After 1871 Masurians who expressed sympathy for Poland were deemed " national traitors " by German nationalists ( this increased especially after 1918 ) According to Stefan Berger after 1871 the Masurians in the German Empire were seen in a view that while acknowledging their " objective " Polishness ( in terms of culture and language ) they felt " subjectively " German and thus should be tightly integrated into German nation-state ; to Berger this argument went directly against the German nationalist demands in Alsace where Alsatians were declared German despite their " subjective " choice.

Injustice, hardship and pain often pressed on the shoulders of Warmians and Masurians ... Dislike, injustice and violence surrounds us ... They ( Warmians and Masurians ) demand respect for their differentness, grown in the course of seven centuries and for freedom to maintain their traditions ".

Support for Germany was strong amongst the Masurians during World War I.

Although a small group of Masurians did vote for Poland, the vast majority ( 99. 32 % in Masuria proper ) opted to remain in Prussia.

After World War I the East Prussian plebiscite was held on July 11, 1920 according to the Treaty of Versailles, in which the Masurians had to decide whether they wanted to be part of the Second Polish Republic or remain in German East Prussia ; about 98 % voted for Germany.

Masurians referred to themselves during that period as " Polish Prussians " or as " Staroprusaki " ( Old Prussians )

Polish activists started to regard Masurians as " Polish brothers " after Wojciech Kętrzyński had published his pamphlet " O Mazurach " in 1872 and Polish activists engaged in active self-help against repressions by German state Kętrzyński fought against attempts to Germanize Masuria

The attempts to create a Masurian Polish national consciousness, largely originating from nationalist circles of Greater Poland, however faced the resistance of the Masurians, who, despite having similar folk traditions and linguistics to Poles, regarded themselves Prussians and later Germans.

A minority of Masurians did exist which expressed Polish identity

After 1871 there appeared resistance among the Masurians towards Germanization efforts, the so called Gromadki movement was formed which supported use of Polish language and came into conflict with German authorities ; while most of its members viewed themselves as loyal to Prussian state, a part of them joined the Pro-Polish faction of Masurians.

With the start of the German war against Poland in 1939, the German minority in the parts of Masuria attached to Poland after World War I, organised in paramilitary formation called Selbstschutz begun to engage in massacres of local Polish population ; Poles were imprisoned, tortured and murdered while Masurians were sometimes forcefully placed on Volksliste

Związek Mazurski opposed Nazi Germany and asked Polish authorities during the war to liquidate German property after victory over Nazi Germany to help in agricultural reform and settlement of Masurian population, Masurians opposed to Nazi Germany requested to remove German heritage sites " regardless of their cultural value ".

A center of such " unverified " Masurians was the district of Mragowo ( Sensburg ), where in early 1946 out of 28, 280 persons 20, 580 were " unverified ", while in October 16, 385 still refused to adopt Polish citizenship.

The majority ( over 100 thousand ) gradually left and after the improvement of German-Polish relations by the German Ostpolitik of the 1970s 55, 227 persons from Warmia and Masuria moved to Western Germany in between 1971 and 1988, today approximately between 5, 000 and 6, 000 Masurians still live in the area, about 50 percent of them members of the German minority in Poland, the remaining half is ethnic Polish.

As the Polish journalist Andrzej K. Wróblewski stated, the Polish post-war policy succeeded in what the Prussian state never managed: the creation of a German national consciousness among the Masurians.

Masurian (; ) was a dialect group of the Polish language, spoken by Masurians in a part of East Prussia that belongs to today's Poland.

The Masurians were mostly of the Protestant faith, in contrast to the neighboring Roman Catholic people of the Duchy of Masovia, which was incorporated into the Polish kingdom in 1526.

While in 1880 Masurians were still treated as Poles by German Empire, at the turn of century the German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise and separate them from the Polish nation by creating a separate identity.

Along with the majority of ethnic German East Prussians, many Masurians fled to western Germany as the Soviet Red Army approached East Prussia in 1945 during World War II.

After 1956 many who had remained in Poland emigrated to West Germany, today approximately 5, 000 Masurians still live in the area, many of them as members of the German minority.

During the transformation of Germany from an agrarian to an industrial society, many Poles, alongside Silesians, Kashubians and Masurians migrated to the rapidly transforming areas around the Ruhr river.

Many Masurians who were classified as Germans were expelled with military force.

Being situated in the ethnographic region known as Lithuania Minor, Angerburg had a German majority with sizable minorities of Masurians and Lietuvninks.

By the early 20th century, most Masurians were at least bilingual and could speak Low Saxon and German ; in some areas about half of them still spoke Masurian, at least at home.

The Masurians or Mazurs or Masurs (, ) are a Lechitic sub-ethnic group in the Masovian and Warmian-Masurian Voivodeships in Poland.

In the 19th century, the Masuria region of East Prussia was named after the Masurians.

During the Protestant Reformation, Masurians, like most inhabitants of Ducal Prussia, became Lutheran Protestants, while the neighboring Masovians remained Roman Catholic.

Masurians began to settle the region in the 16th century while it was part of the Duchy of Prussia.

( As did numerous Kashubians and nearly all Lutheran Protestant, pro-Prussian Masurians of southern East Prussia.

Masurians are regarded as being descendants of Masovians.

In 1950 1, 600 Masurians left the country and in 1951, 35, 000 people from Masuria and Warmia managed to obtain a declaration of their German nationality by the embassies of the US and Great Britain in Warsaw.

The German authorities undertook several measures to Germanise the Masurians or separate them culturally from neighboring Poles by creating a separate identity.

The Masurians have also been studied by the sociologist Andrzej Sakson.

Działdowo itself counted c. 24, 000 people of which 18, 000 were Masurians

Throughout industrialization in the late 19th century about 10 percent of the Masurian populace emigrated to the Ruhr Area, where about 180, 000 Masurians lived in 1914.

Masurians settled the region of Masuria which was named after them.

Most German East Prussians, Masurians, and Lietuvininkai were Lutheran, while the population of Ermland was mainly Roman Catholic due to the history of its bishopric.

As a result, the number of native Masurians remaining in Masuria was initially relatively high, while most of the population was subsequently expelled.

Many unverified Masurians were imprisoned and accused of pro-Nazi or pro-American propaganda, even former pro-Polish activists and inmates of Nazi concentration camps were jailed and tortured.

Sixty-three percent of the Masurians in the district of Mragowo ( Sensburg ) received such a document.

Soon after the political reforms of 1956, Masurians were given the opportunity to join their families in West Germany.

The numbers of Masurians and Prussian Lithuanians decreased over time due to the process of Germanization.

Many Masurians emigrated to the Ruhr Area, especially to Gelsenkirchen.

Despite those official efforts German scholars usually considered Masurians as a group of Poles.