Masurians

The Masurians or Mazurs (Polish: Mazurzy, German: Masuren) were a Lechitic sub-ethnic group in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland. They are descended from Masovians (Polish: Mazowszanie; German: Masowier), Polish settlers from Masovia who moved to Prussia especially during and after the Protestant Reformation and who were primarily Protestant. In the 19th century, the Masuria region of East Prussia was named after the Masurians. After World War II many Masurians were classified as Germans and expelled to West Germany or emigrated after 1956.

History

In the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the Duchy of Masovia were called Mazur(z)y in Polish. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Polish settlers from northern Masovia moved to the southern territories of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. (These lands had previously belonged to the Baltic Old Prussians, whom the Teutonic Knights had conquered in the 13th and 14th centuries.) The northern part of this state was soon settled by settlers from Germany and thus became Germanised. On the other hand, the incoming Masovians Polonised the southern part - Masuria - in approximately the same period. In 1466 those territories became a fief of Poland.