Police (;

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

until 1945: ''Pölitz'') is a town in the

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 ...

, in northwestern

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 ...

. It is the capital of

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

and one of the biggest towns of the

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 ...

agglomeration Agglomeration may refer to: * Urban agglomeration, in standard English * Megalopolis, in Chinese English, as defined in China's ''Standard for basic terminology of urban planning'' (GB/T 50280—98). Also known as " city cluster". * Economies of ag ...

. The town is situated on the

Oder River The Oder ( , ; Czech, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows t ...

and its

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

, south of the

Szczecin Lagoon Szczecin Lagoon ( pl, Zalew Szczeciński, german: Stettiner Haff, since 1945 sometimes also ''Oderhaff'' (Oder lagoon) or ''Pommersches Haff'' (Pomeranian lagoon)) is a lagoon in the Oder estuary, shared by Germany and Poland. It is separated f ...

and the

Bay of Pomerania The Bay of Pomerania ( pl, Zatoka Pomorska; german: Pommersche Bucht; csb, Pòmòrskô Hôwinga) is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the Pomeranian shores of Poland and Germany. It stretches between the northernmost tip of the island ...

. The centre of Police is situated about north of the centre of

Etymology

The name of the town comes from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...

''pole'', which means

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

History

The settlement was first mentioned in 1243. Pomeranian duke Barnim of Pomerania granted

Magdeburg law Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

to the town in 1260.Thomas Gallien, Reno Stutz, Geschichtswerkstatt Rostock, Landesheimatverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, ''Landeskundlich-historisches Lexikon Mecklenburg-Vorpommern'', Hinstorff, 2007, p.503 At the end of the 13th century, the town had become a fief of a local dynasty of

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s, the Drake family. In 1321, with the death of Otto Drake, the town became a dependency of nearby Stettin (now Szczecin),Peter Johanek et al.: ''Städtebuch Hinterpommern Ausg. 2-3'',

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-l ...

, 2003, p.268, hindering its growth until the mid-18th century. Nearby Jasienica Abbey, now within the Police city limits, was secularized during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

, which was adapted in 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 ...

in 1534. After its secularization, the abbey became a ducal domain, and was the site of the treaty that for the first time partitioned the duchy into a

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

part (

Pomerania-Wolgast The Duchy of Pomerania-Wolgast, also known as the Duchy of Wolgast, and the Duchy of Wołogoszcz, was a feudal duchy in Western Pomerania within the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Wolgast. It was ruled by the Griffin dynasty.Edward Rymar, ''R ...

and Pomerania-Stettin) in 1569. From the

Treaty of Stettin (1630) The Treaty of Stettin ( sv, Traktaten or ''Fördraget i Stettin'') or Alliance of Stettin (german: Stettiner Allianz) was the legal framework for the occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania by the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War. Conclu ...

until the Treaty of Stockholm (1720), Pölitz was part of

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held ...

, and of Prussian Pomerania thereafter. In 1808, Pölitz became independent from Stettin again. In 1815, Pölitz became part of the restructured Province of Pomerania, administered within Landkreis Randow county. In 1939, this county was dissolved and Pölitz was made part of Groß-Stettin.Johannes Hinz, ''Pommern Lexikon'', Kraft, 1994, p.236,

German synthetic fuel factory

In 1937, the

synthetic fuel Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel, or sometimes gaseous fuel, obtained from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks such as coal or biomass or by refo ...

plant ''Hydrierwerke Pölitz AG'' was founded by IG Farben, Rhenania-Ossag, and Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft which by 1943 was producing 15% of

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 synthetic fuels, 577,000 tons. The plant derived its workforce from an adjacent system of camps (Pommernlager, Nordlager, Tobruklager, Wullenwever-Lager, Arbeitserziehungslager Hägerwelle, Dürrfeld Lager) plus a ship moored on the

serving as a camp (Umschulungslager Bremerhaven). In addition, a subcamp of the

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German- ...

was located in Pölitz. During

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 plant made Pölitz a nine-time bombing target of the Allied Oil Campaign from late April 1943 onward, leading to 70% of the town being destroyed.

Post–World War II

The city with the plant was captured by the Soviet Union’s

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, afte ...

during the Battle of Berlin on 26 April 1945. While most of the former German territory east of the Oder-Neisse line became Polish, Pölitz, situated on the western bank of the Oder, remained a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

-administered exclave: Marshal

Zhukov Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...

decreed the establishment of a Soviet county with Pölitz, Ziegenort, Jasenitz, Messenthin and Scholwin.Jan M Piskorski, ''Pommern im Wandel der Zeit'', 1999, p.380, 25,000 German workers had to disassemble the plant before it was sent to the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Gradually, the area without the plant was given to Poland: Mścięcino (formerly ''Messenthin'') on 7 September 1946, and Police (formerly ''Pölitz'') with Jasienica (formerly ''Jasenitz'') on 19 September. On 25 February 1947 the plant also passed to Polish control. As a result, the Soviet Union allowed Polish annexations of German land west of the river Odra, beyond the border as agreed on the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris P ...

. Polish settlers, partially expellees from the east of former Poland, arrived in the region to replace the German population that had fled or were forcibly expelled. They were joined by refugees from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Yugoslav Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...

in 1953. The ruins of the plant still remain standing, though they are not secured and are dangerous to visit. A large chemical plant (''Zakłady Chemiczne "Police"'') was built in the town in 1969 and has grown since to become one of the largest in Poland. It produces mostly

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolub ...

pigments and nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers. Police was in the Szczecin Voivodeship from 1946 to 1998. Since 1999 the town has been part of the

Districts

Police Old Town Police Old Town is the old town (oldest historic district) of the town of Police, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Police, Poland in the Pomerania Region. Monuments There are a few interesting monuments in Police, e.g. *Brick Gothic Chapel (15th c ...

* Mścięcino * Jasienica *New Town (Nowe Miasto: Osiedle Dąbrówka, Osiedle Gryfitów, Osiedle Księcia Bogusława X, Osiedle Anny Jagiellonki) Notable buildings from the pre-WW2 era: *the ruins of Jasienica Abbey, a former Augustinian abbey in Police-Jasienica (14th century) *a Gothic Church in Police-Jasienica (14th/18th century) *a Gothic

Chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

(15th century) in The Chrobry Square in The Old Town *a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Church (19th century) in the Old Town *the Police

Lapidary Lapidary (from the Latin ) is the practice of shaping stone, minerals, or gemstones into decorative items such as cabochons, engraved gems (including cameos), and faceted designs. A person who practices lapidary is known as a lapidarist. A lap ...

in The Staromiejski Park in the Old Town *

Tenement house A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

s (19th century) * Town hall (1906) (not rebuilt after WWII) The tourist and cultural information office is localised in The Gothic Chapel in Bolesław Chrobry Square in The Old Town of Police

Geography and nature

Police is situated on the

and an

of the

- Roztoka Odrzańska, south of the Lagoon of Szczecin and the

. The centre of Police Town is situated about north of the centre of

. Police is at located in the Ueckermünder Heide ( pl, Puszcza Wkrzańska) with the Świdwie Nature Reserve around Lake Świdwie ( pl, Jezioro Świdwie) near

Tanowo Tanowo (german: Falkenwalde) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Police, within Police County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies approximately west of Police and north- ...

and Dobra. A kayak route follows the Gunica River from Węgornik through

, Tatynia and Wieńkowo to Police-Jasienica. At the

( pl, Zalew Szczeciński, german: Stettiner Haff) is a small

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

marina on the mouth of the Łarpia River (part of Oder) - 'Olimpia'. The ruins of the synthetic petrol plant (Hydrierwerke Pölitz – Aktiengeselschaft) are now a habitat of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

s (

Barbastelle ''Barbastella'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats. There are seven extant species in this genus and one only known from fossil remains. Species The genus consists of the following species: * ''Barbastella barbastellus'' – western barbastelle ...

Greater mouse-eared bat The greater mouse-eared bat (''Myotis myotis'') is a European species of bat in the family Vespertilionidae. Description ''Myotis myotis'' is a large bat with a long, broad muzzle and big, long ears. The body's dorsal side is brown to reddish-b ...

Daubenton's Bat Daubenton's bat or Daubenton's myotis (''Myotis daubentonii'') is a Eurasian bat with rather short ears. It ranges from Ireland to Japan (Hokkaido) and is considered to be increasing its numbers in many areas. This bat was first described in 18 ...

Natterer's bat Natterer's bat (''Myotis nattereri'') is a European vespertilionid bat with pale wings. It has brown fur tending to greyish-white on its underside. It is found across most of the continent of Europe, parts of the Near East and North Africa. It fe ...

Brown long-eared bat The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (''Plecotus auritus'') is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat which was o ...

Population

*1740: 1,000 *1850: 2,500 *1960: 8,900Rocznik Statystyczny 1981, Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warszawa 1981, Rok XLI *1970: 12,800 *1975: 17,600 *1980: 24,800 *1983: 28,581 *1990: 34,400 *1995: 34,456 *2000: 35,000 *2004: 41,400 *2014: 41,745

Infrastructure

Major roads under state control connect Police to

Trzebież Trzebież (formerly german: Ziegenort) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Police, within Police County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies approximately north of Police an ...

and

Nowe Warpno Nowe Warpno (; formerly german: Neuwarp) is a historic town in northwestern Poland, within Police County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It lies on the shore of the Szczecin Lagoon, at the border with Germany. It is the seat of the urban-rural ad ...

, No. 114; to

, No. 114; and to

over Przęsocin. Main streets in Police include: ul. Tanowska, ul. Bankowa, ul. Grunwaldzka, ul. Kościuszki, ul. Jasienicka, ul. Dworcowa, ul. Piastów, ul. Wojska Polskiego, ul. Asfaltowa, ul. Cisowa, ul. Piłsudskiego, and ul. Wyszyńskiego. *Railway: :*

- Police -

* Harbours: :* Port of Police: Sea- Harbour :* Port of Police:

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

- Harbour *Airport in

Goleniów Goleniów ( csb, Gòłonóg; german: Gollnow) is a town in Pomerania, northwestern Poland with 22,844 inhabitants (2011). It is the capital of Goleniów County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Szczecin Voivodeshi ...

, a town behind the Oder River ( Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport) *

Public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

: **10

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

lines in a town. Bus communication between all districts of a town, a few villages near Police ( Trzeszczyn,

, Siedlice, Leśno Górne, Pilchowo, Przęsocin, LS to

over Dębostrów, Niekłończyca and Uniemyśl) and

City. *

Taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

Culture and sport

* Chemik Police - football club * KPS Chemik Police - female volleyball club * Łarpia Sail Festival - shanty music festival - in May, periodic * ''Augustinian Fair'' (Polish: ''Jarmark Augustiański'') in Jasienica - at the end of August, periodic *

Police Nationwide Quarter-Marathon The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

(''Ćwierćmaraton Policki'') - in October, periodic * ''Police Music Days'' (Polish: ''Polickie Dni Muzyki "Cecyliada"'') - in October, periodic

Hospital

A clinic hospital in Police (Siedlecka Street, The New Town, Osiedle Gryfitów) is a part of The

Pomeranian Medical University Pomeranian Medical University (PMU) was established in 1948 in Szczecin, Poland. It is referred to as ''Pomorski Uniwersytet Medyczny'' in Polish. History Viewed from a historical perspective, a period of 53 years, when compared with the mu ...

Notable residents

* Ludwig Hollonius (1570s-1621), pastor and playwright *

Hans Modrow Hans Modrow (; born 27 January 1928) is a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany. Taking office in the middle of the Peaceful Revolution, he was the ''de facto'' leader of the country for much of the winter ...

(born 1928), former premier of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Major corporations

* Zakłady Chemiczne Police SA * Port of Police (The

Seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

, The

Barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

Port, The 'Mijanka' cargo berth) *

Industrial Park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

- Policki Park Przemysłowy ( Infrapark Police)

Twinning cities

The

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Police are: * Pasewalk, Germany * Novyi Rozdil, Ukraine * Slagelse, Denmark http://www.slagelse.dk/media/8605243/nordiske-venskabsbyer.pdf

Towns near Police

, Poland *

, Poland * Eggesin, Germany * Ueckermünde, Germany * Pasewalk, Germany

References

; Notes

External links

Official town webpage

The Factory: Zakłady Chemiczne "Police"

Police Harbour

Jasienica VR360
{{DEFAULTSORT:Police (Town), Poland Cities and towns in West Pomeranian Voivodeship Police County Port cities and towns in Poland Socialist planned cities