Chełmno (; older en, Culm; formerly ) is a town in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

near the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

river with 18,915 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of the

Chełmno County Chełmno County ( pl, powiat chełmiński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local governm ...

in the

Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship or simply Kujawsko-Pomorskie, or Kujawy-Pomerania Province ( pl, województwo kujawsko-pomorskie ) is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divide ...

. Due to its regional importance in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the city gave its name to the entire area,

Chełmno Land Chełmno land ( pl, ziemia chełmińska, or Kulmerland, Old Prussian: ''Kulma'', lt, Kulmo žemė) is a part of the historical region of Pomerelia, located in central-northern Poland. Chełmno land is named after the city of Chełmno (hist ...

(and later an administrative unit of the Kingdom of Poland, the

Chełmno Voivodeship The Chełmno Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland since 1454/1466 until the Partitions of Poland in 1772/1795. Together with the Pomeranian and Malbork Voivodeships and the Prince-B ...

), the local Catholic diocese and Kulm law, which was used to found cities and towns around Poland, including the current capital city of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Name

The city's name ''Chełmno'' comes from ''chelm'', the old Polish word for hill. After the area was granted to the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

as a Polish

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

in 1232, the Germanized name ''Kulm'' was used in official documents regarding the town, as the city was a member of the Hanseatic League and part of the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order (german: Staat des Deutschen Ordens, ; la, Civitas Ordinis Theutonici; lt, Vokiečių ordino valstybė; pl, Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego), also called () or (), was a medieval Crusader state, located in Cent ...

. Chełmno was annexed by Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and, as part of a larger

Germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...

effort, it was officially renamed ''Kulm''. During the German occupation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, 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 Bolesław II the Bold, also known as the Generous ( pl, Bolesław II Szczodry ; ''Śmiały''; c. 1042 – 2 or 3 April 1081 or 1082), was Duke of Poland from 1058 to 1076 and third King of Poland from 1076 to 1079. He was the eldest son of Duk ...

of Poland for the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery in

Mogilno Mogilno (; ) is a town in central Poland, situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship (1975–1998). History Mogilno is one of the oldest settlements along the border of the Greater Poland an ...

. In 1226 Duke

Konrad I of Masovia Konrad I of Masovia (ca. 1187/88 – 31 August 1247), from the Polish Piast dynasty, was the sixth Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia from 1194 until his death as well as High Duke of Poland from 1229 to 1232 and again from 1241 to 1243. Life Konrad wa ...

invited the

. In 1233 Kulm was granted city rights known as " Kulm law" (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 The Roman Catholic Diocese of Chełmno ( pl, Diecezja chełmińska; german: Bistum Kulm/Culm) was a Roman Catholic diocese in Chełmno Land, founded in 1243 and disbanded in 1992.archbishop of Riga by the papal legate

William of Modena William of Modena ( – 31 March 1251), also known as ''William of Sabina'', ''Guglielmo de Chartreaux'', ''Guglielmo de Savoy'', ''Guillelmus'', was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat.

in 1243 (however, the cathedral and the residence of the bishop were located actually in the adjacent Chełmża). The town grew prosperous as a member of the mercantile Hanseatic League. 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 The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia (region), Prussi ...

, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the m ...

reincorporated the territory to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

in 1454. In May 1454 the town pledged allegiance to the Polish King in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

. 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

. After dissolution of the

Archdiocese of Riga The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Riga is an archdiocese administered from the capital city of Riga in Latvia.Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

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 The Archdiocese of Gniezno ( la, Archidioecesis Gnesnensis, pl, Archidiecezja Gnieźnieńska) is the oldest Latin Catholic archdiocese in Poland, located in the city of Gniezno.Górzno Górzno (german: Gorzno, 1939-45: Görzberg) is a town in Brodnica County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provin ...

Krajna Krajna is a forested historical region in Poland, situated in the border area between the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Greater Poland, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomeranian Voivodeships of Pol ...

and

Działdowo Działdowo (german: Soldau) (Old Prussian: Saldawa) is a town in northern Poland with 20,935 inhabitants as of December 2021, the capital of Działdowo County. As part of Masuria, it is situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999), D ...

). In 1692, the local gymnasium was transformed into the Chełmno Academy (''Akademia Chełmińska''), which in 1756 became a branch of the Jagiellonian University in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, the oldest and leading Polish university. Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, one of the greatest Polish Baroque 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 The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

. Between 1807 and 1815 Chełmno was part of the short-lived Polish

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

, being re-annexed by Prussia at the end of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. As ''Kulm'', it had been a garrison town. In 1776

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

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 Koszalin (pronounced ; csb, Kòszalëno; formerly german: Köslin, ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-sta ...

(then ''Köslin'') in

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

.''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon''. 6th edition, vol. 11, Leipzig and Vienna 1908, p. 785-786 (in German). Also as part of anti-Polish 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 Ludwik Antoni Rydygier (21 August 1850 – 25 June 1920) was a Polish surgeon, professor of medicine, rector of the University of Lwów and Brigadier General of the Polish Army. He was one of the most distinguished Polish and worldwide known surg ...

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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When

broke out in 1939,

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

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, Małe Czyste, Podwiesk, Płutowo, Dąbrowa Chełmińska, and Wielkie Łunawy, while many other Poles were executed in forests. The rest of the Polish population was expelled to the General Government in the more eastern part of German-occupied Poland in line with the German policy of

Lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imper ...

Polish Secret State The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...

resistance groups such as Polska Żyje ("Poland Lives"), Rota, Grunwald, and

Szare Szeregi "Gray Ranks" ( pl, Szare Szeregi) was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association (') during World War II. The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation i ...

were also active in the area. The area was administered as part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and served as the seat 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). The town was administratively part of the Toruń Voivodeship 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 C ...

and

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, 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 churches and a beautiful

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

town hall in the middle of the market square. The Old Town is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (''

Pomnik historii Historic Monument ( pl, pomnik historii) is one of several categories of objects of cultural heritage (in the singular, '' zabytek'') in Poland. To be recognized as a Polish historic monument, an object must be declared such by the President ...

''), as designated 20 April 2005, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland. Chełmno ratusz

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

Grudziądz Grudziądz ( la, Graudentum, Graudentium, german: Graudenz) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its prov ...

ka Gate * Arsenal building constructed in 1811, now the seat of public library in Chełmno * Baroque building of the Chełmno Academy, reconstructed in the 19th century *Park Planty *Monument of

Chełmno gives its name to the protected area called

Chełmno Landscape Park Chełmno Landscape Park (''Chełmiński Park Krajobrazowy'') is a protected area ( Landscape Park) in north-central Poland, established in 1998, covering an area of . The Park lies within Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in the region of the town ...

, which stretches along the right bank of the Vistula.

Notable residents

* Brunon Bendig (1938–2006), amateur boxer * Adam Cieśliński (born 1982), footballer * Friedrich-Carl Cranz (1886–1941), general * Hans Dominik (1870–1910), colonial officer *

Roderich von Erckert Roderich von Erckert (15 December 1821 – 12 December 1900) was a German ethnographer and officer. His work on the Caucasian languages The Caucasian languages comprise a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten ...

(1821-1900), ethnographer * Friedrich Fülleborn (1866–1933), physician and tropical disease specialist * Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665–1734), Polish Baroque composer, lecturer at the Chełmno Academy *

Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in th ...

(1888–1954), German general, ''blitzkrieg'' and tank theorist *

Hyacinth (Jacek) Gulski Hyacinth Gulski (November 28, 1847 – December 24, 1911) was a pioneer Polish-American Roman Catholic priest. He served as Archdiocesan Consultor to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Biography Gulski was born in Chełmno, then ...

(1847-1911), Roman Catholic Priest, leader of the Polish Diaspora in the United States, particularly in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

* Wojciech Stanisław Leski (1702–1758), Bishop of Chelmno *

Hermann Löns Hermann Löns (29 August 1866 – 26 September 1914) was a German journalist and writer. He is most famous as "The Poet of the Heath" for his novels and poems celebrating the people and landscape of the North German moors, particularly the L ...

(1866–1914), writer * Ernst Wilhelm Lotz (1890–1914), writer * Michael Otto (born 1943), entrepreneur * Franciszek Raszeja (1896–1942), doctor * Leon Raszeja (1901–1939), lawyer * Maksymilian Raszeja (1889–1939), theologian *

(1850–1920), renown surgeon and professor of medicine * Antoni Grabowski (1857–1921), chemical engineer, Esperanto activist * Georg Salzberger (1882–1975), Jewish rabbi * Walter Schilling (1895–1943), Wehrmacht general *

Kurt Schumacher Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician who became chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the Wes ...

(1895–1952), German politician * Max Sperling (1905–1984), Wehrmacht officer *

Max Stirner Johann Kaspar Schmidt (25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner, was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is often seen a ...

(1806–1856), philosopher * Adolf Wach (1843–1926), German jurist * Jakub Zabłocki (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