" 

 ::Thank you very much  for providing this source. I wonder why none of the vehement supporters of this map is answering ...It would be a real pity if the disputed map is really used in contemporary schoolbooks, as has been stated above.  is certainly right in saying that the Imperial German authorities tried to artificially diminish the number of Polish-speakers by introducing a new category ""Masurian-speakers"". If fact, Masurian is simply a Polish dialect. However, as one can see from the statistical data cited by  several people chose to declare themselves as ""Masurians-speakes"" because they would not regard themselves as Poles. Polish historiography has for a long time lamented bitterly the indifference of Masurian people against Polish patriotic propaganda. But Masurians simply did not regard themselves as Poles. They always regarded themselves as Prussians and did not want to join a Polish state. I myself have Masurians ancestors, my mother is born in the village of Lyck (Ełk), all her family descended from there and she has a Polish family name. I can tell you: people there simply did not regard themselves as Poles. They felt threatened by Polish nationalistic pretensions and wanted to stay within East Prussia. Public opinion was totally different from that in the Greater Poland (Poznań) area where people really felt as Poles.This map is really an embarrassment and people who support it are either not well-informed or try to promote a view of the history of their country which certainly does not reflect what is understood as ""the neutral standpoint"". In their efforts they are really doing their country a disservice. The Poles in Prussia very well resisted the tendency of Germanization in the late 19th century when they really regarded themselves as Poles. Prussia and Imperial Germany was not Nazi Germany. There was a wealth of Polish interest groups, local associations, banks, Polish nobility, deputies in the Reichstag who all tried to promote Polish interests. In the Province of Posen the percentage of Polish-speakers increased significantly during the years 1870-1910 under German rule despite all failed bureaucratic Germanization attempts. Germanization was only successful in areas where people did not have the feeling of belonging to another nationality.   "