Dąbrowa Chełmińska is a village in Bydgoszcz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

(administrative district) called Gmina Dąbrowa Chełmińska. It lies east of

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

and north-west of Toruń. It is located in Chełmno Land within the historic region of Pomerania.

History

The territory became a part of the emerging Polish state under its first historic ruler

Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was the first ruler of Poland and the founder of the first independent Polish state, the Duchy of Poland. His reign stretched from 960 to his death and he was a member of the Piast dynasty, a son of Siemomysł and ...

in the 10th century. In the 13th century, it passed under control of the Teutonic Knights as a fief of Poland. The village was first mentioned in 1285 as ''Damerowe''. In 1454, King Casimir IV Jagiellon reincorporated it to the Kingdom of Poland. In 1466, following the Thirteen Years' War, the Teutonic Knights renounced claims to the village, and recognized it as part of Poland. It was administratively located in the Chełmno Voivodeship. After the First Partition of Poland in 1772, it was annexed by Prussia. The

Peace of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when t ...

in July 1807 caused Dąbrowa to become part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw; but after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it fell back to Prussia until 1920; during this time it was called ''Dombrowken'', which was later Germanized to ''Damerau''. Following World War I, Poland regained independence, and Dąbrowa Chełmińska once again became Polish territory in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. During the German occupation of Poland ( World War II), Dąbrowa Chełmińska was one of the sites of executions 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 ...

, carried out by the Germans in 1939 as part of the '' Intelligenzaktion''. In 1942, the occupiers also carried out expulsions of Poles, who were sent to transit and concentration camps in the region.

Nature and recreation

As Dąbrowa Chełmińska is only 20 km away from the center of

, the commune is becoming a popular place to live, especially for commuters. Moreover, the municipality is a popular recreational area due to its location in the middle of forest areas, which occupy almost half of its surface area. Therefore, numerous nature reserves have also been created in and around the village.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club is LKS Dąbrowa Chełmińska. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

Gustav Tornier Gustav Tornier ( Dombrowken (today Dąbrowa Chełmińska, Poland), 9 May 1858 – Berlin, 25 April 1938) was a German zoologist and herpetologist. Life and career Tornier was born in the Kingdom of Prussia as the eldest child of Gottlob Adolf Tor ...

(1858-1938), a herpetologist working at the Natural History Museum of Berlin *

Ernst Ziehm Dr. Ernst Ziehm (1 May 1867 – 7 July 1962) was a Danzig-based German politician from the conservative German National People's Party and President of the Senate of the Free City of Danzig from 1931 to 1933. Born in Damerau, West Prussia, Zieh ...

(1867–1962), President of the Senate of the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

Janusz Dzięcioł Janusz Andrzej Dzięcioł (11 December 1953 – 6 December 2019) was a Polish politician, who was also known for winning the first season of ''Big Brother''. From 2007 to 2015, he was a member of Sejm of Poland from Toruń constituency. From 200 ...

(1953–2019), Polish parliamentarian

References

Villages in Bydgoszcz County {{Bydgoszcz-geo-stub