Krzyż Wielkopolski (german: Kreuz (

Ostbahn Ostbahn (german: Eastern Railway) may refer to: * Austrian Eastern Railway (''Ostbahn''), a former railway company in the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary * Eastern Railway (Austria) (''Austrian Ostbahn''), a railway line in Austria, initially o ...

)) is a town in

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 ...

, with 6,176 inhabitants (2019) in the

Czarnków-Trzcianka County __NOTOC__ Czarnków-Trzcianka County ( pl, powiat czarnkowsko-trzcianecki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result ...

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo wielkopolskie; ), also known as Wielkopolska Voivodeship, Wielkopolska Province, or Greater Poland Province, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 o ...

. It is an important railroad junction, with two major lines crossing there - the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

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 the

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

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 ...

connections.

History

From 1847 to 1848 the line of the

Stargard Stargard (; 1945: ''Starogród'', 1950–2016: ''Stargard Szczeciński''; formerly German language, German: ''Stargard in Pommern'', or ''Stargard an der Ihna''; csb, Stôrgard) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian V ...

-Posen Railway Company was built through the area. In 1848, the construction of a train station began at the planned junction of the Küstrin-Posen line, with a reception building built in the classical style. The town owes its existence to the rail, as developed only after 1848, when the Poznań-Szczecin line was opened, crossing the

Prussian Eastern Railway The Prussian Eastern Railway (german: Preußische Ostbahn) was a railway in the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany until 1918. Its main route, approximately long, connected the capital, Berlin, with the cities of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) ...

. In fact its name (''Krzyż'' and ''Kreuz'' in English mean ''cross'') reflects the fact that rail lines cross there. Although the construction of the

was only finally approved by the Prussian state parliament at the end of 1849, the railway station Kreuz with the south-west-north-east orientation of its tracks was laid out on a route from

to the lower

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 ...

and to

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

. The construction of the Prussian Eastern Railway began in 1849 from the aforementioned station and was completed in 1851 via

Piła Piła (german: Schneidemühl) is a city in northwestern Poland and the capital of Piła County, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Its population as of 2021 was 71,846, making it the third-largest city in the voivodeship after Poznań ...

. Further sections of the last 740 km route followed until the opening of the last section from the

to Gusow in 1857. Ostbahn

After further railway lines to

Wałcz Wałcz (pronounced ; german: Deutsch Krone) is a county town in Wałcz County of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. During the years 1975 to 1998, the city was administratively part of the Piła Voivodeship. Granted city ri ...

and

Rogoźno Rogoźno (german: Rogasen) is a town in Poland, in Greater Poland Voivodeship, about 40 km north of Poznań. Its population is 11,337 (2010). It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Rogoźno. History Rogoźno d ...

had been built from this point in the following years, the station had gained such importance that a new settlement developed in its vicinity. A

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church was built in 1882 and the market square was completed in 1900. The good rail connections prompted several industrial companies such as a starch factory and

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood pro ...

companies to setup in the area. The population had increased from 430 in 1880 to 2,400 in 1910. Until 1887, Kreuz belonged to the Czarnikau district in the

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

and after its bifurcation, to the Filehne district until 1920. It remained part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in the interwar period, but was located only 2 km from the new border with

. Kreuz became part of the newly formed Province of Posen-West Prussia and was located in the Netzekreis district. It was incorporated as a town in 1936. In 1938, with the dissolution of the province of

Posen-West Prussia The Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia (german: Grenzmark Posen-Westpreußen, pl, Marchia Graniczna Poznańsko-Zachodniopruska) was a province of Prussia from 1922 to 1938. Posen-West Prussia was established in 1922 as a province of the Free ...

, Kreuz was incorporated into the Province of Pomerania. Towards the end of

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

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 ...

occupied the region and 85% of the town was destroyed. After the war, the town became part of Poland.

References

Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Czarnków-Trzcianka County {{GreaterPoland-geo-stub