Lębork (; csb, Lãbòrg; formerly german: Lauenburg in Pommern) is a town of 37,000 people on the Łeba and

Okalica Okalica is a river of Poland, a tributary of the Łeba, which it meets at the town of Lębork Lębork (; csb, Lãbòrg; formerly german: Lauenburg in Pommern) is a town of 37,000 people on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in the Gdańsk Pomerania ...

rivers in the

Gdańsk Pomerania Gdańsk Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze Gdańskie), csb, Gduńsczim Pòmòrzã, german: Danziger Pommern) is a geographical region within Pomerelia in northern and northwestern Poland, covering the bulk of Pomeranian Voivodeship. It forms a part and ...

region in northern

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 ...

. It is the capital of

Lębork County __NOTOC__ Lębork County ( csb, Lãbòrsczi kréz, pl, powiat lęborski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the Baltic coast. It came into being on January 1, 1999, ...

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province ( Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. Th ...

History

Middle Ages

636712 Lębork obszar Starego Miasta z basztami 05

The region formed part of Poland since the establishment of the country in the 10th century. The town was founded on the site of a previous Slavic settlement named ''Łebno'', dating back to the 10th century. Its name was Germanised to ''Lewin'' and then ''Lewinburg'' by the

Teutonic Knights 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 o ...

, after annexation from Poland in 1310. In 1341

Dietrich von Altenburg Dietrich von Altenburg was the 19th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1335 to 1341. He came from the Thuringian town of Altenburg in the Holy Roman Empire, where his father held the office of a burgrave of the immediate Pleis ...

, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, granted 100 ''Hufen'' (similar to hides) to Rutcher von Emmerich for the foundation of a town named ''Lewinburg'' (Lauenburg) with

Kulm rights Kulm law, Culm law or Chełmno Law (german: Kulmer Recht; lat, Jus Culmense vetus; pl, Prawo chełmińskie) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities during the Middle Ages. It was initia ...

,Schmidt, 229 presumably to secure the territory around Stolp (Słupsk). East of the original city 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 ...

completed the ''

Ordensburg ''Ordensburg'' (plural ''Ordensburgen'') is a German term meaning "castles/fortresses of (military) orders", and is used specifically for such fortified structures built by crusading German military orders during the Middle Ages. Medieval Or ...

'' castle in 1363. The castle was partly razed after the 1410

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 remained under Polish control until 1411. In 1440 the town joined 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 ...

, which opposed the Teutonic Knights, and at the request of which King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the m ...

signed the act of re-incorporation of the town and region to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

in 1454. The population of Lauenburg was composed in large part of

Kashubians The Kashubians ( csb, Kaszëbi; pl, Kaszubi; german: Kaschuben), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in nor ...

, later

Slovincians Slovincians, also known as Łeba Kashubians, is a near-extinct ethnic subgroup of the Kashubian people, who originated from the north western Kashubia, located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, from the area around the lakes of Łebsko and G ...

. In 1454 after the outbreak of the Thirteen Years' War, troops from Danzig (Gdańsk) occupied Lauenburg and Bütow (Bytów); the following year they were turned over to

Eric II, Duke of Pomerania Eric II or Erich II (between 1418 and 1425 – 5 July 1474) was a member of the House of Pomerania (also known as the House of Griffins) and was the ruling Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1457 to 1474. He was the son of Wartislaw IX of Pomeran ...

, to form an alliance. Because Lauenburg remained loyal to the Prussian Confederation and not the Teutonic Order, King

of Poland granted the town three nearby villages. Troops from the Polish-allied city of Gdańsk (Danzig) reoccupied Lauenburg in 1459 when the mayor, Lorenz Senftopf, entered into negotiations with the Teutonic Knights. Eric replaced the Danzigers with Teutonic Knights the following year, however, when he switched sides during the war. After the Teutonic Knights were ultimately defeated in the Thirteen Years' War, Lębork passed to Poland, according to the 1466

Second Peace of Thorn The Peace of Thorn or Toruń of 1466, also known as the Second Peace of Thorn or Toruń ( pl, drugi pokój toruński; german: Zweiter Friede von Thorn), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 betwe ...

, and was granted by Casimir IV Jagiellon to Eric and his Pomeranian successors as part of the

Lauenburg and Bütow Land Lauenburg and Bütow Land (german: Länder or , csb, Lãbòrskò-bëtowskô Zemia, pl, Ziemia lęborsko-bytowska) formed a historical region in the western part of Pomerelia (Polish and papal historiography) or in the eastern part of Farther ...

, a Polish

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

Modern era

The

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

was introduced in the town soon after 1519. The territory came back to Polish King

Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa; lt, Vladislovas Vaza; sv, Vladislav IV av Polen; rus, Владислав IV Ваза, r=Vladislav IV Vaza; la, Ladislaus IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of ...

as a reverted fief and was integrated with the Polish

after the 1637 death of

Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania Bogislaw XIV (31 March 1580 – 10 March 1637) was the last Duke of Pomerania. He was also the Lutheran administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin. Biography Bogislaw was born in Barth as a member of the House of Pomerania. He was the thir ...

. As Lębork was the leading city of the territory, it became the seat of the eldership (''starostwo''). The starosts were

Stanisław Koniecpolski Stanisław Koniecpolski (1591 – 11 March 1646) was a Polish military commander, regarded as one of the most talented and capable in the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was also a magnate, a royal official (''starosta''), ...

and

Jakub Wejher Jakub Wejher (or Weyher, German ''Jakob Weiher'') (1609 – 1657), was a member of the Polish line of the Weyher family, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and member of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth szlachta (nobility). His coat of arm ...

. The

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

was largely ineffective in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

town. Lębork was occupied by

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 ...

in the

Northern Wars "Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th century. An internationally agreed-on nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised. While the Great Northern War is g ...

. To gain an ally against Sweden during the

Deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...

, King

John II Casimir of Poland John II Casimir ( pl, Jan II Kazimierz Waza; lt, Jonas Kazimieras Vaza; 22 March 1609 – 16 December 1672) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1648 until his abdication in 1668 as well as titular King of Sweden from 1648 ...

gave the Lauenburg and Bütow Land to Margrave Frederick William of

Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohe ...

as a hereditary fiefdom in the 1657

Treaty of Bromberg The Treaty of Bromberg (, Latin: Pacta Bydgostensia) or Treaty of Bydgoszcz was a treaty between John II Casimir of Poland and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia that was ratified at Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) on 6 November 1657. The tr ...

. The Swedish troops burnt Lauenburg before their retreat in 1658, destroying seventy houses and the town hall. Frederick William released the town from tax duties for five years to aid in its rebuilding. Lauenburg suffered a second fire in 1682. King

John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobi ...

made peaceful attempts to reintegrate the town directly to Poland, but to no avail. In 1701, Lauenburg/Lębork became a

Prussian 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 e ...

-administered territory under the sovereignty of the

Polish Crown The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, incl ...

. The 1773 Treaty of Warsaw granted full sovereignty over the territory to Prussia after the First Partition of Poland. The Lauenburg and Bütow Land, transformed into a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

(''Lauenburg-Bütowscher Kreis''), was first included in the newly established province of

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kin ...

, but was transferred to the province of Pomerania in 1777. LĘBORK

When the district was divided in 1846, Lauenburg became the capital of a new district (''Landkreis Lauenburg i. Pom.''). Lauenburg began to develop as an industrial center after its 1852 connection to the

Prussian Eastern Railway The Prussian Eastern Railway (german: Preußische Ostbahn) was a railway in the Kingdom of Prussia and later Germany until 1918. Its main route, approximately long, connected the capital, Berlin, with the cities of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) ...

to Danzig and Stettin (Szczecin). In 1866, the Masonic Lodge was formed, whose membership was in the main made up of the elite entrepreneurial class. The building survives to this day. The town 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 ...

in 1871 during the

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

. Chancellor

Otto Fürst von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

(1815–1898) was made an honorary citizen in 1874. (He was also created

Duke of Lauenburg The title of Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which, since its foundation in 1269, was ruled in succession by 29 dukes from six dynastic houses and lines, and by an additional four dukes from a temporary dynastic branch ...

in 1890 after his resignation as Chancellor of the German Empire, but this title refers to the city of

Lauenburg/Elbe Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe ( en, Lauenberg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Hols ...

in present-day Germany, and should not be confused with Lębork/Lauenburg in Pomerania.) New

German 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 ...

settlers came to the town, but

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 ...

also still settled there. Despite

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In lin ...

policies, the Polish-Kashubian movement developed. Helpful in preserving Polish culture and identity was the local Catholic church, in which

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In ad ...

lessons were still organized.

regained independence after

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 1918, and local Poles organized a pro-Polish rally, which was shut down by the local German police. Polish activists were sentenced to several months in prison, and then to

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. Despite Polish attempts at regaining control of the region, 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 ...

did not restore the pre- partition borders and the town remained within interwar Germany. In the subsequent years many German migrants resettled in and around Lauenburg,Schmidt, 230 while many Poles, including Kashubians, left for the nearby Polish

. The town's economy has declined and the nationalists, communists and

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

gained popularity among the German population. The Poles were active in the

Union of Poles in Germany Union of Poles in Germany ( pl, Związek Polaków w Niemczech, german: Bund der Polen in Deutschland e.V.) is an organisation of the Polish minority in Germany, founded in 1922. In 1924, the union initiated collaboration between other minorities, ...

. After the Nazis took power, Poles, as well as

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 ...

, were persecuted. Under the leadership of Willy Fruggel a ''

Hochschule ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right t ...

'' for teacher education was established in the city in 1933. The football club SV Sturm Lauenburg played within Gauliga Pommern. After the outbreak of

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 ...

, the persecution of indigenous Poles, including Kashubians, intensified, and the patients of the local psychiatric hospital were murdered in Piaśnica, however, the Polish resistance movement remained present in the district. In 1942, the Germans founded a subcamp of the

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German- ...

and sent prisoners from the

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

there. Further prisoners were sent from the main Stutthof camp, and the subcamp was dissolved only in February 1945, during the German-organized evacuation of the Stutthof main camp. The Germans also operated a

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 ...

subcamp of the

Stalag II-B Stalag II-B was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp situated west of the town of Hammerstein, Pomerania (now Czarne, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland) on the north side of the railway line. It housed Polish, French, Belgian, Serbian, Dutch ...

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

for Allied POWs in the town. The town was occupied without resistance by the

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, ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

on 10 March 1945. Most of the Old Town burned in the subsequent Soviet rampage, although the

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 ...

Church of St. James and the Teutonic castle survived. During this time about 600 people committed suicide. As Lębork, the town became again part of Poland in accordance with the post-war

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

remaining in the town were either immediately expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement or were allowed to voluntarily leave in the 1950s. The remaining Polish inhabitants were joined by other Poles, incl. those displaced from Poland's eastern lands annexed after the war by the Soviet Union. The town was administratively part of the Gdańsk Voivodeship in 1945–1975, and then the

Słupsk Voivodeship Słupsk Voivodeship. was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, previously part of Szczecin Voivodeship (1945–50) and Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–75), superseded (since 1999) by Pomeranian Voivode ...

in 1975–1998.

Geography

Climate

The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

subtype for this climate is " Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate/

Oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

Demographics

In terms of confession, the population was predominantly Catholic since the Christianization of Poland, then it was mostly composed of Protestants after the Reformation, and since the end of World War II it is once again predominantly Catholic. ;Number of inhabitants in years *1782: 1,482, incl. 36 Jews.Kratz
p. 250
/ref> *1794: 1,432, incl. 29 Jews. *1812: 1,548, incl. 48 Catholics and 47 Jews *1831: 2,621, incl. 181 Catholics and 147 Jews. *1843: 3,779, incl. 222 Catholics and 262 Jews. *1861: 5,310, incl. 305 Catholics and 259 Jews. *1900: 10,442, incl. 1,151 Catholics and 276 Jews. *1910: 13,916 *1925: 17,161, incl. 1,850 Catholics, 290 Jews and 300 others. *1933: 18,962 *1939: 19,108 *1960: 21,200 *1970: 25,100 *1975: 26,600 *1980: 29,200 *1990: 34,300 *1995: 36,300 *1998: 37,000 *2004: 35,154 *2005: 35,000

Transport

Railway stations in the city include

Lębork Lębork (; csb, Lãbòrg; formerly german: Lauenburg in Pommern) is a town of 37,000 people on the Łeba River, Łeba and Okalica rivers in the Gdańsk Pomerania region in northern Poland. It is the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivode ...

and Lębork Nowy Świat.

Sports

The local

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 ...

team is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

* Julius Friedrich August Bahnsen (1830 – 1881), philosopher, the originator of

characterology Characterology () is the academic study of character which was prominent in German-speaking countries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is considered an historic branch of personality psychology, which extended into psychoana ...

Paul Gottlieb Nipkow Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow (22 August 1860 – 24 August 1940) was a German technician and inventor. He invented the Nipkow disk, which laid the foundation of television, since his disk was a fundamental component in the first televisions. ...

(1860–1940) a German technician, television pioneer, invented the Nipkow disk * Josef Horovitz (1874–1931) a Jewish German orientalist * Gerhard Obuch ( de) (1884–1960), politician and lawyer *

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sap ...

(1884–1939), ethnologist and linguist *

Erich von dem Bach Erich Julius Eberhard von dem Bach-Zelewski (born Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski; 1 March 1899 – 8 March 1972) was a high-ranking SS commander of Nazi Germany. During World War II, he was in charge of the Nazi security warfare against th ...

(1899–1972), SS officer * Ethel Reschke (1911–1992) a German actress IMDb Database
retrieved 8 November 2018 *

Ewa Paradies Ewa Paradies (17 December 1920 – 4 July 1946) was a Nazi concentration camp overseer. In August 1944, Paradies arrived at the Stutthof SK-III camp for training as an '' Aufseherin'', or overseer. She soon finished training and became a wardr ...

(1920–46), concentration camp overseer *

Jürgen Echternach Jürgen Echternach (born 1 November 1937 in Lębork, Lauenburg (now Lębork, Poland) – 4 April 2006 in Hamburg) was a German politician, representative of the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 1987 ...

(1937–2006) CDU politician * Hilbert Meyer ( de) (born 1941) professor of the science of education in Oldenburg * Eugeniusz Geno Malkowski (1942–2016), artist and painter *

Peter Roehr Peter Roehr (born 1 September 1944 in Lauenburg in Pommern; died 15 August 1968 in Frankfurt am Main) was a German Pop Art minimalist artist. Life Roehr was the only child of Kurt and Eleonora Röhr. After their divorce the mother moved with ...

(1944–68) a German artist * Maciej Gołąb (born 1952), professor of musicology *

Else Streit Else Streit (born 27 July 1869) was a German composer, pianist, teacher, and violinist. Streit was born in Lauenburg, Pomerania, on the border of Poland and Germany. She studied music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory and the Stern Conservatory. Her ...

(1869-?), composer * Anna Fotyga (born 1957) a Polish politician and MEP , former

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

; Sport *

Zbigniew Zarzycki Zbigniew Zarzycki (born 8 September 1948) is a Polish former volleyball player and coach, a member of the Poland national team from 1968 to 1976. He won a gold medal at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link ...

(born 1948) a former Polish volleyball player, Olympic Champion in 1976 * Zbigniew Kaczmarek (born 1962) a former Polish football player, played 30 times for Poland * Alexandra Wojcik (born 1985) a Polish group rhythmic gymnast, participated at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

* Damian Schulz (born 1990) a Polish volleyball player, member of Poland men's national volleyball team * Paula Wrońska (born 1991) a Polish sports shooter, competed in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

International relations

Lębork is twinned with:

Notes

References

* (in German) * Gustav Kratz: ''Die Städte der Provinz Pommern – Abriss ihrer Geschichte, zumeist nach Urkunden'' (''The towns of the Province of Pomerania – Sketch of their history, mostly according to historical records''). Berlin 1865 (reprinted in 2010 by

Kessinger Publishing Kessinger Publishing LLC is an American print-on-demand publishing company located in Whitefish, Montana, that specializes in rare, out-of-print books. According to Kelly Gallagher, vice president of publishing services at a bibliographic inform ...

, ), pp. 247–251 (in German
online
*

External links

Municipal websiteLębork dawniej i dziś (zdjęcia)reconstruction of the old city
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lebork Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Lębork County 10th-century establishments in Poland Populated places established in the 10th century Holocaust locations in Poland