The turn of the 18th and 19th centuries was a time of great popularity for artistic salons in Europe, a variant of which were literary salons. These were gathering places for the intellectual elite, bringing together creators, audiences, and critics to discuss literature and art, as well as philosophy and politics. These meetings were held…
Before the rhythm of factory sirens and massive industrial structures permanently varied the landscape of the Pomeranian province, the everyday life of the local inhabitants resembled a struggle with the traditional order. In the first half of the 19th century, this region was characterized by its agrarian nature, where the dynamics of economic processes were…
Twilight of the former order and geopolitical changes In November 1918, World War I was drawing to a close. Western Pomerania, much like the rest of defeated Germany, found itself facing transformations that were extremely painful for both the state and society. However, the end of prolonged military operations did not mean an immediate…
Western Pomerania on the Threshold of the Industrial Revolution Before railway routes diversified the landscape of Western Pomerania (the Province of Pomerania), traveling across it frequently resembled a struggle with the elements. In the first half of the 19th century, Pomerania was an agricultural region where the rhythm of life was dictated by the seasons…
Until 1928/1929, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) constituted a marginal and rather unstable political force in Prussian Pomerania. Despite the establishment of the first local group (Ortsgruppe) in Szczecin as early as 1922 and the creation a year later of the Pomeranian district (Gau) headquartered in Greifswald, the party under Adolf Hitler…
The 17th century was a turning point in the history of the Griffins’ Duchy, which had existed since the 12th century. In 1637, Bogislaw XIV, the last ruler of the dynasty, died. This event marked the end of an important phase of dynastic rule and the functioning of the Duchy of Pomerania, which had…
Until 1945, today’s West Pomerania was part of the Prussian, and subsequently German, province of Pomerania (Provinz Pommern). Just as in other regions of Germany, a well-developed network of regional museums emerged here as well. Both in district towns and in many smaller localities, there existed regional museums of the Heimatmuseum type or memory rooms…
At the beginning of the 19th century, Pomerania for the most part formed a province of the Prussian state. Only the north-western borderlands, a small fragment of the former Duchy of Pomerania (Western Pomerania north of the Peene River, including the island of Rügen), remained under Swedish rule. In terms of its political system, Prussian…
The German province of Pomerania (Provinz Pommern) held an important place in the preparations for the attack on Poland in 1939. Its most important city, Szczecin (Stettin), was situated in a strategically vital location, by a main transportation route based on the unfinished Berlin–Königsberg highway, which allowed for the deployment of troops to the north-western…
From seasonal labor to forced exploitation for the economy of the Third Reich The labor market in the German Empire, proclaimed in 1871, was characterized by a distinct wage gap between the western and eastern parts of the country, as well as between urban and rural areas. The rural depopulation (Landflucht), which escalated…
