Hi Neil. Thanks for writing. I too, did not know of the Kashubian people until I began to look into my people's past. I was surprised and pleased at the same time and all the facts seem to fit. Here is a document that may help. Bill The Kaszubs--Then and Now (excerpts) by Jozef Borzyszkowski The Kazubs represent the most distinct regional, ethno-cultural group in Poland today. They constitute the native population of Pomerania--the remnant of the old Baltic Slavs. The etymology of the name Kaszuby (kasz. Kaszebe, lat. Cassubia) has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Linguists and historians continue to dispute the group's origins, from where it originally came, and the exact territory it occupied. Just as problematical is the question of the lands the Kaszubs first settled in Pomerania. It is most generally accepted, however, after the example of Professor Gerard Labuda, that the Kaszubs (Kaszebi is how they call themselves) arrived in Pomerania at the dawn of history. They originally settled the lands stretching from the Baltic to the Notec and Warta Rivers, and from the Vistula to the lower Oder. Later, in the thirteenth century, their name spread westward across the Oder. Their Slav kinsfolk, the Wieleci and Obodryci settled the lands lying farther to the west, as far as the Elbe. To the east, the Pomeranian Kaszubs shared a common border with Baltic Prussians. The period between the early Middle Ages and 1945 was marked by a gradual eastward process of voluntary and enforced Germanization of the Baltic Slavs as a whole, including the Kaszubs. Only the Kaszubs succeeded in preserving their Slavic identity and language, a measure of their cultural distinctiveness, an awareness of their Kaszub identity and a lively sense of their connection with Polish nationality. At the same time, i.e. from as early as the early Middle Ages, similar Polonizing process took place from the south, particularly along the Vistula. Polish settlements originating from Kujavia, Mazovia and Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) hastened the process. As a result, a distinct -region, Kociewie, and Krajna to the south, formed in the eastern part of Pomerania. Today, most Kaszubs live within the borders of the new province (wojewodztwo) of Pomerania, in the area between Gdansk and the line described by the towns Slupsk, Miastko and Bytow to the west, and Chojnice and Czluchow to the south. In the late nineteenth century, Stefan Ramult calculated the Kaszub population in Pomerania at around 200 thousand, with an additional 100 thousand living abroad, mostly in North America. According to present studies and estimated of the Kaszub population in Poland, there are around half a million persons who are aware of their identity; of these, 300 thousand use the Kaszub tongue on a daily basis. A significant number of Kaszubs continue to live abroad, mainly in Germany, Canada and the USA. The folk culture of the Kaszubs shows uniformity both its material and spiritual aspects. It is connected with the group's former dominant rural occupations of farming, fishing, forestry and cottage industry. Besides sharing elements in common with Polish, or, more broadly speaking, Slavic folk culture, it shows the influence of other cultures as well, especially German and Scandinavian. This is only to be expected in view of the peripheral character of the land and its people. Their spiritual culture is particularly rich, and in many ways distinct from that of other Polish regions. German and Polish scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have documented a wealth of Kaszub beliefs, customs, supernatural beings and myths. Nowadays, apart from the Protestant Kaszubs known in literature as the Slovince (Slowincy) the only groups to enjoy a special distinctiveness are those found in southern Kaszuby, e.g. the Gochowianie and Zaborowianie, and the Beloce in the north. Since time immemorial, the mythical griffin, part eagle, part lion, has been the most important crest and emblem of the Kaszubs, and of all Pomerania. It was from this creature that the Gryfici, that dynasty of dukes ruling Western Pomerania until the seventeenth century, derived their name. Historians have shown that the oldest tribal centres of the Kaszubs were precisely the walled towns of Western Pomerania: Szczecin, Wolin, Kamien, Stargard, Bialogard, Kolobrzeg, Slawno and Slupsk. The name Kaszuby is contained in the princely title of Barmin I of Szczecin (1226-1278). The first undisputed record of the name Cassubia dates back to the year 1238. It appeared in a papal document ratifying the possession of Stargard on the Ina by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Prince Boguslaw I (d. 1187) had endowed it to the order half a century earlier. In subsequent papal documents concerning the Dominicans and Franciscans, the name Cassubia is used consistently to denote West Pomerania. At times, however, the scope of the term is widened to include Meklenburg as well, also known as Slavia. The Christianization of the Pomeranian Kaszubs took place between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Arriving in Gdansk in 997, Saint Adalbert (Wojciech) baptize das is written in his life a great many inhabitants of the city and surrounding countryside." Otto of Bamberg went on to bring about the Christianization of Western Pomerania, after the region had been subjugated by Prince Boleslaw Wrymouth. The political fortunes of the Pomeranian territory have always been very complex. Since the early Middle Ages, the region has served as a lightning rod for the clashing interests of Poland, Denmark, Brandenburg and Germany. During the reigns of Miesko, Boleslaw the Bold and Boleslaw Wrymouth, the entire region found itself under their supreme authority. By the thirteenth century, the two parts of Pomerania had become independent principalities of duchies. Before long, West Pomerania fell into the political orbit and world of German culture. 1282 marked the signing of the Treaty of Kepno (1282) between Msciwoj II, the last Duke of Gdansk, and Przemysl II, Duke of Greater Poland. As a result, upon the death of Msciwoj in 1294, East Pomerania became a region of the restored Polish Kingdom. In 1308 the territory was occupied by the Teutonic Order under whose monastic rule it was to remain until 1466. After that, it was incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, preserving its autonomy as Royal Prussia. As for West Pomerania, upon the death (in 1637) of the last of its dukes, Boguslaw XIV, the region was divided up between Brandenburg and Sweden under the provisions of the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). Finally, following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, and then the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Kingdom of Prussia took possession of the entire Pomeranian region for over a hundred years. A significant turning point in the history of the Kaszubs, and Pomerania in general, was the Reformation. By the sixteenth century, Protestantism had become the state religion in West Pomerania. Some pastors tried to introduce the Polish language and a significant admixture of Kaszubism into their liturgy and sermons. This led to the appearance of the first translations of liturgical texts into Polish, complete with Kaszub glossaries. This, in turn, contributed not only to preserving the language but also to raising the ethnic awareness of its practitioners. The Protestant Church soon became an instrument of the state in advancing its policy of Germanization. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Kaszubs inhabiting the eastern province of West Pomerania,the so-called Slovince,resisted this Germanization, but the process advanced with relentless momentum. By the beginning of the twentieth century only a handful of Protestant Kaszubs were left in the vicinity of Slupsk, Leba and Smoldzino. Although their descendants saw themselves by this time as largely German, they showed no desire to leave Poland after W.W.II, but fresh persecution, this time by the Polish Communist authorities and the new settlers, prompted them to abandon Pomerania and Poland for good during the fifties and seventies. Today, like any other group in Poland, the Kaszubs take full advantage of the freedom won in 1989. They enjoy more than adequate representation in both local government (about 150 councillors in the Province of Pomerania) and the national Parliament (7 MPs). In addition, they have numerous groups of leaders in the fields of scholarship, literature and culture. Since 1996, the Kaszub Institute in Gdansk has provided a centre for scholars interested in Kaszub research. The monthly magazine Pomerania is the Kaszub-Pomeranian Association's display case the first up-to-date source of information on the past and present history of the Kaszubs as well as of other groups and inhabitants of the Pomeranian region. Kaszub issues are covered in the columns of many other local publications, including the weekly Norda, a supplement of the Baltic Daily, and the weekly Glos Kaszeb, a supplement of the Pomeranian Voice. Functioning since 1962, under the auspices of the Kaszub-Pomeranian Association, is the Pomerania Student Club which brings together the youth of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. There is also the Kaszub Student Club attached to the Seminary College in Pelplin. It harks back to the days of the Circle of Kaszub Scholars which was formed in 1908. Taking full advantage of its restored freedom, the Kaszub community continues to maintain its identity, building new institutions of collective life, and developing its own regional culture. Apart from state institutions (such as the universities) and social organizations (such as the Kaszub- Pomeranian Association) there are also private individuals and commercial law companies working to advance the cause of the Kaszub language and the ethno-cultural group as a whole. The Kaszub tongue and the Kaszub culture have become commercial commodities as well. Kaszub votes in the local and parliamentary elections often decide the success or failure of a considerable number of candidates who appeal to their Kaszub roots. With a new, sovereign Poland entering the European community, the Kaszubs with their institutions in Pomerania represent an important partner in developing international contacts on the local and regional level. Particularly important is the presence and role of the Kaszubs in maintaining contact and a spirit of cooperation between ethnic minorities and nationalities, as well as between Poland and Germany, both in the fields of scholarly research, cultural exchange and in the resolution of socio-political issues. In the past, the name Kaszub was often used pejoratively in both Germany and Poland. This is now rare. The Kaszubs, as a regional community and ethno-cultural group, and Pomerania, their tiny homeland which straddles national borders, are now in a positions to act as important protagonists in this euro-region and to serve as valuable partners in various kinds of cooperative endeavour. Professor Doctor Jozef Borzyszkowski teaches at the University of Gdansk. He is the author of numerous books and articles, as well as a sought-after speaker. The translation was commissioned by The Polish Heritage Institute, Kaszuby, Ontario, Canada Translated by Christopher A. Zakrzewski, © 2001

Hello Bill & list members, Thank you for the enlightening posting re the Kashubian people and their origins. I was not aware of this particular ethno-cultural group and I'm curious as to what surnames, in past & present use, might be representative/indicative of this heritage. Can anyone shine some light on this aspect of the matter? Thank you, Bette ----- Original Message ----- From: "jetski" <jetski@grics.net> To: <prussia-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 8:04 PM Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Information on Kashuby Here is a document that may help. Bill The Kaszubs--Then and Now (excerpts) by Jozef Borzyszkowski The Kazubs represent the most distinct regional, ethno-cultural group in Poland today. They constitute the native population of Pomerania--the remnant of the old Baltic Slavs. The etymology of the name Kaszuby (kasz. Kaszebe, lat. Cassubia) has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Linguists and historians continue to dispute the group's origins, from where it originally came, and the exact territory it occupied.