Prussian Lithuanians
Encyclopedia
The term Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai (singular: Lietuvininkas, also Lietuvininkai) refers to a Western Lithuanian ethnic group, which did not form a nation and inhabited a territory in East Prussia
called Prussian Lithuania or Lithuania Minor
in contrast to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
and later the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania Major).
Unlike most Lithuanians
, who remained Roman Catholic after the Protestant Reformation
, most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran).
There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all fled or were expelled after World War II
, when East Prussia was divided between Poland
and the Soviet Union
. The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast
, while the southern part was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region
was attached to Lithuania.
between 1517 and 1527. Prussian Lithuanians used various names for themselves: Prussians (Lithuanian: Prūsai, German: Preusch), Prussian Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Pruſû Lietuwiai, Pruſû Lietuvininkai, Pruſißki Lietuvininkai, German: Preußische Litauer), or simply Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Lietuw(i)ni(n)kai, German: Litauer). Local self-designating terms found in literature, such as Sziszionißkiai ("people from here"), Burai (German: Bauern), were neither politonyms nor ethnonyms. Another similar term appeared in the Klaipėda Region
(Memelland) during the interwar years – Memellanders (Lithuanian: Klaipėdiškiai, German: Memelländers). Modern Lithuanian historiography uses the term Lietuvininkai or sometimes a neologism unknown to Lietuwininkai themselves, Mažlietuviai. The usage of Lietuvininkai is problematic as it is a synonym
of the word Lietuviai ("Lithuanians"), and not the name of a separate ethnic sub-group.
For Prussian Lithuanians loyalty to the German state, strong religious beliefs, and the mother tongue were the three main criteria of self-identification. Due to differences in religion and loyalties to a different state, the Prussian Lithuanians did not consider Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy to be part of their community. They used the exonym Samogitia
ns to denote Lithuanians of Lithuania Major. Antagonism was frequent between the Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy, despite the common language. For example, inhabitants of Lithuania did not trust Prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region
and tended to eliminate them from posts in government institutions. When Prussian Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė
(Ewa Simoneit) chose the side of the Lithuanian Republic, she was condemned by relatives, friends and neighbours. Only one Prussian Lithuanian, Dovas Zaunius, worked in the government of Lithuania between World War I
and World War II
. The antagonism persisted until the end of World War II.
The territory where Prussian Lithuanians lived in ancient times was inhabited by the Old Prussian
, Skalvian
and Curonian
tribes. The area between the rivers Alle
and Neman
became almost uninhabited during the 13th-century Prussian Crusade
and wars between the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania
and the Teutonic Order. This uninhabited area was named the wilderness in chronicles. Local tribes were resettled, either voluntary or by force, in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno
, a stable border between the two states was established. Better living conditions in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights attracted many Lithuanians and Samogitians to settle there. Masurians and Curonians
began moving into Prussia around the same time.
After 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albert became duke of Prussia and converted to Protestantism
. Many Prussian Lithuanians also became Protestants. By the will of Albert, church services for Prussian Lithuanians were held in the Lithuanian language. Although Lithuanians who settled in Prussia were mainly farmers, in the 16th century there was an influx of educated Protestant immigrants from Lithuania, such as Martynas Mažvydas
, Abraomas Kulvietis
and Stanislovas Rapolionis, who became among the first professors at Königsberg University, founded in 1544. Martynas Mažvydas was a zealous Protestant and urged citizens to stop all contact between Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a bid to curtail Catholic influence in the country.
In 1708, the Kingdom of Prussia
was devastated by plague, especially its easternmost part, where Prussian Lithuanians lived. About 50% of Prussian Lithuanians died. To compensate for the loss, King Frederick II of Prussia
invited settlers from Salzburg
, Pfalz
, and Nassau
to repopulate the area. Many of these Lutherans were members of the Pietism
movement, which then spread among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1811 a teacher's seminary for Prussian Lithuanians was established in Karalene near Insterburg, which remained open until 1924. From the mid-18th century, a majority of Prussian Lithuanians were literate; in comparison, the process was much slower in the Grand Duchy.
The nationalistic Lithuanian national revival
in the late 19th century was not popular with Prussian Lithuanians. To them integration with Lithuania was not understandable and not acceptable.For a majority of mažlietuviai integrational ideas between Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor were not understandable and not acceptable. The idea of Lithuanian–Latvian unity was more popular than idea of Lithuanian-Prussian Lithuanian unity during the Great Seimas of Vilnius
, a conference held in 1905.
The first Prussian Lithuanian elected to the Reichstag
, Johann Smalakies, was a fierce agitator for the integrity of the German Empire
. In 1879, he published the poem Lietuwininkais esame mes gime in the newspaper Lietuwißka Ceitunga
. The 7th stanza was dedicated to Wilhelm I, German Emperor.
There was no national Germanisation
policy until 1870; Prussian Lithuanians voluntary adopted German language and culture. After the Unification of Germany
in 1873, when part of Lithuania became integrated with the new nation of Germany, learning the German language was made compulsory in state schools. Studying the German language provided the possibility for Prussian Lithuanians to become acquainted with Western European culture and values. However, Germanization also provoked a cultural movement among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1879 and 1896, petitions for the return of the Lithuanian language to schools was signed by 12,330 and 23,058 Prussian Lithuanians from the districts of Memel
, Heydekrug
, Tilsit and Ragnit. In 1921, the French administration made a survey in the Klaipėda Region that showed that only 2.2% of Prussian Lithuanians would prefer purely Lithuanian schools. The Lithuanian language and culture were not persecuted in Prussia. In contrast, there were restrictive Russification
policies and a Lithuanian press ban
in the parts of Lithuania that had become part of the Russian Empire
. The Prussian Lithuanians could publish own newspapers and books, even helping Lithuanians in Russia to bypass their press ban by publishing their newspapers, such as Auszra and Varpas
.
The northern part of East Prussia beyond the Neman River
was detached from East Prussia at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, dividing the territories inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians between Weimar Germany and the Klaipėda Region
(Memelland) under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors
, which was formed to enforce the agreements reached in the Treaty of Versailles
. The organisation "Deutsch-Litauischer Heimatbund" sought reunification with Germany or to create an independent state of Memelland and had a membership of 30,000 individuals. Two dozen pro-Lithuanian representatives of the Prussian Lithuanian National Council signed the Act of Tilsit
, asking to unite the Klaipėda Region with Lithuania; the idea was not supported by the majority of Prussian Lithuanians. World War I
was followed by severe economical hardships and inflation in Germany. In 1923, the Republic of Lithuania occupied the Klaipėda Region during the Klaipėda Revolt
.
A secret report of 1923 by Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys, a Lithuanian professional counterintelligence officer, shows around 60% of the local inhabitants supported the revolt, 30% were neutral and 10% were against, namely the supporters of a freistadt
status or reunification with Germany. Soon Lithuanian policies alienated the Prussian Lithuanians. People from Greater Lithuania were sent to assume public administration posts in the region. According to the Lithuanian view, the Prussian Lithuanians were Germanised Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanized. Prussian Lithuanians saw this Lithuanization
policy as a threat to their own culture and began to support German political parties, and even started identifying themselves as Germans. During the 1925 census, 37,626 people declared themselves to be Lithuanians and 34,337 people identified themselves as Memellanders, a neologism to distinguish themselves from Lithuanians. Inhabitants of the Klaipėda Region continuously voted for German or German-oriented parties.
Nazi Germany
reclaimed Klaipėda after the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
. The inhabitants were allowed to choose Lithuanian citizenship. Only 500 asked for citizenship, and only 20 were awarded it. The reunification of Klaipėda with Germany was met with joy by a majority of inhabitants. About 10,000 refugees, mostly Jews, fled the region.
in 1944.
People were expelled from Kaliningrad Oblast
and from the former Klaipėda Region, which was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR
in 1947. By 1945, there were about 20,000 local inhabitants left in the Klaipėda Region, compared to 152,800 in 1939. The government of the Lithuanian SSR followed the policy of Soviet Union and viewed the Prussians Lithuanians as Germanized Lithuanians. About 8,000 persons were repatriated from DP camps in the period of 1945–50. Their houses and farms were not returned as Russians and Lithuanians had usually already taken over their properties. Autochthonous people who remained in the former Memel territory were dismissed from their jobs and otherwise discriminated against. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Prussian Lithuanians have to date still not regained all of their confiscated property in the Kaliningrad Oblast or the Klaipėda region.
's visit to Moscow in 1958, former citizens of Germany were allowed to emigrate; the majority of the Prussian Lithuanians who were in the Lithuanian SSR emigrated to West Germany
. Only about 2,000 local Lithuanians remained in the Klaipėda Region and virtually none in the Kaliningrad Oblast. Today, the majority of Prussian Lithuanians live in Germany. Some groups of Prussian Lithuanians have settled in Canada
, the United States
, Sweden
and Australia
. As is true among many ethnic groups,a separate ethnic and cultural identity for Prussian Lithuanians is not as strong as it once was, and cultural differences are vanishing.
over the centuries were influenced by German culture
and the German language
. They adopted the cultural values and social conventions of the German state, but preserved their Lithuanian language
, traditions and folk culture. For centuries Prussian Lithuanians lived in a political and religious environment that was different from that of other Lithuanians and evolved into a separate ethnic group. The common state united some aspects of, traditions and folk culture. who viewed its rulers as their own rulers. Hanging portraits of the rulers of the House of Hohenzollern
in the home was widespread.
The Pietist congregational movement attracted large numbers of Prussian Lithuanians: evangelical fellowships were very active in Prussia, as they were in the rest of the German Empire
. About 40% of Lithuanians belonged to such fellowships, whose members lived by ascetic principles.
Until the mid-19th century Prussian Lithuanians were mostly villagers. Their feudal mentality is reflected in the poem The Seasons
by Kristijonas Donelaitis
. The Seasons criticizes the tendency to adopt German ways, since this was often associated with decadent noblemen. Donelaitis called for Lithuanians to do their duty, to not envy those who went to town, to not complain or be lazy, and try to work as much as was needed to be a good peasant:
Towns were not large. People who emigrated to the major towns, Königsberg
and Memel
, usually became bilingual and eventually became Germanized.
After World War II, virtually no Prussian Lithuanians remained in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and only a small number survived in the Lithuanian SSR. Their peasant culture, first threatened by germanization in the German Empire and politically oppressed in the Nazi era, was now completely wiped out by the Soviets, who made no distinction between Germans and Lithuanians. The situation was somewhat better in the former Memel Territory but even there churches and cemeteries were destroyed.
suffix "-son" in the surnames Abrahamson and Johnson. Examples include: Abromeit, Grigoleit, Jakeit, Wowereit
, Kukulat, Szameitat.
Another type of Prussian Lithuanian surname use the suffixes "-ies" or "-us": Kairies, Resgies, Baltßus, Karallus.
A difference existed between female and male surnames in everyday speech. For example, while officially the wife of Kurschat (Prussian Lithuanian Kurßaitis or Kurßatis) was also called Kurschat, in the Prussian Lithuanian language special forms were used in speech: the form of a wife's surname was Kurßaitê / Kurßatė and the form of a unmarried woman was Kurßaitikê / Kurßaitukê.
dialect of Low German
, Mundart des Ostgebietes
subdialect.
. The standard Prussian Lithuanian language is quite similar to standard Lithuanian except for the number of German loanword
s. The Lithuanian language which was spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was influenced by Polish
and Belarusan
, while in Prussia it was influenced more heavily by the German language. Thus, while Lithuanians used Slavic loanwords and translations, Prussian Lithuanians used German loanwords and translations, and some Slavic loanwords.
Literature in the Lithuanian language appeared earlier in the Duchy of Prussia than in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
. The first book in Lithuanian was published in Königsberg
in 1547 by Martynas Mažvydas
, an émigré from Samogitia
, while the first Lithuanian book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was printed in 1596 by Mikalojus Daukša
. Many other authors who wrote in Lithuanian were not Prussian Lithuanians, but local Prussian Germans: Michael Märlin, Jakob Quandt, Wilhelm Martinius, Gottfried Ostermeyer, Sigfried Ostermeyer, Daniel Klein
, Andrew Krause, Philipp Ruhig
, Matttheus Praetorius, Christian Mielcke, Adam Schimmelpfennig, for example. The first major Lithuanian poet
, Kristijonas Donelaitis, was from East Prussia and reflected the Prussian Lithuanian lifestyle in his works. The first newspaper in the Lithuanian language, Nuſidawimai apie Ewangēliôs Praſiplatinima tarp Źydû ir Pagonû, was published by Prussian Lithuanians. Prior to World War I
, the government and political parties financed the Prussian Lithuanian press.
was based on the German style, while in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania it was primarily based on the Polish style. Prussian Lithuanians used Gothic script
. Lithuanians did not read Prussian Lithuanian publications and vice versa; the cultural communication was very limited. Attempts to create a unified newspaper and common orthography for all Lithuanian speakers at the beginning of the 20th century were unsuccessful. After 1905, modern Lithuanian orthography was standardized while Prussian Lithuanian orthography remained the same – German Gothic script, a noun was begun with a capital letter, the letters ſ
, ß
, ʒ
were used, and the construction of sentences was different from Lithuanian.
Books and newspapers that were published in Lithuania in Roman type were reprinted in Gothic script in Memel Territory in 1923-39. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis was published in Tilsit in Gothic style until 1940, when it was closed by the Nazis.
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
called Prussian Lithuania or Lithuania Minor
Lithuania Minor
Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, later East Prussia in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of this province and got its name due to the territory's substantial...
in contrast to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
and later the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania Major).
Unlike most Lithuanians
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
, who remained Roman Catholic after the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran).
There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all fled or were expelled after World War II
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
, when East Prussia was divided between Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
, while the southern part was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
was attached to Lithuania.
Ethnonyms and identity
The term Preußische Litauer (Prussian Lithuanians in German) appeared in German texts of the 16th century. The term Kleinlitaw (Lithuania Minor in German) was first used by Simon GrunauSimon Grunau
Simon Grunau was the author of Preussische Chronik,Full title: Cronika und beschreibung allerlüstlichenn, nützlichsten und waaren historien des namkundigenn landes zu Prewssen or Chronicle and description of the most amusing, useful and true known history of the Prussian land the first...
between 1517 and 1527. Prussian Lithuanians used various names for themselves: Prussians (Lithuanian: Prūsai, German: Preusch), Prussian Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Pruſû Lietuwiai, Pruſû Lietuvininkai, Pruſißki Lietuvininkai, German: Preußische Litauer), or simply Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Lietuw(i)ni(n)kai, German: Litauer). Local self-designating terms found in literature, such as Sziszionißkiai ("people from here"), Burai (German: Bauern), were neither politonyms nor ethnonyms. Another similar term appeared in the Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
(Memelland) during the interwar years – Memellanders (Lithuanian: Klaipėdiškiai, German: Memelländers). Modern Lithuanian historiography uses the term Lietuvininkai or sometimes a neologism unknown to Lietuwininkai themselves, Mažlietuviai. The usage of Lietuvininkai is problematic as it is a synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
of the word Lietuviai ("Lithuanians"), and not the name of a separate ethnic sub-group.
For Prussian Lithuanians loyalty to the German state, strong religious beliefs, and the mother tongue were the three main criteria of self-identification. Due to differences in religion and loyalties to a different state, the Prussian Lithuanians did not consider Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy to be part of their community. They used the exonym Samogitia
Samogitia
Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...
ns to denote Lithuanians of Lithuania Major. Antagonism was frequent between the Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy, despite the common language. For example, inhabitants of Lithuania did not trust Prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
and tended to eliminate them from posts in government institutions. When Prussian Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė
Ieva Simonaitytė
Ieva Simonaitytė or Ewa Simoneit was a Lithuanian writer. She represented the culture of Lithuania Minor and Klaipėda Region, territories of German East Prussia with large, but dwindling, Lithuanian population...
(Ewa Simoneit) chose the side of the Lithuanian Republic, she was condemned by relatives, friends and neighbours. Only one Prussian Lithuanian, Dovas Zaunius, worked in the government of Lithuania between World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The antagonism persisted until the end of World War II.
History
Early history
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
, Skalvian
Skalvians
The Scalovians , also known as the Skalvians, Schalwen and Schalmen, were a Baltic tribe related to the Prussians. According to the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of Peter of Dusburg, the now extinct Scalovians inhabited the land of Scalovia south of the Curonians and Samogitians, by the lower Neman...
and Curonian
Curonians
The Curonians or Kurs were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland , and they spoke the Old...
tribes. The area between the rivers Alle
Alle
Alle can refer to:*the German name for the Łyna , a river since 1945 in Poland and the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast*Alle, Switzerland, a community in the Swiss canton of Jura*Alle, Belgium in the province of Namur, Belgium...
and Neman
Neman River
Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...
became almost uninhabited during the 13th-century Prussian Crusade
Prussian Crusade
The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize the pagan Old Prussians. Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Polish princes, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning...
and wars between the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
and the Teutonic Order. This uninhabited area was named the wilderness in chronicles. Local tribes were resettled, either voluntary or by force, in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno
Treaty of Melno
The Treaty of Melno or Treaty of Lake Melno was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on September 27, 1422, between the Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Lake Melno , east of Graudenz...
, a stable border between the two states was established. Better living conditions in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights attracted many Lithuanians and Samogitians to settle there. Masurians and Curonians
Curonians
The Curonians or Kurs were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland , and they spoke the Old...
began moving into Prussia around the same time.
After 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albert became duke of Prussia and converted to Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. Many Prussian Lithuanians also became Protestants. By the will of Albert, church services for Prussian Lithuanians were held in the Lithuanian language. Although Lithuanians who settled in Prussia were mainly farmers, in the 16th century there was an influx of educated Protestant immigrants from Lithuania, such as Martynas Mažvydas
Martynas Mažvydas
Martynas Mažvydas Martynas Mažvydas Martynas Mažvydas (1510 near Žemaičių Naumiestis (now in Šilutė district municipality) - May 21, 1563 in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) was the author and the editor of the first printed book in the Lithuanian language....
, Abraomas Kulvietis
Abraomas Kulvietis
Abraomas Kulvietis was a jurist and a professor at Königsberg Albertina University, as well as a reformer of the church....
and Stanislovas Rapolionis, who became among the first professors at Königsberg University, founded in 1544. Martynas Mažvydas was a zealous Protestant and urged citizens to stop all contact between Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a bid to curtail Catholic influence in the country.
In 1708, the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
was devastated by plague, especially its easternmost part, where Prussian Lithuanians lived. About 50% of Prussian Lithuanians died. To compensate for the loss, King Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
invited settlers from Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Pfalz
Pfalz
Pfalz may refer to:*Kaiserpfalz, also known as Königspfalz, a castle which was a temporary seat of power for the Holy Roman Emperor in the Early and High Middle Ages, etymologically derived from Latin palatium - Geography:...
, and Nassau
Nassau (state)
Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct in male line, was the House of Nassau.-Origins:...
to repopulate the area. Many of these Lutherans were members of the Pietism
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
movement, which then spread among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1811 a teacher's seminary for Prussian Lithuanians was established in Karalene near Insterburg, which remained open until 1924. From the mid-18th century, a majority of Prussian Lithuanians were literate; in comparison, the process was much slower in the Grand Duchy.
19th century
Lithuanian National Revival
Lithuanian National Revival, alternatively Lithuanian National Awakening , was a period of the history of Lithuania in the 19th century at the time when a major part of Lithuanian inhabited areas belonged to the Russian Empire...
in the late 19th century was not popular with Prussian Lithuanians. To them integration with Lithuania was not understandable and not acceptable.For a majority of mažlietuviai integrational ideas between Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor were not understandable and not acceptable. The idea of Lithuanian–Latvian unity was more popular than idea of Lithuanian-Prussian Lithuanian unity during the Great Seimas of Vilnius
Great Seimas of Vilnius
The Great Seimas of Vilnius , was a major assembly held on December 4 and 5, 1905 in Vilnius, Lithuania, then part of the Russian Empire, largely inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1905. It was the first modern national congress in Lithuania and dealt primarily not with the social issues that...
, a conference held in 1905.
The first Prussian Lithuanian elected to the Reichstag
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
, Johann Smalakies, was a fierce agitator for the integrity of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. In 1879, he published the poem Lietuwininkais esame mes gime in the newspaper Lietuwißka Ceitunga
Lietuwißka Ceitunga
The Lietuwißka Ceitunga was an influential Lithuanian-language newspaper published for Prussian Lithuanians, an ethnic minority of East Prussia, a province of the German Empire...
. The 7th stanza was dedicated to Wilhelm I, German Emperor.
There was no national Germanisation
Germanisation
Germanisation is both the spread of the German language, people and culture either by force or assimilation, and the adaptation of a foreign word to the German language in linguistics, much like the Romanisation of many languages which do not use the Latin alphabet...
policy until 1870; Prussian Lithuanians voluntary adopted German language and culture. After the Unification of Germany
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
in 1873, when part of Lithuania became integrated with the new nation of Germany, learning the German language was made compulsory in state schools. Studying the German language provided the possibility for Prussian Lithuanians to become acquainted with Western European culture and values. However, Germanization also provoked a cultural movement among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1879 and 1896, petitions for the return of the Lithuanian language to schools was signed by 12,330 and 23,058 Prussian Lithuanians from the districts of Memel
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
, Heydekrug
Heydekrug
Heydekrug may refer to places in former East Prussia:* Šilutė, now Lithuania, the site of Stalag Luft VI - a World War II German allied aircrew POW camp...
, Tilsit and Ragnit. In 1921, the French administration made a survey in the Klaipėda Region that showed that only 2.2% of Prussian Lithuanians would prefer purely Lithuanian schools. The Lithuanian language and culture were not persecuted in Prussia. In contrast, there were restrictive Russification
Russification
Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...
policies and a Lithuanian press ban
Lithuanian press ban
The Lithuanian press ban was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet within the Russian Empire, which controlled Lithuania at the time. Lithuanian-language publications that used the Cyrillic alphabet were allowed and even encouraged...
in the parts of Lithuania that had become part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The Prussian Lithuanians could publish own newspapers and books, even helping Lithuanians in Russia to bypass their press ban by publishing their newspapers, such as Auszra and Varpas
Varpas
Varpas was a monthly Lithuanian-language newspaper published during the Lithuanian press ban from January 1889 to December 1905...
.
Between the two World Wars
Neman River
Neman or Niemen or Nemunas, is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipėda. It is the northern border between Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast in its lower reaches...
was detached from East Prussia at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, dividing the territories inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians between Weimar Germany and the Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
(Memelland) under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors
Council of Ambassadors
Council of Ambassadors was an intergovernmental agency, founded in 1919 by decision of the states of the Entente. The Council was to implement the provision of the Treaty of Versailles. It comprised the ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan in Paris and was chaired by foreign minister...
, which was formed to enforce the agreements reached in the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. The organisation "Deutsch-Litauischer Heimatbund" sought reunification with Germany or to create an independent state of Memelland and had a membership of 30,000 individuals. Two dozen pro-Lithuanian representatives of the Prussian Lithuanian National Council signed the Act of Tilsit
Act of Tilsit
The Act of Tilsit was an act, signed in Tilsit by 24 members of the National Council of Lithuania Minor on November 30, 1918. Signatories demanded unification of Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Proper into a single Lithuanian state...
, asking to unite the Klaipėda Region with Lithuania; the idea was not supported by the majority of Prussian Lithuanians. World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was followed by severe economical hardships and inflation in Germany. In 1923, the Republic of Lithuania occupied the Klaipėda Region during the Klaipėda Revolt
Klaipeda Revolt
The Klaipėda Revolt took place in January 1923 in the Klaipėda Region . The region, located north of the Neman River, was detached from the East Prussia of the German Empire by the Treaty of Versailles and became a mandate of the League of Nations. It was placed under provisional French...
.
A secret report of 1923 by Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys, a Lithuanian professional counterintelligence officer, shows around 60% of the local inhabitants supported the revolt, 30% were neutral and 10% were against, namely the supporters of a freistadt
Freistadt
Freistadt is a small Austrian town in the state of Upper Austria in the region Mühlviertel. With a population of approximately 7,500 residents, it is a trade centre for local villages. Freistadt is the economic centre of a district of the same name District Freistadt...
status or reunification with Germany. Soon Lithuanian policies alienated the Prussian Lithuanians. People from Greater Lithuania were sent to assume public administration posts in the region. According to the Lithuanian view, the Prussian Lithuanians were Germanised Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanized. Prussian Lithuanians saw this Lithuanization
Lithuanization
Lithuanization is a process of cultural assimilation - adoption, either forced or voluntary, of Lithuanian culture or language, experienced by non-Lithuanian people or groups of people.- History :...
policy as a threat to their own culture and began to support German political parties, and even started identifying themselves as Germans. During the 1925 census, 37,626 people declared themselves to be Lithuanians and 34,337 people identified themselves as Memellanders, a neologism to distinguish themselves from Lithuanians. Inhabitants of the Klaipėda Region continuously voted for German or German-oriented parties.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
reclaimed Klaipėda after the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania was an oral ultimatum presented to Juozas Urbšys, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, on March 20, 1939...
. The inhabitants were allowed to choose Lithuanian citizenship. Only 500 asked for citizenship, and only 20 were awarded it. The reunification of Klaipėda with Germany was met with joy by a majority of inhabitants. About 10,000 refugees, mostly Jews, fled the region.
World War II and after
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Prussian Lithuanian activists living in Germany were persecuted. In 1938, Prussian and Lithuanian place names in East Prussia were translated into German. Thus, for example, Lasdinehlen (Lazdynėliai) became Haselberg, Jodlauken (Juodlaukiai) became Schwalbental, and so on. However, toponyms of the Klaipėda region were not changed after reunification. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis was not closed down until 1940. On the other hand, church services in Tilsit and Ragnit were held in the Lithuanian language until the evacuation of East PrussiaEvacuation of East Prussia
The evacuation of East Prussia refers to the evacuation of the German civilian population and military personnel in East Prussia and the Klaipėda region between 20 January, and March 1945, as part of the evacuation of German civilians towards the end of World War II...
in 1944.
Expulsion after World War II
The Soviets made no distinction between German citizens and Prussian Lithuanians. During the evacuation of East Prussia, Prussian Lithuanians, like other East Prussians, were trying escape. Mass murders, rape and looting were common. After the end of war people tried to return to their homes, but were discriminated against and denied food rations.People were expelled from Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
and from the former Klaipėda Region, which was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
in 1947. By 1945, there were about 20,000 local inhabitants left in the Klaipėda Region, compared to 152,800 in 1939. The government of the Lithuanian SSR followed the policy of Soviet Union and viewed the Prussians Lithuanians as Germanized Lithuanians. About 8,000 persons were repatriated from DP camps in the period of 1945–50. Their houses and farms were not returned as Russians and Lithuanians had usually already taken over their properties. Autochthonous people who remained in the former Memel territory were dismissed from their jobs and otherwise discriminated against. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Prussian Lithuanians have to date still not regained all of their confiscated property in the Kaliningrad Oblast or the Klaipėda region.
1950 and beyond
3,500 people from the former Memel Territory were expelled by the authority of the Lithuanian SSR to East Germany in 1951. After Konrad AdenauerKonrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
's visit to Moscow in 1958, former citizens of Germany were allowed to emigrate; the majority of the Prussian Lithuanians who were in the Lithuanian SSR emigrated to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. Only about 2,000 local Lithuanians remained in the Klaipėda Region and virtually none in the Kaliningrad Oblast. Today, the majority of Prussian Lithuanians live in Germany. Some groups of Prussian Lithuanians have settled in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. As is true among many ethnic groups,a separate ethnic and cultural identity for Prussian Lithuanians is not as strong as it once was, and cultural differences are vanishing.
Culture and traditions
The Prussian Lithuanians that settled in the monastic state of the Teutonic KnightsMonastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
over the centuries were influenced by German culture
Culture of Germany
German culture began long before the rise of Germany as a nation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular...
and the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. They adopted the cultural values and social conventions of the German state, but preserved their Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, traditions and folk culture. For centuries Prussian Lithuanians lived in a political and religious environment that was different from that of other Lithuanians and evolved into a separate ethnic group. The common state united some aspects of, traditions and folk culture. who viewed its rulers as their own rulers. Hanging portraits of the rulers of the House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
in the home was widespread.
The Pietist congregational movement attracted large numbers of Prussian Lithuanians: evangelical fellowships were very active in Prussia, as they were in the rest of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
. About 40% of Lithuanians belonged to such fellowships, whose members lived by ascetic principles.
Until the mid-19th century Prussian Lithuanians were mostly villagers. Their feudal mentality is reflected in the poem The Seasons
The Seasons (poem)
The Seasons ' is the first Lithuanian poem written by Kristijonas Donelaitis around 1765–1775. It was published as "Das Jahr" in Königsberg, 1818 by Ludwig Rhesa, who also entitled the poem and selected the arrangement of the parts. The German translation was included in the first edition of the...
by Kristijonas Donelaitis
Kristijonas Donelaitis
Kristijonas Donelaitis was a Prussian Lithuanian Lutheran pastor and poet. He lived and worked in Lithuania Minor, a territory in the Kingdom of Prussia, that had a sizable minority of ethnic Lithuanians...
. The Seasons criticizes the tendency to adopt German ways, since this was often associated with decadent noblemen. Donelaitis called for Lithuanians to do their duty, to not envy those who went to town, to not complain or be lazy, and try to work as much as was needed to be a good peasant:
- There, in the city, one is laid up with his gout;
- Another's aches and pains require a doctor's aid.
- Why do these countless ills torment the luckless rich?
- Why does untimely death so often strike them down?
- It is because they scorn the fruitful work of boors,
- Lead sinful lives, loaf, sleep too long and eat too much.
- But here we simple boors, held by the lords as knaves,
- Fed on unwinnowed bread and pallid buttermilk,
- Work on the quick each day, as simple folk must do.
Towns were not large. People who emigrated to the major towns, Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
and Memel
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
, usually became bilingual and eventually became Germanized.
After World War II, virtually no Prussian Lithuanians remained in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and only a small number survived in the Lithuanian SSR. Their peasant culture, first threatened by germanization in the German Empire and politically oppressed in the Nazi era, was now completely wiped out by the Soviets, who made no distinction between Germans and Lithuanians. The situation was somewhat better in the former Memel Territory but even there churches and cemeteries were destroyed.
Personal names
Prussian Lithuanian surnames often consist of a patronymic with suffixes "-eit" and "-at". It has the same role as the EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
suffix "-son" in the surnames Abrahamson and Johnson. Examples include: Abromeit, Grigoleit, Jakeit, Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit is a German politician, member of the SPD , and has been the Mayor of Berlin since the 2001 state elections, where his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections...
, Kukulat, Szameitat.
Another type of Prussian Lithuanian surname use the suffixes "-ies" or "-us": Kairies, Resgies, Baltßus, Karallus.
A difference existed between female and male surnames in everyday speech. For example, while officially the wife of Kurschat (Prussian Lithuanian Kurßaitis or Kurßatis) was also called Kurschat, in the Prussian Lithuanian language special forms were used in speech: the form of a wife's surname was Kurßaitê / Kurßatė and the form of a unmarried woman was Kurßaitikê / Kurßaitukê.
Language
Since the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Prussian Lithuanians have typically been bilingual.German
The German language used by Prussian Lithuanians belongs to the Low PrussianLow Prussian
Low Prussian , sometimes known simply as Prussian , is a dialect of East Low German that developed in East Prussia. Low Prussian was spoken in East and West Prussia and Danzig up to 1945. It developed on a Baltic substrate through the influx of Dutch and Low German speaking immigrants...
dialect of Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
, Mundart des Ostgebietes
Mundart des Ostgebietes
The Mundart des Ostgebiets is a subdialect of Low Prussian, a dialect of Low German. It was spoken around Insterburg , the Memel , and Tilsit . Many speakers of this subdialect were Prussian Lithuanians....
subdialect.
Lithuanian
The Lithuanian language of Prussian Lithuanians could be divided into two main dialects: Samogitian dialect and Aukštaitian dialectAukštaitian dialect
Aukštaitian dialect is one of the dialects of the Lithuanian language, spoken in ethnographic regions of Aukštaitija, Dzūkija and Suvalkija. It became the basis for the standard Lithuanian language.-Classification:...
. The standard Prussian Lithuanian language is quite similar to standard Lithuanian except for the number of German loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s. The Lithuanian language which was spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was influenced by Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and Belarusan
Belarusian language
The Belarusian language , sometimes referred to as White Russian or White Ruthenian, is the language of the Belarusian people...
, while in Prussia it was influenced more heavily by the German language. Thus, while Lithuanians used Slavic loanwords and translations, Prussian Lithuanians used German loanwords and translations, and some Slavic loanwords.
Prussian Lithuanian literature
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
. The first book in Lithuanian was published in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
in 1547 by Martynas Mažvydas
Martynas Mažvydas
Martynas Mažvydas Martynas Mažvydas Martynas Mažvydas (1510 near Žemaičių Naumiestis (now in Šilutė district municipality) - May 21, 1563 in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) was the author and the editor of the first printed book in the Lithuanian language....
, an émigré from Samogitia
Samogitia
Samogitia is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai/Šiaulē. The region has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect...
, while the first Lithuanian book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was printed in 1596 by Mikalojus Daukša
Mikalojus Daukša
Mikalojus Daukša was a Lithuanian and Latin religious writer, translator and a Catholic church official...
. Many other authors who wrote in Lithuanian were not Prussian Lithuanians, but local Prussian Germans: Michael Märlin, Jakob Quandt, Wilhelm Martinius, Gottfried Ostermeyer, Sigfried Ostermeyer, Daniel Klein
Daniel Klein (grammarian)
Daniel Klein was a Lutheran pastor and scholar from Tilsit, Duchy of Prussia, who is best known for writing the first grammar book of the Lithuanian language.Klein studied philosophy, theology, Greek and Hebrew in the University of Königsberg...
, Andrew Krause, Philipp Ruhig
Philipp Ruhig
Philipp Ruhig was a Lutheran priest from East Prussia mostly known as a philosopher and philologist, an early expert in Lithuanian language.-Major works:...
, Matttheus Praetorius, Christian Mielcke, Adam Schimmelpfennig, for example. The first major Lithuanian poet
Lithuanian literature
Lithuanian literature concerns the art of written works compiled by Lithuanians throughout their history.-Latin language:A wealth of Lithuanian literature was written in Latin, the main scholarly language in the Middle Ages.-Lithuanian language:...
, Kristijonas Donelaitis, was from East Prussia and reflected the Prussian Lithuanian lifestyle in his works. The first newspaper in the Lithuanian language, Nuſidawimai apie Ewangēliôs Praſiplatinima tarp Źydû ir Pagonû, was published by Prussian Lithuanians. Prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the government and political parties financed the Prussian Lithuanian press.
Orthography
The Prussian Lithuanian orthographyOrthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
was based on the German style, while in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania it was primarily based on the Polish style. Prussian Lithuanians used Gothic script
Blackletter
Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes...
. Lithuanians did not read Prussian Lithuanian publications and vice versa; the cultural communication was very limited. Attempts to create a unified newspaper and common orthography for all Lithuanian speakers at the beginning of the 20th century were unsuccessful. After 1905, modern Lithuanian orthography was standardized while Prussian Lithuanian orthography remained the same – German Gothic script, a noun was begun with a capital letter, the letters ſ
Long s
The long, medial or descending s is a form of the minuscule letter s formerly used where s occurred in the middle or at the beginning of a word, for example "ſinfulneſs" . The modern letterform was called the terminal, round, or short s.-History:The long s is derived from the old Roman cursive...
, ß
ß
In the German alphabet, ß is a letter that originated as a ligature of ss or sz. Like double "s", it is pronounced as an , but in standard spelling, it is only used after long vowels and diphthongs, while ss is used after short vowels...
, ʒ
Ezh (letter)
Ezh is a letter in the International Phonetic Alphabet , representing the voiced postalveolar fricative consonant. It is also called the "tailed z". Example: vision . It is pronounced as the "s" in "treasure" or the "si" in the word "precision"...
were used, and the construction of sentences was different from Lithuanian.
Books and newspapers that were published in Lithuania in Roman type were reprinted in Gothic script in Memel Territory in 1923-39. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis was published in Tilsit in Gothic style until 1940, when it was closed by the Nazis.
Notable Prussian Lithuanians
- Kristijonas DonelaitisKristijonas DonelaitisKristijonas Donelaitis was a Prussian Lithuanian Lutheran pastor and poet. He lived and worked in Lithuania Minor, a territory in the Kingdom of Prussia, that had a sizable minority of ethnic Lithuanians...
, Prussian Lithuanian poet - Franz Domscheit, German painter
- Georg Gerullis, professor at Albertina University, Königsberg
- Alfred NaujocksAlfred NaujocksAlfred Helmut Naujocks, alias Hans Müller, Alfred Bonsen, or Rudolf Möbert , was an SS-Sturmbannführer , and took part in a staged incident intended to provide the justification for the attack on Poland by Nazi Germany, which in turn provoked the Second World War in Europe.-Early life:Naujocks was...
, an SS-SturmbannführerSturmbannführerSturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...
who took part in a staged incident on the Polish border to provide the justification for the attack on Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 - Wilhelm Storost, philosopher
- Otto D. TolischusOtto D. TolischusOtto David Tolischus was a Prussian-Lithuanian-born journalist for the New York Times and winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence for his writing in Berlin during World War II....
, American journalist, Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winner - Lena ValaitisLena ValaitisLena Valaitis is a Lithuanian-German Schlager singer. She had her greatest success during the 1970s and 1980s and competed in three Eurovision Song Contests.- Personal life:...
, German schlagerSchlagerSchlager music is a style of popular music prevalent in Central and Northern Europe and the Balkans and also in France and Poland. In Portugal, it was adapted and became pimba music...
singer - John KayJohn KayJohn Kay may refer to:*John Kay , English inventor of textile machinery, notably the flying shuttle*John Kay , English developer of textile machinery, notably the spinning frame *John Kay , Scottish caricaturist*Sir John Kay...
(born Joachim Fritz Krauledat), Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist, frontman of SteppenwolfSteppenwolf (band)Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...
See also
- Prussian Latvians
- MasuriansMazurians (ethnic group)The Masurians or Mazurs or Masurs are a Lechitic sub-ethnic group in the Masovian and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships in Poland. They are descended from Masovians , Polish settlers from Masovia who moved to Prussia especially during and after the Protestant Reformation and were primarily Protestant...
- Memel Territory
- East PrussiaEast PrussiaEast Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
External links
- Map of languages in East Prussia, as of 1900 large (red = German, white = Polish, blue = Lithuanian, yellow = Latvian / Kurlandish, green = uninhabited or thinly inhabited forest)
- Christoph Kairies. Das litauertum in Ostpreußen südlich des Memelstromes im jahre 1921
- Online heritage book Memelland
- Publications Funded by the Foundation of Lithuania Minor
- Kleinlitauen
- Bilingual Chantbook of 1667
- Bilingual Bible of 1727