The Demise of Pomerania and Prussia

Pomerania was a Prussian province and not a German one. Prussia with 13 provinces was bigger than Germany and played in the history since the Grosse Kurfuerst a role about equal to that of Austria, France and England. World-renowned historians as Golo Mann and Schoeps make it clear, that Germany illegally and forcefully annexed Prussia on July 20, 1932. In a coup d'etat, plotted by the German Chancellor von Papen with the support of the German Reichs-President von Hindenburg and his advisor von Schleicher, was the Prussian Chancellor Otto Braun ousted. Von Papen then appointed himself to Reichs-Commissioner of Prussia and presented Prussia as a gift to the Nazis. Prussia fought against it at the Reichs-Court of Constitution and won. However the German government ruled already forcefully and lawlessly. It just ignored the decision of the Highest Court. Six months later, January 30, 1933, Hitler won as promised the election. Reichs-President von Hindenburg appointed Hitler to be the new Reichs-Chancellor. Out of gratitude rewarded Hitler von Papen with the position of his deputy. Rudolf Hess replaced later von Papen. And Goering was appointed by Hitler to act as Prime Minister of Prussia. The forceful incorporation of Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Russia etc. followed into what Hitler and the Nazis called the Great German Empire. Exactly 12 years after the illegal annexation of Prussia, on July 20, 1944, Prussian officers tried to make an end to the Nazi tyrannies in an attempt to kill Hitler, when he entered Prussian soil. They failed and were hanged on German meat hooks.

After World War II the Nazi Empire got dismantled. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary etc. but also Austria claimed again their pre-annexation status of independence. The meanwhile aged ousted Prussian Prime Minister, Otto Braun, informed the Americans from exile, that legally the Social Democratic Government in Prussia still exists and that all that the Allies needed to do in order to restore legality is to reinstate it. However most of the Prussian People were displaced by the Russians and Poles and not capable to claim their home country and independence. On February 25, 1947, the Allied Control Commission declared by decree Prussia dissolved (By International Law probably invalid!). The territory of Prussia was without plebiscite divided between Russia, Poland, East Germany (G.D.R.), and the Federal Republic of Germany. Pomerania was historically a protestant province. In that from Poland acquired part of Pomerania the indigenous Protestants were forced to leave their homeland and replaced with Polish Catholics. Then, with the ratification of the Treaty of Warsaw in 1992 the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland tried to legalize their new land acquisitions - again without plebiscite. The two big territorial winners of World War II are definitely Germany and Poland. And the only loser is Prussia, which did not even declare war to anyone.

On August 14, 1941 the President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom announced in a joint declaration, which became known as The Atlantic Charter:

First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;

Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;

Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.

Only 12 years of forceful and illegal annexation to Germany did cost us Pomeranian and Prussian our home country, all possessions, our many centuries old history, language etc.. People often confuse our Pomeranian heritage with Prussia with that of Germany. We lost everything because of Germany.

Prussia and Wars

In 1815 the Prussian armies under Bluecher and Gneisenau and an English-German army under Wellington crushed the last armies of Napoleon. On July 19, 1870 France declared war on Prussia and lost Alsace and Lorraine. It seems to me that this and the course of WWI in French trenches were enough reason for France to characterize Prussia in the Peace Treaty of Versailles as a country guided by the spirit of military attacks. With the Treaty of Versailles in mind the victors of World War II too eagerly believed in Prussia as a state with military ambitions. Hitler was not born, raised and educated in Prussia. Hitler was not the Head of State of Prussia but the Leader of Germany. The Germans imported this extremely unprussian Catholic from Austria. The Prussians were strictly Protestants with high moral and ethic standards. This misguidance contributed to the demise of Prussia.

American students of history hungry for truth concluded in their research that there were between 1800 and 1940 (including World War II) 278 wars.

England was involved in 28 % of these wars,

France in 26 %,

Russia in 23 %, and

Prussia in 8 %.

Prussia occupies with distance the lowest rank in international wars.

For centuries Prussia was the safe haven for people persecuted for their religious believes in Catholic European countries. Between 1685 and 1715 around 500,000 French Protestants - called Huguenots - immigrated  into Brandenburg - Prussia. With their Calvinistic work ethics, thriftiness and diligence they did belong to the elite of France and now enriched Prussia. It is said, that around 1700 every third Berliner was French. Prussians with the names Craniers, le Jeunes, Boissons, Beaumonts, Marchands, Le Fevres, de la Gardes, Fourniers, la Roquettes, Lafargnes, le Grands remind us that they are descendants of the Huguenots. Around 1732 the Catholic Fuerst-Bishop Firmian of Salzburg expelled 20,000 Protestants - mostly farmers - which were settled in East Prussia. Prussians with names like Brandstetter, Hundsdoerfer, Reuter, Gschwandtner, Schwaighofer, Rohrmoser, Oberbuehler tell us that their forefathers were expelled Protestants from Salzburg in Austria. Thousands of Swiss Protestants, Palatinate Protestants, Walloon Protestants, Bohemian Protestants and Alsatian Protestants found asylum in Prussia.