The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-01-28

the chief crops. Timber is valu-
able resource. East Prussia has
long been famous for its excellent
breeds Of cattle and horses. Before
the present war manufa cturing was
confined to the largest towns and
had not employed more than one
third of the people.
The original inhabitants Of the
land were Baltic barbarians called
Prussians. Early in the 18th cen
fury, a German monastic crusad-
ing order called the Teutonic
knights settled in lands just to the
east Of the Oder River. The Duke
of Poland, unknowlingly perform
ing one Of history's fateful acts,
begged the order to strike east
ward and subdue the heather Prus-
SLAMS. Fifty years of almost cease
less warfare destroyed the barbar-
ians, and the order took the land
for the Faith ard the Brothers,"
Shrewd, ruthless leadership
brought. the knights wealth and
power, but by the 14o0's the order
had lost its early vigor. At the
Battle of Tannenberg in 1410, COM
bined Polish and Lithuanian forces
smashed the Teutonic power and
halted the eastward surge for $50
years.
The Knights Grand Master con-
tinued to rule a much shrunken
Duchy of Prussia (about half of
present-day East Prussia; in 1913
it was joined by inheritance to
Brandenburg, the province around
Berlin. Modern Prussia was found
ed when Frederick l 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 his lands and
actually joined East Prussia and,
Brandenburg geographically
In the 1905 through Bismarck's
policy of blood and iron'' the Ger
man states were welded into the
German empire under the leader.
ship of Prussia. In 1914 the Slav-
German struggle flared again, and
the Germans avenged their bitter
50o-year-old defeat by destroying
vast Russian forces at another Bat
tie of Tannenberg. But the map
makers Of Versailles in 1919 detach-
ed East Prussia from the defeated
German Reich to give reborn Po-
land access to the Baltic Sea. This
so-called N'corridor" bulked large
in Nazi propaganda and played a
vital role IN the coming of World
War II.
konigsberg, capital of East Prus
STA, has long and stored past
Once a wealthy member of the
Hanseatic League of German trad
ing cities, it has kept its reputa-
ton as an important port in mod
ern times. Its 13th-century castle
was headquarters for the leaders
of the Teutonic knights and palace
of the early Prussian kings. Its
majestic 14th-century cathedral is
called "the Westminster Abbey of
the East" Emmanuel Kant. famed
German philosopher, was born in
Konigsberg, played in its streets.
taught in its university. Grand 3D.
era once flourished in the Konigs-
berg opera house under the baton
of Richard Wagner.
Allenstein, a principal town of
the Masurian lake district, was for
years the home of Copernicus. the
astronomer whose theories chang-
ed mans conception of the mi
verse. Tannenberg, a small Town
near the southwest border. and
scene of the two great Slav-Car-
man battles, until recently was tha
site of a colossal war menor;a1
which held the remains of Gernan
Field Marshal con Hindenh,,ra
who defeated the Russians ther a g.
1914. II
Mem mel important Baltic port
was ruled by Lithuania fror, p 'n,o
TO- 1889, when the Nazis tool ~ -
PACK, making Memelland go ~
I t;r IS northernmost fringe I Ti,
SIT, In the northeast corner sG j. ~ fa
, !, as the place where Nano,aoa