Biedrusko is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in the administrative district of Gmina Suchy Las, within

Poznań County Poznań County ( pl, powiat poznański) 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 local government ref ...

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 ...

, in west-central Poland. It lies on the

Warta 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 ...

river, approximately north of the regional capital

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 Joh ...

. In 2006 the village had a population of 2,200. Biedrusko is the centre of a large military training area of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

. It contains an army barracks, a palace (undergoing restoration), and a large modern estate of apartment blocks.

History

Biedrusko was first recorded in the 13th century. The village belonged to the Cistercian order (according to various sources from 1242, 1491 or 1518), and administratively it was part of 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 ...

of 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 ...

until 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 W ...

in 1793 when it 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 ...

. The village was then subjected to Germanisation, and Prussians confiscated church goods and handed them over to German landowners in 1797. From 1807 it was part of the short-lived Polish

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 ...

, in 1815 it was re-annexed by Prussia, and from 1871 it was also 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 1904 the German Army bought the area, and then set up a large military training area. In November 1918, after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Poland regained independence, and on December 28, 1918, Biedrusko was captured by Polish insurgents, whose aim was to reintegrate the Greater Poland region with Poland. The village was successfully restored to Poland, and the garrison was taken over by the

. It has been in use by the Polish military since then, except during the

German occupation of Poland 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 ...

(

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 ...

) when the German Army used it again as the ''Warthelager'' training camp. This area includes the site of several now uninhabited former villages, including Chojnica, Glinienko, Glinno, Knyszyna, Łagiewniki, Okalewo,

Trzuskotowo Trzuskotowo is a former village in the administrative district of Gmina Suchy Las, within Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. The site of the village is now within the area of the military training ground centred o ...

and Tworkowo. Polish crafts, services and agriculture developed in the interbellum, and in 1937, the garrison was expanded.

References

Villages in Poznań County {{Poznań-geo-stub