Język jako baza kulturowego nacjonalizmu. Niemiecko-polskie starcie o „dusze i serca” Mazurów na przełomie XIX i XX wieku

Abstract

According to the concept of the cultural nation formulated by J. G. Herder in the 18th the nationality of the person is determined by the language used. In the nineteenth century, there emerges a concept of a political nation formed during the Great French Revolution. All the citizens of the state create a nation. Both concepts have merged into an idea of a nation state. The Prussian nation state marginalized the border cultural communities such as peripheral Prussian Masurians living in the south-eastern area of East Prussia. The Masurians formed an evangelical, Polish-speaking, peasant community. They were famous for their loyalty to the subsequent Prussian and German rulers. Living in a relative isolation, the Masurians kept their Language, their own customs and habits for a long time. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a strong pressure towards their assimilation with German culture by eliminating the “Polish” dialect of the Masurians. To counter any possible Polish claims, the dialect was officially recognized as the “Masurian language”. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries Poles considered the Masurians as a regional branch of their own nation. The nationalistic radicalization during the Great War and Masuria plebiscite led to intensified assimilation of Masurians and the annihilation of the Masurian culture.