Ostfriesland

The area that the Waldeckers came from is called Ostfriesland. I found the following:

East Frisia (Ostfriesland) is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. It connects Western Frisia (in the Netherlands) with the district of Nordfriesland (“Northern Frisia”) in Schleswig-Holstein, all of which belong to the historic and geographic Frisia. Ostfriesland consists of the districts of Aurich, Leer, Wittmund as well as of the city of Emden.

In earlier years, many people left East Frisia for reasons of poverty and emigrated to the United States or elsewhere. Today the region is again suffering from the loss of young educated people, who go away to find better employment in, for example, southern Germany. Many communities face a rising number of aged people as a source for structural problems in the future.

East Frisia played an important role in the Reformation period. Menno Simons, founder of the Mennonite church, found refuge there.

Saxons also settled the region and the East Frisian population of later times is based on a mixture of Frisian and Saxon elements. Nevertheless, the Frisian element is predominant in the coastal area, while the population of the higher Geest area expresses more Saxon influence. In the Middle Ages people could only settle on the higher situated Geest areas or by erecting so-called “Warften” (artificial hills to protect the settlement, whether a single farming estate or a whole village, against the North Sea floods) in the marsh-areas. In about 1000 BC the Frisians started building the large dikes along the North Sea shore. This had a great effect on establishing a feeling of national identity and independence. Until the late Middle Ages Ostfriesland resisted the attempts of German states to conquer the coasts.

The genuine language of East Frisia was Frisian which now is almost extinct, largely replaced by East Frisian Low Saxon. Original East Frisian survived somewhat longer in several remote places as for example in the islands, such as Wangerooge. Today a modern variant of East Frisian can be found in the Saterland, a district near East Frisia. In former times people from East Frisia who left their homes under pressure had settled in that remote area surrounded by moors and kept their inherited language alive. This language which forms the smallest language-island in Europe is called Saterland Frisian or, by its own name, Seeltersk. It is spoken by about 1000 people.

East Frisian Low Saxon (or Eastern Friesland Low Saxon, as some people prefer to say for a better distinction from East Frisian, which is Frisian but not a Low German) is a variant of Low German with many of its own features due to the Frisian substrate and some other influences originating in the varied history of East Frisia.

In modern Germany, East Frisians in general are the traditional butt of ethnic jokes. This is mainly the case in the North; in the South, similar jokes are told about Austrians.

In general, I found that the Frisians cherished their freedom, and during the Middle Ages the feudal system never came to Frisia. For more information click here: