What language did East Prussians speak?

Moonlighting   Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:42 am GMT
From my understanding, the Prussian language became extinct by the early 18th century.

What language did East Prussians mostly speak in the late 19th century and early 20th century in an area of Königsberg(modern-day Kaliningrad Oblast)?

Was it German, Lithuanian, Polish or Russian?
Choose a more original na   Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:03 am GMT
German
Cyril   Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:53 pm GMT
Like Italy that lost Istria and Dalmatia, Germany lost East Prussia (after WW2) that were slavized.
Königsberg   Tue Dec 02, 2008 4:23 pm GMT
From 1500 to 1945 East Prussia was just as German as any other province of Germany.
With the Soviet invasion and the country being divided between Poland and Russia, the population was exterminated. The survivors took refuge in Western Germany.
svealander   Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:18 am GMT
Of course, the Germans had already driven out and exterminated the Slavs that lived there before.
Unbiased   Wed Dec 03, 2008 5:16 pm GMT
svealander: "Of course, the Germans had already driven out and exterminated the Slavs that lived there before."

And the slavs did not do it better, when they invaded East Prussia!
Daniel   Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:15 am GMT
Of cause German
Jerry   Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:52 am GMT
Did they also know some slavic languages?
eastlander   Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:40 pm GMT
No ,they didn't.East Prussia was germanized,only little number of it inhabitants spoke Lithuanian dialects with some Old Prussian influence at home.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Prussians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Prussian_language
eastlander   Tue Dec 23, 2008 2:42 pm GMT
Old Prussian name for Koenigsberg is Twanksta.
http://prusa.strefa.pl/tautaskarti.html
Travis   Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:20 am GMT
Even after East Prussia was Germanized, though, they spoke both East Low German and High German, with High German over time displacing East Low German.