern Railway. Construction
9102-452: The Ringbahn were each given a platform for suburban traffic. This development made Stralau-Rummelsburg station one of the biggest stations in Berlin. In 1933 its name was changed to Ostkreuz . In the mid-1920s, extensive electrification began on the Berlin suburban lines. Electrification of the Eastern Railway was completed on 6 November 1928. Operation of a mixture of steam and electric trains continued until January 1929. On 15 December 1930,
9225-435: The border station at Chernyshevskoye because Nesterov station did not provide sufficient capacity. The section from Mamonovo ( Heiligenbeil ) until shortly before Kaliningrad has a main track in Russian broad gauge and formerly had a standard gauge track. While the broad gauge track follows the traditional route from the west to Kaliningrad South Station (formerly Königsberg Hauptbahnhof ), the other track diverted south around
9348-577: The bridge over the Vistula to the south of Danzig near Dirschau Conflicts over the use of the railway during the interwar period were declared by Nazi Germany as part of the causes of World War II . By contrast, the over 1,000 metre-long steel bridge built between 1905 and 1909 over the Vistula near Münsterwalde (Polish: Most w Opaleniu) was dismantled from 1927 to 1929, because the Poles had no use for
9471-466: The castle in 1457 to King Casimir IV of Poland in lieu of indemnities . From 1457 to 1772 the castle was one of Poland's royal residences. Polish kings often stayed in the castle, especially when travelling to the nearby city of Gdańsk . Also, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus visited the castle. From 1568 the castle also housed the Polish Admiralty ( Komisja Morska ) and in 1584 one of
9594-533: The city and reached the station from the east. An important branch of the line was the 290 km long line between Thorn and Insterburg created in 1871–1873 after Thorn was connected with Bromberg in 1861. Founded in 1846, the Stargard-Posen Railway Company ( Stargard-Posener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , SPE) built a 170 km-long single-track main line, which connected the two provincial capitals of Stettin and Posen. The route crossed
9717-716: The company name was still used in July 1886. Other important lines of the Eastern Railroad were: While the traffic to the east was limited mostly to long-distance services, upgrading of the line began in Berlin. First, the tracks of the Berlin Ringbahn (the circular railway, the eastern section of which opened in 1871), the Lower Silesian-Märkische Railway ( Niederschlesisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft ) from Frankfurt (Oder) and
9840-483: The completion of these sections work began with duplicating the line from Küstrin east. The route from Berlin to Kustrin however, was already duplicated. In addition, there were several sections of line built parallel with the main line over short sections. In 1882, the Silesian station ( Schlesischer Bahnhof ) was opened as the new terminus for the line in Berlin and the old East Station was closed. Once completed to
9963-548: The dead people's remains were buried in a German military cemetery at Stare Czarnowo in Polish Pomerania, not far from the German border. After World War II, the town was gradually repopulated by Poles , many expelled from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union . In February 1946, the population of the town reached 10,017 people, then by 1965 grew further to 28,292 and by 1994 to 40,347. In April 1945
10086-482: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
10209-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
10332-597: The early 19th century, Prussian authorities acknowledged the town's Polish-speaking community, ensuring that priests could deliver the sermon in Polish. In 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars , the French entered the town, and in 1812 the Grande Armée marched through the town heading for Russia . Napoleon has visited the town in those years. In October–December 1831, various Polish cavalry and infantry units of
10455-467: The east, the Eastern Railway line opened up the Prussian provinces from Berlin. Freight traffic exceeded projections by several times. This was mostly made up of agricultural products such as livestock, grain and vegetables. The disruption of river traffic by the frequent low water levels in the Oder , Vistula and Warthe rivers or their freezing in the winter months led to periodic spikes in freight traffic on
10578-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
10701-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
10824-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
10947-505: The junction of the Lower Silesian-Märkische railway and the Eastern Railway led to increasing congestion. The location of the intersection with the Ringbahn had insufficient space, so a new grade-separated junction was built on the main line from Frankfurt (Oder) 2 km away at Rummelsburg depot . From there a line ran to the northeast to connect with the main line just to the west of Kaulsdorf . An additional platform
11070-566: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Malbork Malbork is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship , Poland . It is the seat of Malbork County and has a population of 37,898 people as of 2021. The town is located on the Nogat river, in the historical region of Pomerelia . Founded in
11193-538: The last 64 km section of the direct line between Berlin and Königsberg was opened from Gusow to Berlin East station ( Berlin Ostbahnhof ) via Strausberg . The line was extended from Königsberg on 6 June 1860 to Insterburg via Gumbinnen , Trakehnen and Stalluponen and extended to Eydtkuhnen on the Russian frontier on 15 August 1860, a total distance of 153 km. Transhipments and transfers took place at
11316-527: The last semi-free elections of March 1933, 54% of Marienburg's votes went to the Nazis. After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, leaders of the Polish minority were arrested and sent to concentration camps . During World War II a Focke-Wulf aircraft factory was set up at the airfield to the east of Marienburg. It was bombed twice by the USAAF in 1943 and 1944. Today the airfield belongs to
11439-553: The main line of the Eastern Railway at Kreuz station. Because the company's revenue in the early days did not meet expectations, the government took over the SPE in 1851 and placed it in the Royal Railway Division of the Eastern Railroad in Bromberg, then in 1857 it was also temporarily managed by the state-owned Upper Silesian Railway ( Oberschlesischen Eisenbahn ). It was formally nationalised on 1 January 1883, although
11562-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
11685-481: The network to 4,833 route kilometers in 1895. At this time Berlin was served by seven daily long-distance freight trains from eastern Germany and, in long-distance passenger traffic, fifteen trains ran daily to East Prussia. Since 1892, “D-trains” ( D-Züge : long-distance expresses) also ran on the Eastern Railway. After the First World War the Prussian state railways, including the Eastern Railway, along with
11808-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
11931-523: The only part of the former Eastern Railway to remain in Germany is the section from Berlin to the Oder River near Küstrin. This, along with the sections now located on Polish or Russian territory, is mostly operated as a single-track branch line. Some formerly important international stations, such as Eydtkuhnen, no longer exist or have only a very minor role. The only international long-distance train on
12054-580: The other German state railways were incorporated into the newly created Deutsche Reichsbahn . Under the Treaty of Versailles the Polish Corridor was created in 1919, separating the Free City of Danzig and East Prussia from Germany , leaving East Prussia as an exclave . The Eastern Railway line became a major transit link between East Prussia and the rest of Germany. This caused a bottleneck at
12177-613: The process of being restored by the Germans when World War II broke out. During the war, the castle was over 50% destroyed. Restoration has been ongoing since the war. The castle and its museum are listed as one of UNESCO 's World Heritage Sites . [REDACTED] Teutonic State , 1274–1457 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Poland , 1457–1772 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Prussia , 1772–1807 [REDACTED] French Empire , 1807 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Prussia , 1807-1918 [REDACTED] German Reich , 1918–1945 [REDACTED] Poland , 1945–present The town of Marienburg grew in
12300-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
12423-479: The reorganisation of the Prussian state railways in 1895. The Eastern Railway was at the time one of the major long-distance rail routes in Europe and one of the main axes for east–west traffic. Several international trains ran on it, including the legendary luxury train, the Nord Express , the latter in the "golden age" before the First World War. The development of the main railways and branch lines extended
12546-607: The river Nogat by the Teutonic Knights . Both the castle and the town (named Marienburg in German and Malborg or Malbork in Polish) were named for their patron saint, the Virgin Mary . This fortified castle became the seat of the Teutonic Order and Europe 's largest Gothic fortress. During the Thirteen Years' War , the castle of Marienburg was pawned by the Teutonic Order to their soldiers from Bohemia . They sold
12669-420: The spread of typhus, which was extant in the turmoil at the end of World War II. The investigation was thus closed on 1 October 2010 as no justifiable suspicions of any crime were found. Majority of the dead were women and children most likely dead from hunger, diseases, cold and as collateral casualties of war operations, only a few of the bones had markings showing possible gunshot wounds. On August 14, 2009, all
12792-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
12915-533: The station over the border then called Virbalis in Lithuanian (German: Wirballen, Russian: Verzhbolovo, Вержболово, Polish: Wierzbałowo), now called Kybartai . Later the gauge-conversion of carriages on through trains to the broad gauge tracks of the Russian Railways was carried out there. In 1871, the 34 km shorter Schneidemühl–Konitz–Dirschau line was built parallel, bypassing Bromberg. After
13038-478: The suburban services were designated as S-Bahn services as far as Mahlsdorf station . The long-distance platform was removed at Kaulsdorf station. The Germania plan of the Nazis envisioned a comprehensive upgrading of the line. The train was to be extended to Strausberg or Rüdersdorf south of the line. Another pair of long-distance tracks would have been built as far as the Berlin city limits at Mahlsdorf. Since
13161-567: The terms of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I , the inhabitants were asked in a plebiscite on July 11, 1920 whether they wanted to remain in Germany or join the newly re-established Poland. In the town of Marienburg, 9,641 votes were cast for Germany, 165 votes for Poland. As a result, Marienburg was included in the Regierungsbezirk Marienwerder within the German Province of East Prussia . During
13284-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
13407-502: The timetable, but the change is considered a sign of an incipient upgrade of the Eastern Railway. The line in Poland from Kostrzyn to Piła is double track except for a short section at the eastern exit of Gorzów station. The line is single track from Piła to Gutowiec . The line is now duplicated again from Gutowiec to Bogaczewo . It is single track from Bogaczewo to the national border with Russia in Braniewo. From Elbląg to Kaliningrad,
13530-527: The town was turned over to Polish authorities who had arrived in the town in April and renamed it to its historic Polish name, Malbork. The German population that had not fled was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement . Half a century later, in 1996, 178 corpses were found in a mass grave in Malbork; another 123 were found in 2005. In October 2008, during excavations for the foundation of
13653-536: The vicinity of the castle. The river Nogat and flat terrain allowed easy access for barges a hundred kilometers from the sea. During Prussia 's government by the Teutonic Knights, the Order collected tolls on river traffic and imposed a monopoly on the amber trade. The town later became a member of the Hanseatic League , and many Hanseatic meetings were held there. The Teutonic Order weakened greatly after
13776-501: The wars, new inhabitants, including immigrants from Scotland , settled in the town, mainly in the suburbs. In 1740 Malbork ceased to be a fortress. It was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and became part of the newly established province of West Prussia the following year. Prussians liquidated the municipal government and replaced it with new Prussian-appointed administration. In
13899-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
14022-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
14145-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
14268-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
14391-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
14514-555: Was established to supply the Eastern Railway. In 1855, the Union-Gießerei (foundry) Königsberg began to build locomotives; the Schichau-Werke (works) of Ferdinand Schichau of Elbing followed its example in 1860. The Königsberg agricultural equipment manufacturer L. Steinfurt built freight wagons and passenger carriages. Further independent railway divisions were created in Bromberg, Danzig, Königsberg and Posen under
14637-447: Was opened at Kaulsdorf station in 1901 for the traffic on this line, known as the VnK line . “Vn” may have stood for Verbindung nach (connection to) or von und nach (from and to) while K probably stood for Kaulsdorf or Küstrin. The old platform was left on the original line for suburban services to the Ringbahn. To the west of this was the link with the Stadtbahn suburban tracks. In 1903,
14760-503: Was opened on 19 October 1852. It was extended to Königsberg (62 km) on 2 August 1853. After the completion of the railway bridges over the Vistula in September 1857 and over the Nogat on 12 October 1857, the 18 km long Dirschau–Malbork line was completed. At the same time, the 29 km long direct line from Frankfurt (Oder) via Lebus to Küstrin as well as the 105 km line from Küstrin via Landsberg an der Warthe to Kreuz
14883-591: Was opened. Berlin was therefore reached by a shorter route via the Lower Silesian-Märkische Railway ( Niederschlesisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , NME). The Prussian state railways acquired a stake in the NME and took over its management in 1850 and purchased the remaining shares of the railway in 1852. In 1853, Edward Wiebe was the Director of the Railway division of the Eastern Railway in Bromberg. Already in
15006-470: Was stopped, as the members of the provincial diet ( Provinziallandtag ) of East Prussia refused consent for the king to borrow for the project. This vote was confirmed in the United Diet ( Vereinigter Landtag ), the first parliamentary body covering all of Prussia, which was convened in April 1847 and subsequently dissolved. Members voted by a two-thirds majority against authorising a government loan for
15129-669: Was the official name of the town. It became an important railway junction. It is now called Krzyż Wielkopolski in Polish . The continuation of the first section via Dirschau to Danzig (161 km) was completed on 6 August 1852. During this time, trains between Kreuz and Berlin ran via the Berlin-Stettin railway and the Stargard–Posen line. Beyond the Nogat and Vistula rivers, the railway continued to be built from Marienburg via Elbing to Braunsberg (83.75 km); it
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