Former eastern territories of GermanyThe "former eastern territories of Germany" (Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. the Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered German and which were annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union after World War II in Europe. In many of these territories, Germans used to be the dominant or sole ethnicity.
Silesian WarsThe Silesian Wars (Schlesische Kriege) were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Habsburg Austria (under Empress Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The First (1740–1742) and Second (1744–1745) Silesian Wars formed parts of the wider War of the Austrian Succession, in which Prussia was a member of a coalition seeking territorial gain at Austria's expense.
MasuriansThe Masurians or Mazurs (Mazurzy; Masuren; Masurian: Mazurÿ), historically also known as Prussian Masurians (Polish: Mazurzy pruscy), are an ethnic group originating from the region of Masuria, within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. They number around 5,000–15,000 people. In the 2011 Polish census, 1,376 individuals declared themselves to be Masurian as either a first or a secondary identification.
SorbsSorbs (Serbja, Serby, Sorben Lužičti Srbové, Serbołużyczanie; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are an indigenous West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg. Sorbs traditionally speak the Sorbian languages (also known as "Wendish" and "Lusatian"), which are closely related to Czech, Polish, Kashubian, Silesian, and Slovak. Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized minority languages in Germany.
PomereliaPomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea. The designation of Gdańsk Pomerania, is largely coextensive with Pomerelia, but slightly narrower, as it does not cover the Chełmno Land (including the Michałów Land). Its largest and most important city is Gdańsk. Since 1999, the region has formed the core of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
PrussiaPrussia (ˈprʌʃə; Preußen, ˈpʁɔʏsn̩, Old Prussian: Prūsa or Prūsija) was a German state located on most of the North European Plain, also occupying southern and eastern regions. It formed the German Empire when it united the German states in 1871. It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian Army.
UntermenschUntermensch (ˈʔʊntɐˌmɛnʃ, underman', 'sub-man', 'subhuman; plural: Untermenschen) is a Nazi term for non-Aryan people they deem as inferior, who were often referred to as "the masses from the East", that is Jews, Roma, and Slavs (mainly ethnic Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, and later also Russians). The term was also applied to "mulatto" and black people. Jewish, Polish and Romani people, along with the physically and mentally disabled, as well as homosexuals and political dissidents, and on rare instances, POWs from Western Allied armies, were to be exterminated in the Holocaust.
MoraviansMoravians (Moravané or colloquially Moraváci, outdated Moravci) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Silesians of the Czech Republic, a part of the population to identify ethnically as Moravian has registered in Czech censuses since 1991. The figure has fluctuated and in the 2011 census, 6.01% of the Czech population declared Moravian as their ethnicity.
WarmiaWarmia (Warmia; Latin: Varmia, Warmia; ; Warmian: Warńija; Varmė; Old Prussian: Wārmi) is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia. Its historic capitals were Frombork and Lidzbark Warmiński and the largest city is Olsztyn. Varmia is currently the core of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (province). The region covers an area of around and has approximately 350,000 inhabitants.
Pan-GermanismPan-Germanism (Pangermanismus or Alldeutsche Bewegung), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all the German-speaking people – and possibly also non-German Germanic-speaking peoples – in a single nation-state known as the Greater Germanic Reich (Großgermanisches Reich), fully styled the Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation (Großgermanisches Reich der Deutschen Nation).
