Katana VentraIP

Prussian Lithuanians

The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai[1] (singular: Lietuvininkas, plural: Lietuvininkai), are Lithuanians,[2] originally Lithuanian language speakers, who formerly inhabited a territory in northeastern East Prussia called Prussian Lithuania, or Lithuania Minor (Lithuanian: Prūsų Lietuva, Mažoji Lietuva, German: Preußisch-Litauen, Kleinlitauen), instead of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, later, the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuania Major, or Lithuania proper). Prussian Lithuanians contributed greatly to the development of written Lithuanian, which for a long time was considerably more widespread and in more literary use in Lithuania Minor than in Lithuania proper.[3]

Unlike most Lithuanians, who remained Roman Catholic after the Protestant Reformation, most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran).


There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all Prussian Lithuanians were murdered or expelled after World War II, when East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast, while the southern part was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region (German: Memelland) was attached to Lithuania.

Ethnonyms and identity[edit]

The term Preußische Litauer (Prussian Lithuanians in German) appeared in German texts of the 16th century. The term Kleinlitaw (Lithuania Minor in German) was first used by Simon Grunau between 1517 and 1527. Prussian Lithuanians used various names for themselves: Prussians (Lithuanian: Prūsai, German: Preusch), Prussian Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Pruſû Lietuwiai, Pruſû Lietuvininkai, Pruſißki Lietuvininkai, German: Preußische Litauer), or simply Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Lietuw(i)ni(n)kai, German: Litauer). Local self-designating terms found in literature, such as Sziszionißkiai ("people from here"), Burai (German: Bauern), were neither politonyms nor ethnonyms. Another similar term appeared in the Klaipėda Region (Memelland) during the interwar years – Memellanders[4] (Lithuanian: Klaipėdiškiai, German: Memelländer). Modern Lithuanian historiography uses the term Lietuvininkai[5] or sometimes a neologism unknown to Lietuwininkai themselves, Mažlietuviai. The usage of Lietuvininkai is problematic as it is a synonym of the word Lietuviai ("Lithuanians"), and not the name of a separate ethnic sub-group.


For Prussian Lithuanians loyalty to the German state, strong religious beliefs, and the mother tongue were the three main criteria of self-identification.[6] Due to differences in religion and loyalties to a different state, the Prussian Lithuanians did not consider Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy to be part of their community. They used the exonym Samogitians (Lithuanian: Źemaicziai, German: Szameiten) to denote Lithuanians of Lithuania Major.[7] As with other closely related groups with differing religions (e.g. Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia), antagonism was frequent between the Lutheran Prussian Lithuanians and the Catholic Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy, despite the common language. For example, inhabitants of Lithuania did not trust Prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region and tended to eliminate them from posts in government institutions.[8] When Prussian Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė (Ewa Simoneit) chose the side of the Lithuanian Republic, she was condemned by relatives, friends and neighbours.[9] Only one Prussian Lithuanian, Dovas Zaunius, worked in the government of Lithuania between World War I and World War II. The antagonism persisted until the end of World War II.

Prussian Lithuanian poet

Kristijonas Donelaitis

(born Franz Karl Wilhelm Domscheit), Prussian Lithuanian painter

Pranas Domšaitis

professor at Albertina University, Königsberg

Georg Gerullis

(born Wilhelm Storost), philosopher

Vilius Storostas

American journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner

Otto D. Tolischus

German schlager singer

Lena Valaitis

(born Joachim Fritz Krauledat), Canadian singer, songwriter and guitarist, frontman of Steppenwolf

John Kay

a Lithuanian-German sniper in the 68th Infantry Division of the German Army

Bruno Sutkus

German architect also active in Japan and Turkey

Bruno Taut

German architect

Max Taut

German politician

Friedrich Baltrusch

Prussian Latvians

Masurians

Memel Territory

East Prussia

Delmonas

large (in German) (red = German, white = Polish, blue = Lithuanian, yellow = Latvian / Kurlandish, green = uninhabited or thinly inhabited forest)

Map of languages in East Prussia in 1900

(in German)

Christoph Kairies. Das litauertum in Ostpreußen südlich des Memelstromes im jahre 1921

(in German)

Online heritage book Memelland

Algirdas, Matulevičius (June 30, 1994). . Voruta (in Lithuanian) (27–28). Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-07.

"Didžiosios ir Mažosios Lietuvos studentai Karaliaučiaus universitete (450-osioms metinėms)"

(in Lithuanian)

Publications Funded by the Foundation of Lithuania Minor

(in German)

Kleinlitauen

Bilingual Chantbook of 1667

Bilingual Bible of 1727