East Prussia

East Prussia (German: Ostpreußen; Lithuanian: Ryt? Pr?sija; Polish: Prusy Wschodnie; Russian: ????????? ??????? — Vostochnaya Prussiya; Dutch: Oost-Pruisen; Spanish: Prusia Oriental;) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and of the German Empire, situated on the territory of former Ducal Prussia. Today the northern part of East Prussia, with the exception of the "Memelland" which is now part of Lithuania, corresponds to Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast (Königsberg); the southern parts form Poland's Warminsko-Mazurskie Voivodship. East Prussia enclosed the bulk of the ancient ancestral lands of the Baltic Prussians.

Weimar Republic

With the abdication of Emperor William II in 1918, Germany became a republic. From World War I until World War II, East Prussia and parts of West Prussia were exclaves of Germany, created as a result of the Treaty of Versailles when parts of West Prussia and the former Prussian Province of Posen were ceded to Poland to create the so-called Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig. A plebiscite was to be held in the eastern parts of West Prussia as well as in the southern parts of East Prussia. In 1920 local inhabitants had to decide whether these areas should be ceded to Poland or remain German. 96.7 % of the people voted for remaining within Germany. The choice on the ballot was in fact between "East Prussia/West Prussia" and "Poland", not "Germany" and "Poland", as is widely believed.

Related Topics:
William II - World War I - World War II - Exclave - Germany - Treaty of Versailles - West Prussia - Province of Posen - Polish Corridor - Free City of Danzig - Plebiscite - 1920

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