Lipno (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Leipe) 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 ...

, in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, about southeast of

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 ...

. It is the administrative seat of Lipno County and of Gmina Lipno. Its population is 14,791 (2010). The town is the birthplace of actress

Pola Negri Pola Negri (; born Apolonia Chalupec ; 3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress and singer. She achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme ...

, economist Leszek Balcerowicz and politician

Ya'akov Meridor Ya'akov Meridor ( he, יעקב מרידור, born Yaakov Viniarsky on 29 September 1913, died 30 June 1995) was an Israeli politician, Irgun commander and businessman. Biography Yaakov Viniarsky (later Meridor) was born in the Polish town of Li ...

History

Lipno dates back to 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 ...

, when it was part of the Piast-ruled Kingdom of Poland. In 1349 it 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 ...

. Administratively Lipno was located in the

Dobrzyń Land Dobrzyń Land ( pl, ziemia dobrzyńska) is a historical region in central-northern Poland. It lies northeast of the Vistula River, south of the Drwęca, and west of the Skrwa. The territory approximately corresponds with the present-day powiats ...

in the

Inowrocław Voivodeship Inowrocław Voivodeship ( pl, województwo inowrocławskie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Together with the neighbouring Brześć Kujawski Voiv ...

in the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = Prowincje I RP.svg , image_map_capt ...

. Despite not being the capital of the Dobrzyń Land, Lipno became the region's most important centre and the seat of the sejmik of the

. The town was annexed by

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 ...

in the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, in 1807 it became part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw and in 1815 it became part of so-called

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

in the Russian Partition. Many inhabitants took part in the unsuccessful

November November is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, the fourth and last of four months to have a length of 30 days and the fifth and last of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. No ...

and

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

s against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, after which Lipno was subject to severe persecutions. Nevertheless, local

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 ...

founded various organisations. Lipno became part of independent Poland again, when the country proclaimed independence on 11 November 1918, afterwards the town's cultural life was revived. Poland

During the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921) * russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...

, the town was briefly occupied by the Soviets from 13–14 August 1920. The Soviets then plundered private homes and shops, as well as the municipal office, and terrorized the population. Prominent local activist and organizer of the Polish defense, Jerzy Starzyński, was subjected to gruesome tortures and murdered. Nearly half of the occupying security forces were local communist

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, recruited mainly from the poor.Krajewski, p. 115 Wealthy Jews and Orthodox Jews did not support the Soviets, and several wealthy Jews were robbed and murdered by the Soviets. Lipno was liberated by Poles on 20 August 1920. A monument to local Polish soldiers fallen in the war was erected in 1930. In 1924, Zygmunt Uzarowicz, a former Polish independence activist in the Russian Partition of Poland, became the mayor of the town, and held office until the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

in 1939. During the

, which started

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 raided by the Germans on 2 September 1939 and captured on 8 September. 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 ...

were subject to mass arrests, expulsions and executions. A prison for Poles was established in the town. In October 1939, the Germans carried out mass arrests of Polish teachers and landowners from Lipno and surrounding villages, deceitfully gathering them to Lipno for alleged conferences on town matters. 71 teachers and several dozen landowners were arrested, imprisoned in

concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...

and

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 ...

camps, and mostly later murdered. Also 20 priests were arrested and imprisoned in the Stutthof concentration camp, where 13 of whom died. Around 200 Poles and Jews from Lipno and surrounding villages were murdered in the forest near Karnkowo.Wardzyńska, p. 175 Next mass arrests of Poles were carried out in April 1940. 10 Poles were murdered in a public execution at the

market square The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a Town square, square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world.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 ...

in 1940, and then deported to the

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

and Buchenwald concentration camps, where he was beaten to death by the Germans in 1942. In addition, about 3,300 Poles were expelled from the Lipno County, and Jews were deported to Nazi ghettos, however Poles managed to create an underground resistance movement. In 1939, the Germans destroyed the Polish monument from 1930.Krajewski, p. 122 It was rebuilt in 1992.

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 ...

team is , which competes in the lower leagues.

Gallery

Kościół par.p.w. Najświętszej Marii Panny w Lipnie N. Chylińska.JPG, Church of the Assumption Poczta z oficyną w Lipnie N. Chylińska.JPG, Post office Lipno - miejsce straceń.jpg, Memorial at the site of a public execution of 10 Poles by the Germans in 1940 Poland. Lipno 031.JPG, World War II memorial Zygmunt Uzarowicz plaque in Lipno.jpg, Memorial plaque to pre-war mayor Zygmunt Uzarowicz Poland. Lipno 026.JPG, District court

References

External links

Official town websiteFestival"Pola and others"
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Lipno Płock Governorate Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939) Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)