History of Pomerania

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Template:Short description Template:History of Pomerania The history of Pomerania starts shortly before 1000 AD, with ongoing conquests by newly arrived Polan rulers. Before that, the area was recorded nearly 2000 years ago as Germania, and in modern times Pomerania has been split between Germany and Poland. Its name comes from the Old Polish po more, which means "(land) at the sea".<ref>Der Name Pommern (po more) ist slawischer Herkunft und bedeutet so viel wie „Land am Meer“. Template:Webarchive (Pommersches Landesmuseum, German)</ref>

Settlement in the area started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage, about 13,000 years ago.<ref name=Hoops422/> Archeological traces have been found of various cultures during the Stone and Bronze Age, of Veneti and Germanic peoples during the Iron Age and, in the Middle Ages, Slavic tribes and Vikings.<ref name=Hoops422>RGA 25 (2004), p.422</ref><ref name="uni-greifswald.de">From the First Humans to the Mesolithic Hunters in the Northern German Lowlands, Current Results and Trends - THOMAS TERBERGER. From: Across the western Baltic, edited by: Keld Møller Hansen & Kristoffer Buck Pedersen, 2006, Template:ISBN, Sydsjællands Museums Publikationer Vol. 1 Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=Piskorski18ff>Piskorski (1999), pp.18ff 6</ref><ref name=Wernicke16ff>Horst Wernicke, Greifswald, Geschichte der Stadt, Helms, 2000, pp.16ff, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="R. Whittle 1996, p.198">A. W. R. Whittle, Europe in the Neolithic: The Creation of New Worlds, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p.198, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Buchholz pp.22,23">Buchholz (1999), pp.22,23</ref><ref name="Herrmann, pp.237ff,244ff">Herrmann (1985), pp.237ff,244ff</ref> Starting in the 10th century, Piast Poland on several occasions acquired parts of the region from the south-east, while the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark reached the region in augmenting their territory to the west and north.<ref name="Herrmann, pp.261,345ff">Herrmann (1985), pp.261,345ff</ref><ref name="Piskorski 1999 p.32">Piskorski (1999), p.32 :pagan reaction of 1005</ref><ref>Buchholz (1999), p.25: pestagan uprising that also ended the Polish suzerainty in 1005</ref><ref name="P. Vlasto, 1970, p.129">A. P. Vlasto, Entry of Slavs Christendom, CUP Archive, 1970, p.129, Template:ISBN: abandoned 1004 - 1005 in face of violent opposition</ref><ref name="Berend">Nora Berend, Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' C. 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.293, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Warner">David Warner, Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Manchester University Press, 2001, p.358, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Borgolte">Michael Borgolte, Benjamin Scheller, Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung über den "Akt von Gnesen", Akademie Verlag, 2002, p.282, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref>

In the High Middle Ages, the area became Christian and was ruled by local dukes of the House of Pomerania and the Samborides, at various times vassals of Denmark, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland.<ref name="Addison 2003, pp.57ff">Addison (2003), pp.57ff</ref><ref name=Piskorski35ff>Piskorski (1999), pp.35ff</ref><ref name="Realenzyklopedie p.40ff">Theologische Realenzyklopädie (1997), pp.40ff</ref> From the late 12th century, the Griffin Duchy of Pomerania stayed with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Rügen with Denmark, while Denmark, Brandenburg, Poland and the Teutonic Knights struggled for control in Samboride Pomerelia.<ref name="Realenzyklopedie p.40ff"/><ref>Buchholz (1999), p.34ff,87,103</ref><ref name=Piskorski43/> The Teutonic Knights succeeded in annexing Pomerelia to their monastic state in the early 14th century. Meanwhile, the Ostsiedlung started to turn Pomerania into a German-settled area; the remaining Wends, who became known as Slovincians and Kashubians, continued to settle within the rural East.<ref name=Piskorski77ff>Piskorski (1999), pp.77ff</ref><ref name="Buchholz 1999, pp.45ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.45ff</ref> In 1325, the line of the princes of Rügen died out, and the principality was inherited by the House of Pomerania,<ref name="Buchholz pp.115,116"/> themselves involved in the Brandenburg-Pomeranian conflict about superiority in their often internally divided duchy. In 1466, with the Teutonic Order's defeat, Pomerelia became subject to the Polish Crown as a part of Royal Prussia.<ref name="Buchholz p.186"/> While the Duchy of Pomerania adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1534,<ref name="Buchholz pp.205–212"/><ref name="Moulin Eckart 1976, pp.111,112">Richard du Moulin Eckart, Geschichte der deutschen Universitäten, Georg Olms Verlag, 1976, pp.111,112, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Realenzyklopädie, p.43ff">Theologische Realenzyklopädie (1997), pp.43ff</ref> as part of the Empire by then termed the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation,<ref>Template:Cite book, Template:Cite book</ref> Kashubia remained with the Roman Catholic Church. The Thirty Years' and subsequent wars severely ravaged and depopulated most of Pomerania.<ref>Buchholz (1999), pp.263,332,341–343,352–354</ref> With the extinction of the Griffin house during the same period, the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648.

Prussia gained the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania in 1720.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.341-343">Buchholz (1999), pp.341-343</ref> It gained the remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815, when French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars was lifted.<ref name="=">Buchholz (1999), pp.363,364</ref> The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the former Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania,<ref name="Buchholz, p.366">Buchholz (1999), p.366</ref> while Pomerelia in the partitions of Poland was made part of the Province of West Prussia. With Prussia, both provinces joined the newly constituted German Empire in 1871. Following the empire's defeat in World War I, Pomerelia became part of the Second Polish Republic (Polish Corridor) and the Free City of Danzig was created. Germany's Province of Pomerania was expanded in 1938 to include northern parts of the former Province of Posen–West Prussia, and in 1939 the annexed Polish territories became the part of Nazi Germany known as Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. The Nazis deported the Pomeranian Jews to a reservation near Lublin<ref name=Adelsberger138>Lucie Adelsberger, Arthur Joseph Slavin, Susan H. Ray, Deborah E. Lipstadt, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Story, Northeastern University Press, 1995, Template:ISBN, p.138: February 12/13, 1940</ref><ref name=Trunk133>Isaiah Trunk, Jacob Robinson, Judenrat: The Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation, U of Nebraska Press, 1996, Template:ISBN, p.133: February 14, 1940; unheated wagons, elderly and sick suffered most, inhumane treatment</ref><ref name=Yahil138>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=Gilbert14>Martin Gilbert, Eilert Herms, Alexandra Riebe, Geistliche als Retter - auch eine Lehre aus dem Holocaust: Auch eine Lehre aus dem Holocaust, Mohr Siebeck, 2003, Template:ISBN, pp.14 (English) and 15 (German): February 15, 1940, 1000 Jews deported</ref><ref name=Favez33>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=Yad69>Yad Vashem Studies, Yad ṿa-shem, rashut ha-zikaron la-Shoʼah ṿela-gevurah, Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, 1996 Notizen: v.12, p.69: 1,200 deported, 250 died during deportation</ref><ref name=Stoltzfus130>Nathan Stoltzfus, Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany, Rutgers University Press, 2001, Template:ISBN, p.130: February 11/12 from Stettin, soon thereafter from Schneidemühl, total of 1,260 Jews deported, among the deportees were intermarried non-Jewish women who had refused to divorce, eager Nazi Gauleiter Schwede-Coburg was the first to have his Gau "judenfrei", Eichmann's "RSHA" (Reich Security Main Office) ensured this was an isolated local incident to worried Eppstein of the Central Organization of Jews in Germany (Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland)</ref><ref name=Mendelsohn131>John Mendelsohn, Legalizing the Holocaust, the Later Phase, 1939-1943, Garland Pub., 1982, Template:ISBN, p.131: Stettin Jews' houses were sealed, belongings liquidated, funds to be held in blocked accounts</ref><ref name=Buchholz506>Buchholz (1999), p.506: Only very few [of the Pomeranian Jews] survived the Nazi era. p.510: Nearly all Jews from Stettin and all the province, about a thousand</ref><ref name="Nitecki13ff">Alicia Nitecki, Jack Terry, Jakub's World: A Boy's Story of Loss and Survival in the Holocaust, SUNY Press, 2005, Template:ISBN, pp.13ff: Stettin Jews to Belzyce in Lublin area, reservation purpose decline of Jews, terror command of Kurt Engels, shocking insights in life circumstances</ref> and mass-murdered Jews, Poles and Kashubians in Pomerania, planning to eventually exterminate Jews and Poles and Germanise the Kashubians.

After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the German–Polish border was shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line and all of Pomerania was placed under Soviet military control.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.512-515"/><ref name="Piskorski 1999, pp.373ff">Piskorski (1999), pp.373ff</ref> The area west of the line became part of East Germany, the other areas part of the People's Republic of Poland even though it did not have a sizeable Polish population. The German population of the areas east of the line was expelled, and the area was resettled primarily with Poles (some of whom were themselves expellees from former eastern Poland), and some Ukrainians (who were resettled under Operation Vistula) and Jews.<ref name="Piskorski 1999, pp.381ff">Piskorski (1999), pp.381ff</ref><ref name="cadmus.iue.it">Tomasz Kamusella in Prauser and Reeds (eds), The Expulsion of the German communities from Eastern Europe, p.28, EUI HEC 2004/1 [1] Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="Philipp Ther 2001, p.114">Philipp Ther, Ana Siljak, Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, 2001, p.114, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Gregor Thum 2006, pp.363">Gregor Thum, Die fremde Stadt. Breslau nach 1945, 2006, pp.363, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Buchholz 1999, p.515">Buchholz (1999), p.515</ref><ref name="books.google.de">Dierk Hoffmann, Michael Schwartz, Geglückte Integration?, p142</ref><ref name="Karl Cordell 2000, p.168">Karl Cordell, Andrzej Antoszewski, Poland and the European Union, 2000, p.168, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name=Piskorski406>Piskorski (1999), p.406</ref><ref name="Selwyn Ilan Troen pp.283-284">Selwyn Ilan Troen, Benjamin Pinkus, Merkaz le-moreshet Ben-Guryon, Organizing Rescue: National Jewish Solidarity in the Modern Period, pp.283-284, 1992, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref> Most of Western Pomerania (Vorpommern) today forms the eastern part of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Federal Republic of Germany, while the Polish part of the region is divided between West Pomeranian Voivodeship and Pomeranian Voivodeship, with their capitals in Szczecin and Gdańsk, respectively. During the late 1980s, the Solidarność and Die Wende movements overthrew the Communist regimes implemented during the post-war era.Template:Citation needed Since then, Pomerania has been democratically governed.

Prehistory and antiquity

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File:LG Dolmen1.JPG
One of more than 1,000 megalith sites in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – the Lancken-Granitz dolmen

After the glaciers of the Vistula Glacial Stage retreated from Pomerania during the Allerød oscillation,<ref name=Hoops422/> a warming period that falls within the Early Stone Age, they left a tundra. First humans appeared hunting reindeer in the summer.<ref name=Piskorski1617>Piskorski (1999), pp.16,17</ref> A climate change in 8000 BC<ref name=Piskorski17>Piskorski (1999), p.17</ref> allowed hunters and foragers of the Maglemosian culture,<ref name=Hoops422/> and from 6000 BC of the Ertebølle-Ellerbek culture, to continuously inhabit the area.<ref name="Wernicke, p.16"/> These people became influenced by farmers of the Linear Pottery culture who settled in southern Pomerania.<ref name="Wernicke, p.16"/><ref name=Piskorski1819/> The hunters of the Ertebølle-Ellerbek culture became farmers of the Funnelbeaker culture in 3000 BC.<ref name="Wernicke, p.16"/><ref name=Piskorski19/> The Havelland culture dominated in the Uckermark from 2500 to 2000 BC.<ref name=Wernicke1617/> In 2400 BC, the Corded Ware culture reached Pomerania<ref name=Wernicke1617/><ref name=Piskorski1920/> and introduced the domestic horse.<ref name=Piskorski1920/> Both Linear Pottery and Corded Ware culture have been associated with Indo-Europeans.<ref name=Piskorski1920/> Except for Western Pomerania,<ref name=Wernicke1617/> the Funnelbeaker culture was replaced by the Globular Amphora culture a thousand years later.<ref name=Psikorski19>Piskorski (1999), p.19</ref>

During the Bronze Age, Western Pomerania was part of the Nordic Bronze Age cultures, while east of the Oder the Lusatian culture dominated.<ref name=Piskorski2021/> Throughout the Iron Age, the people of the western Pomeranian areas belonged to the Jastorf culture,<ref name=Piskorski23/><ref name=Wernicke1819/> while the Lusatian culture of the East was succeeded by the Pomeranian culture,<ref name=Piskorski23/> then in 150 BC by the Oxhöft (Oksywie) culture, and at the beginning of the first millennium by the Willenberg (Wielbark) Culture.<ref name=Piskorski23/>

While the Jastorf culture is usually associated with Germanic peoples,<ref name=Wernicke19/> the ethnic category of the Lusatian culture and its successors is debated.<ref name=Piskorski21ff/> Veneti, Germanic peoples (Goths, Rugians, and Gepids) and possibly Slavs are assumed to have been the bearers of these cultures or parts thereof.<ref name=Piskorski21ff>Piskorski (1999), pp.21ff 6</ref>

Beginning in the 3rd century, many settlements were abandoned,<ref name=Hoops281/> marking the beginning of the Migration Period in Pomerania. It is assumed that Burgundians, Goths and Gepids with parts of the Rugians left Pomerania during that stage, while some Veneti, Vidivarii and other, Germanic groups remained,<ref name=Hoops282>RGA 23 (2003), p.282</ref> and formed the Gustow, Debczyn and late Willenberg cultures, which existed in Pomerania until the 6th century.<ref name=Hoops281>RGA 23 (2003), p.281</ref>

Timeline 10,000 BC–600 AD

File:Gesichtsurnen.jpg
Pomeranian culture – Pomerelian faced urns

Early Middle Ages

File:West slavs 9th-10th c..png
Distribution of Slavic tribes between the 9th–10th centuries
File:Steinrelief Pfarrkirche Altenkirchen.jpg
A priest of Svantevit depicted on a stone from Arkona, now in the church of Altenkirchen

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The southward movement of Germanic tribes and Veneti during the Migration Period had left Pomerania largely depopulated by the 7th century.<ref name=Piskorski26>Piskorski (1999), p.26</ref> Between 650 and 850 AD, West Slavic tribes settled in Pomerania.<ref name=Harck15/><ref name=Piskorski29ff>Piskorski (1999), pp.29ff Template:ISBN Template:OCLC</ref> These tribes were collectively known as "Pomeranians" between the Oder and Vistula rivers, or as "Veleti" (later "Liuticians") west of the Oder. A distinct tribe, the Rani, was based on the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland.<ref name="Buchholz pp.22,23"/><ref name=Piskorski30>Piskorski (1999), p.30</ref> In the 8th and 9th centuries, Slavic-Scandinavian emporia were set up along the coastline as powerful centres of craft and trade.<ref name=Harck15ff>Harck&Lübke (2001), pp.15ff</ref>

In 936, the Holy Roman Empire set up the Billung and Northern marches in Western Pomerania, divided by the Peene. The Liutician federation, in an uprising of 983, managed to regain independence, but broke apart in the course of the 11th century because of internal conflicts.<ref name="Herrmann, pp.261,345ff"/><ref name=Harck27>Harck&Lübke (2001), p.27</ref> Meanwhile, Polish Piasts managed to acquire parts of eastern Pomerania during the late 960s, where the Diocese of Kołobrzeg was installed in 1000 AD. The Pomeranians regained independence during the Pomeranian uprising of 1005.<ref name="Piskorski 1999 p.32"/><ref name="P. Vlasto, 1970, p.129"/><ref name="Berend"/>Template:Failed verification<ref name="Warner"/><ref name="Borgolte"/><ref name="Buchholz 1999 p.25">Buchholz (1999), p.25 : pagan uprising that also ended the Polish suzerainty in 1005</ref><ref>Jürgen Petersohn, Der südliche Ostseeraum im kirchlich-politischen Kräftespiel des Reichs, Polens und Dänemarks vom 10. bis 13. Jahrhundert: Mission, Kirchenorganisation, Kultpolitik, Böhlau, 1979, p.43, Template:ISBN. 1005/13</ref><ref>Oskar Eggert, Geschichte Pommerns, Pommerscher Buchversand, 1974: 1005-1009</ref><ref>Roderich Schmidt, Das historische Pommern: Personen, Orte, Ereignisse, Böhlau, 2007, p.101, Template:ISBN. 1005/13</ref><ref name="Wille">Michael Müller-Wille, Rom und Byzanz im Norden: Mission und Glaubenswechsel im Ostseeraum während des 8.-14. Jahrhunderts: internationale Fachkonferenz der deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Verbindung mit der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz: Kiel, 18.-25. 9. 1994, 1997, p.105, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref>

During the first half of the 11th century, the Liuticians participated in the Holy Roman Empire's wars against Piast Poland.<ref name=Herrmann356ff>Herrmann (1985), pp.356ff</ref> The alliance broke off when Poland was defeated,<ref name=Herrmann364>Herrmann (1985), p.359</ref> and the Liutician federation broke apart in 1057 during a civil war.<ref name=Herrmann365>Herrmann (1985), p.365</ref> The Liutician capital was destroyed by the Germans in 1068/69,<ref name=Herrmann366>Herrmann (1985), p.366</ref> making way for the subsequent eastward expansion of their western neighbour, the Obodrite state. In 1093, the Luticians,<ref name=Herrmann379>Herrmann (1985), p.379</ref> Pomeranians<ref name=Herrmann379/> and Rani<ref name=Herrmann379/> had to pay tribute to Obodrite prince Henry.<ref name=Herrmann367>Herrmann (1985), p.367</ref>

Timeline 600–1100

File:Polska 960 - 992.svg
Pomerania as part of Poland under the Duke Mieszko I, 960–992
File:WalMenz.jpg
Stone ships at the site of an early medieval Scandinavian settlement, Altes Lager Menzlin, near Anklam

High Middle Ages

File:Kamien Pomorski - katedra zewnatrz 02.JPG
Cathedral, Kammin (Cammin, Kamien Pomorski), see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kammin, set up in 1140 in Wollin (Wolin)

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In the early 12th century, Obodrite, Polish, Saxon, and Danish conquests resulted in vassalage and Christianization of the formerly pagan and independent Pomeranian tribes.<ref name="Addison 2003, pp.57ff"/><ref name="Realenzyklopedie p.40">Theologische Realenzyklopädie (1997), p.40</ref><ref name="Buchholz p.25"/><ref name="Herrmann, pp.384ff">Herrmann (1985), pp.384ff</ref> Local dynasties ruled the Principality of Rügen (House of Wizlaw), the Duchy of Pomerania (House of Pomerania), the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp (Ratiboride branch of the House of Pomerania), and the duchies in Pomerelia (Samborides).<ref name="Realenzyklopedie p.40"/> Monasteries were founded at Grobe, Kolbatz, Gramzow, and Belbuck which supported Pomerania's Christianization and advanced German settlements.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The dukes of Pomerania expanded their realm into Circipania and Uckermark to the Southwest, and competed with the Margraviate of Brandenburg for territory and formal overlordship over their duchies. Pomerania-Demmin lost most of her territory and was integrated into Pomerania-Stettin in the mid-13th century. When the Ratiborides died out in 1223, competition arose for the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp,<ref name="Buchholz p.87">Buchholz (1999), p.87</ref> which changed hands numerous times.

Throughout the High Middle Ages, a large influx of German settlers and the introduction of German law, custom, and Low German language turned the area west of the Oder into a German one (Ostsiedlung). The Wends, who during the Early Middle Ages had belonged to the Slavic Rani, Lutician and Pomeranian tribes, were assimilated by the German Pomeranians. To the east of the Oder this development occurred later; in the area from Stettin eastward, the number of German settlers in the 12th century was still insignificant.Template:Cn The Kashubians descendants of Slavic Pomeranians, dominated many rural areas in Pomerelia.Template:Cn

The conversion of Pomerania to Christianity was achieved primarily by the missionary efforts of Absalon and Otto von Bamberg, by the foundation of numerous monasteries, and by the assimilatory power of the Christian settlers. A Pomeranian diocese was set up in Wolin, the see was later moved to Cammin.<ref>W. von Sommerfeld: Geschichte der Germanisierung des Herzogtums Pommern oder Slavien bis zum Ablauf des 13. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig 1896 (printed on demand by Elibron, Template:ISBN, in German, limited preview).</ref>

Timeline 1100–1300

File:Monument of Swietopelk II the Great in Szeroka Street in Gdańsk.jpg
Monument of Swietopelk II the Great in Szeroka Street in Gdańsk
File:Stralsunder Rathaus mit Schaufassade, dahinter die Nikolaikirche-2630.jpg
Stralsund, one of several Hanseatic cities in Pomerania. Brick Gothic was the typical medieval architecture that can be seen throughout the region.

Late Middle Ages

File:Map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (pink) and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (red) in 1386 - 1434.png
The Duchy of Pomerania-Stolp between 1368–1478 was a feudal territory under the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
File:Szczecin Zamek Ksiazat Pomorskich (od pln-wsch).jpg
Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in Szczecin. While this is a reconstruction of the late medieval castle, a burgh had been on this site already in the Early Middle Ages.
File:Bistum Cammin 1400.PNG
The Duchy of Pomerania (yellow) in 1400 within the Holy Roman Empire (P.-Stettin and P.-Wolgast are indicated); purple: Diocese of Cammin (BM. Cammin) and the Teutonic Order state; orange: Margraviate of Brandenburg; pink: duchies of Mecklenburg

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The towns of the Hanseatic League were acting as quasi autonomous political and military entities.<ref name="Calhoun, pp.157,158">Craig J. Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, Indermohan Virk, Contemporary Sociological Theory, Blackwell Publishing, 2002, pp.157,158 Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Buchholz pp.128-154,178-180">Buchholz (1999), pp.128-154,178-180</ref> The Duchy of Pomerania gained the Principality of Rügen after two wars with Mecklenburg,<ref name="Buchholz pp.115,116">Buchholz (1999), pp. 115,116</ref> the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp<ref name="Buchholz p.106">Buchholz (1999), pp. 106</ref> and the Lauenburg and Bütow Land.<ref name="Buchholz p.186">Buchholz (1999), p. 186</ref> Pomerelia was integrated into the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights after the Teutonic takeover of Danzig in 1308, and became a part of Royal Prussia in 1466.

The Duchy of Pomerania was internally fragmented into Pomerania-Wolgast, -Stettin, -Barth, and -Stolp.<ref name="Boockmann, pp.131,132">Hartmut Boockmann, Die Anfänge der ständischen Vertretungen in Preussen und seinen Nachbarländern, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1992, pp.131,132, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Buchholz pp.143,146,147">Buchholz (1999), pp.143,146,147</ref> The dukes were in continuous warfare with the Margraviate of Brandenburg due to Uckermark and Neumark border disputes and disputes over formal overlordship of Pomerania.<ref name="Buchholz pp.160-166, 180ff">Buchholz (1999), pp. 160-166,180ff</ref>

In 1478, the duchy was reunited under the rule of Bogislaw X, when most of the other dukes had died of the plague.<ref name="ADB_Bogislaw_X">Bogislaw X in Allgemeine Deutsche BiographieTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref name="Buchholz p.189">Buchholz (1999), p.189</ref>

Timeline 1300–1500

File:EMAU - Rubenowplatz 2.jpg
University of Greifswald, founded in 1456

Early Modern Age

File:Belagerung ruegen.jpg
Invasion of the Swedish Rügen by Brandenburg-Prussia, 1678
File:K0nigl+BherzoglPreussen en.png
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File:Pomerania 1653.PNG
The former Duchy of Pomerania (center) partitioned between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg after the Treaty of Stettin in 1653. Swedish Pomerania (West Pomerania) is indicated in blue; Brandenburg, including Brandenburgian Pomerania (East Pomerania) is shown in orange.

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Throughout this time, Pomerelia was within Royal Prussia, a part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with considerable autonomy. In the late 18th century, it became a part of Prussia.

The Duchy of Pomerania was fragmented into Pomerania-Stettin (Farther Pomerania) and Pomerania-Wolgast (Western Pomerania) in 1532,<ref name="Realenzyklopedie p.40ff"/><ref name="Buchholz pp.205-220">Buchholz (1999), pp.205-220</ref> underwent Protestant Reformation in 1534,<ref name="Moulin Eckart 1976, pp.111,112"/><ref name="Realenzyklopädie, p.43ff"/><ref name="Buchholz pp.205–212">Buchholz (1999), pp.205-212</ref> and was even further fragmented in 1569,<ref name="Buchholz pp.207">Buchholz (1999), pp.207</ref> while all parts stayed part of the Empire's Upper Saxon Circle. In 1627, the Thirty Years' War reached the duchy.<ref name="Buchholz, p.233">Buchholz (1999), p.233</ref> Since the Treaty of Stettin (1630), it was under Swedish control.<ref name="Buchholz, p.233"/><ref name="Buchholz, pp.235,236">Buchholz (1999), pp.235,236</ref> In the midst of the war, the last duke Bogislaw XIV died without an issue. Garrison, plunder, numerous battles, famine and diseases left two thirds of the population dead and most of the country ravaged.<ref name="Buchholz, p.263">Buchholz (1999), p.263</ref><ref name="Buchholz, p.332">Buchholz (1999), p.332</ref> In the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia agreed on a partition of the duchy, which came into effect after the Treaty of Stettin (1653). Western Pomerania became Swedish Pomerania, a Swedish dominion, while Farther Pomerania became a Brandenburg-Prussian province. Swedish Pomerania stayed part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Swedish king became Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

A series of wars affected Pomerania in the following centuries. As a consequence, most of the formerly free peasants became serfs of the nobles.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.264ff">Buchholz (1999), p.264ff</ref> Brandenburg-Prussia was able to integrate southern Swedish Pomerania into her Pomeranian province during the Great Northern War, which was confirmed in the Treaty of Stockholm in 1720.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.341-343"/> In the 18th century, Prussia rebuild and colonised her war-torn Pomeranian province.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.332,347,354">Buchholz (1999), pp.332,347,354</ref>

Timeline 1500–1806

File:Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle at Breitenfeld.jpg
Gustavus II Adolphus started the Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War from Pomerania, parts of which would remain Swedish until 1815. This and subsequent wars severely ravaged the region, two thirds of the population died during the Thirty Years' War.<ref>Buchholz (1999), pp.263,332</ref>
File:HRR 1648.png
Pomerania as part of the Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Westphalia

Modern Age

File:Sea Towers Skwer.jpg
Gdynia, a major port city constructed in 1921 as Poland's harbour within the Polish Corridor
File:Provinz Pommern 1905.png
Map of the Prussian province Pomerania (Pommern) in 1905
File:Prussian Settlement Commission.JPG
Acquisitions of land from ethnic Poles for settling ethnic German commoners by the Prussian Settlement Commission in the provinces of Posen and West Prussia (outside Prussian Pomerania)
File:Westpreußen und DanzigerBucht.png
Map of West Prussia and the Gdańsk Bay in 1896

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From the Napoleonic Wars to World War I, Pomerania was administered by the Kingdom of Prussia as the Province of Pomerania (Western and Farther Pomerania) and West Prussia (Pomerelia).

The Province of Pomerania was created from the Province of Pomerania (1653–1815) (Farther Pomerania and southern Vorpommern) and Swedish Pomerania (northern Vorpommern), and the districts of Schivelbein and Dramburg, formerly belonging to the Neumark.<ref name="Buchholz, p.366">Buchholz (1999), p.366</ref> While in the Kingdom of Prussia, the province was heavily influenced by the reforms of Karl August von Hardenberg<ref>Buchholz (1999), pp.393ff</ref> and Otto von Bismarck.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.420ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.420ff</ref> The Industrial Revolution had an impact primarily on the Stettin area and the infrastructure, while most of the province retained a rural and agricultural character.<ref name="Buchholz 1999, pp.412,413,464ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.412,413,464ff</ref> Since 1850, the net migration rate was negative, Pomeranians emigrated primarily to Berlin, the West German industrial regions and overseas.<ref>Buchholz (1999), pp.400ff</ref> Also, more than 100,000 Kashubian Poles emigrated from Pomerania between 1855 and 1900, for economic and social reasons, in what is called the Kashubian diaspora.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In areas where ethnically Polish population lived along with ethnic Germans a virtual apartheid existed (in Prussian Pomerania this was mostly the Lauenburg and Bütow Land), with bans on Kashubian or Polish language and religious discrimination, besides attempts to colonize areas of prevailingly ethnically Polish population with ethnic Germans<ref>A history of modern Germany, 1800-2000 Martin Kitchen Wiley-Blackwel 2006, page 130)</ref> the Prussian Settlement Commission, established in 1886 and restricted to act in Posen and West Prussia provinces only, parcelled acquired noble latifundia into 21,727 homesteads of an average of 13 to 15 hectares, introducing 154,000 ethnic German colonists before World War I, which were all outside of Prussian Pomerania, but are also located in areas today denominated as Pomerania in Polish geography.<ref>Andrzej Chwalba - Historia Polski 1795-1918 page 461</ref> This was surpassed after 1892 by efforts of new private initiatives by minority of ethnically Polish Germans, but a majority in wide parts of Posen and West Prussia province, who founded the Prussian banks Bank Ziemski, Bank Społek Zarobkowych (cooperative central clearing bank) and land acquisition cooperatives (spółki ziemskie)<ref>"Rozwój polskiej bankowości w Poznaniu rozpoczął się w 2. połowie XIX wieku", on: POZnan*, retrieved on 5 August 2021.</ref> which collected private funds and succeeded to buy more latifundia from defaulted owners and settle more ethnically Polish Germans as farmers on the parcelled land than their governmentally funded counter-party. A big success of the Prussian activists for the Polish nation.

After the First World War, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic was established from the bulk of West Prussia. Poland became a democracy and introduced the women's right to vote in 1918.<ref>Poland became a democracy and introduced women's right to vote God's Playground: A History of Poland, By Norman Davies, Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 302</ref>

The German minority in the newly created Polish Republic moved to Germany in large numbers, mostly of their own free will and due to their economic situation.<ref name="Blanke, pp.32ff">Richard Blanke, Orphans of Versailles, p32ff, 1993</ref> For use as a harbor within the Polish Corridor, Poland built a large Baltic port at the site of the former village Gdynia. Also under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Danzig (Gdańsk) area became the Free City of Danzig, a city-state under League of Nations protection.

After the Kaiser's abdication, democracy and the women's right to vote were introduced to the Weimar Republic and through it to the Free State of Prussia and the Province of Pomerania of which it was a part.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.472ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.472ff</ref> The economic situation worsened due to the consequences of World War I and the worldwide recession.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.443ff,481ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.443ff,481ff</ref> As in the Kingdom of Prussia before, Pomerania was a stronghold of the nationalistic and anti-Semitic<ref name="Nicholls">Adolf Hitler: a biographical companion David Nicholls page 178 November 1, 2000 The main nationalist party the German National People's Party DNVP was divided between reactionary conservative monarchists, who wished to turn the clock back to the pre-1918 Kaisereich, and more radical volkisch and anti-semitic elements. It also inherited the support of old Pan-German League, whose nationalism rested on belief in the inherent superiority of the German people</ref> German National People's Party.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.377ff,439ff,491ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.377ff,439ff,491ff</ref> Between 1920 and 1932, the government of the state of Prussia was led by the Social Democrats, with Otto Braun Prussian minister-president almost continuously during this time.

Timeline 1806–1933

File:Ruegen 038.jpg
Narrow gauge railways like "Rügensche Kleinbahn", operating since 1895, were built in all of Pomerania during the late 19th century.<ref>Buchholz (1999), p.464</ref>
File:Binz Kurhaus.JPG
Since the late 19th century, the Pomeranian coast is a tourist resort. In Binz, tourism started in the 1860s.

Nazi era

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File:KL Stutthof 01.jpg
Stutthof concentration camp, former Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, site of the deaths of 85,000 people
File:Trzeszczyn pomnik.jpg
Memorial to the victims of Nazi camps in a town named Police (at that time German: Pölitz) situated in Trzeszczyn, Wkrzańska Heath

In 1933, the Province of Pomerania, like all of Germany, came under control of the Nazi regime. During the following years, the Nazis led by Gauleiter Franz Schwede-Coburg manifested their power by Gleichschaltung and repression of their opponents.<ref name="Buchholz, pp.500ff,509ff">Buchholz (1999), pp.500ff,509ff Template:ISBN</ref> Pomerelia then formed the Polish Corridor of the Second Polish Republic. Concerning Pomerania, Nazi diplomacy aimed at incorporation of the Free City of Danzig and a transit route through the corridor, which was rejected by the Polish government.<ref name="Fest, pp.575-577">Joachim C. Fest, Hitler, Harcourt Trade, 2002, pp.575-577, Template:ISBN [2]Template:Dead link</ref>

In 1939, the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland. Inhabitants of the region from all ethnic backgrounds were subject to numerous atrocities by Nazi Germany forces, of which the most affected were Polish and Jewish civilians.<ref>Max Kerner, Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands, Eine Welt, eine Geschichte?: 43. Deutscher Historikertag in Aachen, 26. Bis 29. September 2000: Berichtsband, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2000, p.226, Template:ISBN [3]</ref><ref>Bernhard Chiari, Jerzy Kochanowski, Germany Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, Die polnische Heimatarmee: Geschichte und Mythos der Armia Krajowa seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2003, pp.59,60, Template:ISBN [4]</ref><ref>Detlef Brandes, Der Weg zur Vertreibung 1938-1945: Pläne und Entscheidungen zum"transfer" der Deutschen aus der Tschechoslowakei und aus Polen, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2005, p.62, Template:ISBN [5]</ref> Pomerelia was made part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. The Nazis set up concentration camps, ethnically cleansed Poles and Jews, and systematically exterminated Poles, Roma and the Jews. In Pomerania Albert Forster was directly responsible for extermination of non-Germans in Danzig-West Prussia. He personally believed in the need to engage in genocide of Poles and stated that "We have to exterminate this nation, starting from the cradle",<ref>Eugenia Bozena Klodecka-Kaczynska, Michal Ziólkowski (1 Jan 2003), Bylem numerem: swiadectwa z Auschwitz, page 14. Wydawn. Sióstr Loretanek.</ref><ref>Barbara Bojarska (1989), Piasnica, miejsce martyrologii i pamieci: z badan nad zbrodniami hilerowskimi na Pomorzu. Page 20. "Szczególny niepokój wywolala wsród mieszkanców jego wyrazna zapowiedz akcji zaglady Polaków, streszczajaca sie chocby w tym jednym zdaniu: Musimy ten naród wytepic od kolyski poczawszy."</ref><ref>Dieter Schenk (2002), Albert Forster: gdanski namiestnik Hitlera : zbrodnie hitlerowskie w Gdansku i Prusach Zachodnich, POLNORD - Gdansk, page 388.</ref>Template:Verify source and declared that Poles and Jews were not human.<ref>Danuta Drywa (2001), Zaglada Zydów w obozie koncentracyjnym Stutthof Muzeum Stutthof w Sztutowie. "Polityke eksterminacyjna na Pomorzu Gdanskim mial bezposrednio realizowac gauleiter Okregu Gdansk-Prusy Albert Forster."</ref><ref>Dieter Schenk (2002), Albert Forster: gdanski namiestnik Hitlera, page 221. "...postawe Forstera, który nie poczuwal sie do jakiejkolwiek winy, zwlaszcza w przypadkach, gdy chodzilo - w jego mniemaniu - o „podludzi" w rodzaju prostytutek, Polaków i Zydów, o których zazwyczaj mówiono element".</ref>

Around 70 camps were set up for Polish populations in Pomerania where they were subjected to murder, torture and in case of women and girls, rape before executions.<ref>Maria Wardzynska: Byl rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczenstwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion. Warszawa: Instytut Pamieci Narodowej, 2009. Template:ISBN page 17</ref><ref>Barbara Bojarska: Eksterminacja inteligencji polskiej na Pomorzu Gdanskim, page 67.</ref>Template:Verify source Between 10 and 15 September Forster organised a meeting of top Nazi officials in his region and ordered the immediate removal of all "dangerous" Poles, all Jews and Polish clergy<ref name="Dieter Schenk 2002. page 212-213">Dieter Schenk (2002): Albert Forster. Gdanski namiestnik Hitlera. Gdansk: Wydawnictwo Oskar. Template:ISBN, pages 212-213.</ref> In some cases Forster ordered executions himself.<ref name="Dieter Schenk 2002. page 215">Dieter Schenk (2002): Albert Forster. Gdanski namiestnik Hitlera. Gdansk: Wydawnictwo Oskar. Template:ISBN, page 215.</ref> On 19 October he reprimanded Nazi officials in the city of Grudziadz for not "spilling enough Polish blood".<ref>Barbara Bojarska: Eksterminacja inteligencji polskiej na Pomorzu Gdanskim, page 66.</ref>

Timeline 1933–1945

File:Kolobrzeg1945.JPG
World War II devastated Kolberg (Kolobrzeg), like most of Pomerania.

Communist era and recent history

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File:Pomeraniamap.png
Historical Province of Pomerania (yellow) superimposed on modern Germany (red) and Poland (blue)
File:Port lotniczy Szczecin-Goleniów.jpg
"Solidarity" Szczecin–Goleniów Airport
File:Szczecin CD Przelomy (4).jpg
Centrum Dialogu „Przełomy”, a part of the National Museum in Szczecin
File:Nowe Warpno Plac Zwycięstwa.JPG
Nowe Warpno - a popular destination for regional tourism near the border between Poland and Germany, close to Altwarp

In 1945, Pomerania was taken by the Red Army and Polish Armed Forces in the East during the East Pomeranian Offensive and the Battle of Berlin.<ref>Buchholz (1999), pp.511-515</ref> After the post-war border changes, the German population that had not yet fled was expelled from what in Poland was propagated<ref name="Cordell_1999">Tomasz Kamusella and Terry Sullivan in Karl Cordell, Ethnicity and Democratisation in the New Europe, 1999, p.169: "[the term "recovered territories" was] christened so by the Polish communist-cum-nationalist propaganda", Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref> to be recovered territory.<ref name="Geoffrey Hosking 1997, p.153">Geoffrey Hosking, George Schopflin, Myths and Nationhood, 1997, p.153, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Joanna B. Michlic, Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present, 2006, pp.207-208, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland in Two Volumes, 2005, pp.381ff, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Jan Kubik, The Power of Symbols Against the Symbols of Power: The Rise of Solidarity and the Fall of State Socialism in Poland, 1994, pp.64-65, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref> The area east of the Oder and the Szczecin (former Stettin) area was resettled primarily with Poles, who themselves were expelled from Eastern Poland that was re-attached to the USSR. Most of the German cultural heritage of the region was destroyed.<ref>Dan Diner, Raphael Gross, Yfaat Weiss, Jüdische Geschichte als allgemeine Geschichte, p.164</ref><ref>Gregor Thum, Die fremde Stadt. Breslau nach 1945, 2006, p.344, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN</ref> Most of Western Pomerania stayed with Germany and was merged into Mecklenburg.

With the consolidation of Communism in East Germany and Poland, Pomerania was part of the Eastern Bloc. In the 1980s, the Solidarność movement in Gdańsk (Danzig) and the Wende movement in East Germany forced the Communists out of power and led to the establishment of democracy in both the Polish and German part of Pomerania.Template:Citation needed

Timeline 1945–present

See also

Sources

References

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Bibliography

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Further reading

English:

  • Boehlke, LeRoy, Pomerania – Its People and Its History, Pommerscher Verein Freistadt, Germantown, WI, U.S.A., 1983.

German and Polish:

Polish:

  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. I (to 1466), parts 1–2, Poznań 1969
  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. II (1466–1815), parts 1–2, Poznań 1976
  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. III (1815–1850), parts 1–3, Poznań
  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. IV (1850–1918), part 1, Toruń 2003
  • B. Śliwiński, "Poczet książąt gdańskich", Gdańsk 1997

German:

Template:Pomeranian history

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