Gryfice

Gryfice (pronounced ; Kashubian: ''Grëfice''; formerly german: Greifenberg)". 1880. is a historic town in Pomerania, north-western Poland, with 16,600 inhabitants (2017). It is the capital of Gryfice County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Szczecin Voivodeship (1975–1998). The town is situated approximately 22 kilometres from the Baltic Sea coast and seaside resorts.

History

Middle Ages

The region was part of Poland during the reign of the first Polish rulers Mieszko I and Bolesław I the Brave. The Battle of Niekładź took place in the area of Gryfice in 1121, in which Polish ruler Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania and Swantopolk I, Duke of Pomerania. The area was part of the Duchy of Pomerania, a vassal state of Poland, which later on separated itself from Poland as a result of the fragmentation of Poland.

In 1262 Wartislaw III, Duke of Pomerania founded a town under Lübeck law on the Rega river to attract German settlers. After his death, his successor, Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania, named the settlement ''Civitat Griphemberch super Regam'' (Middle High German 'Griphemberch' meaning Griffin's mountain) after the coat of arms symbol of the Dukes of Pomerania. In 1365 the town entered the Hanseatic League and prospered due to the right of free navigation on the Rega.

A town wall was built and at the end of the 13th century the construction of the St. Mary's church was begun. In a document of 1386 a Latin school is mentioned, which is generally called the oldest in Pomerania.

Modern era

In the 16th century, the local Germans pursued a policy of Germanisation towards the indigenous population, which, however, did not bring results quickly. At that time, some of the indigenous peasants fled to Poland, while Scottish immigrants settled in the town. As a result of the Thirty Years' War, the population of the town decreased dramatically. The town was occupied by the Imperial and Swedish armies. After the death of the last Pomeranian Duke and by the Treaty of Westphalia Greifenberg became part of Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648 and part of Imperial Germany in 1871. In 1818 the town became the capital of the Greifenberg district (Kreis Greifenberg).

In 1894 the town was connected to the railway line Dąbie (Altdamm) - Kołobrzeg (Kolberg). On July 1, 1896 the Greifenberger Kleinbahn was opened, a narrow-gauge railway today used as a railway Museum. In 1933 a Polish association of agricultural workers was established in Gryfice. Local Poles and Jews were subjected to increased repressions, after the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. After the German invasion of Poland, forced labourers from Poland were brought to the town.K. Golczewski, ''Miasto Gryfice i powiat na przełomie lat 1944-1945'', p. 60-61 (in Polish)

At the end of World War II, on March 5, 1945, the Soviet Red Army conquered the town, and on March 8, Poles entered the town. Approximately 40 percent of the town was destroyed, however many historical monuments stayed intact or were reconstructed. Following the post-war boundary changes, the town became part of Poland. Initially called ''Zagórze'', it was eventually given the Polish name ''Gryfice''. The Germans who did not escape during the battle with the Soviets, were expelled and the town was populated with Poles, some of them expellees themselves from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. The post-war administration of Gryfice was created with the participation of the just freed Polish forced labourers.

After the war, the life of the town was being rebuilt. In 1945, the first post-war schools, a hospital and a cinema were opened and the following year a mill, a gasworks and a marmalade factory were opened. In 1948 a sugar factory was established, which already in 1951 was one of the leading sugar factories in Poland.

Demographics

Between its foundation and 1945, Greifenberg was predominantly inhabited by German-speaking people. By the 18th century, almost all inhabitants where Lutheran Protestants, with small Jewish and Catholic minorities. With the expropriation and expulsion of the German inhabitants at the end of World War II and the occupation of the vacated buildings by Polish settlers, the majority of its population has been composed of Roman Catholics.

ImageSize = width:530 height:220
PlotArea = left:70 right:40 top:20 bottom:20
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
Colors =
id:gray1 value:gray(0.9)
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:0 till:18100
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2000 start:0 gridcolor:gray1
PlotData =
bar:1939 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:10817 width:15 text:10,8 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1946 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:4898 width:15 text:4,9 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1950 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:8737 width:15 text:8,7 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1955 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:10320 width:15 text:10,3 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1960 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:11548 width:15 text:11,6 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1965 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:12290 width:15 text:12,3 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1970 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:13175 width:15 text:13,2 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1975 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:13939 width:15 text:13,9 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1980 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:15239 width:15 text:15,3 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1985 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:16523 width:15 text:16,5 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1990 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:17593 width:15 text:17,6 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:1995 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:18078 width:15 text:18,1 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:2000 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:17244 width:15 text:17,3 textcolor:red fontsize:8px
bar:2005 color:gray1 width:1
from:0 till:16850 width:15 text:16,9 textcolor:red fontsize:8px

Notable residents

* David Christiani (1610–1688), a German mathematician, philosopher and Lutheran theologian
* Karl Wilhelm Gottlob Kastner, (1783–1857) a German chemist, natural scientist and a professor of physics and chemistry
* Gustav von Struensee (1803–1875) a German writer.
* Herman Schatz (1843–1906) an American politician and blacksmith emigrated to the US in 1851
* Friedrich Heinrich Albert Wangerin (1844–1933) a German mathematician.
* Richard C. H. Lenski (1864−1936), Lutheran scholar, emigrated to the US in 1872
* Conrad Pochhammer (1873–1932) a German physician and surgeon
* Rita von Gaudecker (1879–1968) a German author of books for children and young people
* Moritz Seeler (1896–1942) a German poet, writer, film producer and victim of the Holocaust.
* Ehrengard Schramm (1900–1985) a German politician and writer
* Krzysztof Linkowski (born 1949) a retired Polish runner who specialized in the 800 metres
* Bartosz Nowicki (born 1984) a Polish middle distance runner.
* Grzegorz Krychowiak (born 1990) a Polish professional football player.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Gryfice is twinned with:
* Güstrow, Germany
* Meldorf, Germany
* Gryfów Śląski, Poland

Notes

Literature

* Gustav Kratz: ''Die Städte der Provinz Pommern - Abriß ihrer Geschichte, zumeist nach Urkunden''. Berlin 1865 (reprinted in 1996 by Sändig Reprint Verlag, Vaduz/Liechtenstein, ; reprinted in 2011 by Kessinger Publishing, U.S.A., ), pp. 32–38
online
.

External links

Official website





Jewish Community in Gryfice
on Virtual Shtetl

{{Authority control

Cities and towns in West Pomeranian Voivodeship
Gryfice County