Pomeranians (German people)

The Pomeranians (German: Pommern) are a German people living in Pomerania. In the High Middle Ages, Germans from what is today Northwestern Germany, Danes, Dutch and Flemish people migrated to Pomerania during the Ostsiedlung, gradually outnumbering and assimilating the West Slavic tribes of the Rani, Liutizians and Slavic Pomeranians. The evolving society (German: Neustamm) was speaking Pomeranian dialects of Low German. Mostly German immigration continued until the 20th century. The Thirty Years' War caused a severe population drop, only one third of the pre-war Pomeranian population survived. In the late 19th and early 20th century, many Pomeranians emigrated to prospering West German industrial centers or overseas during the Ostflucht. Low German was gradually replaced by Standard German, though spoken with an accent. After World War II, most of the former Province of Pomerania became Polish, and nearly all Pomeranians living east of the Oder-Neisse line fled or were expelled to post-war Germany. Therefore, Pomeranians today live not only in Western Pomerania, but are dispersed all over Germany and other countries.