Fig. 40—A Wendish loghouse in the Spreewald where ancient Slavic colonies retain their language and customs although surrounded by Germans.
Within this marshy country, a Polish folk has maintained its own institutions ever since the consolidation of Poles into a distinct people within the drainage area of the Vistula. The only feature of Germanism which took hold in the land was the Protestant religion. The 300,000 Masurians, therefore, present the queer anomaly of a Protestant Polish group. Apart from this peculiarity they are as truly Poles as their land is part of the Vistula basin. With the revival of Polish ideals in recent years the growth of Protestantism in the region has been checked. It is interesting to note that the revulsion of religious feeling had its source in the province of Posen, in the full midst of Teutonic proselytism, and not, as might have been expected, in Russian Poland.
The Wends of Germany represent the only intact remnant of the Slav populations which once filled the country. The whole plain country of northern Germany extending from the Elbe to the Vistula had been inhabited by the Wends since early Christian times. The country between the Sale, upper Havel and Spree valleys was probably their original settling ground.[125] They now occupy Lusatia and are sometimes known as Lusatian Serbians. In the Middle Ages the name of Sorabes was given to them. The Germans first began to invade the region in the eleventh century. In the fourteenth, they attained numerical preponderance. The decline of the Slav communities which was accelerated by the Thirty Years’ War, begins about this time. The union of Lusatia with Bohemia helped the Slav cause for a while, but the treaty of Prague, in 1635, by which the country was awarded to Saxony crushed Slavic hopes. At present, the Slavic language has practically disappeared from the region, although the appearance and customs of the inhabitants are more Slav than German.
As late as the Middle Ages the Wends occupied an area considerably to the north of their present seat. The eastern valley of the Elbe, as well as Mecklenburg territory, was settled by them before 1160. Charters of this period such as that of the Schwerin bishopric of 1178, or of the cloister of Dargun of 1174, show Slavic place names exclusively. Among signs pointing to a pre-German spread of the Wendish element are the relics of Slavic family names and evidences of the old “Hakenhufen” division of the land in lots of 15 acres. This last proof appears irrefutable and points, upon application, to the former extension of the Wendish element to the very shores of the Baltic.[126] Germanization seems to have been thoroughly accomplished by the second half of the thirteenth century. But even today a great part of the area east of the Elbe must be regarded as a land of German-speaking Slavs.
Fig. 41—The area of Wend speech. The dotted patch shows that Kottbus is the center of the district in which the majority of the inhabitants (over 50 per cent) speak the Slav language. In the ruled area the percentage of Wends is less than 50.
Surrounded by Germans, the Wendish colony is doomed to disappear in spite of a literary renascence which helps to perpetuate national consciousness in its midst. According to statistics, the number of Wends is steadily declining. The progress of Germanization is particularly apparent in Lower Lusatia, which is part of the Prussian domain. It was estimated in 1885 that this people comprised about 176,000 souls. Later computations place this figure at about 156,000. The absence of an intellectual class among them, compulsory military service in German regiments and the use of the German language in church favor the progress of Teutonism.[127]
The want of linguistic unity among the Wends also tends to weaken their position. Idiomatic differences between the languages of Upper and Lower Lusatia are such as to prevent the natives of the respective districts from rendering themselves intelligible to one another. The literary language of Kottbus differs from that of Bautzen. Diversity of customs and institutions is also noticeable between the two groups. German ideas increase this cultural split, the divergence from Slavic institutions and thought thus becoming accentuated. Unlike the Masurians, and because of their isolation, the Wends cannot look to eventual incorporation with the Polish body. Their political destiny is therefore distinct from that of the Poles.
We have seen in this chapter that although conquered and divided Poland still lives. A compact mass of over 20,000,000 individuals speaking the same language is a force which cannot but make itself felt. This main body of Poles resides within its own linguistic boundaries. Smaller colonies are found outside these limits. The Polish inhabitants of Lithuania and Ukraine muster about 2,000,000. Vilna alone, the capital of Lithuania, has a population of 70,000 Poles out of a total of 170,000 inhabitants.[128] The Polish colonies of Ukraine, of the coal-fields of the Donetz, and of the Caucasus comprise wealthy landholders, manufacturers, bankers and merchants. These men though living outside the ethnographic boundaries of their people nevertheless exercise the weight of their influence on its behalf. Thus the three groups into which conquest has divided the Poles remain today in intimate contact in spite of the political boundaries which separate them. It is mainly in the economic field that binding ties have been established between the three, for the Poles of the three continental empires have made it a point to promote trade relations with one another. This was forging a new link to their pre-existing natural ties of kinship.
The problem of delimiting Polish national boundaries is complicated on the east and west, as has been stated, by the absence of prominent surface features. On both sides the lines of linguistic parting provide the only practicable demarcation. On the north and south, however, the Baltic and the Carpathians may be utilized advantageously as national frontiers. But the fate of the Polish region is strongly outlined by nature, for the entire basin of the Vistula is a regional unit. Any partitioning of this basin would probably be followed by political conflicts.
NOTE ON THE SLAVS
In the ninth century the Slavs occupied the eastern plains of Europe between the valleys of the Elbe and the Dnieper. Southward they spread to the northern foothills of the mountains of central Europe. Although subdivided into tribes bearing different names, there existed no essential differences among them as to language or custom. The pagan divinities worshiped in the drainage area of the Vistula were the gods of the inhabitants of the Dnieper valley. Tribal authority was exercised by a chief designated as Kniaz or Voivod throughout these lowlands. Intercourse between the various groups was constant. A vague political union is even discerned by some historians. The Poles and Ruthenians and, to a lesser extent, the Bohemians, are the best modern representatives of these original Slavs. All the eastern Slavs, however, have mixed more or less with Asiatic peoples.
Some light is thrown on the European origin of the peoples of Aryan speech by the growth of the Slavs. The Slavs of Europe now form by far the most important ethnic group of that continent. They comprise about 160,000,000 individuals out of a total of 400,000,000 inhabitants of Europe. Two-thirds of this Slavic element consists of Russians (66,000,000 Great Russians, 32,000,000 Little Russians, and about 8,000,000 White Russians).[129] Next to the Russians in numerical importance are the Poles (23,000,000). The Serbo-Croatian group can only muster half the Polish array. The Bohemians follow, 8,000,000 strong, while the Bulgarian group does not quite attain 6,000,000. Smaller groups are the 2,000,000 Slovenes, the 2,000,000 Slovaks and the less important enclave communities of German lands like the Wend in Lusatia.
The homeland of the primitive nucleus of this branch of the Indo-European family is restricted in the main to the plains extending from the northwestern corner of the Black Sea to the sandy delta of the Oder. The valleys of the great rivers in this lowland exerted the earliest separative influence which is known to have occurred in the primitive Slav group. Niederle distinguishes three main sub-groups which fit into the frame of eastern European hydrography.[130] A northwesterly branch attained the valleys of the Elbe, Sale and Sumava, and gave birth to the Bohemian and Polish factions. A central group, originally occupying the region of the upper Vistula, the Dniester and middle Danube, rounded the southern slopes of the Carpathians and, traveling up-stream on the Danube, eventually attained the valleys of the Save and Drave. The Slavs of southeastern Europe are descendants of this group. Originally pure Slavs, they are permeated with Asiatic blood owing to repeated invasions from the east. The third group was destined to form the substratum of Slavic Russia. It radiated from the basin of the Dnieper as far north as the Gulf of Finland and eastward to the valleys of the Oka, the Don and the Volga.
TABLE I
Former Polish Provinces Under German Rule at the Beginning of the European War[131]
| Province | Area in sq. mi. | Population 1910 | Period of loss to Poland |
| Pomerania, regencies of Strzalow (Stralsund), Szezecin (Stettin), and Koszalin (Köslin) | 11,751 | 1,716,921 | XIIIth century[132] |
| West Prussia, regencies of Gdansk (Dantzik) and Kwidzyn (Marienwerder) | 9,966 | 1,703,474 | 1772[133] |
| East Prussia, regencies of Krolewiec (Königsberg), Glombin (Gumbinnen) and Olsztyn (Allenstein) | 14,431 | 2,064,175 | 1656[134] |
| Posnania, regencies of Poznan (Posen) and Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) | 11,307 | 2,099,831 | 1815[135] |
| Regency of Frankfurt (Francfort-sur-l’Oder) | 7,487 | 1,233,189 | XIIIth century |
| Province of Silesia, regencies of Lignica (Liegnitz), Wroclaw (Breslau),[136] and Opole (Oppeln) | 15,731 | 5,225,962 | 1335 |
| Saxon District of Budziszyn (Bautzen)[137] | 963 | 443,549 | XIIIth century |
TABLE II
Polish Administrative Divisions under Austro-hungarian Rule at The Beginning of the European War
| Territory | Area in sq. mi. | Population | Period of loss to Poland |
| Marquisate of Moravia | 866 | 2,622,271 | XIth century |
| Duchy of Silesia[138] | 2,007 | 756,949 | — |
| Kingdom of Galicia with the Grand Duchy of Cracow[139] | 30,615 | 8,025,675 | 1772-1795 |
TABLE III
Polish Administrative Divisions Under Russian Rule at the Beginning Of the European War
| Territory | Area in sq. mi. | Population in 1910[140] | Period of loss to Poland | |
| Baltic Provinces: | ||||
| Gov’t of Esthonia | 7,897 | 471,400 | 1660 | |
| “ “ Livonia | 18,342 | 1,466,900 | 1660 | |
| “ “ Courland | 10,642 | 749,100 | 1795 | |
| Lithuania: | ||||
| Gov’t of Grodno | 15,081 | 1,974,400 | } | |
| “ “ Kovno | 15,853 | 1,796,700 | } | 1793-1795[141] |
| “ “ Vilna | 16,587 | 1,957,000 | } | |
| White Ruthenia: | ||||
| Gov’t of Smolensk | 21,757 | 1,988,700 | 1667 | |
| “ “ Minsk | 35,649 | 2,868,300 | } | |
| “ “ Mohilev | 18,738 | 2,261,500 | } | 1772-1793 |
| “ “ Witebsk | 17,615 | 1,850,700 | } | |
| Kingdom of Poland: | ||||
| Gov’t of Kalisz | 4,436 | 1,183,800 | } | |
| “ “ Kielce | 3,936 | 973,300 | } | |
| “ “ Lublin | 6,567 | 1,556,000 | } | |
| “ “ Lomza | 4,119 | 688,500 | } | |
| “ “ Piotrkow | 4,777 | 1,981,300 | } | 1815 by Congress of Vienna |
| “ “ Plock | 3,684 | 739,900 | } | |
| “ “ Radom | 4,817 | 1,112,200 | } | |
| “ “ Siedlce | 5,591 | 1,003,400 | } | |
| “ “ Suwalki | 4,895 | 681,300 | } | |
| “ “ Warsaw | 6,833 | 2,547,700 | } | |
| Ruthenia: | ||||
| Gov’t of Kiovie | 19,890 | 4,604,200 | } | |
| “ “ Podolia | 16,587 | 3,812,000 | } | 1793-1795[142] |
| “ “ Volhynia | 28,023 | 3,920,400 | } | |
TABLE IV
Distribution of Poles and Germans in Upper Silesia, According To 1910 German Census Figures[143]
FOOTNOTES:
[97] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1911, pp. 71-74. A digest in English of his conclusions will be found in Ann. Rept. Smiths. Inst., 1910, Washington, 1911, pp. 599-612.
[98] J. Talko-Hryncewicz: Les Polonais du royaume de Pologne d’après les données anthropologiques recueillies jusqu’à présent, Bull. Int. Acad. Sc. Cracovie, Classe des Sc. Math. et Nat. Bull. Sc. Nat., June 1912, pp. 574-582.
[99] Southern Poland was overrun by Mongolians during their third invasion of Europe. The Asiatics were attacked near Szydlow on March 18, 1241, by an army of Polish noblemen recruited from Sandomir and Cracow. The defeat of the Christians enabled the invaders to plunder the latter city, besides opening the way for incursions farther north in the course of which they penetrated into Silesia by way of Ratibor and marched toward Breslau. Near Liegnitz an army of 30,000 Europeans was defeated on April 9th of the same year. These disasters were invariably followed by a westerly spread of the Tatar scourge. Traces of its passage can still be detected among the Poles.
[100] The Poles constitute the majority of the population in many cities of eastern or Russian Galicia. In Niederle’s list Bobrka, Muszyna, Sanok, Lisko, Sambor, Peremysl, Rawaruska, Belz, Zolkiew, Grodek, Ceshanow, Stryj, Kalusz, Stanislawoff, Kolomya, Tarnopol, Husiatyn, Buczacz, Sokal and Trembowla are credited with over 50 per cent Poles in their population. The predominance of German in the cities of Biala, Sczerzec, Dolina, Bolechow, Nadworna, Kossow, Kuty, Zablotow and Brody is attributed by the same authority to the Jewish element present.
[101] E. Reclus: Géogr. Univ., Vol. 3, Europe Centrale, Paris, 1878, p. 396.
[102] E. Romer: Esquisse climatique de l’ancienne Pologne, Bul. de la Soc. Vaud. des Sc. Nat., 5e Sér., Vol. 46, June, 1910, p. 231.
[103] J. Zemrich: Deutsche und Slaven in den österreichischen Südetenländern, Deutsche Erde, Vol. 2, 1903, pp. 1-4.
[104] Limite des civilisations dans les Beskides occidentaux, Ann. de Géogr., Vol. 17, 1908, Feb. 15, pp. 130-132. Cf. also E. Hanslik: Kulturgrenze und Kulturzyklus in den polnischen Westbeskiden, Pet. Mitt., Ergänzungsheft No. 158, 1907.
[105] P. Langhans: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Schlesien, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deutsche Erde, 1906; id.: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Ostpreussen, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deutsche Erde, 1907.
[106] L. Niederle: op. cit., p. 73; but cf. H. Praesent: Russisch Polen, etc., Pet. Mitt., Vol. 60, Dec. 1914, p. 257.
[107] A. C. Haddon: The Wanderings of Peoples, Cambridge, 1912, p. 48.
[108] F. Curschmann: Die deutsche Ortsnamen in nordostdeutschen Kolonialgebiet, Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volksk., Vol. 19, No. 2, 1910, pp. 91-183.
[109] Marquis de Noailles: Les frontières de la Pologne, Paris, 1915, p. 21.
[110] K. Closterhalfen: Die Polen in niederrheinisch-westfälisch Industriebezirk 1905, 1:200,000. Pl. 16 in Deutsche Erde, Vol. 10, 1911.
[111] A. Raahe: Die Abwanderungsbewegung in den östlichen Provinzen Preussens. Einleitung und Teil I. Die Provinz Ost-Preussen. Berlin, 1910.
[112] N. Troïnitsky: Premier recensement général de la population de l’empire de la Russie, 1897. Vols. 1 and 2, Petrograd, 1905.
[113] The Jews cluster especially in the eastern governments of Warsaw, Lomsha and Siedlez, where their percentage varies between 15.6 and 16.4. This ratio is lower in the southern and western administrative divisions. In Kalish it reaches only 7.2 per cent and is reduced to 6.3 per cent in Petrokow. In the cities the Jews constitute on an average slightly over a third of the population, although here again they are more numerous in the east. Cf. D. Aïtoff: Peuples et langues de la Russie, Ann. de Géogr., Vol. 15, May 1909, pp. 9-25.
[114] G. Bienaimé: La Pologne économique, Bull. Soc. de Géogr. Comm. de Paris, Vol. 37, Nos. 4-6, April-June, 1915, pp. 128-164.
[115] G. Bienaimé: op. cit., p. 139.
[116] A law passed in 1908 authorizes the State to acquire land in the administrative circles in which German interests require development of colonization. B. Auerbach: La germanisation de la Pologne Prussienne. La loi d’expropriation, Rev. Polit. et Parlem., Vol. 57, July 1908, pp. 109-125.
[117] P. Langhans: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Schlesien, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deutsche Erde, 1906. P. Langhans: Nationalitätenkarte der Provinz Ostpreussen, 1:500,000. Sonderkarte No. 2 in Deutsche Erde, 1907. Die Provinzen Posen und Westpreussen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Ansiedlungsgüter und Ansiedlung, Staatsdomänen und Staatsforsten nach dem Stande von 1 Januar 1911, Deutsche Erde, Vol. 10, Taf. 1, 1911.
[118] M. Loesener: Besitzfestigung in der Preussischen Ostmark. Deutsche Erde, Vol. 10, 1911, pp. 3-8.
[119] Dalchow: Die Städte des Warthelandes, I. Teil, Ein Beitrag zur Siedlungskunde und zur Landeskunde der Provinz Posen. Leipzig, 1910.
[120] After having been entirely banished from secondary schools, Polish was excluded from elementary schools by a ministerial decree, dated Sept. 7, 1887. Religious instruction alone could be imparted in this language and even this privilege was removed in 1905.
[121] G. Bienaimé: loc. cit.
[122] B. Sands: The Ukraine, London, 1914, p. 8.
[123] H. Rosen: Pet. Mitt., Vol. 61, Sept. 1915, pp. 329-333.
[124] A. Weinrich: Bevölkerungsstatistische und Siedlungsgeographie, Beiträge zur Kunde Ost-Masuriens, vornehmlich der Kreise Oletzko und Lycke. Königsberg, 1911.
[125] L. Niederle: La race slave, Paris, 1916, p. 94.
[126] H. Witte: Wendische Bevölkerungsreste in Mecklenburg, Forsch. z. deut. Landes- u. Volksk., Vol. 16, No. 2, 1907.
[127] Op. cit., pp. 96-97.
[128] Including 40 per cent of Jews.
[129] The Slavs are divided by religion into a main body of about 110,000,000 individuals belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, about 37,000,000 Roman Catholics, 5,000,000 Raskolniks or Sectarians, between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Protestants and over 1,000,000 Mohammedans.
[130] La race slave, Paris, 1911, pp. 3-4.
[131] L. Strzembosz: Tableau des divisions administratives actuelles de la Pologne, Paris, 1915.
[132] Not including the circles of Lembork (Lauenburg), (479 sq. mi., 52,851 inhab.), Bytow (Bütow) (238 sq. mi., 28,151 inhab.), and Drahim land (Draheim) (197 sq. mi., 18,500 inhab.), which were lost in the first partition in 1772.
[133] Not including the circle of Susz (Rosenberg) (407 sq. mi., 54,550 inhab.), and half of that of Kwidzyn (187 sq. mi., 34,213 inhab.), which together made part of ducal Prussia and were lost in 1656.
[134] Given in fief by the Polish kings to the Dukes of Brandenburg and exonerated in 1656 from the oath of vassalage, except the four circles of Braniewo (Braunsberg) (383 sq. mi., 54,613 inhab.), Liebark (Heilsberg) (427 sq. mi., 51,912 inhab.), Olsztyn (Allenstein) (529 sq. mi., 90,996 inhab.) and Reszel (Rössel) (333 sq. mi., 50,472 inhab.), which together under the name of Duchy of Warmie made part of Royal Prussia and were lost at the first partition.
[135] Conferred on the king of Prussia under the name of Grand Duchy of Posen at the time of the partition of the Duchy of Warsaw by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
[136] Former appendages of a branch, extinguished in 1675, of the royal Polish house of Piast.
[137] Part of the former marquisate of Lusace.
[138] Part of the former Polish Silesia, kept by Germany.
[139] The territory of Cracow, made into a republic in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was annexed by Austria in 1846.
[140] Consisting of Poles and natives.
[141] The circle of Bialystok, occupied by the king of Prussia in 1795, was ceded to Russia by the treaty of Tilsit in 1807.
[142] The city of Kijow (Kiev) with its district (773 sq. mi., 560,000 inhab.) was lost in 1686.
[143] R. Baumgarten: Deutsche und Polen in Oberschlesien, Deutsche Erde, Vol. 13, No. 7, 1914-1915, pp. 175-179.