Chełmno (; older en, Culm; formerly ) is a town in northern Poland near the Vistula river with 18,915 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of the Chełmno County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Due to its regional importance in the Middle Ages, the city gave its name to the entire area, Chełmno Land (and later an administrative unit of the Kingdom of Poland, the Chełmno Voivodeship), the local Catholic diocese and

Kulm law Kulm law, Culm law or Chełmno Law (german: Kulmer Recht; lat, Jus Culmense vetus; pl, Prawo chełmińskie) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities during the Middle Ages. It was initia ...

, which was used to found cities and towns around Poland, including the current capital city of Warsaw.

Name

The city's name ''Chełmno'' comes from ''chelm'', the old Polish word for hill. After the area was granted to the Teutonic Knights as a Polish fief in 1232, the Germanized name ''Kulm'' was used in official documents regarding the town, as the city was a member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

and part of the State of the Teutonic Order. Chełmno was annexed by Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and, as part of a larger Germanization effort, it was officially renamed ''Kulm''. During the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

in World War II, the town was again renamed from Chełmno to ''Kulm''.

History

The first written mention of Chełmno is known from a document allegedly issued in 1065 by Duke Bolesław II the Generous of Poland for the Benedictine monastery in Mogilno. In 1226 Duke Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to Chełmno Land. In 1233 Kulm was granted city rights known as "

" (renewed in 1251), the model system for over 200 Polish towns. The town was made the nominal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chełmno under the archbishop of Riga by the

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

William of Modena in

1243 Year 1243 ( MCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March – King Ferdinand III (the Saint) turns the independent Taifa of Murcia ...

(however, the cathedral and the residence of the bishop were located actually in the adjacent

Chełmża Chełmża (german: Kulmsee, earlier ''Culmsee''), is a town in north-central Poland, in the Toruń County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is located at around . It is one of the historic centers of Chełmno Land. Geography The town Chełm� ...

). The town grew prosperous as a member of the mercantile

. Kulm and Chełmno Land were part of the Teutonic Knights' state until 1454. In 1440, the town was one of the founding members of the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. In May 1454 the town pledged allegiance to the Polish King in Toruń. After the end of the Thirteen Years' War, the Teutonic Knights renounced claims to the town, and recognized it as part of Poland. It was made the capital of Chełmno Voivodeship. After dissolution of the Archdiocese of Riga in 1566, the bishops of Chełmno attended the councils of the Ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan of Gniezno. This practice was recognised by the Holy See by the Bull ''De salute animarum'' in 1821, when Chełmno diocese became de jure a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Gniezno. Chełmno diocese was enlarged on that occasion ( Górzno, Krajna and Działdowo). In 1692, the local gymnasium was transformed into the Chełmno Academy (''Akademia Chełmińska''), which in 1756 became a branch of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

in Kraków, the oldest and leading Polish university.

Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665 to 1667 – 30 April 1734) was a Polish Baroque composer. Considered one of the greatest composers of Polish Baroque music, during his lifetime he was called the "Polish Handel". Life Born in Rozbark near Byt ...

, one of the greatest Polish

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

composers, was a lecturer at the Academy in the 1690s. In 1772, following the First Partition of Poland, the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. Between 1807 and 1815 Chełmno was part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, being re-annexed by Prussia at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. As ''Kulm'', it had been a garrison town. In 1776 Frederick the Great founded here a cadet school which was to serve in Germanising Polish areas and nobility.''Polacy i Niemcy wobec siebie'' Stanisław Salmonowicz, Ośrodek Badań Naukowych im. W. Kętrzyńskiego, 1993 In 1890 the garrison included 561 military staff.''Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon''. 14th edition, vol. 4, Berlin and Vienna 1892, p. 624-625 (in German). On 1 October 1890 the cadet school was moved to Koszalin (then ''Köslin'') in Pomerania.''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon''. 6th edition, vol. 11, Leipzig and Vienna 1908, p. 785-786 (in German). Also as part of

anti-Polish Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, ( pl, Antypolonizm), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These incl ...

policies, the Prussians expelled the Kraków professors from Chełmno, abolished the local Polish academy, and closed down Catholic monasteries. Poles were subjected to various repressions, local Polish newspapers were confiscated. Chelmno - klasztor i lazaret

Renown Polish surgeon Ludwik Rydygier opened his private clinic in the town in 1878, where he conducted pioneering surgical operations, including the first in Poland and second in the world surgical removal of the pylorus in a patient suffering from stomach cancer in 1880 and the first in the world peptic ulcer resection in 1881. Rydygier sold the clinic to one of his employees, Leon Polewski, in 1887, due to harassment from the Prussian authorities. On January 22, 1920 Polish troops were greeted by a large crowd of residents and Chełmno was reintegrated with Poland, which regained independence after World War I. When World War II broke out in 1939, Nazi German authorities murdered 5,000 Polish civilians upon taking control of the territory.Institute of National Remembrance data, based on Leszczynski, Kazimierz "Eksterminacja ludności w Polsce w czasie okupacji niemieckiej 1939-1945", Warsaw, 1962 The atrocities took place in

Klamry Klamry (german: Klammer) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately east of Chełmno, north of Toruń, and north-east o ...

Małe Czyste Małe Czyste (german: Reinau) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stolno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Stolno, south-east of Chełmno, ...

Podwiesk Podwiesk (german: Podwitz) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately east of Chełmno, north of Toruń, and north-east ...

Płutowo Płutowo () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kijewo Królewskie, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. North of Płutowo village there is the Płutowo Nature Reserve with a total are ...

Dąbrowa Chełmińska Dąbrowa Chełmińska is a village in Bydgoszcz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Dąbrowa Chełmińska. It lies east of Bydgoszcz and north-we ...

, and

Wielkie Łunawy Wielkie Łunawy is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies east of Chełmno and north of Toruń. It is located in Chełmno Land wi ...

, while many other Poles were executed in forests. The rest of the Polish population was expelled to the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

in the more eastern part of German-occupied Poland in line with the German policy of Lebensraum. Polish Secret State resistance groups such as Polska Żyje ("Poland Lives"), Rota, Grunwald, and Szare Szeregi were also active in the area. The area was administered as part of

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship (Polish Corridor), ...

and served as the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of the district/county (''kreis'') of Kulm. On 25 January 1945 German forces set fire to several buildings in the city, including a hospital, a railway terminal, and a brewery, while retreating (see

scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communi ...

). The town was administratively part of the

Toruń Voivodeship Toruń Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Its capital city was Toruń. Major cities and towns (population in 1995) * ...

from 1975 to 1998.

Demographics

Since its founding, the city had a mixed population of

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

and Germans, with the former making ⅔ of its population in the second half of the 19th century.

Main sights

Chełmno has a well-preserved medieval center, with five

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

churches and a beautiful Renaissance town hall in the middle of the market square. The Old Town is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments ('' Pomnik historii''), as designated 20 April 2005, and tracked by the

National Heritage Board of Poland The National Institute of Cultural Heritage of Poland ( pl, Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa NID) is a Polish governmental institution responsible for documenting cultural property and the intangible cultural heritage, as well as for supporting and ...

*Gothic churches: **Church of St Mary, former main parochial church of town, built 1280-1320 (with

St. Valentine Saint Valentine ( it, San Valentino; la, Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with ...

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

) **Church of Saints James and Nicholas, former Franciscan church, from the 14th century, rebuilt in the 19th century **Church of Saints Peter and Paul, former Dominican church, from the 13th and 14th centuries, rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries **Church of Saints John the Baptist and Johns the Evangelist, former Benedictine and Cistercian nuns' church, with monastery, built 1290-1330 **Church of Holy Ghost, from 1280–90 * Town hall, whose oldest part comes from the end of the 13th century, rebuilt in manneristic style (under Italian influence) in 1567-1572 *City walls which surround whole city, preserved almost as a whole, with watch towers and Grudziądzka Gate *

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

building constructed in 1811, now the seat of public library in Chełmno *

building of the Chełmno Academy, reconstructed in the 19th century *Park Planty *Monument of Ludwik Rydygier Chełmno gives its name to the

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

called Chełmno Landscape Park, which stretches along the right bank of the Vistula.

Notable residents

Brunon Bendig Brunon Bendig (6 October 1938 – 15 September 2006) was a Polish amateur boxer who won a silver medal in the featherweight division at the 1965 European Championships. He competed in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics in bantamweight and won a bronze m ...

(1938–2006), amateur boxer *

Adam Cieśliński Adam Cieśliński (born 11 May 1982 in Chełmno) is a Polish footballer who plays as a forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association ...

(born 1982), footballer *

Friedrich-Carl Cranz __NOTOC__ Friedrich-Carl Cranz (14 November 1886 – 24 March 1941) was a German general during World War II who commanded 18th Infantry Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Cranz was killed 24 March 1941 in a tr ...

(1886–1941), general * Hans Dominik (1870–1910), colonial officer * Roderich von Erckert (1821-1900), ethnographer *

Friedrich Fülleborn Friedrich Fülleborn (September 13, 1866 – September 9, 1933) was a physician who specialized in tropical medicine and parasitology. He was a native of Kulm, West Prussia, which today is known as Chełmno, Poland. He studied medicine and natura ...

(1866–1933), physician and tropical disease specialist *

(ca. 1665–1734), Polish

composer, lecturer at the Chełmno Academy * Heinz Guderian (1888–1954), German general, ''blitzkrieg'' and tank theorist * Hyacinth (Jacek) Gulski (1847-1911), Roman Catholic Priest, leader of the Polish Diaspora in the United States, particularly in Milwaukee * Wojciech Stanisław Leski (1702–1758), Bishop of Chelmno * Hermann Löns (1866–1914), writer *

Ernst Wilhelm Lotz Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) ...

(1890–1914), writer * Michael Otto (born 1943), entrepreneur *

Franciszek Raszeja Franciszek () is a masculine given name of Poles, Polish origin (female form Franciszka). It is a cognate of Francis (given name), Francis, Francisco, François, and Franz (given name), Franz. People with the name include: *Edward Pfeiffer (Francis ...

(1896–1942), doctor * Leon Raszeja (1901–1939), lawyer *

Maksymilian Raszeja Maksymilian is the Polish form of the male given name Maximilian. Notable people with the name include: *Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro (1620–1679), Polish noble, writer *Franciszek Maksymilian Ossoliński (1676–1756), Polish noble, politician, col ...

(1889–1939), theologian * Ludwik Rydygier (1850–1920), renown surgeon and professor of medicine *

Antoni Grabowski Antoni Grabowski (11 June 1857 – 4 July 1921)Julius Glück, ''El la klasika periodo de Esperanto (Grabowski kaj Kabe)'', en Muusses Esperanto Biblioteko No. 5, Purmerend, 1937. p. 6. was a Polish chemical engineer, and an activist of the early ...

(1857–1921), chemical engineer,

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

activist *

Georg Salzberger Georg may refer to: * Georg (film), ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also

* George (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

(1882–1975), Jewish rabbi *

Walter Schilling __NOTOC__ Walter Curt Gustav Schilling (23 December 1895 – 20 July 1943) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 17th Panzer Division. He was killed on 20 July 1943 near Izium. On 28 July 1943, Schilling was posthumously award ...

(1895–1943), Wehrmacht general * Kurt Schumacher (1895–1952), German politician *

Max Sperling __NOTOC__ Max Sperling (4 September 1905 – 6 June 1984) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht during World War II who briefly commanded the 9th Panzer Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Awards ...

(1905–1984), Wehrmacht officer * Max Stirner (1806–1856), philosopher *

Adolf Wach Eduard Gustav Ludwig Adolph Wach, known as Adolf Wach (11 September 1843 – 4 April 1926) was a German jurist, a professor in Königsberg, Rostock, Tübingen, Bonn and Leipzig. Biography Wach was born in Chełmno, Kulm, West Prussia, Kingdom of ...

(1843–1926), German jurist *

Jakub Zabłocki Jakub Zabłocki (14 July 1984 – 22 August 2015) was a Polish professional footballer who played as a striker. Career In February 2011, he joined Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as ...

(1984–2015), footballer

Gallery

File:SM Chełmno Ratusz (4) ID 601491.jpg, Chełmno Market Square File:Chełmno Church of St James and St Nicholas 1.jpg, Saints James and Nicholas church File:CHEŁMNO, AB-034.jpg, Historic townhouses at the Market Square File:Chelmno Biskupia 2 01.jpg, Historic townhouses in the Old Town File:Chełmno, kościół św. Piotra i św. Pawła (1).jpg, Saints Peter and Paul church File:Kościół Garnizonowy, Chełmno, Polska - panoramio (3).jpg, Garrison Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa File:CHEŁMNO, AB-045.jpg, Grudziądzka Street in the Old Town File:Chelmno brama Grudziadzka wsch 02.jpg, Grudziądzka Gate File:Chelmno baszty (01).jpg, Defensive walls File:Chelmno, park.jpg, Planty Park File:Chełmno, szkoła, 1862-1866.JPG, High school File:Chełmno, Rybacka 2, poczta.jpg, Post office File:Chełmno, wieża ciśnień (2).jpg, Water tower File:Chełmno - Ulica Dworcowa Urząd Miasta - panoramio.jpg, Municipal office

References

External links

* "Shoah (Film) Interview with Gustav Laabs"
Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelmno Cities and towns in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Chełmno County Populated places on the Vistula Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939) Kulm law Nazi war crimes in Poland