Померелия: Исторический регион на Балтийском побережье Польши

Historical sub region of Pomerania

the medieval state

Pomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, and also before World War II as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Gdańsk Pomerania is largely coextensive with Pomerelia, but slightly narrower, as it does not include Chełmno Land or Michałów Land. Its largest and most important city is Gdańsk. Since 1999 the region has formed the core of Pomerania Province.

Pomerelia is located in northern Poland west of the Vistula river and east of the Łeba river, mostly within the Pomeranian Voivodeship, with southern part located in the Kuyavian Pomeranian Voivodeship and small parts in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It has traditionally been divided into Kashubia, Kociewie, Tuchola Forest and Chełmno Land (including the Michałów Land, sometimes with the addition of Lubawa Land). The Lauenburg and Bütow Land is considered by Polish historiography a part of Kashubia (and thus Gdańsk Pomerania and Pomerelia), while German historiography tends to treat it as a part of Farther Pomerania. Pomerelia has been inhabited by ethnic Kashubians, Kociewians, Borowians and Chełminians, respectively.

In the Polish language, the area was called Pomorze ('Pomerania') since the Early Middle Ages. In the early 14th century the Teutonic Knights invaded and annexed the region from Poland into their monastic state, which already included historical Prussia, located east of the region. As a result of the Teutonic rule, in German terminology the name of Prussia was also extended to annexed Polish lands like Vistula/Eastern Pomerania, although it was never inhabited by Baltic Prussians but by the Slavic Poles. After the area was reintegrated with Poland in 1466 both names were in use: Pomerania was used when referring to the Pomeranian Voivodeship (Gdańsk Pomerania) and the Chełmno Voivodeship, while Royal Prussia was used as the name of the wider province, which, however, also included the Malbork Voivodeship and the Prince Bishopric of Warmia, covering the Prussian historical areas of Pomesania, Pogesania and Warmia, the only actual Prussian territories of the province. After the Partitions of Poland, the area was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and formed part of the newly established province of West Prussia, and the name Pomerania was avoided by Prussian or German authorities in relation to this region. Outside of the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany, the area was termed Polish Pomerania (Pomorze Polskie) since at least the 18th century to distinguish it from Hither and Farther Pomerania, territories long outside of Polish rule. In the late 19th century this term was used in order to underline Polish claims to that area that was then ruled by the German Kingdom of Prussia. The designation of Polish Pomerania became obsolete since Farther Pomerania and a small part of Hither Pomerania were also transferred to Poland as part of the territories recovered from Germany, following World War II.

In its early history, the territory which later became known as Pomerelia was the site of the Pomeranian culture (also called the Pomerelian face urn culture, 650 150 BC), the Oksywie culture (150 BC AD 1, associated with parts of the Rugii and Lemovii), and the Wielbark Culture (AD 1–450, associated with Veneti, Goths, Rugii, Gepids). In the mid 6th century Jordanes mentioned the Vistula estuary as the home of the Vidivarii. Pomerelia was settled by West Slavic and Lechitic tribes in the 7th and 8th centuries.

During Władysław's rule, the Margraviate of Brandenburg staked its claim on the territory in 1308, leading the local governor appointed by Władysław I the Elbow high to request assistance from the Teutonic Knights, who evicted the Brandenburgers but took the area for themselves, annexing and incorporating it into the Teutonic Order state in 1309 (Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk) and Treaty of Soldin/Myślibórz). At the same time, Słupsk and Sławno became part of the Duchy of Pomerania. This event caused a long lasting dispute between Poland and the Teutonic Order over the control of Gdańsk Pomerania. It resulted in a series of Polish–Teutonic Wars throughout the 14th and 15th centuries.

In 1440, many cities of the region joined the newly formed anti Teutonic Prussian Confederation. In 1454 the organization asked Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon to reincorporate the region into the Kingdom of Poland, to which the King agreed and signed an act of re incorporation in Kraków. After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars, the Teutonic Knights renounced any claims to the region and recognized it as part of Poland. Pomerelia was organized into the Pomeranian Voivodeship, part of the larger Polish provinces of Royal Prussia within Greater Poland Province. Lauenburg and Bütow Land (Lębork and Bytów) was a Polish fief ruled by Pomeranian dukes until 1637, when it was incorporated directly into Poland. In early modern times Gdańsk was the biggest city of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and most of its exports (especially grain) were made through the port. Gdańsk and Żuławy Wiślane were mostly German/Dutch speaking Lutheran or Reformed, while most of the region remained Polish/Kashubian Catholic. In the 17th century Pomerelia was attacked and destroyed by a Swedish army.

Pomerelia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia during the late 18th century Partitions of Poland, becoming part of the new Province of West Prussia, and part of Germany in 1871. The region was subjected to intense Germanisation policies.

After World War I, in 1918, Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic, and the Treaty of Versailles restored most of the region from Weimar Germany back to Poland, forming the Pomeranian Voivodeship (Greater Pomerania as of 1938). Gdańsk with Żuławy became the Free City of Danzig. In the interbellum, German propaganda coined the term of Polish Corridor in reference to the region.

The region was the site of the Battle of Westerplatte, the first battle of the German invasion of Poland which started World War II in September 1939, as well as several other important battles incl. at Hel, Gdynia and Kępa Oksywska. Afterwards it was occupied and illegally annexed by Nazi Germany, and the Polish population was subjected to various crimes, such as mass arrests, imprisonment, slave labor, kidnapping of children, deportations to Nazi concentration camps and genocide, incl. the Intelligenzaktion. The Germans established the Stutthof concentration camp, the first Nazi concentration camp outside of pre war German borders, with multiple subcamps in the region. Major sites of massacres of Poles in the region included Piaśnica, Szpęgawsk, Mniszek, Igielska Valley, Luszkówko, Skarszewy, Rudzki Most and Grupa.

After the defeat of Germany in the war in 1945, almost the entire region, including the former Free City of Danzig, was reclaimed by Poland according to the Potsdam Agreement, except for a small portion of the Vistula Spit around the village of Narmeln (Polski) which was annexed by the Soviet Union. The local German minority population which included numerous members of the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz complicit in its atrocities, fled or was expelled to Germany, also in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement.

Historic Pomerelia nowadays forms the bulk of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, but its southern part is part of the Kuyavian Pomeranian Voivodeship, while a small western fragment (Gmina Biały Bór) is in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.