Sieraków (; german: Zirke) is a town in western

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 8,768 inhabitants (2012). Located by the

Warta River The river Warta ( , ; german: Warthe ; la, Varta) rises in central Poland and meanders greatly north-west to flow into the Oder, against the German border. About long, it is Poland's second-longest river within its borders after the Vistula, a ...

, it is situated in the

Międzychód County __NOTOC__ Międzychód County ( pl, powiat międzychodzki) 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 of the Polish lo ...

in the

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 ...

. Sieraków is known as a holiday destination with well-developed tourism and sport infrastructure. It is surrounded by extensive areas of forest and lakes, including the

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

called Sieraków Landscape Park.

History

As part of the region of

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...

, i.e. the cradle of the Polish state, the area formed part of Poland since its establishment in the 10th century. It was a

private town A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family. History of Private Towns in Poland In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc. A ...

, administratively located in the Poznań County in the

Poznań Voivodeship Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...

in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. During the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition occurred in the aftermath of the Polish–Russian War ...

in 1793, Sieraków, under its Germanized name ''Zirke'' was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

. Following the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...

. After the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it was re-annexed by Prussia. The local population was subjected to

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...

policies. In 1871, it also became 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 ...

and was located in the Birnbaum district in the Prussian

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 ...

. According to the census of 1871, the town had a population of 2,527, of which 1,130 (44.7%) were

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 ...

. The town was captured by Polish insurgents in the Greater Poland uprising in 1919 and was subsequently assigned to the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

through the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

. 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 opposin ...

in 1939, the town was occupied by

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 ...

and was annexed as part of the Birnbaum district in

Reichsgau Wartheland The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German ''Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent a ...

. In 1939–1940, the occupiers carried out expulsions of Poles, whose houses were then handed over to

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 **Ger ...

colonists as part of the ''

Lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...

'' policy. Towards the end of the war in 1945, it was captured by 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 ...

and was restored to Poland. In 1975–1998, it was administratively located in the

Notable residents

Lewis Naphtali Dembitz Lewis Naphtali Dembitz (February 3, 1833 – March 11, 1907) was a German American legal scholar. He influenced his nephew Louis Brandeis, who admired him greatly, to choose law as a profession. Born into a Jewish family in Zirke, in the Pru ...

(1833–1907), German American legal scholar *

Hartmut Neugebauer Hartmut Neugebauer (2 September 1942 – 22 June 2017) was a German actor, voice actor and dialogue director. He was the German dub-over voice of actors Gene Hackman, John Goodman and Robbie Coltrane. He was the father of the late voice actress ...

(1942-2017) German actor and voice actor *

Krzysztof Opaliński Krzysztof Opaliński (21 January 1611 – 6 December 1655) was a Polish szlachta (nobleman), politician, writer, satirist, and Voivode (Governor) of Poznań. A notable figure during the Swedish Deluge, Opaliński was a skilled diplomat who oppo ...

(1611-1655), Polish nobleman and political satirist

Gallery

File:Sieraków - zamek Opalińskich ( XIVw. ), obecnie muzeum - panoramio.jpg, Opaliński Castle Museum File:Sierakow-sarkofagi1.jpg, Opaliński family sarcophagus in castle's basement File:Powstańców Square in Sieraków - IMG 3442.jpg, ''Plac Powstańców Wielkopolskich'' (main square) File:Jezioro Jaroszewskie lato 2.jpg, Jaroszewskie Lake

External links

Sierakow official web page (in Polish)

Parish of Sierakow official web page (in Polish)

TKKF

Discussion forum

Major corporations

WartaGlass

Glass Work Majchrzak

References