Procesy narodotwórcze wśród ludności nieniemieckiej w Prusach Wschodnich w drugiej połowie XIX wieku. Wybrane problemy

Nation-building processes among the non-German population in East Prussia in the second half of the 19th century. Selected problems

Abstract: 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.