In the Province of Pomerania that, after 

Kaiser's
abdication became part of the Free State of
Prussia within the Weimar
Republic, democracy and women's right to
vote were introduced.[164] The economic situation
worsened due to the consequences of World War I
and the worldwide recession.[165] As in the Kingdom
of Prussia before, Pomerania was a stronghold of
nationalistic and anti-Semitic[166] DNVP.[167] The
government of the state of Prussia, of which
Pomerania was a province, was between 1920 and
1932 led by the Social Democrats, Otto Braun being
Prussian minister-president almost continuously
during this time.
Timeline 1806–1933[edit]

Narrow gauge railways like "Rügensche Kleinbahn",

operating since 1895, were built in all of Pomerania during
the late 19th century.[168]
Since the late 19th century, the Pomeranian coast is a
tourist resort. In Binz, tourism started in the 1860s.

 1806–1813: Napoleonic Wars in Pomerania[169]

 1806: Gustavia constructed[170]
 1806/7: French forces take Province of
Pomerania except for Kolberg[169]
 1807: Battle of Stralsund and Siege of Kolberg
 1807: Peace of Tilsit, Prussia surrenders[169]
 1808: French troops withdraw from the Province
of Pomerania[169]
 1809: Ferdinand von Schill killed in the Battle of
Stralsund (1809)
 1812: French forces invade Swedish
Pomerania and again occupy the
Prussian Province of Pomerania[169]
 1812: Convention of Tauroggen, Pomeranian
corps led by Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg turns
against France[169]
 1813: Mobilization in the Prussian parts of
Pomerania against France, Russian forces occupy
 the Prussian Province of Pomerania, French
forces withdraw[169]
 1815: Congress of
Vienna: Prussia gains Swedish Pomerania
 1815: reorganization of the Province of
Pomerania: Swedish Pomerania and
the Dramburg and Schivelbein counties merged
into the former province, administrative reforms
implemented.[31]
 1815: With the Kingdom of Prussia, the Province
of Pomerania and West Prussia join the German
Confederation (1815–1866)
 1829–1878: West Prussia merged with East
Prussia into Province of Prussia
 since 1840: introduction of a railway system[156]
 1839: Marcin Dunin archbishop of Poznań and
Gniezno, primate of Poland is imprisoned by
Prussian authorities in Kołobrzeg[171]
 1846: 100 Kashubians led by Florian
Ceynowa fail in an attempt to take
the Prussian garrison Preußisch
Stargard (Starograd Gdański) as part of anti-
Prussian uprising[172]
 1848: Poles stage an uprising in southern
Pomerelia, engage in fights Tuchola
Forest against Prussian soldiers.
 1862: Oder and Swine deepened, heavy
industry settled in Stettin[173]
 1867: With the Kingdom of Prussia, the Province
of Pomerania and Pomerelia within the Province
of Prussia join the North German
Confederation (1867–1871)
 since 1870: considerable tourism at the Baltic
coast, former fishing villages are turned into
seaside resorts[174]
 1871: With the Kingdom of Prussia, the Province
of Pomerania and Pomerelia within the Province
of Prussia join the German Empire (1871–1918)
 1872, 1875, 1891: administrative reforms[175]
 1878: West Prussia reestablished
 1918: November Revolution after World War I,
"soldiers' and workers' councils" take over most
Pomeranian towns[176]
 1919: Treaty of Versailles: West
Prussia dissolved, Pomerelia becomes part of
the Second Polish Republic as part of Pomeranian
Voivodeship, Danzig (Gdańsk) made Free City of
Danzig
 1919: Counter-revolution, Freikorps active in
German Pomerania[177]
 1920: new democratic constitution of the Free
State of Prussia now within the Weimar
Republic[178]
 1920: Pomeranian Freikorps participate in
the Kapp-Putsch[177]
 since 1920: Poles construct Gdynia as their port
city in Pomerelia (then the Pomeranian
Voivodeship) and connect it to Upper
Silesian industry by the Polish Coal Trunk-Line
 1920s: economic recession in the German parts
of Pomerania[165]
 1932: Regierungsbezirk Stralsund merged
into Regierungsbezirk Stettin

Nazi era[edit]
Main article: History of Pomerania (1933-1945)

Stutthof concentration camp, former Reichsgau Danzig-

West Prussia, site of the deaths of 85,000 people
Memorial to the victims of Nazi camps in a town
named Police (at that time German: Pölitz) situated
in Trzeszczyn, Wkrzańska Heath
In 1933, the Province of Pomerania like all of
Germany came under control of the Nazi regime.
During the following years, the Nazis led
by Gauleiter Franz Schwede-Coburg manifested
their power by Gleichschaltung and repression of
their opponents.[179] Pomerelia then formed the Polish
Corridor of the Second Polish Republic.
Concerning Pomerania, Nazi diplomacy aimed at
incorporation of the Free City of Danzig and a transit
route through the corridor, which was rejected by the
Polish government.[180]
In 1939, the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland.
Inhabitants of the region from all ethnic backgrounds
were subject to numerous atrocities by Nazi
Germany forces, of which the most affected were
Polish and Jewish civilians.[181][182][183] Pomerelia was
made part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. The
Nazis set up concentration camps, ethnically
cleansed Poles and Jews, and systematically
exterminated Poles, Roma and the Jews. In
Pomerania Albert Forster was directly responsible
for extermination of non-Germans in Danzig-West
Prussia. He personally believed in the need to
engage in genocide of Poles and stated that "We
have to exterminate this nation, starting from the
cradle"[184][185][186][verification needed] and declared that Poles and
Jews were not human.[187][188]
Around 70 camps were set up for Polish populations
in Pomerania where they were subjected to murder,
torture and in case of women and girls, rape before
executions[189][190][verification needed] Between 10 and 15
September Forster organised a meeting of top Nazi
officials in his region and ordered the immediate
removal of all "dangerous" Poles, all Jews and
Polish clergy[191] In some cases Forster ordered
executions himself.[192] On 19 October he
reprimanded Nazi officials in the city of Grudziadz
for not "spilling enough Polish blood"[193]
Timeline 1933–1945[edit]

World War II devastated Kolberg (Kolobrzeg), like most of

Pomerania.

 1933/1934: Enabling Act of
1933 established Nazi rule in the
German Province of
Pomerania. Gleichschaltung of the Province of
 Pomerania's administration, institutions and
society. Repressions and internment of
opponents. Establishment of an SA-led
"wild" concentration camp in Stettin.[179]
 1934: Nazi party headquarters cleansed the
Pomeranian Nazi movement of inner-party
opponents and exchanged many of the staff[179]
 1938: Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia and
two Brandenburgian counties merged into the
German Province of Pomerania
 1938: Several counties
from Mazovia and Greater Poland were joined to
the Polish Pomeranian Voivodship, and her capital
was moved from Toruń (Thorn)
to Bydgoszcz (Bromberg).
 1938: Reichskristallnacht: Synagogues
destroyed, all male Stettin Jews deported
to Oranienburg concentration camp for several
weeks[194]
 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland and
annexes Pomerelia and the Free City of Danzig,
which were made part of the Reichsgau Danzig-
West Prussia.
 since 1939: Atrocities by
German Selbstschutz units and mass murder of
the Polish, Kashubian and Jewish population
of Danzig-West Prussia at Stutthof concentration
 camp and in the Mass murders in Piaśnica as part
of Intelligenzaktion in Polish Pomerania
 1940: Deportation of all Jews from German
Pomerania, including non-Jewish spouses living
in mixed marriages, who had resisted pressure to
divorce, to a reservation near Lublin in
annexed Poland, where later they were murdered
at the extermination camps
of Belzec, Majdanek and Sobibor, prepared
according to the Nisko Plan; Province of
Pomerania declared judenfrei.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]
 1945: Soviet capture following the Red
Army's East Pomeranian Offensive and the
northern theater of the Battle of Berlin, all of
Pomerania under Soviet military control.[42] Mass
suicides, evacuations, flight, expulsion[195]