Lithuania Minor - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic

Ethnography

Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...

region of Prussia

Prussia (region)

Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...

, later East Prussia

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...

in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians

Prussian Lithuanians

The term Prussian Lithuanians or 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 .Unlike most...

or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of this province and got its name due to the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking

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...

population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights

Northern Crusades

The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea...

in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians

Nadruvians

The Nadruvians were one of the now-extinct Prussian clans. They lived in Nadruvia , a large territory in northernmost Prussia...

. The land became depopulated to some extent during the warfare between 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 Order

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....

. The war ended with the 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...

and the land was resettled by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526. With the exception of 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...

, which became a mandated territory of the League of Nations

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...

in 1920 by 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...

and was annexed to Lithuania

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...

in 1923, the area was part of Prussia until 1945. Today a small portion of Lithuania Minor is within the borders of modern Lithuania and 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...

while most of the territory is part of 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...

of Russia.

Although hardly anything remains of the original culture due to the expulsion of Germans

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...

after World War II, Lithuania Minor has made an important contribution to Lithuanian culture as a whole. The written standard form of Prussian-Lithuanian provided the "skeleton" of modern Lithuanian. It was the home of 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...

Vydunas

Wilhelm Storost, artistic name Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas , mostly known as Vydūnas, was a Prussian-Lithuania teacher, poet, humanist, philosopher and Lithuanian...

, a prominent writer and philosopher.

Terminology

The term "Lithuania Minor" (Kleinlitauen), applied to the northeastern part of the former province of East Prussia (about 31 500 km²), was first mentioned as Kleinlittaw in the Prussian Chronicle of Simon Grunau at the beginning of the 16th century (between 1517 and 1526) and was later repeated by another Prussian chronicler Lucas David. The term Lithuania Minor was applied during the 19th century and used more widely during the 20th century, mostly among historians and ethnographers.

The northeastern limit of the area of Prussia inhabited by Lithuanians was the state border between Lithuania and Prussia, but the southwestern limit was not clear and Lithuania Minor has been understood differently, therefore it could be:

either the area limited in the south by M. Toeppen-A. Bezzenberger's line (about 11 400 km²) what is roughly the area of the former administrative Lithuanian Province (about 10 thousand km².), where the population was almost entirely Lithuanian until 1709-11,
or the area of the former region with actual Lithuanian majority or of considerable percentage (about 17-18 thousand km².).

The administrative terms "Lithuanian province" (Provinz Litthauen), "Lithuanian districts" (Littauischen Ämtern), "Lithuanian county" (Littauische Kreis) or simply "Prussian Lithuania" (Preuszisch Litauen), "Lithuania" (Litauen) were used to refer to the Lithuanian inhabited administrative units (Nadruvia and Scalovia

Scalovia

Scalovia was the area originally inhabited by the now extinct Baltic tribe of Skalvians or Scalovians which according to the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of Peter of Dusburg lived to the south of the Curonians, by the lower Memel river, in the times around 1240.The centre of Scalovia was supposed...

) in the legal documentation of Prussian state since 1618. The Lithuanian Province was named Klein Litau, Klein Litauen, Preussisch Litthauen, Little Lithuania, Litvania in the maps of Prussia since 1738. The official use of the concepts Prussian Lithuania etc. decreased considerably from the administrative reform of 1815-18.

Geography

The area of Lithuania Minor embraced the land between the lower reaches of the river Dangė to the north and the major headstreams of the river Prieglius ' onMouseout='HidePop("58313")' href="/topics/Pregolya">Pregolya

Pregolya

The Pregolya or Pregola is a river in the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast exclave.It starts as a confluence of the Instruch and the Angrapa and drains into the Baltic Sea through Vistula Lagoon. Its length under the name of Pregolya is 123 km, 292 km including the Angrapa. The basin has an...

) to the south. The southwestern line ran from the Curonian Lagoon

Curonian Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit. Its surface area is . The Neman River supplies about 90% of its inflows; its watershed consists of about 100,450 square kilometers in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast.-Human history:In the 13th century, the area around...

along the Deimena River to its south, continued along the Prieglius River to the Alna (now Lava) river, up to the town of Alna and hence southward along the Ašvinė (Swine) river to Lake Ašvinis (Nordenburger See) and from there eastward to the border of Lithuania Major. The region embraced about 11 400 km². The broader understanding of Lithuania Minor includes the area west from the Alna

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

and south form the lower reaches of the Prieglius and the Sambian Peninsula, making up 17-18 thousand km² in total.

The former ethnic region of Lithuania Minor belongs to different states today. The part of Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast

(excluding the city of Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...

and its surroundings), a few territories in Poland's Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, or Warmia-Masuria Province , is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn...

, as well as the following territories in modern-day Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

: the Klaipėda district municipality

Klaipeda district municipality

Klaipėda district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania.- Elderships :There are 11 elderships in Klaipėda district municipality:*Agluonėnai eldership*Dauparai-Kvietiniai eldership...

, the Šilutė district municipality

Šilute district municipality

Šilutė district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania. It is known for spring floods when ice on Neman River starts melting. This is the only municipality in Lithuania that gets flooded on regular basis....

, Klaipėda

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....

city, Pagėgiai municipality

Pagegiai municipality

Pagėgiai district municipality is one of 60 municipalities in Lithuania....

, and Neringa municipality

Neringa municipality

Neringa municipality or Neringa is a municipality in westernmost Lithuania, in the Curonian Spit. In terms of population, it is the smallest municipality of the country. Until the Lithuanian municipality reform, it was known as Neringa city, although there was never a true city there...

had once ethnically, linguistically and culturally been the latter Lithuanian region. Although now divided among countries, Lithuania Minor had been intact formerly, all these areas were once part of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

and thus politically separated from the Lithuanian nation.

Prior to 1918, all of Lithuania Minor was part of 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...

's province of East Prussia, the core of medieval Prussia

Prussia (region)

Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...

. It was a region outside of Lithuanian state, inhabited by a large population of Prussian Lithuanians. The ethnic Lithuanian-Prussians were Protestants

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...

in contrast to the inhabitants of Lithuania Major

Lithuania proper

Lithuania proper refers to a region which existed within Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and spoke Lithuanian language. The primary meaning is identical to the Duchy of Lithuania, a land around which Grand Duchy of Lithuania evolved...

, who were Roman Catholics

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

.

Giving the Prussian Lithuanian name first and followed by the German name, the major cities in former Lithuania Minor were Klaipėda (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....

and Tilžė (Tilsit)

Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast

Sovetsk , known by its historical German name of Tilsit in East Prussia before 1946, is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River. Population: -History of Tilsit:...

. Other towns include Ragainė (Ragnit)

Neman (town)

Neman is a town and the administrative center of Nemansky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the historic Prussia region, east of the town of Sovetsk, on the steep southern bank of the Neman River, where it currently forms the border with the Klaipėda Region in...

, Šilokarčema (Heydekrug), renamed to Šilutė

Šilute

Šilutė is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County, Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar capital of Šilutė County and is currently the capital of Šilutė district municipality.-Name:...

, Gumbinė (Gumbinnen)

Gusev

Gusev is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border with Poland and Lithuania, east of Chernyakhovsk. Population: -History:...

, Įsrutis (Insterburg)

Chernyakhovsk

Chernyakhovsk is a town and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Instruch and the Angrapa Rivers, forming the Pregolya...

, Stalupėnai (Stallupönen)

Nesterov

Nesterov is a town and the administrative center of Nesterovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Population: -History:In the Middle Ages, the area in Old Prussia had been settled by the Nadruvian tribe of the Baltic Prussians. It was conquered by the Teutonic Knights about 1276 and...

Pre-Lithuania Minor

The territory, which was given the denomination Lithuania Minor in the 16th century, was not alien to Lithuanians ethnically as well as politically in earlier times. It had once been partly subject to Mindaugas' Lithuania

History of Lithuania (1219–1295)

The history of Lithuania between 1219 and 1295 deals with the establishment and early history of the first Lithuanian state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The beginning of the 13th century marks the end of the prehistory of Lithuania. From this point on the history of Lithuania is recorded in...

in the 13th century. Later, captured (1275–76) and ruled by the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

, the land was reckoned, what is recorded in the historical sources, to be their patrimony by Algirdas

Algirdas

Algirdas was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...

(officially said) and Vytautas (recorded to be said unofficially).

German-Lithuanian rivalry

The territory of western Lithuania started to be threatened by Livonian order

Livonian Order

The Livonian Order was an autonomous Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order and a member of the Livonian Confederation from 1435–1561. After being defeated by Samogitians in the 1236 Battle of Schaulen , the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were incorporated into the Teutonic Knights...

from the north and Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights

The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

from the south in the 13th century. The Orders were seizing the lands of Baltic tribes, one of which – Lithuanians – had its state

History of Lithuania (1219–1295)

and was also expanding its power among neighbouring Baltic and Ruthenian

Ruthenians

The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...

people. The Order was granted the right over the pagan lands by popes and emperors of Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

. It was conqueror's right – awarded them as much lands as they would conquer. After the Battle of Saule Livonian order

Livonian Order

was crushed and incorporated to the Teutonic Order as part of it. Mindaugas

Mindaugas

Mindaugas was the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or rise to power; he is mentioned in a 1219 treaty as an elder duke, and in 1236 as the leader of all the Lithuanians...

, in critical political circumstances for his rule, undertook to grant Samogitia to the Order in exchange for baptism and the crown from pope. After Mindaugas became a king, a direct subject of the Pope, in 1253, the acts of grants of the lands for Livonian Order were written:

1253 July, the act granting Nadruvia and Karšuva to the Order was written in Lithuanian curia by Mindaugas.
1259 the act granting Dainava
Dainava
Dainava may refer to:*Dainava an alternative name for Dzūkija, Lithuanian region,*Dainava an elderate in Kaunas city....

and Scalovia
Scalovia
Scalovia was the area originally inhabited by the now extinct Baltic tribe of Skalvians or Scalovians which according to the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of Peter of Dusburg lived to the south of the Curonians, by the lower Memel river, in the times around 1240.The centre of Scalovia was supposed...

to the Order was written by Mindaugas. In the historiography this act is considered to be falsified by the Order.

All Baltic tribes rose against the Order after the Battle of Durbe

Battle of Durbe

-External links:**...

(1260). Mindaugas officially canceled his relations with Livonian order in 1261 and the acts of grants became invalid. Mindaugas royal dynasty discontinued with his and two sons assassination in 1263. Lithuanian dukes did not join Prussians

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...

in their uprising due to inside instability of Lithuanian throne. Nadruvia and Scalovia which comprised much of later Lithuania Minor, had been taken by the Teutonic Knights in 1275-76 after the Prussian uprising and they reached Neman

Neman (town)

from the south in 1282. Lithuania also did not manage to retain Zemigalian castles lying north from Lithuania and Zemigalians fell under the Order finally during Gediminas rule. 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, whose land lain between the Livonian Order

Livonian Order

and the Teutonic Order, had been many times granted to the Order juridically by Lithuanian dukes, popes, emperors of Holy Roman Empire, but either Order did not managed to take it, or Lithuanian dukes departed from their treaty and grant. Klaipėda was passed to Teutonic Order from its Livonian branch in 1328.

The patrimony for Nadruvia and Scalovia was remembered by post-Mindaugas grand dukes of Lithuania: Algirdas

Algirdas

Algirdas was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...

, during the negotiation on Lithuania's Christianization, postulated (1358) for the emperor of Holy Roman Empire, Charles IV

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....

, that he would accept Christianity when the Order was transferred to Russia's border to fight Tatars

Tatars

Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

and Lithuania would be given back the lands to Alna

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...

, Pregolya rivers and Baltic sea. Lithuanian grand dukes probably considered the Order to be illegitimate state, propagandizing the mission of Christianization as the fundamental aim and factually seeking political authority at one time. Additionally, after the Order had become Protestant state, the conquered Baltic lands were not acknowledged as its possession by the popes.

After the Battle of Grunwald

Battle of Grunwald

The Battle of Grunwald or 1st Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautas , decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led...

the dispute between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Order on Samogitia

Samogitia

started. Vytautas wanted the border to be the Neman River

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...

, while the Order wanted to have Veliuona

Veliuona

Veliuona is a small town on the Nemunas River in the Jurbarkas district municipality in Lithuania.Veliuona was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg....

and Klaipėda in the right side of the river. Both sides agreed to accept the prospective solution of Emperor Sigismund's representative Benedict Makra. He decided that the right side of Nemunas (Veliuona

Veliuona

Veliuona is a small town on the Nemunas River in the Jurbarkas district municipality in Lithuania.Veliuona was first mentioned in 1291 in the chronicle of Peter of Duisburg....

, Klaipėda

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....

) had to be left for Lithuania (1413). B. Makra said:
The Order did not accept the solution. Later Vytautas agreed the solution to be made by Emperor Sigismund. He acknowledged Samogitians for the Order (1420). Vytautas did not accept the solution. Polish and Lithuanian military, not capturing the castles, devastated Prussia then and the Treaty of Melno

Treaty of Melno

was made. Klaipėda was left for the Order. Since the Melno treaty the land later become Lithuania Minor had been officially separated from Lithuania. It became part of the state of the Teutonic Order

Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights

Emergence

The state of the Teutonic Order became Prussia in 1525 and the concept Lithuania Minor has appeared around that time (1517–26). Lithuania Minor was part of Prussia until 1701, 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...

until 1871, 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...

until 1918 and the German Reich until 1945. The political border set by the Treaty of Melno

Treaty of Melno

had been the same since the treaty to 1923, when the Klaipėda region

Klaipeda 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) was incorporated into Lithuania.

Post-World War I

Lithuania declared its independence from Russia in 1918 during World War I. Some Prussian Lithuanian activists 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...

, demanding unification of Lithuania Minor and Lithuania major into a single Lithuanian state, thus detaching the areas of East Prussia from Germany which were inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians. This claim was supported by the Lithuanian government. The part north of the Neman River up to 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....

was separated from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920, and was called the Memel Territory

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...

. It was made a protectorate

Protectorate

In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

of the Entente States, in order to guarantee port rights to Lithuania and Poland. In January 1923, the Klaipėda Revolt

Klaipeda Revolt

took place and Klaipėda region

Klaipeda 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 annexed to Lithuania in 1923 under violation of the Treaty of Versailles. The subsequent incorporation of the territory brought economic prosperity to Lithuania, with the region accounting for 30% of the country's economy. However, the region's economic significance declined after economic sanctions were imposed by 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...

in 1933.

German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop

Joachim von Ribbentrop

Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...

delivered an ultimatum

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...

to the Lithuanian Foreign Minister on March 20, 1939, demanding the surrender of the Memel region to German control. If it were not ceded to Germany peacefully, Ribbentrop vowed, Memel "will be taken by other means if necessary". Lithuania submitted to the ultimatum and, in exchange for the right to use the new harbour facilities as a Free Port, ceded the disputed region to Germany in the late evening of 22 March 1939. Reunion of the Memel Territory with Germany was met with joy by a majority of Prussian Lithuanians. It was Nazi Germany's last territorial gain prior to World War II. The whole of Lithuania itself came under occupation by the Soviet Union, then briefly became independent again in 1941

Lithuanian 1941 independence

The June Uprising was a brief period in the history of Lithuania between the first Soviet and Nazi occupations in June 1941. Approximately one year earlier, on June 15, 1940, the Red Army invaded Lithuania and the unpopular Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was soon established. Political...

before being occupied entirely by Nazi Germany.

Post-World War II

At the end of the war, the local German and Lithuanian population of the former East Prussia either fled or was expelled

Evacuation 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...

to the western parts of Germany. The Soviet Union recaptured Lithuania in 1944 and the Memel region was incorporated into the newly-formed 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 1945 while the remainder of East Prussia was divided between Poland (the southern two-thirds now forming the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, or Warmia-Masuria Province , is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn...

) and the Soviet Union (the remaining territory which was formed into the Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast

).

After the death of Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

, Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...

offered the Kaliningrad Oblast to the Lithuanian SSR. Secretary Antanas Sniečkus

Antanas Snieckus

Antanas Sniečkus was First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party from August 1940 to January 22, 1974.- Biography :Antanas Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of Būbleliai, near Šakiai. During the First World War, his family fled to Russia where he observed the Russian revolution of 1917...

refused this offer. He either was in fear of predictable difficult economic situation here, for which he was accountable to Stalin, or of being accused of nationalism. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad Oblast has become an exclave of Russia. Lithuania, Germany, and Poland lay no claims to the region.

Historiography

Originally it was thought that Prussian Lithuanians were autochthones to East Prussia. The base for it was A. Bezzenberger's line of Prussian-Lithuanian language limit. The theory proposed that Nadruvians and Scalovians were western Lithuanians and ancestors of Lietuvininks. It was prevalent until 1919.

The second theory proposed that the first Lithuanian population of the territory which later became Lithuania Minor appeared only after the war had ended. The theory was started by G. Mortensen in 1919. She stated, that Scalovians, Nadruvians

Nadruvians

The Nadruvians were one of the now-extinct Prussian clans. They lived in Nadruvia , a large territory in northernmost Prussia...

and Sudovians were Prussians before the German invasion and Lithuanians were colonists of the 15-16th centuries from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – Samogitia

Samogitia

and Suvalkija

Suvalkija

Suvalkija or Sudovia is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania. Its unofficial capital is Marijampolė. People from Suvalkija are called suvalkiečiai or suvalkietis . It is located south of the Neman River, in the former territory of Vilkaviškis bishopric...

. G. Mortensen created a conception of the wilderness

Wilderness

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...

, according which the vicinities of the both sides of the Neman up to Kaunas

Kaunas

Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

had become desolate in the 13-14th centuries. According G. Mortensen's husband H. Mortensen Lithuanian resettlement began in the last quarter of the 15th century. Lithuanian historian K. Jablonskis etc., arhceologist P. Kulikauskas etc. denied the idea of desolate land, uninhabited forests (Old German wildnis, wiltnis) and mass Lithuanian migration. The idea of Lithuanian immigration was accepted by Antanas Salys, Zenonas Ivinskis. J. Jurginis had studied the descriptions of the war roads into Lithuania and found where the word wildnis was used in the political sense. He deduced that wildnis was that part of Lithuania which belonged to the Order juridically, by the grants of the popes and emperors of Holy Roman Empire, but was not subordinate to it due to the resistance of the residents. The theory of desolate land was also criticized by Z. Zinkevičius

Zigmas Zinkevicius

Zigmas Zinkevičius is a leading Lithuanian linguist-historian, professor at Vilnius University, and a true member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He has contributed to studies in the history of languages, onomastics and other areas. Zinkevičius is a recipient of the Herder Prize, which was...

, who has thought that old Baltic toponymy could be only preserved by the remaining local people.

H. Łowmiański thought that Nadruvian and Scalovian tribes had changed ethnically due to Lithuanian colonization as early as times of tribal social order. Linguist Z. Zinkevičius has presumed that Nadruvians and Skalovians were transitive tribes between Lithuanians and Prussians since much earlier times than German invasion had occurred.

Background

The German invasion and the war was the factor changing the former order of the Baltic area. While German Order was expanding its territory, the holding of Lithuanian grand dukes was withdrawn in some places. The political situation during the war was influenced by the following factors:

The situation of the war technologies. The Teutonic Order built many stone fortresses in the Baltic lands thus gaining the control over the ethnically foreign lands. Nadruvia was full of German castles.
The geographical situation. The Neman became a kind of a front line between the Order and Lithuania during the several decades of the war after the German invasion. There were German castles up to Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...

by Neman in the 14th century. Germans built their castles by the Lithuanian and vice versa. The wide forest stretched in the land by the left side of the middle reaches of the Neman, what was Sudovia or Suvalkija. It could originate as a wide border between Lithuanian and Sudovian tribes before pre-nation times of Lithuanians and also could expand due to the war. The land was sparse of German castles. The conquered Baltic lands were all called Prussia by the Teutonic Order but not all the lands with the German castles managed to build in them became occupied. The presence of the Neman river, also possibly the forests in Sudovia, Karšuva afforded the most economical variant for the defensive fortifications.

The war probably changed the situation of populations of the area:

The demographic situation. The population of the territory which lain between the chief lands of Lithuanian state and Nadruvia – what was in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the northern half of Sudovia or Suvalkija – was sparse. Nadruvia possibly also became more depopulated than those Lithuanian lands, which lay on the right side of the Neman during the warfare between the Teutonic Order, the Old Prussians
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...

, and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The ethnical situation. The German invasion and the war between the latter state and Lithuanian one reduced, was expelling the local population to some extent and impelled some migrations of Baltic tribes. In the abstract, Nadruvia, Scalovia and Sudovia had to be inhabited by Nadruvians, Scalovians and Sudovians. All these three tribes are considered to have once been western Baltic, but the Lithuanian impact, close relations and immigration, is likely to be occurred before the German invasion.

Prussian Lithuanian population

The main two lands later become Lithuania Minor, Nadruvia and Scalovia, had Prussian

Old Prussians

ethnic substratum. Lithuanian elements prevailed in the toponymy of the territory, though. It is possible that Nadruvia and Skalovia had changed ethnically in the process of Lithuanian penetration to and consolidation of the Baltic lands in the pre-state times. The contacts between Nadruvian and Scalovian populations with those to the north and west, where the grand dukes of Lithuania were ruling from the 13th or the 12th century, were probably close. Nadruvia had bordered on Sudovia

Yotvingians

Yotvingians or Sudovians were a Baltic people with close cultural ties to the Lithuanians and Prussians...

and Samogitia, Skalovia – on Samogitia and Nadruvia. The inside Baltic

Balts

The Balts or Baltic peoples , defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the Jutland peninsula in the west and Moscow, Oka and Volga rivers basins in the east...

migration, trading and ethnic consolidation presumably had happened since the earlier times than the German military invasion occurred.

The land was probably depopulated during the warfare and the source of the regeneration of the population was internal as well as presumably major external from the neighbouring areas. The land had been resettled by the former refugees and newcomers from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the permanent war had ended finally with the Treaty of Melno

Treaty of Melno

in 1422, the population continued to grow. The newcomers were Lithuanians from Trakai

Trakai Voivodeship

Trakai Voivodeship, Trakai Palatinate, or Troki Voivodeship , was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1413 until 1795.-History:...

, Vilnius voideships

Vilnius Voivodeship

The Vilnius Voivodeship was one of voivodeships in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created in 1413, from the Duchy of Lithuania and neighbouring lands.- Geography and administrative division :...

and Samogitia

Samogitia

. Lithuanian farmers used to flee to the Sudovian forest, which lain in the Trakai voivodeship

Trakai Voivodeship

Trakai Voivodeship, Trakai Palatinate, or Troki Voivodeship , was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1413 until 1795.-History:...

, and live here without dues, what was possible until the agrarian reform of Lithuania, performed during the second half of the 16th century.

The tribal areas such as Nadruvia, Scalovia, Sudovia had to some extent later coincided with the political administrative and the ethnic areas. Nadruvia and Scalovia became Lithuanian Province in East Prussia and the Yotvingian population persisted in their lands more commonly as western Lithuanians in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and East Prussia.

Distribution

As a distinctive ethno-cultural region, Lithuania Minor emerged during the 16th or the 15th century. The substratum of Prussian Lithuanian population comprised mostly ethnic Baltic tribes

Balts

– local (Old Prussians

Old Prussians

– Sambians, north Bartians, Natangians; either probably formerly Lithuanized or Prussian Scalovians and Nadruvians

Nadruvians

The Nadruvians were one of the now-extinct Prussian clans. They lived in Nadruvia , a large territory in northernmost Prussia...

; Sudovians, some 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...

) and neighbouring (newcomers, including returning refugees, from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: 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...

from the right side of the middle reaches of the Neman or Suvalkija, Samogitia

Samogitia

ns, Sudovians, Prussians etc.). Colonists from the Holy Roman Empire also contributed to Lithuanian population to some extent. Prussians and Yotvingians tended to be assimilated by Lithuanians in the northern part of East Prussia, while by Germans and Poles in the southern one.

Lithuanian percentage decreased to about half of population in about half of the area eastwards from Alna

Lava

river and northwards from the lower reaches of Pregolya during the 18th century. Lithuanian percentage of the area was continually decreasing during the ages since the plague of 1709-11. Lithuanians constituted the majority only in about half of the Memelland area and by Tilžė and Ragainė from the last quarter of the 19th century upwards to 1914. Lithuanian percentage was marginal in the southern half of the region of Lithuania Minor at that time. There resided about 170 thousands of Lietuvininks in East Prussia till 1914.

Administration

The territory known as the main part of Lithuania Minor had been distinguished in administrative terms first as Nadrauen and Schalauen, later the names Lithuanian counties, Lithuanian Province, Prussian Lithuania or Lithuania (Litauische Kreise or Litt(h) auen) became predominant. The administrative Lithuanian Province (part of the administrative province of Sambia) (about 10 000 km²) comprised four districts of that time: Klaipėda (Memel), Tilžė (Tilsit, Sovetsk), Ragainė (Raganita, Ragnit, Neman) and Įsrutis (Insterburg, Cerniachovsk). There were three provinces in the Duchy of Prussia overall:

Province	Areas	Comment
Sambia	Sambia Sambia Sambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The Curonian Lagoon and the Vistula Lagoon demarcate the peninsula. Prior to 1945 it formed an important part of East Prussia.-Names:Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct... peninsula	none
	Nadruvia	One of two parts that constituted Lithuanian Province
	Scalovia	One of two parts that constituted Lithuanian Province
Natangia	Natangia	none
	Bartia
	Galindia
Oberland	none

Reckoning

The factual Prussian Lithuanian living area was broader than the administrative Lithuanian Province. Several Lithuanian-linked areas were determined on different criteria in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century by mostly German researchers (Lithuanians

Lithuanians

, without doing difference between the residents of 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...

and of Prussia, were considered by Germans in the 19th century to be the little nation facing its end. Therefore the various researches on Lithuanian culture were made):

Lithuanian inhabited area indicated by toponymic data. The language line between Old Prussian and Lithuanian languages was determined by A. Bezzenberger (linguistic, archaeological and geographical data) and M. Toeppen (historical data). A. Bezzenberger found that toponyms in the right side of Alna and north from Pregolya after the Alna fall were mostly Lithuanian (with -upē (upē – a river), -kiemiai, -kiemis, -kēmiai (kiemas – a village)) and in the left side – mostly Prussian (with -apē (apē – the same), -kaimis (kaimis – the same). Thus, the area (11 430 km²) was considered to be Lithuanian lived and its southern limit was roughly the same as the southern limit of Nadruvia administrative unit. Lithuania Minor is commonly understand to be this area.
The area of traditional Lithuanian architecture: the original layout of the country seats, the architectural style. The territory between Koenigsberg, the lower reaches of Pregolya and Alna river was architecturally mixed – of German-Lithuanian pattern. The latter area was inhabited by mostly Prussians and Lithuanians, later – Germans and Lithuanians. The Lithuanian Province together with the latter area and Sambia peninsula presents the broader perception of Lithuania Minor (about 18 000 km²).
The area of the everyday vocabulary of Lithuanian country
The area of churches where Lithuanian sermons were used in 1719. F. Tetzner on the ground of the list of villages where Lithuanian sermons were used in 1719 defined the southern limit of Lithuanian parishes. F. Tetzner wrote in the beginning of the 20th century: 200 years ago the Lithuanian language area embraced, not mentioning the ten present districts of Prussia, also these: Koenigsberg, Žuvininkai, Vėluva, Girdava, Darkiemis and Gumbinė districts. Lithuanian sermons were finished in the last century in Muldžiai, Girdava district, also coastal villages around Žuvininkai and in the Koenigsberg district.

The limits of the latter Lithuanian areas were more southwest. Various other fragmentary demographic sources (the first general census was made in 1816) and the lists of colonists of the 18th century showed the area of Lithuanian majority and the areas of considerable percentage of Lithuanians to the first half of the 18th century. It was more southwest from the once existed administrative Lithuanian Province.

The southern limit of Lithuania Minor went by Šventapilis

Mamonovo

Mamonovo , prior to 1945 known by its German name Heiligenbeil, is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Population: Mamonovo is named after a Soviet Commander, Nikolai Vasilyevich Mamonov , killed in action near Pułtusk on 26 October 1944, who was posthumously given the title Hero of the Soviet...

, Bagrationovsk

Bagrationovsk

Bagrationovsk is a town and the administrative center of Bagrationovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of Kaliningrad. Population: -History:...

, Bartoszyce

Bartoszyce

Bartoszyce is a town on the Łyna River in northeastern Poland with 25,621 inhabitants . It is the capital of Bartoszyce County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.-History:...

, Barčiai (Dubrovka), Lapgarbis (Cholmogorovka), Mėrūniškai (Meruniszki), Dubeninkai (Dubeninki). The southern limit of the most compact Lithuanian area went by Žuvininkai

Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast

Primorsk , prior to 1945 known by its German name Fischhausen, is an urban locality in Baltiysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Vistula Lagoon. Population:...

, 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...

, Frydland

Pravdinsk

Pravdinsk is a town and the administrative center of Pravdinsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Lava River, approximately east of Bagrationovsk...

, Engelschtein (Węgielsztyn), Nordenburg (Krylovo), Angerburg

Wegorzewo

Węgorzewo is a tourist town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, not far from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast. It is the seat of Węgorzewo County. Lake Mamry is close to the town.-Etymology:...

, Geldapė

Goldap

Gołdap is a town and the seat of Gołdap County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland. It is located on the Gołdapa River, between the Wzgórza Szeskie hills and the Puszcza Romincka forest. It has a population of 13,703...

, Gurniai, Dubeninkai.

Ethnic composition

The economic and especially demographic statistics had been fragmentary previous to the first general census of 1816. The accounting after the native tongue had begun since the census of 1825-1836.
Thus, the situation of ethnic composition previous to the century is known from the various separate sources: various records and inventories, descriptions and memoirs of contemporaries, language of the sermons used in the churches, registers of births and deaths; various state published documents: statutes, acts, decrees, prescriptions, declarations etc. The lists of peasants‘ pays for plots and grinding of flour was also demographic source. Lithuanian and German proportion of Piliakalnis (Dobrovolsk) in the middle of the 18th century was determined by O. Natau on the ground of these lists. The toponymy of Prussia and its changes is also a source for situation of Lithuanians.

The nationality of the residents of the country of Lithuania Minor is best shown by the sources from the fourth decade of the 18th century. In the process of the colonization of Lithuania Minor the order to check the circumstance of the state peasants was issued. The data showed the distribution by nationalities and the number of state peasants in the Lithuanian Province. The data was used by M. Beheim-Svarbach, who published the tabulations of the territorial distribution of Lithuanian and German villeins (having their farm) in all the villages and districts of Lithuanian Province. The data from the lists of colonists, which shown their descent, was published by G. Geking, G. Schmoler, A. Skalveit in their researches.

Lietuvininkai

The ethnic Lithuanian inhabitants of Lithuania Minor called themselves Lietuvininkai (other form Lietuvninkai). L. Baczko wrote around the end of the 18th century:
The historical sources indicate that Lietuvininkai is one of two historical ways to call all Lithuanians. Lietuvninkai (Литовники) are mentioned in the recording (1341) of the second chronicle of Pskov

Pskov

Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...

. In what had been the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the word lietuvis became more popular, while in Lithuania Minor lietuvininkas was preferred. Prussian-Lithuanians also called their northern neighbors in Samogitia

Samogitia

"Russian-Lithuanians" and their south-eastern neighbors of the Suwałki region "Polish-Lithuanians". Some sources used the term Lietuvininkai to refer to any inhabitant of Lithuania Minor irrelevant of their ethnic adherence.

Lithuanian population presumably grew after the wars ended with the Treaty of Melno

Treaty of Melno

in 1422. The Samogitian newcomers were more common in the northern part of it and Aukštaitian in the western one.

Lithuanians lived mostly in the rural areas. German towns were like islands in the Lithuanian Province. The area was inhabited by almost only Lithuanians until the plague of 1709-11.

Plague of 1709-11 and the aftermaths

There were not less than 700,000 persons in East Prussia, up to 300,000 of them resided in the Lithuanian Province and the Labguva district prior to the plague of 1709-11. About 160,000 Lithuanians died in Lithuanian Province and Labguva district, which was 53 percent of the population of the latter area. About 110,000 people died in the other areas of East Prussia, which overall lost about 39 percent of its population during the plague.

Pre-1914 and present day situation

There were Lithuanian speakers and the Lithuanian language was effective throughout Lithuania Minor at the beginning of the 20th century, though the concentration places of Lithuanians were near Neman – Klaipėda, Tilžė (Tilsit), Ragainė (Ragnit). At the end of the war, the German and Lithuanian population of the former East Prussia either fled or was expelled

Evacuation of East Prussia

to the western parts of Germany. There resided about 170,000 Prussian Lithuanians in East Prussia previous to 1914. Lithuanian fellowships functioned in Gumbinė, Įsrutis, Koenigsberg, Lithuanian press was printed in Geldapė, Darkiemis, Girdava, Stalupėnai, Eitkūnai, Gumbinė, Pilkalnis, Jurbarkas, Vėluva, Tepliava, Labguva, Koenigsberg, Žuvininkai.

No Germanization was performed in Lithuania Minor prior to 1873. Prussian Lithuanians were affected voluntarily by German culture. In the 20th century, a good number of Lithuanian speakers considered themselves to be Memellandish and also Germans. After the Treaty of Versailles divided East-Prussia into four parts (Polish

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

, German

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

, Danzig

Free City of Danzig

The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....

, and Lithuanian), Lithuania started a campaign of Lithuanisation in its acquired region, the Memel Territory

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...

. In the regional census of 1925, more than 26% declared themselves Lithuanian and more than 24% simply as Memellandish, compared with more than 41% German. The election results to the Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...

(the territory's local parliament) between 1923 and 1939 revealed approximately 90% votes for German political parties and about 10% for national Lithuanian parties.

The former language of Lietuvninkai (which is very similar to standard Lithuanian) is currently spoken and known by only about several hundred people who were sometime residents of Lithuania Minor. Almost all former Prussian Lithuanians – including Lithuanian speakers – had already identified themselves with German speakers, or Prussians, by the end of the 19th century because of the influence of German culture and attitudes of the residents of East Prussia, which had been in quick progress during the 19th century. The majority of the Lietuvininkai population has migrated to Germany, together with Germans and now lives there.

Prussian Lithuanians spoke in western Aukštaitian dialect, those living by the Curonian lagoon spoke in the so-called "Curonianating" (Samogitian "donininkai" subdialect; there are three Samogitian dialects where Lithuanian "duona" (a bread) is said dūna, dona and douna) subdialect, and small part of them spoke in Dzūkian dialect. Prussian Lithuanians never called themselves and their own language Samogitian.

Old Prussians

Prussians

Old Prussians

were the native and main inhabitants of the lands which later became the core lands of the Teutonic Order. After the conquest, Prussian nobility became vassals of the Order and became Germanized. The officers of the Order were forbidden to speak in Prussian with local inhabitants in 1309. After the cancellation of the Order and the introduction of Protestantism, the situation of Prussians became somewhat better. Three catechisms in the Prussian language were issued in 1545 and 1561. Prussians villagers tended to be assimilated more by Lithuanians in the northern half of East Prussia, more by Germans and Poles in the southern half. There were parts of East Prussia where Lithuanians and Prussians constituted the majority of inhabitants. Prussian Lithuanian and German populations were the minority until the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century in the Sambia

Sambia

Sambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The Curonian Lagoon and the Vistula Lagoon demarcate the peninsula. Prior to 1945 it formed an important part of East Prussia.-Names:Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct...

peninsula. Later, Germans became the ethnical majority in the peninsula, while Lithuanians were left as a minority there. The case of Jonas Bretkūnas

Jonas Bretkunas

Jonas Bretkūnas, Johann Bretke, also known as Bretkus was a Lutheran pastor and was one of the best known developers of the written Lithuanian language...

illustrates the phenomenon of Prussian-Lithuanian bilingualism. The last Prussian speakers died around the end of the 17th century.

Germans

The native-born Germans

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

who lived in Prussia since the expansion of the 13th century resided mostly in the western and southwestern parts of Duchy of Prussia and were an ethnic minority there until the 18th century. Germans were the politically dominant ethnic group in East Prussia. The percentage of Germans in Lithuania Minor was low prior to 1709-11. Later, Germans became the main ethnic group of Prussia, in the number of people as well.

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

came to Prussia, especially to Masuria (about 7000 km²) and Catholic Varmia (about 4000 km²) until the 17th century. Poles constituted about one-third of the inhabitants of East Prussia by the latter century. By the 18th century, the border between the areas was inhabited by mostly Lithuanians towards one side and by Poles towards the other. Speakers went by Köningsberg, Bagrationovsk

Bagrationovsk

Bagrationovsk is a town and the administrative center of Bagrationovsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of Kaliningrad. Population: -History:...

, Bartoszyce

Bartoszyce

Bartoszyce is a town on the Łyna River in northeastern Poland with 25,621 inhabitants . It is the capital of Bartoszyce County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.-History:...

, Węgorzewo

Wegorzewo

, Benkaimis, Žabynai (Zabin), Gołdap, Dubeninkai (Dubeninki) in Prussia.

Germanization

The process of Germanization of other ethnic groups was complex. It included direct and indirect Germanization. Old Prussians were discriminated against after they were conquered, though Old Prussian nobility was not. They were not allowed to live in towns and were only allowed to farm. The situation of Prussian Lithuanians was presumably similar in earlier times. Prussian Lithuanians paid higher taxes and usually had no personal freedom and no law of succession to their plots. The high taxation was the cause of the bad economical situation of Lithuanians and the consequent high death rate of East Prussia during the plague of 1709-11. There were about 9 thousand farms left empty after the plague and the colonization called the Great started. Its final stage was 1736-56. Germans were preferred by the government to newly inhabit the vacant farms. Thus, the percentage of Germans increased to 13.4 percent in the villages of Lithuanian Province. By 1800, most Prussian-Lithuanians were literate and bilingual in Lithuanian and German. There was no forced Germanization prior to 1873. After 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...

, so called Germanisation by Lithuanians, but not by Lietuvininkai themselves, included the installation of the German language in schools - a usual practice in all states. The Germanization process accelerated in the second half of the 19th century, when German was made compulsory in the education system at all levels, although newspapers and books were freely published and church services in the Lithuanian language were held even during Nazi times. Even Lithuanian periodicals were printed in Lithuania Minor, such as Auszra or Varpas
Varpas
Varpas was a monthly Lithuanian-language newspaper published during the Lithuanian press ban from January 1889 to December 1905...

. During interbellum times, Lithuanian communists printed their own periodicals in Lithuania Minor, until 1933. By the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, many Prussian Lithuanians identified themselves more with Germans than Lithuanians, possibly after and due to the influence of Germanization.

Culture

The first book in Lithuanian, prepared 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....

, was printed in Königsberg in 1547, while the first Lithuanian grammar, 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...

's Grammatica Litvanica, was printed there in 1653.

Lithuania Minor was the home of Kristijonas Donelaitis

Kristijonas Donelaitis

, pastor and poet and author of 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...

, which mark the beginning of Lithuanian literature. The Seasons gave vivid depiction of the everyday life of Prussian Lithuanian country.

Lithuania Minor was an important center for Lithuanian culture, which was persecuted in Russian Empire occupied Lithuania proper

Lithuania proper

. That territory had been slowly Polonized

Polonization

Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...

when being part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

and was heavily Russificied

Russification

Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes by non-Russian communities...

while part of the Russian Empire, especially in the second half

Knygnešiai

Book smugglers were people who transported Lithuanian language books printed in the Latin alphabet into Lithuanian-speaking areas of the Russian Empire, defying a ban on such materials in force from 1866 to 1904...

of the 19th century. During the ban on Lithuanian printing in Russia from 1864 until 1904, Lithuanian books were printed in East Prussian towns such as Tilsit, Ragnit, 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....

, and Königsberg

Königsberg

, and smuggled to Russia by knygnešiai
Knygnešiai
Book smugglers were people who transported Lithuanian language books printed in the Latin alphabet into Lithuanian-speaking areas of the Russian Empire, defying a ban on such materials in force from 1866 to 1904...

. The first Lithuanian language periodicals appeared during the period in Lithuania Minor, such as Auszra, edited by Jonas Basanavičius

Jonas Basanavicius

Jonas Basanavičius was an activist and proponent of Lithuania's National Revival and founder of the first Lithuanian language newspaper Aušra. He was one of the initiators and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 1905 Congress of Lithuanians, the Great Seimas of Vilnius...

, succeeded by Varpas
Varpas
Varpas was a monthly Lithuanian-language newspaper published during the Lithuanian press ban from January 1889 to December 1905...

by Vincas Kudirka

Vincas Kudirka

Vincas Kudirka was a Lithuanian poet and physician, and the author of both the music and lyrics of the Lithuanian National Anthem, Tautiška giesmė. He is regarded in Lithuania as a National Hero. Kudirka used pen names - V...

. They had contributed greatly to the
Lithuanian national revival of the 19th century.

Lithuanian claims

Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1422 Treaty of Melno

Treaty of Melno

refused of all territorial claims in Prussia. Grand Duchy of Lithuania was occupied by Russia in 1795 and Lithuania became independent in 1918. The first time in modern times Lithuanians put eye on East Prussia was in 1914, August 17 when so called Amber Declaration was signed. The leaders of Lithuanian national revival expressed hope to Czar that East Prussia would be attached to autonomous Lithuania within Russian Empire. In the document East Prussia was viewed as a part of Samogitia

Samogitia

.

Lithuanian leaders viewed to Lietuvininkai people as a part of Lithuanian nation. While Prussian Lithuanians had different aspirations, Lithuanians didn't look seriously to this. Lithuania declared own independence basing on Wilsonian

Wilsonian

Wilsonianism or Wilsonian are words used to describe a certain type of ideological perspectives on foreign policy. The term comes from the ideology of United States President Woodrow Wilson and his famous Fourteen Points that he believed would help create world peace if implemented.Common...

Self-determination

Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...

right, but Lithuanian leaders didn't wanted to use this right to Poles

Polish minority in Lithuania

The Polish minority in Lithuania numbered 234,989 persons, according to the Lithuanian census of 2001, or 6.74% of the total population of Lithuania. It is the largest ethnic minority in the country and the second largest Polish diaspora group among the post-Soviet states...

of Lithuania, and to Prussian Lithuanians. Prussian Lithuanians were viewed as Germanised who should be re-lithuanised no matter they want to or not. Such policy was being done during reign of autocratic Antanas Smetona

Antanas Smetona

Antanas Smetona was one of the most important Lithuanian political figures between World War I and World War II. He served as the first President of Lithuania from April 4, 1919 to June 19, 1920. He again served as the last President of the country from December 19, 1926 to June 15, 1940, before...

in 1926-39 in Memel Territory.

In 1919 Versaillies, Lithuania asked for large areas in East Prussia. Though delegation of Lithuanians was not recognized, such claims were quickly used by Poland and, with help of Clemenceau

Clemenceau

Clemenceau may refer to:* Georges Clemenceau , French physician, journalist and statesman* Clemenceau , a French aircraft carrier* Mount Clemenceau, a mountain in the Canadian Rockies...

anti-German policy, the part of East Prussia was detached from Germany. Detached area was named Memel Territory.

The capture of Memel Territory by Soviet Army in 1944 in Soviet Lithuania was named a "liberation of Samogitia".

It was set in the Potsdam conference

Potsdam Conference

The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...

that the question of the status of the Königsberg region, which was passed to the Soviet Union, would be discussed during the future fifty years. But the Soviet Union has collapsed and the territory became the enclave oblast

Oblast

Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...

of Russia.

The opinion requiring attach the Kaliningrad oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast

to Lithuania exists among Lithuanians today. According members whole Kaliningrad oblast, is an ancient Lithuanian land i.e. Lithuania Minor is understand as a Lithuanian land from times immemorial. The political party which has no seats in Seimas

Seimas

The Seimas is the unicameral Lithuanian parliament. It has 141 members that are elected for a four-year term. About half of the members of this legislative body are elected in individual constituencies , and the other half are elected by nationwide vote according to proportional representation...

, Lithuanian nationalist union, requires to attach Kaliningrad oblast and the rest of East Prussia to Lithuania too. According Lithuanian nationalists Lithuania can be seen as rightfull success-state of Old Prussians

Old Prussians

, and even all Balts

Balts

The opinion of attachment is popular among Nationalistic

Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...

people and spare movement of Neo-pagans in Lithuania.

On the other hand, in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

and mainly in Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...

exists an opinion that Memelland was transferred to Lithuania unlawfully, as Lithuania entered Soviet Union in its borders of year 1939, and Memel was included into Soviet Union as part of East Prussia. Moreover, the Klaipeda Convention

Klaipėda Convention

Klaipėda Convention was an international agreement between Lithuania and the countries of the Conference of Ambassadors signed in Paris on May 8, 1924. According to the Convention, the Klaipėda Region became an autonomous region under unconditional sovereignty of Lithuania...

of 1924 stated that Klaipėda was given to Lithuania as an exchande for Poland-occupied Vilnius Region

Vilnius region

Vilnius Region , refers to the territory in the present day Lithuania, that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time,...

. In 1939, Klaipėda was returned to Germany after an ultimatum. According to some polytologists, namely Mikhail Aleksandrov, the head of Baltic States department of CIS Countries Institute, the rights of modern Lithuania for controlling Klaipėda are questionable.

Notations

Simon Grunau, Preussische Chronik. Hrsg. von M. Perlbach etc., Leipzig, 1875.
Adalbert Bezzenberger
Adalbert Bezzenberger
Adalbert Bezzenberger was a German philologist, born at Kassel.He studied the Indo-Germanic languages at the universities of Göttingen and Munich. In 1874 he became lecturer at Göttingen and in 1879 professor of Sanskrit at the University of Königsberg...

, Die litauisch-preußische Grenze.- Altpreußische Monatsschrift, XIX–XX, 1882–1883.
K. Lohmeyer, Geschichte von Ost- und Westpreußen, Gotha, 1908
R. Trautmann, Die Altpreußischen Sprachdenkmaler,Göttingen, 1909
L. David. Preussische Chronik. Hrsg. von Hennig, Königsberg, 1812
M. Toeppen, Historische-comparative Geographie von Preußen, Gotha, 1958

External links

Maps

Under the German Empire (1871-1914)
Under the Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1871)
Under the Duchy of Prussia (1525-1701) (text in Lithuanian with some English translations added)

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