Misplaced Pages

#463536

70-598: In the Prose Edda , the Dökkálfar and the Ljósálfar are described in chapter 17 of the book Gylfaginning . In the chapter, Gangleri (the king Gylfi in disguise) asks the enthroned figure of High what other "chief centres" there are in the heavens outside of the spring Urðarbrunnr . Gangleri responds that there are many fine places in heaven, including a place called Álfheimr (Old Norse 'Elf Home' or 'Elf World'). High says that

140-726: A euroregion since 1995. The Pomerania euroregion comprises Hither Pomerania and Uckermark in Germany, West Pomerania in Poland, and Scania in Sweden. In Lechitic languages the prefix "po-" means along ; unlike the word "po", which means after . Pomorze , therefore, means Along the Sea . This construction is similar to toponyms Pogórze ( Along the Mountains ), Polesie ( Along the Forest ), Porzecze ( Along

210-656: A consequence, the term "West Pomerania" is ambiguous, since it may refer to either Hither Pomerania (in German usage and historical usage based on German terminology ), or to combined Hither and Farther Pomerania (in Polish usage and historical usage based on German terminology). In parallel, the term "East Pomerania" may similarly carry different meanings, referring either to Farther Pomerania (in German usage and historical usage based on German terminology ), or to Pomerelia (in Polish usage and historical usage based on German terminology). As

280-417: A further complication, the borders of the eponymous administrative units have been drawn disregarding mostly the historical ones. The Polish unit called województwo zachodniopomorskie ( West Pomeranian Voivodeship ) includes the whole Polish part of Hither Pomerania, but only the western two-thirds of Farther Pomerania, with the remaining easternmost one-third ( Słupsk , Ustka , and Miastko ) has been part of

350-450: A further regional unit, in this case bearing a name accurately reflecting historical heterogeneity of its territory. Similarity but to lesser extent, borders of the combined German districts Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald deviate significantly in numerous locations from the historical ones with Mecklenburg and Brandenburg . As a consequence, the common understanding of the terms has started to be used more and more frequently in

420-477: A number of scholars such as John Lindow . The Prose Edda also uniquely mentions the svartálfar ('black elves'), but there are reasons to believe these also refer to merely dwarfs. Consequently, Lindow and other commentators have remarked that there may not have been any distinction intended between dark-elves and black-elves by those who coined and used those terms. Lotte Motz 's paper on elves commingles, and hence equates "dark-elves" and "black-elves" from

490-602: A result of the Teutonic rule, in German terminology the name of Prussia was also extended to conquered Polish lands like Gdańsk Pomerania , although it was not inhabited by Baltic Prussians but Lechitic Poles. Meanwhile, the Ostsiedlung started to turn Slavic narrow Pomerania into an increasingly German-settled area; the remaining Wends and Polish people, often known as Kashubians , continued to settle within Pomerelia. In 1325

560-442: A small part of Pomerelia ( Biały Bór ); in turn the other one comprises only approximately northern two-thirds of Pomerelia but also parts of historical Malbork Land and Upper Prussia known under the ethnographic designation of Powiśle and constituting the westernmost strip of historical Prussia ; and finally, the remaining one third of Pomerelia forms part of województwo kujawsko-pomorskie ( Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship ),

630-657: A solution, Grimm "pronounce[es] Snorri's statement fallacious", and hypothesizes that "dark elves" were not really 'dark' but rather 'dingy' or 'pale'. And while conceding that "such a Trilogy still [lacks] decisive proof," draws parallels from the white, brown and black subterranean in Pomeranian legend, and the white, pale, and black troops of spirits come to claim souls in the tale of Solomon and Marcolf . Gylfaginning Gylfaginning ( Old Norse : 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation [ˈɟʏlvaˌɟɪnːɪŋɡ] )

700-635: A whole is around 20,000 words. Pomerania Pomerania ( Polish : Pomorze [pɔˈmɔʐɛ] ; German : Pommern [ˈpɔmɐn] ; Pòmòrskô ; Swedish : Pommern ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe , split between Poland and Germany . The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian , Pomeranian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland, while

770-490: Is "south of and above this heaven of ours" and "we believe" Gimlé is located in the third heaven "still further above that one", Víðbláinn . High adds that "we believe it is only light-elves who inhabit these places for the time being". There occurs an additional mention of the dökkálfar in the late Old Norse poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins ("Odin's Raven- galdr "), stanza 25. As the concept is only recorded in Gylfaginning and

SECTION 10

#1732851902464

840-432: Is alternatively known as Pomerelia , consisting of four sub-regions: Kashubia inhabited by ethnic Kashubians , Kociewie , Tuchola Forest and Chełmno Land . Pomerania has a relatively low population density , with its largest cities being Gdańsk and Szczecin . Outside its urban areas, it is characterized by farmland, dotted with numerous lakes, forests, and small towns. In the west of Pomerania lie several islands,

910-477: Is not confined to Christian thinking. Aside from some additional observations to encourage the hypothesis, Holtsmark has been credited with demonstrating that Snorri borrowed from Christian writings, specifically that "Snorri’s description of Víðbláinn [the third heaven populated by light-elves] was almost certainly influenced by (and possibly based on) the account of the angels in the Elucidarius ." Dissenters of

980-498: Is the first main part of the 13th century Prose Edda , after the initial Prologue . The Gylfaginning takes the form of a dialogue between a Swedish King Gylfi and three men on thrones in Asgard called High, Just-As-High, and Third . Gylfi asks many questions of the three men on the history and future of the Æsir . The creation and eventual destruction of the world are described, as are many other aspects of Norse mythology . While

1050-456: The Lebensraum policy. The Stutthof concentration camp with numerous subcamps was located in the region. There were also numerous Nazi prisons, forced labour camps, and multiple prisoner-of-war camps , including the large Stalag II-B and Stalag II-D , for Polish, French , Belgian, Dutch, Serbian, Italian , American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander and other Allied POWs. Połczyn-Zdrój

1120-451: The Communist regimes implemented during the post-war era; since then, Pomerania is democratically governed . Pomeranian dialect and traditions still live in the country of Brazil in a colony where the language is still spoken. The arrival of Pomerania immigrants with Germans and Italians helped form the state of Espírito Santo since the early 1930s. Their importance and respect are one of

1190-648: The Gestapo carried out arrests of Polish leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, and even some staff of the Consulate of Poland in Szczecin. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland starting World War II . The first battle of the war, at Westerplatte , was fought in the region. Afterwards the Polish part of Pomerania was annexed by Germany, and made part of the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . The Nazis deported

1260-498: The Gylfaginning is also related to the Trojan connection to the Æsir, but is discarded as a later addition written by a separate author than the rest of the work by some scholars. According to this final section, the human descendants of the Trojans took on the same names told in the stories that had been told to Gylfi, presumably to endow themselves with additional authority. The work as

1330-620: The Kashubians in Pomerelia . In the German part of Pomerania, Standard German dominates. The historical German dialects of Pomerania are, however, Low German . The Pomeranian dialects were all part of the East Low German subgroup: Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch in the west, Central Pomeranian (Mittelpommersch) in Central Pomerania around Szczecin (then Stettin), and East Pomeranian in

1400-546: The Little Kashubian Tricity with a population of 120,158 people (2012), formed by the City of Wejherowo (population 50,310 in 2012) and the towns (urban gminas) of Rumia (population 49,230 in 2020) and Reda (population 26,011 in 2019). The area also includes two smaller towns of Żukowo and Pruszcz Gdański belonging to the eponymous urban-rural gminas, and a number of rural gminas. Altogether, there are 16 cities in

1470-985: The National Museum in Szczecin , the Museum of the Puck Region , and the Museum of Maritime Fisheries in Świnoujście. Other notable museums include the Museum of the National Anthem ( Muzeum Hymnu Narodowego ) in Będomin at the birthplace of Józef Wybicki , author of the lyrics of the national anthem of Poland , and the Copernicus House in Toruń , birthplace of famed astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus . The Diocesan Museum in Pelplin contains one of

SECTION 20

#1732851902464

1540-553: The Pomeranian Lake District . The soil is generally rather poor, sometimes sandy or marshy. The western coastline is jagged, with many peninsulas (such as Darß – Zingst ) and islands (including Rügen , Usedom , and Wolin ) enclosing numerous bays ( Bodden ) and lagoons (the biggest being the Lagoon of Szczecin ). The eastern coastline is smooth. Łebsko and several other lakes were formerly bays, but have been cut off from

1610-565: The Province of West Prussia . With Prussia, both provinces joined the newly constituted German Empire in 1871. Under German rule, the Polish minority suffered discrimination and oppressive measures aimed at eradicating its culture. Following the German Empire's defeat in World War I, however, eastern Pomerania/ Pomerelia was returned to the rebuilt Polish state, while German-majority Gdańsk/Danzig

1680-928: The University of Szczecin , the University of Gdańsk and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń , the oldest of which, the University of Greifswald , was founded when Greifswald belonged to Duchy of Pomerania , thus being one of the oldest universities in the world . The technical universities are the Gdańsk University of Technology , West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, and Koszalin University of Technology . The Stralsund University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Stralsund) in Stralsund has around 2,400 students. Agriculture primarily consists of raising livestock, forestry, fishery, and

1750-563: The former eastern territories of Germany and Poles of German ethnicity from Pomerelia were expelled . Between 1945 and 1948, millions of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) and German citizens (Reichsdeutsche), were removed from former German territory now governed by Poland and other Eastern European countries. Many German civilians were sent to internment and labor camps where they were used as forced labor as part of German reparations to countries in Eastern Europe. The death toll attributable to

1820-483: The województwo pomorskie ([East-] Pomeranian Voivodeship ). The former regional unit stretches however far more south than the historical region, to include the northern part of the historical Neumark ( Dębno , Chojna , Trzcińsko-Zdrój , Myślibórz , Nowogródek Pomorski , Lipiany , Barlinek , Pełczyce , Suchań , Choszczno , Recz , and Drawno ), as well as a strip the historical Greater Poland ( Tuczno , Człopa , Mirosławiec , Wałcz , and Czaplinek ), or even

1890-462: The 10th century, early Polish rulers subdued the region, successfully integrating the eastern part with Poland, while the western part fell under the suzerainty of Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire in the late 12th century. Gdańsk , established during the reign of Mieszko I of Poland has since become Poland's main port (apart from periods of Poland losing control over the region). In

1960-769: The 12th century, the Duchy of Pomerania (western part), as a vassal state of Poland, became Christian under saint Otto of Bamberg ( the Apostle of the Pomeranians ); at the same time Pomerelia (eastern part) became a part of diocese of Włocławek within Poland. Since the late 12th-early 13th century, the Griffin Duchy of Pomerania stayed with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Rugia with Denmark, while Pomerelia, under

2030-533: The Amber Museums in Gdańsk and Jarosławiec , and the Museum of Gingerbread in Toruń. There are around 40 museums in the district of Vorpommern-Rügen , the most notable of which are: In the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald are located around 30 museums, among which: There are four traditional (non-profiled and multi-faculty, public research ) universities in the region, namely the University of Greifswald ,

2100-1053: The Guardhouse no. 1 at Westerplatte (a branch of the Museum of Gdańsk), the Museum of Coastal Defence in Hel , the Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo with the branch Piaśnica Museum in Wejherowo , the Museum of the Pomeranian Wall and World War II in Szczecinek , and the Armory Museum in Kłanino . There are also aquaria: the Gdynia Aquarium and the Seal Sanctuary in Hel . Perhaps more unusual museums include

2170-510: The Gylfaginning never makes it explicit, the three are often presumed to be guises of Odin . The second part of the Prose Edda is the Skáldskaparmál and the third Háttatal . The work is often attributed to or considered to have been compiled by Snorri Sturluson . The Gylfaginning tells the story of Gylfi , a king of "the land that men now call Sweden". He is tricked by one of

Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar - Misplaced Pages Continue

2240-544: The Ljósálfar live in Álfheimr, while the Dökkálfar dwell underground and look—and particularly behave—quite unlike the Ljósálfar. High describes the Ljósálfar as "fairer than the sun to look at", while the Dökkálfar are "blacker than pitch". As chapter 17 continues, Gangleri asks what will protect the beautiful hall of Gimlé , previously described as "the southernmost end of heaven", when the fires of Surtr "burn heaven and earth" ( Ragnarök ). High responds that there are in fact other heavens. The first called Andlàngr , he says,

2310-1086: The Museum of Sopot, the Emigration Museum in Gdynia, the Museum of Polish Navy in Gdynia, the Museum of Kociewie in Starogard Gdański, the Museum of Kashubian and Pomeranian Literature and Music in Wejherowo, the Kashubian Museum in Kartuzy, the Central Pomerania Museum in Słupsk , the Darłowo Museum, the Koszalin Museum, the Museum of Polish Arms in Kołobrzeg, the Museum of Archeology and History in Stargard,

2380-650: The Polish (along with Kashubian ) population remained with the Roman Catholic Church . The Thirty Years' War severely ravaged and depopulated narrow Pomerania; few years later this same happened to Pomerelia ( the Deluge ). With the extinction of the Griffin house during the same period, the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648 , while Pomerelia remained in with

2450-583: The Polish Crown. Prussia gained the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania in 1720, invaded and annexed Pomerelia from Poland in 1772 and 1793, and gained the remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815 , after the Napoleonic Wars . The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the former Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania , while Pomerelia was made part of

2520-627: The Pomeranian Jews to a reservation near Lublin . The Polish population suffered heavily during the Nazi oppression ; more than 40,000 died in executions, death camps, prisons and forced labour , primarily those who were teachers, businessmen, priests, politicians, former army officers, and civil servants. Thousands of Poles and Kashubians suffered expulsion , their homes taken over by the German military and civil servants, as well as some Baltic Germans resettled there between 1940 and 1943 in accordance with

2590-503: The Pomeranian universities. Since the late 19th century, tourism has been an important sector of the economy, primarily in the numerous seaside resorts along the coast. The Polish Świnoujście LNG terminal is located in Pomerania. Sports enjoying either great popularity or success in Pomerania are football , basketball , speedway , handball , volleyball and rugby union . Most popular and accomplished football teams are Arka Gdynia , Lechia Gdańsk and Pogoń Szczecin , based in

2660-422: The Prologue that Asgard is another name for the city of Troy , another way to make stories of the Norse gods acceptable as describing a lost ancient history rather than rival deities to the Christian god. The account can be downplayed as just stories for the devout, but Sturlson trusts that most listeners would be won over by the account of the three men of the vanished world of the Æsir. The very final section of

2730-596: The River ), etc. Pomerania was first mentioned in an imperial document of 1046, referring to a Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum ( Zemuzil , Duke of the Pomeranians). Pomerania is mentioned repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen (c. 1070) and Gallus Anonymous (ca. 1113). The territorial designation "Pomerania" lacks a universally accepted definition, since it may refer either to combined Hither and Farther Pomerania only (in German contemporary and historical usage ) or to Hither and Farther Pomerania combined with Pomerelia (in Polish contemporary and historical usage). As

2800-432: The broad-sense Pomerania, understood as comprising also Pomerelia . Their list is presented below and includes the 14 municipalities in Poland electing a city mayor ( Polish : prezydent miasta ) instead of a town mayor ( Polish : burmistrz ), with 9 of them holding the status of a city with powiat rights ( Polish : miasto na prawach powiatu , an independent city ), as well as the 2 municipalities in Germany holding

2870-556: The cultivation of cereals , sugar beets , and potatoes. Industrial food processing is increasingly relevant in the region. Key producing industries are shipyards , mechanical engineering facilities (i.e. renewable energy components), and sugar refineries , along with paper and wood fabricators. Service industries today are an important economical factor in Pomerania, most notably with logistics, information technology, life science , biotechnology , health care, and other high-tech branches often clustering around research facilities of

Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar - Misplaced Pages Continue

2940-431: The cultural signatures of the area. The Brazilian city of Pomerode (in the state of Santa Catarina ) was founded by Pomeranian Germans in 1861 and is considered the most typically German of all the German towns of southern Brazil. The German part of Western Pomerania is inhabited by German Pomeranians . In other parts, Poles are the dominant ethnic group since the territorial changes of Poland after World War II , and

3010-421: The descendants of émigrées, most notably in the Americas (e.g. Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Canada). Slovincian was spoken at the Farther Pomeranian –Pomerelian frontier, but is now extinct. At least 50 museums in Poland cover the history of Pomerania, the most important of them being the District Museum in Toruń , the Museum in Grudziądz, the National Museum in Gdańsk , the National Maritime Museum, Gdańsk ,

3080-421: The east. It formerly reached perhaps as far south as the Noteć river, but since the 13th century its southern boundary has been placed further north. Most of the region is coastal lowland, being part of the Central European Plain . Its southern, hilly parts belong to the Baltic Ridge, a belt of terminal moraines formed during the Pleistocene . Within this ridge, a chain of moraine-dammed lakes constitutes

3150-399: The east. The regions east of the Piaśnica river are not considered Pomeranian according to German terminology, but either West Prussian or Pomerelian. Danzig German was hence classified as Low Prussian , like the dialects of East Prussia ( Königsberg ). Those parts of Pomerania that remained German after 1945 are almost entirely located in the Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch area. Only

3220-401: The end, the palace and its people vanish, presumably as they were illusions to begin with. Gylfi is left standing on empty ground. Gylfi then returns to his nation and retells the tales he was told. The author may have used this narrative device as a means to safely document a vanishing and largely oral tradition within a Christian context. In the same way, a line continues the idea raised in

3290-427: The expelled Pomeranians found refuge there, later many moved on to other German regions and abroad. Today German Hither Pomerania forms the eastern part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , while the Polish part is divided mainly between the West Pomeranian , Pomeranian voivodeships, with their capitals in Szczecin and Gdańsk . During the 1980s, the Solidarity and Die Wende ("the change") movements overthrew

3360-420: The finest collections of medieval art in Poland, and the country's sole copy of the Gutenberg Bible . Medieval open-air museums are the Grodzisko in Sopot and Skansen in Wolin . There are also the Dar Pomorza , ORP Błyskawica and SS Sołdek museum ships . Several museums devoted to World War II history are located in Polish Pomerania, including the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk,

3430-461: The flight and expulsions is disputed, with low-range estimates in the hundreds of thousands (see: Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950) ). The area was resettled primarily with Poles of Polish ethnicity, (some themselves expellees from former eastern Poland ) and some Poles of Ukrainian ethnicity (resettled under Operation Vistula ) and few Polish Jews . Most of Hither or Western Pomerania ( Vorpommern ) remained in Germany, and most of

3500-458: The former Province of Posen–West Prussia (part of historic Greater Poland ). Under the Nazi government , the persecution of Poles in the German-controlled part of Pomerania intensified. In January 1939, Germany resumed expulsions of Poles and many were also forced to flee. The Sturmabteilung , Schutzstaffel , Hitler Youth and Bund Deutscher Osten launched attacks on Polish institutions, schools and activists. From May to August 1939,

3570-401: The goddesses of the Æsir , and wonders if all Æsir use magic and tricks for their will to be done. To find out more, he takes the "path of the serpent" to journey to Asgard ; the Æsir realize he is coming and prepare illusions to deceive him. Gylfi finds a great palace. Inside the palace, he encounters a man who asks Gylfi's name; Gylfi introduces himself as Gangleri. "Gangleri" then is taken to

SECTION 50

#1732851902464

3640-500: The historical region of Hither Pomerania today, while the Szczecin metropolitan area reaches even further. Pomerelia is dominated by the Tricity metropolitan area (Pomeranian Voivodeship) with its population in 2012 estimated at least at 1,035,000 and the area at 1,332,51 km , encompassing the Tricity itself with a population of 748,986 combining the eponymous three cities of Gdańsk (population 460,427), Gdynia (population 248,726) and Sopot (population 38,217), as well as

3710-471: The historically Brandenburgian headwaters of the Uecker river ( Prenzlau ). In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , however, the dominating Low German standard version is the Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, and Central Pomeranian texts are often rewritten. East Pomeranian, Low Prussian , and Standard German were dominating east of the Oder-Neisse line before most of its speakers were expelled after World War II . Kashubian and East Low German are also spoken by

3780-403: The king of the palace and comes upon three men on thrones: High, Just-As-High, and Third (Hár, Jafnhár, and Þriði). Gangleri is then challenged to show his wisdom by asking questions, as is the custom in many sagas . Each question made to High, Just-As-High, and Third is about an aspect of the Norse mythology or its gods, and also about the creation and destruction of the world ( Ragnarök ). In

3850-405: The largest of which are Rügen , the largest island in Germany; Usedom /Uznam, and Wolin , the largest island in Poland. The region has a rich and complicated political and demographic history at the intersection of several cultures. Pomerania is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz , Trebel , Tollense and Augraben in the west and Vistula in

3920-443: The late poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins , it is unclear whether the distinction between the two types of elves originated with Snorri, or if he was merely recounting a concept already developed. The sub-classification perhaps resulted from Christian influence, by way of importation of the concept of good and evil and angels of light and darkness. Anne Holtsmark aired this view, though with some reservation, since "good vs. evil" dualism

3990-426: The line of the princes of Rügen died out, and the principality was inherited by the Griffins . In 1466, with the Teutonic Order 's defeat in the Thirteen Years' War , Pomerelia became again part of the Polish Crown and formed the Pomeranian Voivodeship within the provinces of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland . While the German population in the Duchy of Pomerania adopted the Protestant reformation in 1534,

4060-446: The northwest of Pomeranian Voivodeship. Farther Pomerania in turn comprises several other historical subregions, most notably the former Principality of Cammin , the Nowogard County, and the Słupsk and Sławno Land . The Lębork and Bytów Land is considered a part of Pomerelia ( Kashubia ) by the Polish historiography, and of Farther Pomerania by the German historiography. Parts of Pomerania and surrounding regions have constituted

4130-406: The outset. Jacob Grimm surmised that the proto-elf ( ursprünglich ) was probably a "light-colored, white, good spirit" while the dwarfs may have been conceived as "black spirits" by relative comparison. But the "two classes of creatures were getting confounded", and there arose a need to coin the term "light-elf" ( ljósálfar , or hvítálfar —"white elves") to refer to the "elves proper". This

4200-413: The regions between the Zarow river in the west and the Oder river in the east are historically part of the Central Pomeranian dialect region: the southern shores of the Szczecin Lagoon ( Ueckermünde ), the towns along the Uecker and Randow rivers, and those parts of Pomerania that are now in Brandenburg ( Gartz and the northern districts of Schwedt/Oder ). Central Pomeranian is also spoken along

4270-559: The resulting Polonization . Kashubians , descendants of the medieval West Slavic Pomeranians , are numerous in rural Pomerelia . German Hither Pomerania had a population of about 470,000 in 2012 (districts of Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald combined) – while the Polish districts of Hither Pomerania had a population of about 580,000 in 2012 ( Szczecin and Świnoujście cities with powiat rights , Police County , as well as Goleniów Wolin and Międzyzdroje gminas combined). So overall, about 1.15 million people live in

SECTION 60

#1732851902464

4340-399: The ruling of Samborides , was a part of Poland. Pomerania, during its alliance in the Holy Roman Empire , shared borders with West Slavic state Oldenburg, as well as Poland and the expanding Margraviate of Brandenburg . In the early 14th century the Teutonic Knights invaded and annexed Pomerelia from Poland into their monastic state , which already included historical Prussia . As

4410-407: The sea. The easternmost coastline along the Gdańsk Bay (with the Bay of Puck ) and Vistula Lagoon , has the Hel Peninsula and the Vistula peninsula jutting out into the Baltic. The Pomeranian region has the following administrative divisions: The bulk of Farther Pomerania is included within the modern West Pomeranian Voivodeship, but its easternmost parts (the Słupsk area) now constitute

4480-435: The sense of the current administrative units. Settlement in the area called Pomerania for the last 1,000 years started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage , some 13,000 years ago. Archeological traces have been found of various cultures during the Stone and Bronze Age , Baltic peoples , Germanic peoples and Veneti during the Iron Age and, in the Dark Ages , West Slavic tribes and Vikings . Starting in

4550-440: The status of a district-belonging city (German: Große kreisangehörige Stadt ), as no city of the German part of Pomerania holds currently any higher status, such as a partially of fully independent city (German: Große selbständige Stadt , Kreisfreie Stadt , or Stadtkreis ), or a city-state (German: Stadtstaat ). Polish is the dominating language in the Polish part of Pomerania. Kashubian dialects are also spoken by

4620-402: The view that the dark and light elves were a later invention, such as Rudolf Simek and Gabriel Turville-Petre , feel rather that "dark" and "light" aspects of the same beings not inherently unlikely, death and fertility cults often being closely related. Since the Prose Edda describes the dökkálfar as being subterranean dwellers, they may be dwarfs under another name, in the opinion of

4690-411: The western part belongs to the German states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg . Pomerania's historical border in the west is the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian border Urstromtal , which now constitutes the border between the Mecklenburgian and Pomeranian part of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while it is bounded by the Vistula River in the east. The easternmost part of Pomerania

4760-430: Was counterpart to the "dark-elf" ( dökkálfar , or svartálfar —"black elves"). Preferring it over duality, Grimm postulated three kinds of elves ( ljósálfar , dökkálfar , svartálfar ) present in Norse mythology. But Grimm's "tripartite division" (as Shippey calls it) faced "trouble" in Snorri's statement that dark-elves were pitch-black, as this would lead to the "first reduction" that "dark-elves = black-elves". As

4830-401: Was the location of a Germanisation camp for kidnapped Polish children . The Polish resistance movement was active both in the pre-war Polish part and the pre-war German part of Pomerania. After Nazi Germany 's defeat in World War II, the German–Polish border was shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line , and all of Pomerania was in the Soviet Occupation Zone . The German inhabitants of

4900-406: Was transformed into the independent Free City of Danzig . In the interbellum, the border with Poland and the creation of what German propaganda called the " Polish Corridor " were often contested in Germany. Irredentist claims towards Poland were one of the factors contributing to the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. In 1938 Germany's Province of Pomerania was expanded to include northern parts of

#463536