Suchergebnisse

The purpose of this article is to present the processes of assimilation of ethnic and linguistic groups (Polish – Warmians and Mazurians, Lithuanian – Lithuanians of Prussia) living in East Prussia in the second half of the 19th century. It should be noted that among the Mazurian, Warmian and Lithuanian populations in East Prussia, at no stage of the development of the above-mentioned groups were there any prerequisites for the formation of their own nation or assimilation into the Polish or Lithuanian nations. After 1870, the ethnic feeling of the non-German population in Prussia became an anachronism dating back to an earlier, pre-national stage of development. The process of assimilation, supported by a number of factors and carried out quite consistently, though not absolutely, towards non-German groups, created a Prussian-German identity among them. They became an example of ethnic groups forming their identity against a linguistic and cultural background.

On the basis of the analysis of the subject literature supplemented with archival materials, the author proves that during World War II, including the period between June 22, 1941 and April 25, 1943, the Soviet Union consistently pursued a policy one of whose main goals was to keep Poland in its sphere of influence. For this reason, it fought by various means against the Union for Armed Struggle and the Home Army, which were the armed forces of the Polish authorities. The existence of the Polish armed underground connected with the legal authorities in exile threatened the Soviet plans for a quick and complete subjugation of the territories along the Vistula River and the establishment of communist rule there after the war.