Skórcz () is a town in

Starogard County __NOTOC__ Starogard County (, ) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. The name is a combination of two terms: stari which is Slavic for ''old'' and gard which is Pomerani ...

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...

, in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, with 3,609 inhabitants (2017). It is located in the ethnocultural region of

Kociewie Kociewie is an ethnocultural region in the eastern part of Tuchola Forest, in northern Poland, Pomerania, that is inhabited by the Kociewians. Its cultural capital is Starogard Gdański, the biggest town is Tczew, while other major towns include ...

in the historic region of

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

History

Following the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, Skórcz was occupied by Germany. The nearby forest was the site of a massacre of 11

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

committed by the German '' Selbstschutz''. A prison of the German gendarmerie was established in the town. Poles from Skórcz were among the victims of large massacres of Poles from the region committed by the occupiers in 1939 in the forests of Szpęgawsk and Zajączek as part of the ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders committed against the Polish people, Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) during the ...

''.Wardzyńska, pp. 150, 153 In 1942, the Germans renamed the town to ''Großwollental'' in attempt to erase traces of Polish origin. German occupation ended in 1945, and the town's historic name was restored. In 2010, the first monument to

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

, Polish President killed in the

Smolensk air disaster On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria ...

, was unveiled in Skórcz.

Economy

Skórcz is home to the headquarters, production plant and distribution center of Iglotex, one of Poland's major producers and distributors of

frozen food Freezing food Food preservation, preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing foo ...

s. As of 2020, it employed nearly 700 people.

Sports

The athletics club LLKS Ziemi Kociewskiej Skórcz is based in the town.

Notable people

Grzegorz Gajdus Grzegorz Gajdus (born 16 January 1967 in Skórcz, Pomorskie) is a long-distance runner from Poland, who represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He ran his personal best (2:09:22) in 2003, when he finished in ...

(born 1967) a long-distance runner, competed in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

* Sławomir Pstrong (1975–2015), film and television director, screenwriter, and author of short stories.

References

Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Starogard County Towns in Kociewie {{Starogard-geo-stub