Pomeranians

[Megrez]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Administrative_division_of_pomerania.png/800px-Administrative_division_of_pomerania.png

Well, Pomerania doesn't exist as a distinct region in Europe anymore, and had its historical inhabitants expelled after WW2, so ethnic Pomeranians today are practically only found in Brazil (mainly), a few in Australia and North America. Just a few remained in Europe, and are mostly integrated to the major populations of the countries they inhabit, Germany and Poland.

There are ~450,000 Pomeranians in Brazil today, descendants of XIX century immigrants. Pictures of the Brazilian Pomeranians:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2105/2260894984_ed0dcff59d_z.jpg?zz=1
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww344/braziliancitys/Espirito%20Santo/Domingos%20Martins/Pommerfest/1210_2341_casamentopomerano.jpg
http://www.paradaviva.com/xpanel/sys_news/fotos//35BF8A3992.JPG
http://www.pomerano-es.com.br/arquivos/imagens/pomeranas.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3231880762_58e67ce83b_z.jpg?zz=1
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/116/276974047_2cb3c49cb4_z.jpg?zz=1
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2693/4030883706_b2801b7d59_z.jpg?zz=1
http://citybrazil.uol.com.br/arquivos/imagens/galfotos/gfu_800_00004059.jpg
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UmTEM4YKSbY/0.jpg

[Megrez]

http://www.adjorisc.com.br/polopoly_fs/1.358658.1287150031!/image/2737274333.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_y-GhEPcEhig/TARXWiMgNNI/AAAAAAAAAs4/XnfwaT7mp44/s1600/ma+vo+fil.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y-GhEPcEhig/TARWnUfbIfI/AAAAAAAAAsg/24NT9hyaI_c/s1600/P5160004.JPG
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww344/braziliancitys/Espirito%20Santo/Domingos%20Martins/Pommerfest/tejucopretothiagoDomingosmartins.jpg
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww344/braziliancitys/Espirito%20Santo/Domingos%20Martins/Pommerfest/244228259_033527a8fa_o.jpg
http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww344/braziliancitys/Espirito%20Santo/Domingos%20Martins/Pommerfest/244226506_e734071511_o.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/ww130/brcity/Espirito%20Santo/pomeranas/sta%20maria%20jetiba/2971918311_ece83780d9_o.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/ww130/brcity/Espirito%20Santo/pomeranas/sta%20maria%20jetiba/425730463_baefd6dad2_b.jpg
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww292/cidades/Cidades%20por%20Estado/Espirito%20Santo/SMJ/SMJ3.jpg
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww130/brcity/Santa%20Catarina/Pomerode/festapomerana2.jpg

[Megrez]

A few redheads are to be noticed:

http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww130/brcity/Santa%20Catarina/Pomerode/1638587.jpg
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww130/brcity/Santa%20Catarina/Pomerode/festapomerana.jpg

The pictures below were taken at a re-enactment of the colonists' arrival:

http://gazetaonline.globo.com/_midias/jpg/146082-4a4523ac7d637.jpg
http://gazetaonline.globo.com/_midias/jpg/146083-4a4523ac96ce5.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/2401133070_b9d6a85c9a_z.jpg?zz=1
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2401132748_a6911199f6_z.jpg?zz=1

Other:

http://www.vilapavao.es.gov.br/Fotos/jonas%20e%20paulim%20a.jpg
http://www.abih-sc.com.br/userfiles/image/informativo_405/info_405___foto_07___festa_pomerana.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsXqCICHjI/AAAAAAAACBc/yrfgsgBfnKA/s1600/IMG_0768.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsR5nHVW-I/AAAAAAAAB-8/_LRa5W5pkxY/s1600/IMG_0764.jpg

[Megrez]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsR5OqodQI/AAAAAAAAB-0/4ar-nMkMUXA/s1600/IMG_0752.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsXpM6kGZI/AAAAAAAACBE/GB1BxR8yJSE/s1600/IMG_0751.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsW8L0NeDI/AAAAAAAACAc/k9hGp1YKgOo/s1600/IMG_0787.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsW8bL1lpI/AAAAAAAACAk/nh8IiA9ZlbM/s1600/IMG_0788.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsW8odji0I/AAAAAAAACAs/wL-aXz-e-ZA/s1600/IMG_0786.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsW81l01CI/AAAAAAAACA0/Sa7eMsK-HX0/s1600/IMG_0784.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsX-18RliI/AAAAAAAACBs/CMN1efdTbC4/s1600/IMG_0750.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GVvi4M7Hztk/SXsVZGUccOI/AAAAAAAACAM/QuXqQhp164M/s1600/IMG_0791.jpg

[aherne]

By "Pomeranians" you mean Germans from Pomerania or Kashubians? Anyway, these people are Pomeranian Germans and look like German-Slav mixes (hardly unexpected, given the history of the region).

[Magister Eckhart]

http://www.freewebs.com/brandenburgstudies/PomeranianCover.jpg
:p

[Megrez]

By "Pomeranians" you mean Germans from Pomerania or Kashubians? Anyway, these people are Pomeranian Germans and look like German-Slav mixes (hardly unexpected, given the history of the region).
Germans from Pomerania. They speak a Low German language.

[Rostislav]

They looks average Polish.

[kwp_wp]

They looks average Polish.

yup, they look.
it's also my impression.
This is what I would have said if somebody had been asked me about it :)

[Rostislav]

yup, they look.
it's also my impression.
This is what I would have said if somebody had been asked me about it :)

A few of the people look East Slavic specific though

[Agrippa]

A few of the people look East Slavic specific though

Something Osteuropid is present in some of them indeed.

[Rostislav]

Something Osteuropid is present in some of them indeed.

Exactly :)

[Sturmgewehr]

I think they look German, some Polish as well.

[aherne]

Germanization of Pomerania involved both large scale colonization of Germans from Saxony & Low Countries as well as large scale assimilation of Kashubian Poles. By early 20th century, Germanization was almost complete (Kashubian language island remaining in "Korridor" region). If those pictures are correct, it looks like the Slavic element is dominant. Most of these people would better fit in Poland than Netherlands.

[Megrez]

I have the impression that Baltid element is relevant among them.

[Megrez]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__KDcatI6hLQ/S_wZ7xcrSPI/AAAAAAAAAS4/aslNjhz1MTE/s1600/DSC03174.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__KDcatI6hLQ/S_wXBJtmKKI/AAAAAAAAASo/Db95MzzPEnU/s1600/DSC03165.JPG
http://iguide.travel/photos/Domingos_Martins-3.jpg
http://www.andreatestoni.com/photos/pomerode/pomerode/content/bin/images/large/Testoni_pomerode_17.jpg
http://www.andreatestoni.com/photos/pomerode/pomerode/content/bin/images/large/Testoni_pomerode_14.jpg
http://www.andreatestoni.com/photos/pomerode/pomerode/content/bin/images/large/Testoni_pomerode_09.jpg
http://www.andreatestoni.com/photos/pomerode/pomerode/content/bin/images/large/Testoni_pomerode_04.jpg
http://www.andreatestoni.com/photos/pomerode/pomerode/content/bin/images/large/Testoni_pomerode_03.jpg
http://www.andreatestoni.com/photos/pomerode/pomerode/content/bin/images/large/Testoni_pomerode_01.jpg
http://www.belasantacatarina.com.br/images/images/noticias2/pomerode2(1).jpg

[Peterski]

Germanization of Pomerania involved both large scale colonization of Germans from Saxony & Low Countries as well as large scale assimilation of Kashubian Poles. By early 20th century, Germanization was almost complete (Kashubian language island remaining in "Korridor" region). If those pictures are correct, it looks like the Slavic element is dominant. Most of these people would better fit in Poland than Netherlands.

Correct.

By early 20th century you could find Kashubian Poles in two provinces of Prussia - West Prussia and Pommern (Hinterpommern).

Within West Prussia, Kashubians were the majority of inhabitants in 5 counties: Puck/Putzig, Wejherowo, Kartuzy/Karthaus, Kościerzyna and Chojnice (here they were majority only if counted together with Non-Kashubian Poles); as well as significant minority in 3 counties: Danziger Highlands, Danzig Stadt/Gdańsk City and Schlochau/Człuchów. Those counties with Polish Kashubian majority became part of Poland ("Korridor") after 1918, while Danzig and its surroundings (including counties Highlands and Lowlands) became a Free City.

In Provinz Pommern, there were only remnants of Non-Germanized Kashubians, mainly in the eastern part of the province (in counties Bytów, Lębork/Lauenburg and Słupsk/Stolp and a few in Rummelsburg/Miastko). Those Kashubians of Pommern (mainly concentrated in its 4 eastern counties, bordering West Prussia to the east) were estimated by various authors and based on data from various years, as:

Year - Kashubs in Hinterpommern in a given year (author of estimate):

1817 - 65,000 (Georg Hassel)
Early 1800s - 40,000 (Leszek Belzyt)
Early 1800s - 25,000 (Jan Mordawski)
1830 - 35,000 (Zygmunt Szultka)
1831 - 23,000 (Belzyt)
1850 - 17,000 (Szultka)
1861 - 23,000 (Belzyt)
1890 - 15,000 (Stefan Ramułt)

^^^ The number of Kashubians in that area was declining during the 1800s due to Germanization of Lutheran Kashubians.

The number of Kashubians in West Prussia was much higher (between around 100,000 and over 250,000 during the 1800s and early 1900s, depending on year and author of estimate - remember that there was a high rate of natural growth among them during entire 19th century, as well as later during entire 20th century).

Nowadays the number of Kashubian descent people in Polish Pomorskie Voivodeship is:

County - number (% of total population):

Kartuzy 94,136 (93,8%)
Puck 56,358 (80,2%)
Kościerzyna 49,116 (74,5%)
Wejherowo 113,097 (66,1%)
Bytów 37,757 (49,2%)
Gdynia City 81,090 (31,8%)
Gdańsk 13,742 (30,6%)
Lębork 19,594 (29,7%)
Chojnice 23,926 (26,3%)
Sopot City 5,795 (13,7%)
Człuchów 7,814 (13,3%)
Gdańsk City 47,163 (10,3%)
Słupsk City 9,504 (9,3%)
Słupsk 7,945 (8,4%)

Total in Kashubia: 567,037 (data from year 2005)

[Peterski]

Something Osteuropid is present in some of them indeed.

Proportion of Nordids to Osteuropids by county (I added in red time of language shift from Slavic to German for some counties):

https://i.imgur.com/l9daEXU.png

^^^ These 5 eastern counties were still majority Kashubian as of the 1400s, and their Germanization started after that. To the west of that area, near Koszalin there were still some Slavic-speakers in year 1516, but generally it was already all Germanized by that time (the entire western part of Pomerania).

Near Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) last Slavic-speakers died out in the 1400s.


found in Brazil (mainly), a few in Australia and North America.

Sounds like Brazilian "myth-making". Not sure about Pomeranian Germans, but Pomeranian Poles emigrated mainly to the U.S. and Canada, while Brazil was only the 3rd most popular overseas destination. Stefan Ramułt estimated in year 1890, that there were around 90,000 Kashubians in the U.S., around 25,000 in Canada and 15,000 in Brazil. The number of Pomeranian German descendants is probably also higher in the USA than in Brazil. In terms of cultural preservation probably Kashubians in Canada, led by David Shulist, are doing the best job (apart from the ones in Poland, of course). Kashubian descendants in the USA and in Germany are completely assimilated with their host populations. The ones in the USA declare themselves as Polish-Americans, some of them maybe also as German-Americans.

Good lecture in English about Kashubians in the USA and Canada:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8ZqgseOdas


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jle9MYr5iB4

David Shulist, born in Wilno (Ontario):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilno,_Ontario

https://madvalleycurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/David-Shulist_Bay-Day-2018-480x480.jpg

Wilno was settled mainly by Kashubian Poles.

But their leader was a Pole from Vilnius (Wilno).

It is the oldest Polish settlement in Canada.