Etymology

Subdivisions

Current administrative division of Pomerania

• Vorpommern ("Western" or "Hither Pomerania") in Germany, stretching from the Recknitz River to the Oder–Neisse line. This region is part of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The southernmost parts of historical Vorpommern (Gartz area) are now in Brandenburg, Germany, while its historical easternmost parts (Oder estituary, "Stettiner Zipfel") are in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. Vorpommern comprises the historical regions Principality of Rügen and County of Gützkow.

• Zachodniopomorskie ("West Pomeranian Voivodeship") in Poland, stretching from the Oder–Neisse line to the Słupia River.

• Pomerelia (most of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and northernmost parts of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship), stretching from the Słupia River to the Vistula delta in the vicinity of Gdańsk.

Terminology

and German usage), to the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship, or both (in Polish usage).

The term Eastern Pomerania may similarly carry different meanings, referring either to historical Farther Pomerania (in historicale.g. (Sheperd Atlas), or in and German usage), or the Pomeranian Voivodeship (in Polish usage).

History

=== Prehistory and Early Middle Ages ===

Pomeranian culture - Pomerelian faced urns.

Settlement in Pomerania started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage, some 13,000 years ago. Archeological traces have been found of various cultures during the Stone and Bronze Age, Veneti and Germanic peoples during the Iron Age and, in the Middle Ages, Slavic tribes and Vikings.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeit, 1999, pp.18ff, ISBN 8390618486Horst Wernicke, Greifswald, Geschichte der Stadt, Helms, 2000, pp.16ff, ISBN 3931185567Johannes Hoops, Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, Walter de Gruyter, p.422, ISBN 3110177331Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.22,23, ISBN 3886802728Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, pp.pp.237ff,244ff Starting in the 10th century, early Polish dukes on several occasions subdued parts of the region from the southeast, while the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark augmented their territory from the west and north.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, pp.261,345ffNora Berend, Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' C. 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.293, ISBN 0521876168, 9780521876162David Warner, Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Manchester University Press, 2001, p.358, ISBN 0719049261, 9780719049262Michael Borgolte, Benjamin Scheller, Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung über den "Akt von Gnesen", Akademie Verlag, 2002, p.282, ISBN 3050037490, 9783050037493

High Middle Ages to Early Modern Age

Stralsund, one of several Hanseatic cities built in typical Brick Gothic style.

Castle of the Pomeranian dukes in Szczecin (Stettin).

Fragment of ruin of Augustinians' cloister in Jasienica, Police (14th century)

In the High Middle Ages, the area became Christian and was ruled by local dukes of the House of Pomerania (Griffins) and the Samborides, at various times vassals of Denmark, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeit, 1999, pp.35ff, ISBN 839061848Gerhard Krause, Horst Robert Balz, Gerhard Müller, Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Walter de Gruyter, 1997, pp.40ff, ISBN 3110154358 From the late 12th century, the Griffin Duchy of Pomerania stayed with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Rugia with Denmark, while Denmark, Brandenburg, Poland and the Teutonic Knights struggled for control in Samboride Pomerelia.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeit, 1999, p.43, ISBN 839061848 The Teutonic Knights succeeded in integrating Pomerelia into their monastic state in the early 14th century. Meanwhile the Ostsiedlung started to turn Pomerania into a German-settled area, the remaining Wends, who became known as Slovincians and Kashubians, continued to settle within the rural East.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeit, 1999, pp.77ff, ISBN 839061848 In 1325 the line of the princes of Rugia (Rügen) died out, and the principality was inherited by the Griffins. In 1466, with the Teutonic Order's defeat, Pomerelia became subject to the Polish Crown as a part of Royal Prussia. While the Duchy of Pomerania adopted the Protestant reformation in 1534,Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.205–212, ISBN 3886802728Gerhard Krause, Horst Robert Balz, Gerhard Müller, Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Walter de Gruyter, 1997, pp.43ff, ISBN 3110154358 Kashubia remained with the Roman Catholic Church. The Thirty Years' and subsequent wars severely ravaged and depopulated most of Pomerania. With the extinction of the Griffin house during the same period, the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648.

Modern Age

1980 strike at Gdańsk Shipyard, birthplace of Solidarnosc. This marked the beginning of the collapse of Communist rule in Pomerania.

Prussia gained the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania in 1720,Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.341-343, ISBN 3886802728 Pomerelia in 1772, and the remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815, when French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars was lifted.Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.363,364, ISBN 3886802728 The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the former Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania,Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.366, ISBN 3886802728 while Pomerelia was made part of the Province of West Prussia. With Prussia, both provinces joined the newly constituted German Empire in 1871. Following the empire's defeat in World War I, Pomerelia was transformed into the Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig. Germany's Province of Pomerania was expanded in 1938 to include northern parts of the former Province of Posen–West Prussia, and in 1939 the annexed Polish Corridor became part of the wartime Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. The Nazis deported the Pomeranian Jews to a reservation near Lublin and, in Pomerelia, mass murdered Jews, Poles and Kashubians following Nazi Germany's untermensch ideology.

After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the German–Polish border was shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line and all of Pomerania was under Soviet military control. The German population of the areas east of the line was expelled, and the area was resettled primarily with Poles (some themselves expellees from former eastern Poland) and some Ukrainians (resettled under Operation Wisła) and Jews.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeit, p.406, ISBN 839061848 Most of Western Pomerania (Vorpommern) remained in Germany and today forms the eastern part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, while the Polish part of the region is divided between West Pomeranian Voivodeship and Pomeranian Voivodeship, with their capitals in Szczecin (Stettin) and Gdańsk (Danzig), respectively. During the 1980s, the Solidarnosc and Die Wende movements had overthrown the Communist regimes implemented during the post-war era, since, Pomerania is democratically governed.

Demographics

Western Pomerania is inhabited by German Pomeranians. In the eastern parts, Poles are the dominating ethnic group since World War II. Kashubians, descendants of the medieval Slavic Pomeranians, are numerous in rural Pomerelia.

Cities and towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants

Kashubians in regional dress

(with population figures for 1999):

• Tricity metropolitan area (Pomeranian Voivodeship) (population (2001): 1,035,000; area 1,332,51 km²), including:

• * Gdańsk (458,988)

• * Gdynia (253,521)

• * Sopot (46,000)

• Szczecin (West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 416,988)

• Koszalin (West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 112,375)

• Słupsk (Pomeranian Voivodeship, 102,370)

• Stargard Szczeciński (Stargard i.P., West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 72,000)

• Stralsund (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 57,613)

• Greifswald (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 52,984)

Languages and dialects

Section of a detailed map from Meyers Kleiner Hand-Atlas published by Julius Meyer in Leipzig, Germany and Wien, Austria in 1892.

In the German part of Pomerania, Standard German and the East Low German Pomeranian dialects Vorpommersch and Mittelpommersch are spoken, though Standard German dominates. Polish is the dominating language in the Polish part, Kashubian dialects are also spoken by the Kashubians in Pomerelia.
Ostpommersch, the East Low German dialect of Farther Pomerania and western Pomerelia, Low Prussian, the East Low German dialect of eastern Pomerelia, and Standard German were dominating in Pomerania east of the Oder-Neisse line before most of its speakers were expelled after World War II. Slovincian was spoken at the Farther Pomeranian-Pomerelian frontier, but is now extinct.
Kashubian or Low German Pomeranian dialects are also spoken by the descendants of emigrees, most notably in the Americas.

Museums

National Museum in Szczecin, Pałac Sejmu Stanów Pomorskich (Landeshaus)

The Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald, dedicated to the history of Pomerania, has a variety of archeological findings and artefacts from the different periods covered in this article. At least 50 museums in Poland cover history of Pomerania, the most important of them The National Museum in Gdańsk, Central Pomerania Museum in Słupsk, Darłowo Museum, Koszalin Museum, National Museum in Szczecin.

See also

• German exonyms (Pomorze)

• History of Pomerania

• Kashubian-Pomeranian Association

• Pomerania State Museum

• Pomeranian

Footnotes