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
Slavicpo more, which means "land at the sea".[1]
Beginning in the 3rd century, many settlements were abandoned,[67] 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,[68] and formed the
Gustow,
Debczyn and late
Willenberg cultures, which existed in Pomerania until the 6th century.[67]
The southward movement of
Germanic tribes and
Veneti during the
Migration Period had left Pomerania largely depopulated by the 7th century.[70] Between 650 and 850 AD,
West Slavic tribes settled in Pomerania.[71][72] 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.[7][73] In the 8th and 9th centuries,
Slavic-
Scandinavian emporia were set up along the coastline as powerful centres of craft and trade.[74]
During the first half of the 11th century, the Liuticians participated in the
Holy Roman Empire's wars against
Piast Poland.[81] The alliance broke off when Poland was defeated,[82] and the Liutician federation broke apart in 1057 during a civil war.[83] The Liutician capital was destroyed by the Germans in 1068/69,[84] making way for the subsequent eastward expansion of their western neighbour, the
Obodrite state. In 1093, the Luticians,[85] Pomeranians[85] and
Rani[85] had to pay tribute to
Obodrite prince Henry.[86]
Timeline 600–1100
~650–~850:
Slavic peoples appear and differentiate into several tribes grouped as
PolabianVeleti (later Liuticians, Lutizians) in the West and
Pomeranians in the East,[7][71][87] resettling the regions left by the Germanic tribes
In the 980s, a stronghold in
Gdańsk was built, probably by the Polish ruler
Mieszko I, who thereby connected the future Polish state ruled by the Piast dynasty with the trade routes of the Baltic Sea.
983: uprising in the marches, Lutici regain independence after forming the
Lutici federation[9]
1046: A
Siemomysł, called to
Merseburg by
king Henry III to conclude a peace settlement, is the first documented duke of Pomerania, though the extent and location of his realm is unknown.[7][91]
1056/57: The Lutici alliance breaks apart in a civil war,[9] subsequent
Obodrite eastward expansion.[83]
1067/68 and 1069: Saxon expeditions raid and destroy
Rethra, the main
Liutician stronghold and temple.[84]
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,[96] 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
SlavicRani,
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.[citation needed] The
Kashubians descendants of Slavic Pomeranians, dominated many rural areas in Pomerelia.[citation needed]
1123–1125:
Obodrite prince
Henry subdues the
Rani[85] Wartislaw accepted the superiority of the
Holy Roman Emperor and, with the exception of the newly won territories, also the superiority of the Polish duke.[101]
1135: Boleslaw accepts the superiority of
Holy Roman Emperor Lothair, who in turn grants him Pomerania as a fief, including the Oder area and the
principality of Rügen which had not been subjugated yet.[20]
since 1220:
Ostsiedlung. Existing towns adopt
German town law based on
Lübeck law,
Magdeburg law or
Kulm law), new ones are established with these laws, woods and swamps are cleared and settled, existing villages are expanded and reorganized, new villages are founded.[22]
The Duchy of Pomerania was internally fragmented into Pomerania-Wolgast, -Stettin, -Barth, and -Stolp.[121][122] 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.[123]
In 1478, the duchy was reunited under the rule of
Bogislaw X, when most of the other dukes had died of the
plague.[124][125]
A series of wars affected Pomerania in the following centuries. As a consequence, most of the formerly free peasants became
serfs of the nobles.[147] 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.[30] In the 18th century, Prussia rebuild and colonised
her war-torn Pomeranian province.[148]
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.[32] While in the
Kingdom of Prussia, the province was heavily influenced by the reforms of
Karl August von Hardenberg[155] and
Otto von Bismarck.[156] 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.[157] Since 1850, the
net migration rate was negative,
Pomeranians emigrated primarily to
Berlin, the West German industrial regions and overseas.[158] 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.[159] 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[160] 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.[161] 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)[162] 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.
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.[164] 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.[165] The economic situation worsened due to the consequences of World War I and the worldwide
recession.[166] As in the Kingdom of Prussia before, Pomerania was a stronghold of the nationalistic and anti-Semitic[167]German National People's Party.[168] 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.
since 1920: Poles construct
Gdynia as their port city in Pomerelia (then the Pomeranian Voivodeship) and connect it to
Upper Silesian industry by the
Polish Coal Trunk-Line.
1920s: economic
recession in the German parts of Pomerania[166]
In 1939, the German
Wehrmachtinvaded 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.[182][183][184] 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",[185][186][187][verification needed] and declared that Poles and Jews were not human.[188][189]
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.[190][191][verification needed] 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[192] In some cases Forster ordered executions himself.[193] On 19 October he reprimanded Nazi officials in the city of Grudziadz for not "spilling enough Polish blood".[194]
^
abFrom 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,
ISBN87-983097-5-7, Sydsjællands Museums Publikationer Vol. 1
"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from
the original(PDF) on 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-10-01.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link)
^
abcPiskorski (1999), p.32 :pagan reaction of 1005
^Buchholz (1999), p.25: pestagan uprising that also ended the Polish suzerainty in 1005
^
abcA. P. Vlasto, Entry of Slavs Christendom, CUP Archive, 1970, p.129,
ISBN0-521-07459-2: abandoned 1004 - 1005 in face of violent opposition
^
abNora Berend, Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' C. 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.293,
ISBN0-521-87616-8,
ISBN978-0-521-87616-2
^
abcMichael Borgolte, Benjamin Scheller, Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung über den "Akt von Gnesen", Akademie Verlag, 2002, p.282,
ISBN3-05-003749-0,
ISBN978-3-05-003749-3
^Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger (2006). Das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher Nation: vom Ende des Mittelalters bis 1806. C.H.Beck. p. 10., Joachim Whaley (2012). Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. pp. 51, 54.
^
abLucie Adelsberger, Arthur Joseph Slavin, Susan H. Ray, Deborah E. Lipstadt, Auschwitz: A Doctor's Story, Northeastern University Press, 1995,
ISBN1-55553-233-0, p.138: February 12/13, 1940
^
abIsaiah Trunk, Jacob Robinson, Judenrat: The Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation, U of Nebraska Press, 1996,
ISBN0-8032-9428-X, p.133: February 14, 1940; unheated wagons, elderly and sick suffered most, inhumane treatment
^
abLeni Yahil; Ina Friedman; Haya Galai (1991),
The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932-1945, Oxford University Press US, p. 138,
ISBN0-19-504523-8, February 12/13, 1940, 1,300 Jews of all sexes and ages, extreme cruelty, no food allowed to be taken along, cold, some died during deportation, cold and snow during resettlement, 230 dead by March 12, Lublin reservation chosen in winter, 30,000 Germans resettled before to make room
^
abMartin Gilbert, Eilert Herms, Alexandra Riebe, Geistliche als Retter - auch eine Lehre aus dem Holocaust: Auch eine Lehre aus dem Holocaust, Mohr Siebeck, 2003,
ISBN3-16-148229-8, pp.14 (English) and 15 (German): February 15, 1940, 1000 Jews deported
^
abJean-Claude Favez; John Fletcher; Beryl Fletcher (1999),
The Red Cross and the Holocaust, Cambridge University Press, p. 33,
ISBN0-521-41587-X, February 12/13, 1,100 Jews deported, 300 died en route
^
abYad 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
^
abNathan Stoltzfus, Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany, Rutgers University Press, 2001,
ISBN0-8135-2909-3, 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)
^
abJohn Mendelsohn, Legalizing the Holocaust, the Later Phase, 1939-1943, Garland Pub., 1982,
ISBN0-8240-4876-8, p.131: Stettin Jews' houses were sealed, belongings liquidated, funds to be held in blocked accounts
^
abBuchholz (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
^
abAlicia Nitecki, Jack Terry, Jakub's World: A Boy's Story of Loss and Survival in the Holocaust, SUNY Press, 2005,
ISBN0-7914-6407-5, pp.13ff: Stettin Jews to Belzyce in Lublin area, reservation purpose decline of Jews, terror command of
Kurt Engels, shocking insights in life circumstances
^
abTomasz Kamusella in Prauser and Reeds (eds), The Expulsion of the German communities from Eastern Europe, p.28, EUI HEC 2004/1
[1]Archived 2009-10-01 at the
Wayback Machine
^
abSelwyn Ilan Troen, Benjamin Pinkus, Merkaz le-moreshet Ben-Guryon, Organizing Rescue: National Jewish Solidarity in the Modern Period, pp.283-284, 1992,
ISBN0-7146-3413-1,
ISBN978-0-7146-3413-5
^
abBuchholz (1999), p.25 : pagan uprising that also ended the Polish suzerainty in 1005
^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,
ISBN3-412-04577-2. 1005/13
^Oskar Eggert, Geschichte Pommerns, Pommerscher Buchversand, 1974: 1005-1009
^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,
ISBN3-515-07498-8,
ISBN978-3-515-07498-8
^Michael Borgolte, Benjamin Scheller, Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung über den "Akt von Gnesen", Akademie Verlag, 2002,
ISBN3-05-003749-0,
ISBN978-3-05-003749-3
^W. von Sommerfeld: Geschichte der Germanisierung des Herzogtums Pommern oder Slavien bis zum Ablauf des 13. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig 1896 (printed on demand by Elibron,
ISBN1-4212-3832-2, in German,
limited preview).
^William Palmer, A Compendioius Ecclesiastical History from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Kessinger Publishing, 2005, pp.107ff,
ISBN1-4179-8323-X
^Craig J. Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, Indermohan Virk, Contemporary Sociological Theory, Blackwell Publishing, 2002, pp.157,158
ISBN0-631-21350-3,
ISBN978-0-631-21350-5
^Hartmut Boockmann, Die Anfänge der ständischen Vertretungen in Preussen und seinen Nachbarländern, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1992, pp.131,132,
ISBN3-486-55840-4
^Phillip Pulsiano, Kirsten Wolf, Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, 1993, p.265,
ISBN0-8240-4787-7
^Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer, The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001, p.265,
ISBN0-395-65237-5
^Angus MacKay, David Ditchburn, Atlas of Medieval Europe, Routledge, 1997, p.171,
ISBN0-415-01923-0
^
abHartmut Boockmann, Die Anfänge der ständischen Vertretungen in Preussen und seinen Nachbarländern, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1992, pp.132,133,
ISBN3-486-55840-4
^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
^Richard Blanke, Orphans of Versailles, p32ff, 1993
^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
^Na stolicy prymasowskiej w Gnieźnie i w Poznaniu: szkice o prymasach Polski w okresie niewoli narodowej i w II Rzeczypospolitej : praca zbiorowa Feliks Lenort Księgarnia Św. Wojciecha, 1984, pages 139-146
^Ireneus Lakowski, Das Behinderten-Bildungswesen im Preussischen Osten: Ost-West-Gefälle, Germanisierung und das Wirken des Pädagogen Joseph Radomski, LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2001, pp.25ff,
ISBN3-8258-5261-X
^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,
ISBN3-486-56614-8[3]
^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,
ISBN3-486-56715-2[4]
^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,
ISBN3-486-56731-4[5]
^Eugenia Bozena Klodecka-Kaczynska, Michal Ziólkowski (1 Jan 2003), Bylem numerem: swiadectwa z Auschwitz, page 14. Wydawn. Sióstr Loretanek.
^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."
^Dieter Schenk (2002), Albert Forster: gdanski namiestnik Hitlera : zbrodnie hitlerowskie w Gdansku i Prusach Zachodnich, POLNORD - Gdansk, page 388.
^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."
^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".
^Maria Wardzynska: Byl rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczenstwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion. Warszawa: Instytut Pamieci Narodowej, 2009.
ISBN978-83-7629-063-8 page 17
^Barbara Bojarska: Eksterminacja inteligencji polskiej na Pomorzu Gdanskim, page 67.
^Dieter Schenk (2002): Albert Forster. Gdanski namiestnik Hitlera. Gdansk: Wydawnictwo Oskar.
ISBN83-86181-83-4, pages 212-213.
^Dieter Schenk (2002): Albert Forster. Gdanski namiestnik Hitlera. Gdansk: Wydawnictwo Oskar.
ISBN83-86181-83-4, page 215.
^Barbara Bojarska: Eksterminacja inteligencji polskiej na Pomorzu Gdanskim, page 66.
^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",
ISBN0-415-17312-4,
ISBN978-0-415-17312-4
^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,
ISBN0-271-01084-3,
ISBN978-0-271-01084-7
^Dan Diner, Raphael Gross, Yfaat Weiss, Jüdische Geschichte als allgemeine Geschichte, p.164
^Beatrice Vierneisel, Fremde im Land: Aspekte zur kulturellen Integration von Umsiedlern in Mecklenburg und Vorpommern 1945 bis 1953, 2006, p.13,
ISBN3-8309-1762-7,
ISBN978-3-8309-1762-5
Addison, James Thayer (2003). Medieval Missionary: A Study of the Conversion of Northern Europe Ad 500 to 1300.
Kessinger Publishing.
ISBN0-7661-7567-7.
Buchholz, Werner, ed. (2002). Pommern (in German). Siedler.
ISBN3-88680-780-0.
Harck, Ole; Lübke, Christian (2001). Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997 (in German). Franz Steiner Verlag.
ISBN3-515-07671-9.
Heitz, Gerhard; Rischer, Henning (1995). Geschichte in Daten. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (in German). Münster-Berlin: Koehler&Amelang.
ISBN3-7338-0195-4.
Herrmann, Joachim (1985). Die Slawen in Deutschland (in German). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.
ISBN3-515-07671-9.