Albrecht Giese was a councilman and diplomat of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk). He was a member of the Hanseatic League, and part of an important merchant family who had offices in London and Danzig.
Romuva is a neo-pagan movement derived from the traditional mythology of the Lithuanians, attempting to reconstruct the religious rituals of the Lithuanians before their Christianization in 1387. Practitioners of Romuva claim to continue Baltic pagan traditions which survived in folklore, customs and superstition. Romuva is a polytheistic pagan faith which asserts the sanctity of nature and ancestor worship. Practicing the Romuva faith is seen by many adherents as a form of cultural pride, along with celebrating traditional forms of art, retelling Baltic folklore, practicing traditional holidays, playing traditional Baltic music, singing traditional dainos (songs), as well as ecological activism and stewarding sacred places.
Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians lived, now located in Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Lithuania Minor encompassed the northeastern part of the region and got its name from the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians. The land depopulated during the incessant war between Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. The war ended with the Treaty of Melno and the land was repopulated by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526.
Šilutė is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County in western Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar capital of Šilutė County and is currently the capital of Šilutė District Municipality.
Low Prussian, sometimes known simply as Prussian (Preußisch), is a moribund dialect of East Low German that developed in East Prussia. Low Prussian was spoken in East and West Prussia and Danzig up to 1945. In Danzig it formed the basis of the particular city dialect of Danzig German. It developed on a Baltic substrate through the influx of Dutch- and Low German-speaking immigrants. It supplanted Old Prussian, which became extinct in the early 18th century.
Bagrationovsk is a town and the administrative center of Bagrationovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located close to the border with Poland, 37 kilometers (23 mi) south of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast. It has a population of 6,400 (2010 Census).
The Act of Tilsit was an act, signed in Tilsit by 24 members of the National Council of Lithuania Minor on November 30, 1918. Signatories demanded unification of Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Proper into a single Lithuanian state. This would mean detaching the northern areas of East Prussia, inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians, from the German Empire.
Stanislovas Svetkus Rapolionis was a Lutheran activist and Protestant reformer from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With patronage of Albert, Duke of Prussia, he obtained the doctorate of theology from the Protestant University of Wittenberg where he studied under Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. After graduation, he became the first professor of theology at the newly established University of Königsberg, also known as Albertina. As professor he began working on several Protestant publications and translations, including a Bible translation into Polish. It is believed that he also started the first translation of the Bible into Lithuanian. Together with Abraomas Kulvietis, Rapolionis was one of the first authors to write in the Lithuanian language. While Rapolionis and Kulvietis died early leaving their work unfinished, they laid the foundations for future Lithuanian writers and translators.
This is the 1519-1521 Polish-Teutonic War. For a list of all Polish-German Wars, see Polish-German Wars.
The Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai, are Lithuanians, originally Lithuanian language speakers, who formerly inhabited a territory in northeastern East Prussia called Prussian Lithuania, or Lithuania Minor, instead of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, later, the Republic of Lithuania. Prussian Lithuanians contributed greatly to the development of written Lithuanian, which for a long time was considerably more widespread and in more literary use in Lithuania Minor than in Lithuania proper.
Anton Wilhelm von L'Estocq was a Prussian cavalry general best known for his command of the Prussian troops at the Battle of Eylau.
Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz was a Prussian "general of cavalry", the "hero of Dennewitz" and "liberator of Wittenberg", military governor of the Rhine province and of Breslau. He was Gutsherr of Zölling, which his wife had inherited, and the Gütern Ober- and Nieder-Briesnitz as well as Schönbrunn, all in the district Sagan.
Martynas Jankus or Martin Jankus was a Prussian-Lithuanian printer, social activist and publisher in East Prussia, called the Patriarch of Lithuania Minor. He was one of the publishers of Aušra, the first Lithuanian-language newspaper for both Lithuania Minor and Lithuania Major. Jankus used various pen names, including V. Giedris, Martyneitis, Bitėnų Merčius, and Gyvoleitis.
Ludwig Friedrich Victor Hans Graf von Bülow was a Westphalian and Prussian statesman.
Kintai is a small town in Klaipėda County, in Lithuania. It is the center of the Eldership (Seniūnija) Kintai and is part of the Šilutė District Municipality. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 616 people.
Sovetsk is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
The Lithuanian Literary Society was a literary society dedicated to the Lithuanian language that was active from 1879 to about 1923 in Tilsit, East Prussia. It was the first scientific society dedicated to Lithuanian studies. It sought to document, preserve, and study Lithuanian language, folklore, literature, and cultural heritage. Members of the society were mostly non-Lithuanian scholars and conducted its proceedings in German.
The Birutė Society was the first cultural non-religious society of Prussian Lithuanians. Established in 1885 in Tilsit, East Prussia, the society was intermittently active until the outbreak of World War I. The society sought to preserve Lithuanian language and culture and protect them form Germanization. While it discussed linguistic and cultural subjects, the society never raised issues of social inequality or protested against the political regime of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The society prompted the division of Prussian Lithuanians into two main groups: religious conservative versus secular liberals. Birutė is best remembered for organizing festivals and celebrations that featured Lithuanian-language performances of various folk and patriotic songs as well as amateur theater performances, including the first Lithuanian-language theater performance in 1895.
Bitėnai is a small village in the Pagėgiai Municipality, in western Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 76, a decline from 119 in 2001. It is situated along the Neman River near the Rambynas hill and is known as the location of the Martynas Jankus printing press. Jankus Museum and the visitors' center of the Rambynas Regional Park are located in the village.
Vilius Gaigalaitis or Wilhelm Gaigalat was a Lutheran priest and Prussian Lithuanian activist. He was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives (1903–1918), director of the consistory of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania (1925–1933), and professor at Vytautas Magnus University (1925–1936).
