Marienwerder
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Marienwerder is a town and castle on the river Vistula, in West Prussia, founded by the Teutonic Knights in 1233. Here the Teutonic Order also erected a cathedral, begun in 1343 in Prussian Gothic style (restored in 1874 and again following World War II). Originally it was the seat of the Bishops of Pomesania (the name of the original Prussian tribes of that area). In the chapel to the left of the choir is the tomb of Count von Groben (d.1683) who was a General under the Great Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, Frederick William von Hohenzollern (1620-1688); the painted reliefs here refer to the Elector's colonising efforts on the West coast of Africa. At the same time the Order erected an Episcopal Palace with twin towers. It was later, and until 1918, used as law courts. The Order declined but the imposed treaty with Poland, the so-called Peace of Thorn in 1466, left it in their hands. It subsequently became part of West Prussia. In 1914 the town had 10,000 inhabitants.
1919
During the 1919 deliberations for the Treaty of Versailles Polish delegates demanded the county and town of Marienwerder. However the conference decided upon a plebiscite, held on 11 July 1920, supervised by the Italians. At Marienwerder 92.8 per cent voted to remain in Germany[1]. These figures included a very large proportion of those ethnic Poles also living there. Despite this, the Ambassadors’ Council gave Poland five villages in the Marienwerder county situated on the right bank of the Vistula: Kleinfelde, Kramershof, Neu Liebenau, Hussenteich and Joannisdorf. The German government protested against these annexations on 14th August 1920, arguing Poland’s new right to control the river did not extend to the territories situated on the eastern bank of the river which, in spite of the clearly expressed will of the inhabitants, were now being detached from Germany.[2]
Following the annexation of the Polish Corridor by Poland in 1919/20, Marienwerder became part of East Prussia.
1945
Following the end of World War II Marienwerder fell into the Soviet Zone of Occupation. However, against international law the Soviets placed it under he administration of their communist client-state, Poland. Those of the indigenous population who had not fled the advancing Red Armies were now treated with monstrous and ruthless barbarity and expelled, many dying on the way west.[3] Marienwerder was repopulated by Polish settlers who were brought in, and is today still under the occupation of Poland.
Sources
- ↑ The Eastern Frontiers of Germany by René Martel, London, 1930, p.67-9.
- ↑ Martel, 1930, p.68-9.
- ↑ The Expulsion of the German Population from the Territories East of the Oder-Neisse-Line, editor-in-chief Professor Theodor Schieder, University of Koln, published by the Federal German Ministry for Expellees, Refugees and War Victims, Bonn, Germany, 1954, commencing on p.34.
- Northern Germany by Karl Baedeker, 14th revised edition, Leipsic & London, 1904, p.164.
