Oberland (East Prussia)

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Oberland farmhouse in Kahlau

The Oberland ( Hockerland , Polish Prusy Górne ) is a (historical) landscape in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in northern Poland .

Quirk

It formed its own cultural landscape in historical East Prussia , which differed from the neighboring areas, in particular the Warmia and Masuria, through its dialect, its Protestant denomination and its history. Ottfried Graf von Finckenstein described the Oberland as “Masuria's blonde sister”. After the evictions in 1945 , the dialect and the evangelical creed ceased to exist, so that it is hardly possible to distinguish it from the Warmia landscape . The Polish name Prusy Górne ("Upper Prussia") is just a historical technical term. Until 1945, the districts of Prussian Holland and Mohrungen were the core areas of the Oberland .

geography

The Oberland is part of the Baltic Ridge . Characteristic are Ice Age moraines up to 313 m high (Kernsdorfer Heights, highest elevation in the former East Prussia) . The southern Oberland is shaped by the Eylauer Seenplatte . Important cities in this sparsely populated region are Pasłęk ( Prussian Holland ), Morąg ( Mohrungen ), Młynary ( Mühlhausen in East Prussia ), Zalewo ( Saalfeld (East Prussia) ) and Ostróda ( Osterode ) on the transition to the neighboring regions of Masuria and Warmia . The Oberland Canal is a tourist attraction .

Oberland dialect

Those parts of East Prussia that lay south of the Benrath line and west of the Passarge belonged to the Oberland as a dialect area. The area of ​​the Oberland was settled by Central German- speaking settlers from Thuringia in the 13th and 14th centuries . The place names Mohrungen, Mühlhausen and Saalfeld are reminiscent of the areas of origin of the settlers ( Morungen , Mühlhausen , Saalfeld ). Many local foundations went back to the Komtur von Christburg Sieghard von Schwarzburg , who also came from Thuringia. Due to the principality of Warmia, which was largely independent of the Teutonic Order, and later through the denominational contrast to the Warmia, the Passarge River formed the stable border between Warmia and the Oberland for over 500 years, so that, for example, no cross-border marriage circles could develop. The Oberland dialect thus developed in the Oberland, which differed from the dialect of the Ermländer, which developed from Silesian . Since both Oberland and Warmian (more precisely: Breslausche ) are Central German dialects, they are summarized under the term High Prussian .

Oberland district

In the center of the picture (pink): The Oberländische Kreis (1525–1752)

The Oberländische Kreis was one of three "circles" into which the Duchy of Prussia was divided from 1525 onwards. The capital of the district was Saalfeld . The Oberländische Kreis comprised the part in the southwest of the Duchy of Prussia , which was bordered like a peninsula by royal Prussia and Mazovia . The term Oberland should replace the term Pomesanien , since the district area was only partially congruent with both the historical landscape and the diocese of Pomesanien. Nevertheless, the term Pomesania continued to be used at least for the Protestant church administration of the district ( Pomesanisches Konsistorium Saalfeld). The Oberländische Kreis was divided into the twelve main offices: Prussian Holland , Mohrungen , Liebstadt , Prussisch Mark, Liebemühl , Osterode , Hohenstein , Marienwerder , Riesenburg , Neidenburg , Soldau and Ortelsburg and the three hereditary offices: Rosenberg , Deutsch Eylau and Gilgenburg . The three districts were dissolved in 1752. The area of ​​the previous Oberland district was divided into three administrative units, which were also called "district": The Mohrunger, Marienwerder and Neidenburger district.

literature

  • Hermann Schultz: Oberland: a guide and signpost. Königsberg (Prussia): Hartung 1929. E-copy
  • The district of Mohrungen: An East Prussian homeland book. Compiled by Wolf Frhr. by Wrangel. Würzburg: Holzner 1967. ( Catalog of the German National Library )
  • The district of Preussisch Holland / [ed. from the district community Pr. Holland in the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen eV]. Zsgest. and edit by Bernd Hinz. Cologne: Kreisgemeinschaft Pr. Holland 1992. ( Catalog of the German National Library )
  • Johann Gottlieb Bujack : The group of the Oberland lakes, with reference to a canal connection of the same with the Drausensee . In: Prussian provincial sheets . Volume 20, Koenigsberg 1838, pp. 354-373.
  • Johann Gottlieb Bujack : Botanical Sketches . In: Prussian Provinuial-Blätter . Volume 20, Königsberg 1838, pp. 486-503.
  • Martin Armgart: The hand festivals of the Prussian Oberland up to 1410 and their exhibitors: diplomatic and prosopographical investigations into the history of the Teutonic Order in Prussia. Cologne [u. a.]: Böhlau 1995. (Publications from the Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage: Supplement; 2), ISBN 3-412-06390-8
  • Kersten Radzimanowski : Oberland homeland: an East Prussian house book for young and old. Self-published 2004, ISBN 3-00-014609-1
  • Kersten Radzimanowski: In the twelfth in the Oberland: winter time and Christmas joy from Elbing to Soldau. Self-published 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-022116-3

Remarks

  1. ↑ In terms of size and function, these districts corresponded more to the later administrative districts .
  2. ↑ Saalfeld: Destiny of a German City in East Prussia / Ed. Kreisgemeinschaft Mohrungen eV, approved. by Hans Klein after Justizrat Deegen u. a. Leer: Rautenberg 1989, ISBN 3-7921-0410-5
  3. ↑ http://www.preussisch-holland.de/geschichte_kreis.html