Position:Home>History> I have a question about Prussia?

Seth, your question is very complicated!. I would like to answer it straight to the point, but that doesn't work!.
The Germans are a nice mixture of Teutonic and Slavic tribes and immigrants from the Roman Empire and the former Baltic colonies, indeed!. But wait, this is not the answer on your question!. Roughly said, the entire area east of the Elbe River was settled by the Slavic Obotrites a thousand years ago, and they became a major group of German ancestors!. Even our capital is situated on Slavic ground, and the name Berlin IS a Slavic name itself!.
Have you heard about the Teutonic Knights!? They were conquering a region much further in the east, far outside of Germany!. One of the native Baltic tribes they met there called themselves "Prusi", and the place where they lived became known as Prussia in Germany!. It's not a large country!. Today there are just two bigger cities there, called Kaliningrad and Gdansk now (the former centers of East Prussia and West Prussia), but that's all!.
This was the easy part of the story!.

Five hundred years later the elector of Brandenburg/Berlin became one of the winners of the Thirty Years War!. He was able to aquire a province far in the east: the old country of Prussia!. Only he himself knows why he was calling his entire electorate "Prussia" from that time on!. In this way it was happening that Brandenburg and Berlin, so far away from the homeland of the Prusi, became the center of a state called "Prussia" all of a sudden!. But that new state was successful!. It was growing like a yeast cake, swallowing all of its German neighbour countries, finally covering almost the entire northern half of Germany!. The people who lived there did never like the greedy "Prussia" and didn't identify with it!. But Prussia was at its peak in the nineteenth century, while also the emigration to America was at its peak!. For that simple reason such a big number of "Prussians" was sailing to America!. Most likely they hated to be called like that!.
Now Prussia is gone, it was broken up even two times: by the Nazis in 1934, and by the winners of WW2 in 1945!. Brandenburg and all the "prussianized" German countries have got their real names back!. And if your ancestors were recorded as "Prussians" when they arrived at America, it may be that they really came from the old country of the Prusi, but instead of this they might have been Westphalians or Angles as well!.
Hope this will help!. I did not want to confuse you :-)Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Prussia doesn't exist today!. A large part of what was once Prussia is in Poland, inhabited by Poles!. The rest is part of the former East Germany - I would hazard a guess that there are more Germans and slightly fewer immigrants there, put off by racial hatred and the depressed economy!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Do you mean East Prussia, or West Prussia!?

Most of what was formally called East Prussia is now part of Poland!. When Poland's borders were changed to include this after WWII, there was a population exchange, so that Germans living in this area went to Germany!. In West Prussia, Germans stayed put, as this became part of modern Germany!.

Www@QuestionHome@Com

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There is no such state as Prussia today!.

However, the Russian oblast of Kaliningrad could be considered the last remnant of Prussia!. Its population is comprised of about 80% ethnic Russians and the rest are mostly other Slavic peoples of Eastern Europe such as Belarusians!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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well its actually a good mix of germans baltic and slavic but there are some lebanese and turkish mixed in as wellWww@QuestionHome@Com

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