ased 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. Berger concludes that such the arguments
of German nationalists were simply aimed at gaining as much territory as
possible into German Reich. During the period of German Empire the
Germanisation policies in Masuria became more effective; children using Polish
in playgrounds and classrooms were widely punished by corporal punishment,
authorities tried to appoint Protestant pastors who would use German instead of
Polish which resulted in protests of local population. According to Jerzy
Mazurek the native Polish-speaking population, like in other areas with Polish
inhabitants, faced severe discrimination from Germanised local administration,
in this climate first resistance defending the rights of rural population was
formed; according to Jerzy Mazurek usually teachers engaged in publishing
Polish language newspapers.
Despite anti-Polish policies, such Polish language newspapers as the Pruski
Przyjaciel Ludu (Prussian Friend of People) or the Kalendarz Królewsko-Pruski
Ewangelicki (Royal Prussian Evangelical Calendar) or bilingual journals like
the Oletzkoer Kreisblatt - Tygodnik Obwodu Oleckiego continued to be published
in Masuria. In contrast to the Prussian-oriented periodicals, in the late 19th
century such newspapers as Przyjaciel Ludu Łecki and Mazur were founded by
members of the Warsaw-based Komitet Centralny dla Śląska, Kaszub i Mazur
(Central Committee for Silesia, Kashubia and Masuria), influenced by Polish
politicians like Antoni Osuchowski or Juliusz Bursche,
