Żukowo (, , ) is a town in

Kartuzy County __NOTOC__ Kartuzy County (; ) is a county in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with administrative seat and largest town being Kartuzy. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. The ...

, in the

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...

of northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in the cultural region of

Kashubia Kashubia or Cassubia ( or ; ; or ) is an ethnocultural region in the historic Eastern Pomerania (Pomerelia) region of northern Poland. It is inhabited by the Kashubian people, and many in the region have historically spoken the Kashubian langua ...

, with 6,236 inhabitants (2005). It is located along the

Radunia The Radunia (; ) is a small river in Kashubia (Pomerelia) in northern Poland, which issues from a lake and falls into the Motława near the city of Gdańsk. Part of its water is conveyed into the city via the 13.5 km long Radunia Canal ('' ...

river in the historic

Pomerelia Pomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, and also before World War II as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Gdańsk Pomerania is largely c ...

, about southwest of

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

. It is one of the youngest towns in Poland, having received its city charter in 1989, and a cultural centre of the

Kashubs The Kashubians (; ; ), 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 north-central Poland. Their settlement area is ...

History

Zukowo Kosciol Norbertanow od dziedzinca

Żukowo was the site of a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

(Norbertine) monastery established about 1209 by Duke Mestwin I of Pomerania. The church features alabaster figures made in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Here the Kashubian

embroidery Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...

is still in use. In

decorated women's bonnets were called ''zlotnice''. Norbertine nuns in Żukowo made them in the 18th century. The embroidery was made with silver or gold threads. Women's bonnets designing contains motifs similar to church embroideries and this were based on baroque style. The nuns were teaching noblemen's and rich Kashubian peasants' daughters how to make embroidery – one of them was Marianna Okuniewska from Żukowo (born 1818). Żukowo was a church village administered by the local monastery, located in the Gdańsk County in the

in the

Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the Pat ...

. ''Zlotnice'' were very expensive. The nuns probably stopped making them after the region was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

during the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

in 1772 and the nunnery was closed in 1834. Granddaughters of Marianna – Zofia (born 1896) and Jadwiga Ptach started reaktivating of Kashubian embroidery called Żukowo's school before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Embroideries made here in this time link often to the ''zlotnice'' bonnets and

antependium An ''antependium'' (from Latin ''ante-'' and ''pendēre'', "to hang before"; : ''antependia''), also known as a pulpit fall, parament or hanging, or, when speaking specifically of the hanging for the altar, an altar frontal (Latin: ''pallium al ...

s. Kashubian embroidery was again made after the war at Żukowo. Its main decorative elements are flowers and plant motifs. Embroidresses who are deserved for the Kashubian embroidery, for example are: Marianna Ptach, Zofia Ptach, Jadwiga Ptach, Maria Nowicka, Wanda Dzierzgowska, Bernadeta Reglinska, Ewa Wendt and others. Zukowo school of Kashubian embroidery is important

intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. In ...

. The town's coat of arms since 1989 feature among other things the

palmette The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has a far-reaching history, originating in ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art o ...

of Kashubian embroidery. Until 1920, the town, as ''Zuckau'' belonged to the Karthaus district in the province of

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. According to the census of 1910, it had a population of 1,379, of which 339 were

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

and 1,037 were

Kashubians The Kashubians (; ; ), 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 north-central Poland. Their settlement area is ...

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

. Żukowo was restored to Poland, after the country regained independence following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1918. During

it was under

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, and was a place of internment for

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held 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 prisoners of war for a ...

from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Local priest Bernard Gołomski was among 10 Polish priests murdered by the German ''

Einsatzkommando 16 During World War II, the Nazi German ' were a sub-group of the ' (mobile killing squads) – up to 3,000 men total – usually composed of 500–1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to exterminate Jews, Polish intellectua ...

'' in the forest near

Kartuzy Kartuzy (; , or ; former ) is a town in northern Poland, located in the historic Eastern Pomerania ( Pomerelia) region. It is the capital of Kartuzy County in Pomeranian Voivodeship. Geographical location Kartuzy is located about west of Gdań ...

in September 1939, and inhabitants of Żukowo were among Poles massacred in nearby Kaliska in October and November 1939. There are graves of prisoners 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-an ...

in Żukowo. It was restored to Poland in 1945.

Sports

The town's most notable sports club is

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

team GKS Żukowo, which competes in the I Liga (Polish second tier).

Notable people

* Wiesław Mering (born 1945 in Żukowo) a Polish Roman Catholic bishop.

Literature

* Wilhelm Brauer (ed.): ''Der Kreis Karthaus - Ein westpreußisches Heimatbuch'', Radke, Lübeck 1978 (in German) * Joshua C. Blank: ''Creating Kashubia: History, Memory, and Identity in Canada's First Polish Community'', 2016, p. 4

References

External links

*
Kashubian embroideryŻukowoZukowo school of Kashubian embroidery
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Kartuzy County Kashubian culture