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Revision as of 20:22, 19 July 2002 by Space Cadet (talk | contribs) (see talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Warmia (Varmia,German, Ermland or Ermeland) is a region between Pomerania and Masuria in todays northern Poland, together with Masuria it now forms the Warminsko-Mazurskie region.
Warmia (Latin name) was one of the four dioceses into which Prussia was divided in (1242) by the papal legate William of Modena. The other dioceses, all four under the archbishop of Riga, were Culmer Land, Pomesania and Samland. Warmia later became an exempt bishopric. One of its most notable bishops was Enea Silvio Piccolomini (long time secretary to emperor Frederick III) and later Pope Pius II. The Piccolomini family held imperial rank.
Warmia's most famous citizens were the family members of Lucas Watzenrode or Watzelrode, who was Prince-Bishop of Warmia and who became legal guardian, raised and educated his nephews Nicolaus and Andreas Copernicus following their father's death.
In 1755 the imperial mapmaker of Elbing,Johann Friedrich Endersch completed work on a beautiful map of Ermland or Warmia. It details all surrounding towns.
Located in a region , which is said to be marked by the frequently changing boundaries between Prussia and Poland, it is said that Warmia passed with much of western Prussia from the rule of the Teutonic Order to Polish sovereignty under the Second Treaty of Thorn in 1466, while it actually was an exempt bishopric.
In 1772, this Prussian land was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia at the time of the first under Frederick the Great, who named the eastern part of Prussia, East Prussia (Ostpreussen). East Prussia, now a province of the State of Prussia, in 1871 led the unificating of the German Reich, after the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon.
The end of World War II saw the killing of many Polish settlers (deported from Polish lands overtaken by Soviet Union) at the hands of the Wehrwolf, a German paramilitary organization devoted to fighting and killing Polish civilians. The group was largely supported by original German population, especially the clergy, which resulted in the expulsion of much of the East Prussian population by Polish and Soviet troops. Wehrwolf was active in every region of the Polish "Recovered Lands", earning for itself a very bad fame, by never attacking any military targets."
The ethnic cleansing or "resettlements" as they were officially called by the Allies at the Potsdam Conference, were ongoing for several months and years. These 'resettlements' were carried out by the newly installed communist Polish Government under order of the Soviet Union. In order to take over eastern and central Europe Moskow-trained communists systematically and with brutal force removed or killed millions of people. It was a pre-planned and ongoing process.
Communist Poland 'resettled' Ukrainian and Poles from the Curzon line and moved them onto German land east of the Oder-Neisse line. These ruthless enforcer units included para-military as well as civilian units of Poles and Soviet Russians specifically selected because of their Polish names, all under Soviet orders. They expelled the German population and completely took over their land, while the Potsdam Conference called for administration. Despite greatest hardships, some of the Prussian German population of Ermland managed to stay in their homeland.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union, a monument memorializing the dead was erected in September 2001. This memorial inscripted in Polish and German language, is located near Olsztyn (Ger. Allenstein). The dedication was attended by Polish army honor guard, the wife of the prime minister of Poland, Jerzy Buzek, church officials and the murdered priests' family members, and former residents, now living in Germany, who had been expelled (Heimatvertriebene during and shortly after the War.
External Links
- Memorial website, listing names of the dead: ]
- External link to Endersch's map: ]