Złocieniec (; formerly german: Falkenburg) is a town 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 ...

. Located in

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 ...

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

since 1999, it was previously a part of Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–1998). The population of Złocieniec is around 12,000 - it is therefore the biggest town in the county (

powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powiat ...

History

The official town webpage states that between the 7th and 6th century BC the area of the town was the site of a village and that the area of Western Pomerania was settled by Slavs in the 6th-8th centuries. The area was part of Poland during the reign of the first Polish rulers Mieszko I and Bolesław I the Brave. In the 13th century it was the northernmost area of the

Duchy of Greater Poland The Duchy of Greater Poland was a district principality in Greater Poland that was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland. It was formed in 1138 from the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, following its fragmentation started by the testament of ...

, a province of fragmented

. When the

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 ...

were granted it's highly probable that among German inhabitants of the town were also Slavs from Budów and Strzebłów-villages that were disbanded. Town rights were granted by the brothers von Wedel on 13 December 1333. From 1373 Złocieniec was one of the northernmost towns of the

Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of ...

(or ''Czech Lands''), ruled by the

Luxembourg dynasty The House of Luxembourg ( lb, D'Lëtzebuerger Haus; french: Maison de Luxembourg; german: Haus Luxemburg) or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kin ...

. In 1402, the Luxembourgs reached an agreement with

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. Poland was to buy and re-incorporate Złocieniec and its surroundings, but eventually the Luxembourgs sold the city to the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

. During the

Polish–Teutonic War (1431–35) Polish–Teutonic War may refer to: * Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk) (1308–1309) *Polish–Teutonic War (1326–1332) over Pomerelia, concluded by the Treaty of Kalisz (1343) *the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War or ''Great War'' (140 ...

Złocieniec rebelled against the Order to join Poland and recognized the Polish King as rightful ruler, but after the

Peace of Brześć Kujawski Peace of Brześć Kujawski was a peace treaty signed on December 31, 1435 in Brześć Kujawski that ended the Polish–Teutonic War (1431–1435). The treaty was signed in the aftermath of the Livonian Order's defeat at the hands of the allied Po ...

, the town, after receiving a guarantee of impunity for siding with Poland, returned to the rule of the Teutonic Knights, although, as it turned out, for a short time - only until 1454. In 1668 the town was almost completely destroyed by a fire. In the 18th century it became part of

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 ...

and subsequently it was part of Germany from 1871 to 1945. During the era 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 ...

the

Ordensburg Krössinsee Ordensburg Krössinsee (also ''Crössinsee'') was the first of three ''NS-Ordensburgen'', educational centers constructed in Germany in the 1930s for cadres of the Nazi Party. It was built near what was then the city of Falkenburg in Pomerania, ...

was built near the town in 1934. The SA attacked the Jewish population here during

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

, later, during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

a forced labour camp was established near the town, from which 31 Poles managed to escape. 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 ...

, in view of the inevitable defeat of Nazi Germany, on March 2, 1945, the evacuation of people who were unable to fight was ordered. On March 5, the town was captured by the

First Polish Army First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. After

the town was handed over to

by the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

per 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 ...

, with

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 C ...

being transferred from the East while remaining Germans were expelled to the west. On May 13, 1945 the first transport of Poles expelled from former

Eastern Poland Eastern Poland is a macroregion in Poland comprising the Lublin, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Świętokrzyskie, and Warmian-Masurian voivodeships. The make-up of the distinct macroregion is based not only of geographical criteria, but also econo ...

, annexed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, arrived to Złocieniec from the

Baranowicze Baranavichy ( ; be, Бара́навічы, Łacinka: , ; russian: Бара́новичи; yi, באַראַנאָוויטש; pl, Baranowicze) is a city in the Brest Region of western Belarus, with a population (as of 2019) of 179,000. It is no ...

region.

Population statistics

Church of the Assumption in Złocieniec (6)

* 1666: 990 * 1880: 4,009 * 1925: 5,529 * 1939: 8,623verwaltungsgeschichte.de
/ref> * 1950: 7,550 * 1960: 8,400 * 1970: 10,200 * 1975: 11,500 * 1980: 12,000 * 1990: 18,000 * 2000: 22,000 * 2005: 28,000

International relations

Złocieniec is twinned with:

Notable residents

Caspar Brülow Caspar Brülow (1585-1627) was a Pomeranian scholar and dramatist who wrote in Latin and German. He is remembered for his Latin language dramas on Biblical and Classical subjects which were performed by his students. Born in Falkenburg, he moved t ...

(1585–1627) scholar and dramatist *

Otto Neitzel Otto Neitzel (6 July 1852 – 10 March 1920) was a German composer, pianist, writer on music, and lecturer. Neitzel was born in the town of Złocieniec, Falkenburg in Farther Pomerania (modern Złocieniec, Poland). His father, Gottfried Nei ...

(1852–1920) a composer and pianist, music writer, journalist and lecturer * Ullrich Haupt (1887–1931), actor IMDb Database
retrieved 17 October 2018 * Rudolf Katz (1895–1961), German politician and judge * Mariusz Rumak (born 1977), Polish football manager *Krzysztof Myszkowski (born 1963), Polish musician, lead vocalist of Stare Dobre Małżeństwo

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zlocieniec Cities and towns in West Pomeranian Voivodeship Drawsko County Holocaust locations in Poland