Dobrzany ( csb, Jakùbòwò; german: Jacobshagen, or ''Jakobshagen'') is a town in

Stargard County __NOTOC__ Stargard County ( pl, powiat stargardzki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

West Pomeranian Voivodeship The West Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as the West Pomerania Province, is a voivodeship (province) in northwestern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin. Its area equals 22 892.48 km² (8,838.84 sq mi), and in 2021, it was i ...

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 populous ...

. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,225.

History

A settlement existed at the site of current-day Dobrzany since the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. Excavations have uncovered work tools that dated from the 7th to the 10th century BC. The area became part of the emerging Polish state in 967. 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 a ...

, in the 10th-12th centuries, two

strongholds A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

existed at the site. It was part of medieval

and the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country ha ...

after it split off from Poland during the fragmentation of the realm in the mid-12th century. The town developed as a settlement in the vicinity of the stronghold in the 12th century. Dobrzany, then called Jacobshagen, was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

at the latest in 1336, when it came into the possession of the Pomeranian family of Steglitz, vassals of the dukes of

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

. In 1359, the town passed to the lords of nearby

Szadzko Szadzko (formerly ) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dobrzany, within Stargard County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Dobrzany Dobrzany ( csb, Jakùbòwò; german ...

. During that time, the inhabitants made their living from agriculture. They also had a mill and brewery. In 1359 the town passed to the Duchy of

Wolgast Wolgast (; csb, Wòłogòszcz) is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast that can be ...

, in 1368 to the

Duchy of Słupsk The Duchy of Pomerania-Stolp, also known as the Duchy of Stolp, and the Duchy of Słupsk, was a feudal duchy in Farther Pomerania within the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Słupsk. It was ruled by the Griffin dynasty. It existed in the High M ...

, and in 1459 back to the united Duchy of Pomerania. In 1567, Pomeranian Duke

Barnim XI Barnim XI (1501–1573; by some accounts Barnim IX), son of Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania, became Duke of Pomerania, duke on his father's death in 1523. Life Barnim ruled for a time in common with his elder brother George I, Duke of Pomerania, G ...

issued the town the right to hold two annual fairs. In 1598, a church was constructed. In 1701 the town became part of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. On 17 June 1781, a large fire started in the mill and destroyed most of the town. Thanks to the support of Prussian King Frederick II, it was rebuilt under the direction of renowned Pomeranian architect,

David Gilly David Gilly (7 January 1748 – 5 May 1808) was a German architect and architecture-tutor in Prussia, known as the father of the architect Friedrich Gilly. Life Born in Schwedt, Gilly was the son of a French-born Huguenot immigrant named Jacques ...

. The people destroyed the old Szadzko (then ''Saatzig'') castle and made use of the stones in the rebuilding. On 20 August 1896, a railway station was opened in Jacobshagen thus connecting the city to the nearby village of

Kozy Kozy (German: ''Seiffersdorf, Seibersdorf, Kosy (1941–45)''; Wymysorys: ''Zajwyśdiüf'') is a large village with a population of 12,457 (2013) within Bielsko County, located in the historical and geographical south-west region of Less ...

(then ''Kashagen'') in modern fashion. Although new companies came to Jacobshagen, only a sawmill, a brickyard, a dairy, and a cloth factory were created. A mere 1,900 inhabitants were left. At the turn of the 20th century, Jacobshagen had a Protestant church, a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

, a district court, and a forestry office. During Nazi rule, a

Reich Labour Service The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Nazi ...

unit was located in the town. 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 opposin ...

, the town was sixty percent destroyed when it was occupied by the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

on 2 March 1945. After

Nazi Germany 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 ...

's defeat in the war, Dobrzany became again part of Poland. The town's population was expelled. The first new post-war settlers where

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 ...

returning from

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

in Germany.

Notable people

* David Hollatz (1648-1713 in Jakobshagen) a Lutheran dogmatician, became pastor in Jakobshagen in 1692.

References

External links

Official site of Gmina Dobrzany

Jewish Community in Dobrzany
on Virtual Shtetl
{{Authority control Cities and towns in West Pomeranian Voivodeship Stargard County