Nemirseta
Encyclopedia
Nemirseta is a district of the Lithuania
n seaside resort
Palanga
, located on the Baltic
coast north of Klaipėda
.
settlements. During the Prussian Crusade
from about 1200 onwards, the area of the local Baltic Skalvian
and Curonian
pagans was conquered by German military order
s, at first by the Sword Brethren
, after the 1236 Battle of Saule by the Teutonic Knights
. When in the early 15th century the State of the Teutonic Order interfered with the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Lithuania
and the Kingdom of Poland
, culminating in the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, the 1422 Treaty of Melno
finally fixed the borders of the Monastic State with the Lithuanian Samogitia
region.
In the course of the Protestant Reformation, the Teutonic State in 1525 dissolved and the Nemirseta area became the northernmost outpost of secularized Duchy of Prussia, from 1618 of united Brandenburg-Prussia
under the Lutheran House of Hohenzollern
. By the 1660 Treaty of Oliva
Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg was able to shift off Polish suzerainty. When the Hohenzollern Kingdom of Prussia
merged into the German Empire
in 1871, Nimmersatt became the its northernmost settlement, schoolchildren were taught the riddle Nimmersatt, wo das Reich sein Ende hat, which means "Nimmersatt, where the Empire ends". Nimmersatt consisted mostly of two buildings, providing shelter for border control personnel and travellers from and to Imperial Russia
s Lithuanian provinces.
A part of the Province of East Prussia
until after World War I
, in 1920 Nemirseta was with the Klaipėda Region
(Memelland) separated from Germany
according to the Treaty of Versailles
. It was put under administration of the League of Nations
and controlled by French
forces, until the 1923 Klaipėda Revolt
, after which it was annexed by Lithuania
. For a brief period Nemirseta again became a border checkpoint, when Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšys
under pressure of Nazi Germany
in March 1939 signed an agreement after which the Klaipėda Region was reannexed to the German nation. The secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact allocated it to the German sphere of influence.
After World War II
, according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement
, the region again became part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and the place, now called Nemirseta, finally lost its meaning as a German border town. It was incorporated into the Palanga municipality in 1975.
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...
n seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
Palanga
Palanga
Palanga and beautiful sand dunes. Officially Palanga has the status of a city municipality and includes Šventoji, Nemirseta, Būtingė and other settlements, which are considered as part of the city of Palanga.-Legend:...
, located on the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coast north of 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....
.
History
The place, which consists mainly of two deserted buildings which lost their purpose as a border check point, is notable for having marked for about five centuries the northernmost point of German OstsiedlungOstsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
settlements. During the Prussian Crusade
Prussian Crusade
The Prussian Crusade was a series of 13th-century campaigns of Roman Catholic crusaders, primarily led by the Teutonic Knights, to Christianize the pagan Old Prussians. Invited after earlier unsuccessful expeditions against the Prussians by Polish princes, the Teutonic Knights began campaigning...
from about 1200 onwards, the area of the local Baltic Skalvian
Skalvians
The Scalovians , also known as the Skalvians, Schalwen and Schalmen, were a Baltic tribe related to the Prussians. According to the Chronicon terrae Prussiae of Peter of Dusburg, the now extinct Scalovians inhabited the land of Scalovia south of the Curonians and Samogitians, by the lower Neman...
and Curonian
Curonians
The Curonians or Kurs were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland , and they spoke the Old...
pagans was conquered by German military order
Military order
A military order is a Christian society of knights that was founded for crusading, i.e. propagating or defending the faith , either in the Holy Land or against Islam or pagans in Europe...
s, at first by the Sword Brethren
Livonian Brothers of the Sword
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword were a military order founded by Bishop Albert of Riga in 1202. Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204. The membership of the order comprised German "warrior monks"...
, after the 1236 Battle of Saule 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...
. When in the early 15th century the State of the Teutonic Order interfered with the neighbouring Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
and the Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)
The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
, culminating in the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, the 1422 Treaty of Melno
Treaty of Melno
The Treaty of Melno or Treaty of Lake Melno was a peace treaty ending the Gollub War. It was signed on September 27, 1422, between the Teutonic Knights and an alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Lake Melno , east of Graudenz...
finally fixed the borders of the Monastic State with the Lithuanian 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...
region.
In the course of the Protestant Reformation, the Teutonic State in 1525 dissolved and the Nemirseta area became the northernmost outpost of secularized Duchy of Prussia, from 1618 of united Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
under the Lutheran House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
. By the 1660 Treaty of Oliva
Treaty of Oliva
The Treaty or Peace of Oliva of 23 April /3 May 1660 was one of the peace treaties ending the Second Northern War...
Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg was able to shift off Polish suzerainty. When the Hohenzollern 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...
merged into the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871, Nimmersatt became the its northernmost settlement, schoolchildren were taught the riddle Nimmersatt, wo das Reich sein Ende hat, which means "Nimmersatt, where the Empire ends". Nimmersatt consisted mostly of two buildings, providing shelter for border control personnel and travellers from and to Imperial Russia
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...
s Lithuanian provinces.
A part of the Province of East Prussia
Province of East Prussia
The Province of East Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773–1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Königsberg ....
until after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, in 1920 Nemirseta was with the Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
(Memelland) separated from Germany
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...
according to 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...
. It was put under administration 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...
and controlled by French
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
forces, until the 1923 Klaipėda Revolt
Klaipeda Revolt
The Klaipėda Revolt took place in January 1923 in the Klaipėda Region . The region, located north of the Neman River, was detached from the East Prussia of the German Empire by the Treaty of Versailles and became a mandate of the League of Nations. It was placed under provisional French...
, after which it was annexed by 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...
. For a brief period Nemirseta again became a border checkpoint, when Lithuanian Foreign Minister Juozas Urbšys
Juozas Urbšys
Juozas Urbšys was a prominent interwar Lithuanian diplomat, the last head of foreign affairs in independent interwar Lithuania, and a translator. He served in the military between 1916 and 1922, afterwards joining the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
under pressure of 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 March 1939 signed an agreement after which the Klaipėda Region was reannexed to the German nation. The secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact allocated it to the German sphere of influence.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, according to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
, the region again became part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and the place, now called Nemirseta, finally lost its meaning as a German border town. It was incorporated into the Palanga municipality in 1975.
External links
- Photo on de.wikipedia
- Polangen
- Kulturgrenze und Zentrum Europas: Eine Einladung an die Küste Litauens