my grand mother said she was german but she actualy came from Prussia?

Question

And I know that Germany took over Prussia and part of it went to Polland but aren't my ancestors actually Prussian and not true Germans?

Answer 1

Beyond the lands we now know as Poland, Prussia also included everything from Berlin on to the east. Being Prussian is the same as being German because Prussia was the leading kingdom that joined the unification process. The fact that they inhabited 1/3rd of Poland doesn't mean the Poles were Germans, but it does mean that the germanic Prussians were legitimately German. Your grandmother clearly knows her geography and her ethnicity. I'd pay attention to her. Then the next question I would ask is, "So Grandma, which town did your family live in before they came over?" Follow that with a question of whether they were Catholic, Lutheran or Evangelical. That will tell you where to look for records on them. If they were Prussians, the odds are high that you have 200-400 years of solid records sitting in Germany waiting for you to find them. You just need Grandma's help to figure out where to look.

Answer 2

Germany did not exist as a nation until the end of the 19th century. It was broken down into many tiny kingdoms and states. Prussia became the dominate state and the Prussian Hohenzollerns united Germany.

Now a good part of what was Prussia is now in Poland. Actually Poland didn't exist for some time. It was divided between Prussia, Russia and to a lesser extent by Austria.

Actually, the unificiation of Germany started when a paunchy little Italian named Napoleone Buonaparte obtained French citizenship when the Republic of Genoa gave Corsica to France in payment of a debt. In Napoleon's reign he united Germany for the first time and taught them a machine type militarism. They didn't like him and the unification he imposed broke up once he was defeated, but they learned from him. They saw that national unity was good and they could gain strength with a strong military.

I might add the fact that Germany was made up of so many small kingdoms etc is why so much of the royal families of Europe are German. The British royal family is German. The deposed Greek royal family was German and the last remaining Tsars were actually German. Royalty married each other across national boundaries and there were a lot of German princes to marry off.

Answer 3

Yes, people who are descended from people that inhabited what was once Prussia before Prussia was conquered by the Teutonic Knights (Germany based Catholic Order) are called Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians, a Slavic people. After becoming under German rule Prussia became more and more Germanized and Polanized, and their language became extinct.

Answer 4

Oh my, oh my! Did you not study your history? Germany became unified (a country) in the mid 1800s! Prussia used to be called East Germany! However, the Prussian Empire at various times included all of Germany, Austria, Poland, etc.
To avoid confusion, if you know the name of the town where the ancestors came from, you would go by whatever country that town is now in.
One of my ancestors who lived in the Colonies lived in 3 States and 5 counties, yet never moved! Think how much more confusing it is with countries; Prussia (Preussen) no longer exists, nor does Austrasia (now France) or Gaul (what the Romans called France), etc. So, to avoid confusion, go by whatever the modern name is.

Answer 5

You need to find out where your Grandma's parents were born. IF your Grandama lived in the part of Purssia that was held by the Germans and both her parents were born in Germany then she would be a German born in German held Prussia.

Answer 6

Prussia became component to the dominion of Poland interior the early present day era. It became given to the Electors of Brandenburg (in Germany ) as a fief of the King of Poland interior the seventeenth century, the state being time-honored as Brandenburg-Prussia ; by way of the early 18th century the Electors of Brandenburg-Prussia had won the the identify King of Prussia, so their state became henceforth time-honored using fact the dominion of Prussia. Prussia had substitute into the main efficient German state by way of the 1760s, and remained so till German unification in 1871 (the King of Prussia grew to alter into the 1st Kaiser of Germany). Of the territory comprising the unique fief of Prussia, West Prussia became ceded to the recent Poland in 1919 below the Treaty of Versailles, as component to the Polish hall. Poland won East Prussia after WW2. So, Prussia began as component to Poland, then became component to Germany, and is now component to Poland returned.

Answer 7

Over the years since the occupation,Germany is considered to be Prussia just as Austrians will hasten to tell you.

Answer 8

Prussians were the dominant Germans, and granny knows best. So there.

Answer 9

I have just found this in wikipedia for you, I hope it helps, and yes I think you ancestors are Prussians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Prussia