Łasin (german: Lessen) is a town in Grudziądz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship,

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 ...

, with 3,271 inhabitants (2004). It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

(administrative district) called Gmina Łasin. It lies approximately east of Grudziądz and north-east of

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

. It is located within the historic Chełmno Land.

History

The history of Łasin dates back to the rule of First Polish King

Bolesław I the Brave Bolesław I the Brave ; cs, Boleslav Chrabrý; la, Boleslaus I rex Poloniae (17 June 1025), less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia betwe ...

. Polish brothers Mateusz and Jakub owned land near the Łasinka River (Łasin). In the year 1298, it was taken from them by the Country Master of the Teutonic Order Meinhard von Querfurt and given to Jan de Nemore, who founded the village of Łasin. Also in 1298, the town received German Magdeburg law city rights from the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in which it was located. In 1454, King Casimir IV Jagiellon reincorporated the Chełmno Land into the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the ...

, however, Łasin itself was captured by Poles in 1461 during the subsequent Thirteen Years' War. After the war, in 1466, the Teutonic Knights renounced claims to the town, and recognized it as part of Poland. Administratively it was located in the Chełmno Voivodeship of Royal Prussia in the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown Greater Poland Province ( pl, Prowincja Wielkopolska) was an administrative division of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1795. The name of the province comes from the historic land of Greater Poland. The Greater Poland Province c ...

. Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the town, as ''Lessen'', was annexed by King

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

and made part of 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''. ...

. In 1871, with the Prussian-led unification of Germany, it became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. It belonged to the Graudenz district in the Prussian Province of West Prussia. According to the census of 1871, the town had a population of 2,385, of which 1,390 (58.3%) 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 ...

. After the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, in 1920, in accordance with 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 1 ...

, Łasin became part of the Second Polish Republic, after it regained independence in 1918. In interwar Poland, the mayor of Łasin was Stefan Tomczyński, a Polish activist and efficient administrator, who was previously harassed by Prussians for pro-Polish activity in the Prussian Partition. 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 **Ge ...

(

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

), in October 1939, the ''

Selbstschutz ''Selbstschutz'' (German for "self-protection") is the name given to different iterations of ethnic-German self-protection units formed both after the First World War and in the lead-up to the Second World War. The first incarnation of the ''Selb ...

'' carried out several mass executions of Polish inhabitants of Łasin and its surroundings, killing 150 people.

Culture

A museum dedicated to firefighting ('' Muzeum Pożarnictwa Ziemi Pomorskiej'') is located in Łasin.

Sports

Piast Łasin sports club is based in Łasin, with football,

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

and

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effo ...

sections.

Gallery

File:Pomnik Magdalenka Lasin.jpg, Monument to Poles murdered by the Nazis in 1939 File:Lasin, city wiev (7).jpg, Old townhouses File:Lasin jezioro.jpg, Łasin Lake File:Wieża Łasin.JPG, Water tower

Notable people

* Zbigniew Dębski (1922–2010), Polish military officer, member of the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) es ...

and participant of the Warsaw Uprising *

Heiner Stadler Heiner Stadler (April 9, 1942 – February 18, 2018) was a jazz composer, record producer, pianist and arranger whose work has traversed genres including jazz, blues and country, baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary classical music. He wa ...

(1942–2018), jazz composer and musician

References

Cities and towns in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Grudziądz County {{Grudziądz-geo-stub