Poland was the second largest state in Europe in the period before 1772. From 1795 Poland no longer existed as an independent state.

Its territory had been divided in three partitions (1772, 1793, 1795) between Prussia, Austria and Russia.

• Prussia received the western regions (named South Prussia and New East Prussia).
• The southern regions went to Austria (renamed Galicia).
• The eastern regions were taken over by the Russian Empire.

Fig. 6: The partition of Poland\ Source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Partitions_of_Poland_german.png

Prussia and Austria settled German colonists in the territories that had fallen to them.

Fig. 7: Settlement areas of later Krasna colonists in Poland
Source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Neuostpreu%C3%9Fen.png?1555418595499

At the end of the 18th, beginning of the 19th century later Krasna families moved to

1. South Prussia 1799/1806:
   e. g. Becker, Dressler, Hartmann, Heidrich, Hein, Maas, Müller, Wagner Wingenbach, Schlick.
2. New East Prussia 1803-1805:
   e. g. Riehl, Ritz, Rückert, Ulrich.
3. to the Zamość/Galicia region 1784/1786, then belonging to Austria:
   e. g. Alwinger, Dirk, Haupt, Löb, Paul, Pitsch, Söhn, Speicher, Ternes, Tokendorf, Zink.