Evening star., 1945-12-23

With an average yearly temperature
of A degrees Fahrenheitl and soil
churned UP and left by a retreating
glacier, East Prussia has waged a re-
lentless war against mans efforts to
make the land productive. AS result
it has produced a sturdy, hard-work-
ing race of people. Farming is largely
in the northern valleys, where rye,
oats, potatoes. fax and hemp are the
chief crops. Timber is a valuable re-
source. East Prussia has long been
famous for its excellent breeds of cattle
and horses. Before the present war
manufacturing was confined to the
largest towns and had not employed
more than one-third of the people.
People Are Sturdy
The original inhabitants of the land
were Baltic barbarians called Prus-
slams. Early in the 18th century a
German monastic crusading order
called the Teutonic Knights settled in
lands just to the east of the Oder
River. The Duke of Poland, unknow-
ingly performing one of history's fateful
acts, begged the order to strike east
ward and subdue the heathen Prus-
slams. Fifty years of almost ceaseless
warfare destroyed the barbarians, and
the order took the land "for the Faith
and the Brothers"
Shrewd, ruthless leadership brought
the knights wealth and power, but by
the l4OOs the order had lost its early
vigor. At the Battle of Tannenberg in
l4l0 combined Polish and Lithuanian
forces smashed the Teutonic power and
matted the eastward surge for $50 years.
The knights grand master continued
to rule a much-shrunken Duchy of
Prussia (about half of present-day East
Prussia; in 1913 it was Joined by in
heritance to Brandenbrug, the prov
lnce around Berlin. Modern Prussia was
founded when Frederick I had himself
crowned King in Konigsberg in 17o1.
frederick the Great, about the time
OF the American Revolution, developed
the mighty Prussian war machine.
seized Silesia from Maria Theresa of
Austria and helped carve up weak
Poland. Thus he doubled the size of
MS lands and actually Joined East
Prussia and Brandenburg geograph-
ically.
Prussia Guided Unifcation
In the 1860s, through Bismarcks
policy of ''blood and iron," the German
states were welded into the German
empire under the leadership of Prussia.
In 1914 the Slav-German struggle
fiared again, and the Germans avenged
their bitter 500-year -old defeat by de-
stroying vast Russian forces at another
Battle of Tannenberg. But the map
makers Of Versailles, in 1919, detached
East Prussia from the defeated German
Reich to give reborn Poland access to
the Baltic Sea. This so-called 'corri-
dor" bulked large in Nazi propaganda
and played vital role in the coming
Of World War II.
konigsberg, capital of East Prussia,
has long and storied past. Once
wealthy member Of the Hanseatic
League of German trading cities, it has
Kept its reputation as an important port
in modern times. Its 18th century castle
was headquarters for the leaders of the
Teutonic Knights and palace of the
early Prussian Kings. ITS majestic 18th
century cathedral is called ''the West
minister Abbey of the East" Emmanuel
Kant, famed German philosopher, was
born in Konigsherg, played in It's streets,
taught in its university. Grand opera
once fiourished in the Konigsberg Opera
House under the baton Of Richard Wag-
ner,