1938 renaming of East Prussian placenames (german: Umbenennung von Orten in Ostpreußen im Jahr 1938) was the process of changing more than 1,500
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
n placenames by 16 July 1938, following a decree issued by ''
Gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
'' and ''
Oberpräsident
The ''german: Oberpräsident, label=none'' (Supreme President) was the highest administrative official in the Prussian provinces.
History
The Oberpräsident of a Prussian province was the supreme representative of the Prussian crown, until its ...
''
Erich Koch
Erich Koch (19 June 1896 – 12 November 1986) was a ''Gauleiter'' of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in East Prussia from 1 October 1928 until 1945. Between 1941 and 1945 he was Chief of Civil Administration (''Chef der Zivilverwaltung'') of Bezirk ...
and initiated by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. This resulted in the elimination,
Germanization
Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...
, or simplification of a number of
Old Prussian
Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...
names, as well as those Polish or Lithuanian origin. Other areas of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
were also affected.
East Prussia
Placenames in
Masuria
Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...
were occasionally renamed prior to 1938, and indeed even before the
Nazi era
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
In the district of
Lötzen 47 percent of all villages had already been renamed in the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
and another 36 percent after 1933.
[ A systematic renaming campaign was prepared after Koch issued the corresponding order on 25 August 1937.][The order was republished by the ''Publikationsstelle Berlin-Dahlem'' (PuSte) and is now in the Federal German Archives (]Bundesarchiv
, type = Archive
, seal =
, seal_size =
, seal_caption =
, seal_alt =
, logo = Bundesarchiv-Logo.svg
, logo_size =
, logo_caption =
, lo ...
Berlin)
R 153/390
: "Erfassung slawischer Ortsnamen im deutschen Reichsgebiet und Pläne zur Umbenennung dieser Orte in deutsche Namen", includes: Oberpräsident Ostpreußen, Königsberg, 25. 8. 1937, betr.: Verdeutschung fremdsprachiger Namen in Ostpreußen, Bezug: Erlaß des Reichs- und Preußischen Minister des Innern vom 6. 7. 1937; cf. Kossert (2003), p. 138. Following this order, the Prussian Ministry of Science, Education and People's Education (''Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung'') set up an expert commission led by Mr Harmjanz (the ''Ministerialrat'' or ministerial adviser).[ Members included Mr Meyer (a Slavicist from ]Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
), Mr Ziesemer (a Germanist from Königsberg), Mr Falkenhayn (a lecturer, expert in Lithuanian and Old Prussian names) and Max Hein (the director of the Königsberg state archives and expert in names of the Teutonic Order state
The State of the Teutonic Order (german: Staat des Deutschen Ordens, ; la, Civitas Ordinis Theutonici; lt, Vokiečių ordino valstybė; pl, Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego), also called () or (), was a medieval Crusader state, located in Centr ...
).[ Affected were names of villages, water bodies, forests and cadastral districts.][ In some counties up to 70% of the placenames had been changed by 16 July 1938.][
After ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the local populace fled
''Fled'' is a 1996 American buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad.
Plot
An interrogator prepares a man to ...
or was expelled. The modern Polish names were determined by the Commission for the Determination of Place Names
The Commission for the Determination of Place Names ( pl, Komisja Ustalania Nazw Miejscowości) was a commission of the Polish Department of Public Administration, founded in January 1946. Its mission was the establishment of toponyms for places, ...
. The names invented in 1938 remain in official use in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Silesia and other regions
A similar Germanization of place names was carried out in other regions of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, especially in Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
. There, 1088 place names in the Oppeln (Opole
Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ;
* Silesian:
** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole''
** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole''
* Silesian German: ''Uppeln''
* Czech: ''Opolí''
* Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...
) region were changed in 1936, also 359 in the Breslau (Wroclaw) area and 178 in the Liegnitz
Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 ...
(Legnica) area between 1937 and 1938.[ In the portion of Upper Silesia which after World War I had become part of the ]Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
, most places had two locally used names, a German one and a Polish one, and after 1922, Polish authorities made the Polish variants the "official" names.[
]
World War II
During World War II, renaming occurred primarily in occupied/annexed territories, because the Nazi government felt that "foreign language names for places constitute a national threat and may lead to mistaken world opinion in regard to their nationality". Areas affected included Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany
Following the Invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic was annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under the German civil administration. The rest of Nazi ...
, e.g. Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...
and the area near Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
.[Monika Choros, Lucja Jarczak, "Relacje polsko niemieckie w nazwach miejscowych" (Polish-German relations in local placenames), ww.instytutslaski.com/www/pliki/relacje.ppt Instytut Slaski/ref> and ]Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
, as well as Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
.
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Renaming Of East Prussian Placenames, 1938
East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
Politics of Nazi Germany
Germanization