[edit] History

In the Thirteen Years' War (1454-1466), the towns of Pomerelia and western Prussia rebelled against the Teutonic Knights and sought the assistance of King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon of Poland. In the Peace of Toruń in 1466, Pomerellia and western Prussia became the Polish province of Royal Prussia (with several special rights, especially in Danzig), while eastern Prussia remained with the Teutonic Knights, who were reduced to vassals of Poland. Royal Prussia became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569.

Most of Royal Prussia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772, and became the Province of West Prussia the following year, with the exception of Warmia which was joined with the Duchy of Prussia to form the Province of East Prussia. In 1793, during the Second Partition of Poland, the Hanseatic city of Danzig (Gdańsk), no longer able to rely on its own strength, was annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia and added to West Prussia. Some of the areas of Greater Poland annexed in 1772 that formed the Netze District were added to West Prussia in 1793 as well.

In 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, southern parts of West Prussia were moved to the Duchy of Warsaw. From 1824-1878 West Prussia was combined with East Prussia to form the Province of Prussia, after which they were reestablished as separate provinces.

After the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, most of West Prussia was granted to the Second Polish Republic, while small parts of the west and east of the former province remained in Germany. The western remainder formed Posen-West Prussia in 1922, while the eastern remainder became part of the District of West Prussia within East Prussia. In the Potsdam Conference of 1945 after World War II, all of former West Prussia was placed under the administration of Poland and was later recognized as part of Poland by East and West Germany in ensuing decades. The Landsmannschaft Westpreußen (German for "Ethnic Association of West Prussia") is a non-profit organization formed in 1948 by German refugees to Western Germany displaced from their homes in West Prussia by the Soviet occupation and Expulsion of Germans after World War II from Ex-German Eastern Territories.

[edit] Historical population

Population of Prussia and its Provinces in 1890
	Inhabitants	non-German citizens
West Prussia	1,433,681	1,976

From 1885 to 1890 West Prussia's population decreased by 1%.

1875 - 1,343,057
1880 - 1,405,898
1890 - 1,433,681 (681,195 Protestants, 717,532 Catholics, 21,750 Jews, others)
1900 - 1,563,658 (730,685 Protestants, 800,395 Catholics, 18,226 Jews, others)

[edit] Subdivisions

Note: Prussian provinces were subdivided into units called "Kreise" (singular "Kreis", abbreviated "Kr.", English circle), which were similar to large counties in Anglo-American terms. Cities would have their own "Stadtkreis" (English: municipal county) and the surrounding rural area would be named for the city, but referred to as a "Landkreis" (English: rural county).

Kreis ("County")	Polish spelling	1905 Pop	Poles	Germans	Jewish	Origin
Kreis Danzig (northern)
Danzig Stadtkreis	Gdańsk
Elbing Stadtkreis	Elbląg
Berent	Kościerzyna		49.4%
Danziger-Höhe	Gdańsk-Wyżyny		9.7%
Danziger-Niederung	Gdańsk-Niziny
Dirschau	Tczew		39.9%
Elbing	Elbląg
Karthaus	Kartuzy		68.7%
Marienburg	Malbork
Neustadt	Wejherowo		52.2%
Preußisch Stargard	Starogard Gdański		72.6%
Putzig	Puck		68.6%
Kreis Marienwerder (southern)
Graudenz Stadtkreis	Grudziądz		10.9%
Thorn, Stadtkreis	Toruń		22.7%
Briesen	Wąbrzeźno		57.4%
Culm (Kulm)	Chełmno		53.0%
Deutsch Krone	Wałcz
Flatow	Złotów		25.4%
Graudenz, Landkreis	Grudziądz		40.5%
Konitz	Chojnice		53.7%
Löbau	Lubawa		80.1%
Marienwerder	Kwidzyn		35.7%
Rosenberg	Susz		6.9%
Schlochau	Człuchów		11.2%
Schwetz	Świecie		53.6%
Strasburg	Brodnica		65.2%
Stuhm	Sztum		36.4%
Thorn, Landkreis	Toruń		51.6%
Tuchel	Tuchola		63.8%

[edit] Office Holders

Administration of West Prussia before 1919

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

(German) www.westpreussen-online.de
(German) Administrative subdivision of the province in 1910
(German) Westpreussenlied (midi)
http://users.foxvalley.net/~goertz/faqwpr.html

Image:Flag of Preussen 1701-1918.jpg Provinces of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia	1740: Silesia 1773: East Prussia \| West Prussia \| Netze District 1793: South Prussia 1795: New East Prussia \| New Silesia 1815: Brandenburg \| Jülich-Cleves-Berg \| Lower Rhine \| Pomerania \| Posen \| Saxony \| Westphalia 1822: Rhine Province 1829: Prussia 1850: Hohenzollern 1867: Hanover \| Hesse-Nassau \| Schleswig-Holstein
Free State of Prussia	1919: Lower Silesia \| Upper Silesia 1920: Berlin 1922: Posen-West Prussia