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Krotoszyn (german: Krotoschin, yi, קראטאשין ''Krotoshin'') is a town in west-central
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 populous ...
with 30,010 inhabitants . It has been part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was within
Kalisz Voivodeship Kalisz Voivodeship may also refer to: *Kalisz Voivodeship (1314–1793) *Kalisz Voivodeship (1816–1837) The Kalisz Voivodeship was a voivodeship of the Congress Poland, that existed from 1816 to 1837. Its capital was Kalisz. It was established o ...
from 1975 to 1998.


History

Krotoszyn was founded by local nobleman , participant of the
Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...
, and was granted
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 ...
in 1415 by King
Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło ()He is known under a number of names: lt, Jogaila Algirdaitis; pl, Władysław II Jagiełło; be, Jahajła (Ягайла). See also: Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło. w ...
. It was a private town owned by the Krotoski, Niewieski, Rozdrażewski and
Potocki The House of Potocki (; plural: Potoccy, male: Potocki, feminine: Potocka) was a prominent Polish noble family in the Kingdom of Poland and magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Potocki family is one of the wealthiest and ...
families, historically located in the
Kalisz Voivodeship Kalisz Voivodeship may also refer to: *Kalisz Voivodeship (1314–1793) *Kalisz Voivodeship (1816–1837) The Kalisz Voivodeship was a voivodeship of the Congress Poland, that existed from 1816 to 1837. Its capital was Kalisz. It was established o ...
in 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 ...
. After the town suffered a fire in 1453, King Casimir IV of Poland vested it with new privileges, establishing a weekly market and three annual
fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...
s. It developed as a regional center of trade and crafts, located at the intersection of the KaliszGłogów and
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 ...
Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
trade routes. During the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
, in 1628, Protestant refugees from German states settled in the town. It was plundered by the
Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...
, during the
Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge ( pl, potop szwedzki, lt, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce ...
in 1656, but soon recovered and famous fairs were held there. 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 em ...
in 1793 during the Second Partition of Poland. In 1807 regained by Poles as part of the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, in 1815 it was re-annexed by Prussia, and in 1871 it subsequently became part of Germany. During the German rule in the 19th century, the town was located in the Prussian
province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...
. The castle of Krotoszyn was the centre of a mediatised principality formed in 1819 out of the holdings of the Prussian crown and granted to the prince of
Thurn und Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end ...
in compensation for his relinquishing control over the Prussian postal system and it was subjected to
Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...
. Famous Polish composer
Fryderyk Chopin The Fryderyk is the annual award in Polish music. Its name refers to the original Polish spelling variant of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin's first name. Its status in the Polish public can be compared to the American Grammy and the UK's BRI ...
stopped in the town in 1829. During the Polish Greater Poland uprising (1848)
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
and
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
attacked the local Polish committee, and the Poles had to move their activities to
Koźmin Wielkopolski Koźmin Wielkopolski (, german: Koschmin) is a town in Krotoszyn County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 6,678 inhabitants according to the 2010 census. It is the seat of the Koźmin Wielkopolski urban-rural gmina, which has a population ...
. Later on, despite the Germanisation policies,
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 Ce ...
established a number of organizations, including an industrial society, a cooperative bank and a local branch of the "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society. Many inhabitants took part in the
Greater Poland uprising (1918–19) Greater Poland Uprising (also Wielkopolska Uprising or Great Poland Uprising) may refer to a number of armed rebellions in the region of Greater Poland: * Greater Poland Uprising (1794) * Greater Poland Uprising (1806) * Greater Poland Uprising ( ...
, during which the town was liberated by the insurgents on 1 January 1919, nearly two months after Poland regained its independence.


World War II

The Germans attacked Krotoszyn on 1 September 1939, the first day of the
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
and
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 opposin ...
. On 2 September they bombed a train with Polish civilians fleeing the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
from Krotoszyn, killing 300 people and on 3 September they captured the town. The Germans established a transit camp for Polish
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
and over 4,500 Polish soldiers passed through the camp. In mid-September 1939, the '' Einsatzgruppe VI'' entered the town to commit various crimes against the Polish population. During the
German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
the Polish population was subjected to mass arrests,
Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...
policies, discrimination, expulsions, executions and deportations to
forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
in Germany. Poles from Krotoszyn, including several local policemen and the town's deputy mayor, as well as several alumni of local schools, were also murdered by the Russians in the large
Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...
in April–May 1940. The Germans destroyed the memorial dedicated to local Polish insurgents of 1918–1919, while another monument plaque was hidden by Poles and thus preserved. Germany also established and operated a Nazi prison in the town. Nevertheless, local Poles managed to organize the underground resistance movement, which included secret Polish teaching, scout troops, a local branch 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) esta ...
, the
Secret Military Organization Secret Military Organization, or Tajna Organizacja Wojskowa, TOW in Polish, was a clandestine military formation organized prior to World War II in the Second Polish Republic in the event Polish territory was occupied by foreign powers. The countr ...
and structures of the
Polish Underground State The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...
. Independent underground Polish press was issued in the town. The town was liberated by
Soviet 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, ...
troops and local Poles in January 1945 and restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. Some members of the Polish resistance movement were persecuted by the communists after the war.


Economy

The dominant trade is in grain and seeds, and the headquarters of the Polish branch of
Mahle GmbH MAHLE GmbH is a German automotive parts manufacturer based in Stuttgart, Germany. It is one of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide. As a manufacturer of components and systems for the combustion engine and its periphery, the company is one ...
is located there.


Cuisine

The officially protected traditional food originating from Krotoszyn is ''wędzonka krotoszyńska'', a type of Polish
smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and ''lapsang souchong'' tea are often smoked. In Europe, alder is the tradi ...
pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
meat (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland). Local traditions of meat production date back hundreds of years, and the first butchers'
guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
s were established shortly after granting town rights in the early 15th century.


Sports

The main sports club of the town is Astra Krotoszyn with
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
sections.


Notable people

*
Agnieszka Duczmal Agnieszka Duczmal (Polish pronunciation: ; born 7 January 1946 in Krotoszyn, Poland) is a Polish conductor and founder of the Poznań Amadeus Orchestra. Early life and education She was born in 1946 in Krotoszyn where she spent the first nine yea ...
(born 1946), Polish conductor *
Martin A. Couney Martin Arthur Couney (born Michael Cohen, 1869 – March 1, 1950) was an American obstetrician of German-Jewish descent, an advocate and pioneer of early neonatal technology. Couney, also known as 'the Incubator Doctor', was best known in med ...
(1869–1950), American obstetrician *
Katarzyna Grochola Katarzyna Grochola (Polish pronunciation: ; born 18 July 1957) is a Polish writer and journalist. Biography Grochola was born in Krotoszyn, Poland. Her mother was a specialist in Polish studies and her father was a lawyer. She finished Julius ...
(born 1957), Polish writer *
Georg Huth Georg Huth (25 February 1867 – 1 June 1906) was a German Orientalist and explorer. Huth was born in Krotoszyn (Krotoschin) in the Province of Posen, Prussia. In 1885, he entered the University of Berlin, and he graduated at the University o ...
(1867–1906), German Orientalist * Isidor Kalisch (1816–1886), reform rabbi * Judah Aryeh ben Zvi Hirsch (), French Hebraist * Theodor Kullak (1818–1882), German pianist and composer *
Marian Langiewicz Marian Langiewicz, full name Marian Antoni Melchior Langiewicz (; 5 August 1827, Krotoszyn – 11 May 1887, Istanbul), was a Polish patriot notable as a military leader of the January Uprising in 1863. Biography He was born in the province of ...
(1827–1887), Polish military leader of the
January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...
*
Marcin Lijewski Marcin Lijewski (born 21 September 1977) is a former Polish handball player and the current coach of Poland. As a player he received a silver medal with the Polish team at the 2007 World Men's Handball Championship in Germany and a bronze medal ...
(born 1977), Polish handball player *
Otto Roquette Otto Roquette (April 19, 1824 – March 18, 1896) was a German author. Life and work Roquette was born in Krotoschin, Prussian Province of Posen. The son of a district court councillor, he first went to Bromberg (modern Bydgoszcz) in 1834, and from ...
(1824–1896), German author *Władysław Rybakowski (1885-1952), Polish social and political activist *
Maria Siemionow Maria Siemionow (born 1950 in Krotoszyn, Poland) is a Polish transplant surgeon and scientist who led a team of eight surgeons through the world's first near-total face transplant at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. The patient, Connie Culp, a 45-ye ...
(born 1950), world-renowned Polish scientist and microsurgeon *
Melitta von Stauffenberg Melitta () is a German company selling coffee, paper coffee filters, and coffee makers, part of the Melitta Group, which has branches in other countries. The company is headquartered in Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is named after Mel ...
(born Schiller) (1903–1945), German test pilot of WWII *
Louis Weissbein Louis Weissbein (1831-1913) was a German-born American architect practicing in Boston, Massachusetts. Life and career Louis Weissbein was born July 19, 1831, to Michael A. Weissbein and Johanna (Basch) Weissbein in Krotoschin, then under the co ...
(1831-1913), architect, immigrated to the United States in 1854 *David Zvi Banet (1893–1973), Orientalist and Professor of Arabic Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem *
Łukasz Kaczmarek Łukasz Kaczmarek (born 29 June 1994) is a Polish professional volleyball player. He is a member of the Poland national team, a participant in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, silver medallist at the 2022 World Championship, and a two–time Cham ...
(born 1994), Polish volleyball player


International relations


Twin towns – Sister cities

Krotoszyn is twinned with: * Bucak, Turkey * Brummen, Netherlands * Fontenay le Comte, France *
Dierdorf Dierdorf is a town in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Westerwald, approx. 20 km northeast of Neuwied, and 20 km north of Koblenz. Dierdorf is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("colle ...
, Germany * Maišiagala, Lithuania *
Fonyód Fonyód (german: Fonjod) is a town and holiday resort on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, in north-west Somogy, western Hungary, with over 4,700 residents. It is the seat of Fonyód District. History The first mention of Fonyód was in a lett ...
, Hungary


Gallery

Krotoszyn układ urbanistyczny 01.JPG, Historic townhouses at the Market Square SM Krotoszyn Kościół Jana Chrzciciela 2019 (5).jpg,
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
Saint John the Baptist church Krotoszyn ratusz.jpg, Krotoszyn Town Hall Krotoszyn kościół św. Fabiana 25. 08. 2013 p2.jpg, Preserved old wooden church of Saints Fabian, Roch and Sebastian Sąd 2.jpg, District court Krzyż Katyński w Krotoszynie.JPG,
Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...
memorial at the local cemetery


References


Mangabay Population Listing
Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Krotoszyn County Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939) {{Krotoszyn-geo-stub