Czarne (; ) is a town in Człuchów County of 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 ...

in 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 ...

. As of December 2022, the town has a population of 5,368. Founded in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and granted town rights in 1395, Czarne is a former royal town of Poland, which became most known as the place of a Polish victory over invading Swedes in 1627, and the location of German-operated prisoner-of-war camps for Allied soldiers of various nationalities during both world wars, where over 60,000 died during the

Second World War 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 ...

. Since 1951, Czarne hosts a garrison of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

Demographics

ImageSize = width:450 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:6035 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2000 start:0 gridcolor:gray1 PlotData = bar:1772 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:670 width:15 text:670 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1810 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:1188 width:15 text:1188 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1857 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:1833 width:15 text:1833 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1900 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:3025 width:15 text:3025 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1939 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:4387 width:15 text:4387 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1955 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:2500 width:15 text:2500 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1980 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:5400 width:15 text:5400 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2004 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:6035 width:15 text:6035 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2022 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:5368 width:15 text:5368 textcolor:red fontsize:8px

History

The area formed part of Poland until the Teutonic invasion in 1309. Konrad von Jungingen granted the settlement town privileges in 1395. It lay on the bank of the Czarna river, hence its name. It was an important trade and military point due to the nearby Teutonic Order and Pomeranian frontier. In 1454 the town and region were reincorporated to

by King Casimir IV Jagiellon. Afterwards the castle and town were defended against Teutonic attacks. Following the Thirteen Years' War, according to the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), it was confirmed as part of Poland. Since then the town was part of the

in the Polish province of Royal Prussia, and later also in the Greater Poland Province. Czarne was the seat of the starosts (local royal administrators), they resided in the local castle. In 1627, it was site of the Battle of Czarne, in which Poles under the command of Stanisław Koniecpolski defeated the invading Swedes. After 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 the town was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. It became part of the newly established Province of West Prussia in 1773. Prussian authorities ordered the demolition of the Czarne castle. The town was captured by Poles in 1807, during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and Polish national liberation fights. A railway line from

Chojnice Chojnice (; or ; or ) is a town in northern Poland with 38,789 inhabitants, as of June 2023, near the Tuchola Forest. It is the capital of the Chojnice County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Founded in , Chojnice is a former royal city of Poland ...

via Czarne to Szczecinek was opened in 1878. In 1885 the Prussian Army built a large training ground (''Übungsplatz'') there. In

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 ...

the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

used it for a large

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

for Russian POWs, including ethnic Polish conscripts from the Russian Partition of Poland. After the war, the former camp housed German civilians fleeing Soviet Russia and Poles so that they would be prevented from participating in the Greater Poland uprising of 1918–1919 and joining the nascent Polish army. Many stayed, thus in 1920, about 25% of the residents were immigrants. In 1933, a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

was established in the town, which was later converted into a training center for police forces of Nazi Germany and SA. In

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 ...

it was the site of the notorious Stalag II-B POW camp in which initially Polish POWs were held, and later also French, Belgian, Serbian, American,

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Italian POWs, and Polish civilians from Soviet captivity mistakenly classified as POWs, of which tens of thousands, mainly Soviets, died from disease, mistreatment and malnutrition. From June to October 1941, the town was the location of another camp, the Stalag II F for Polish, French and Soviet POWs, before its relocation to

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

. In 1945, with the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, the town became again part of Poland under the terms of the post-war Potsdam Agreement. Afterwards, Poles displaces from Soviet-annexed eastern Poland settled in Czarne, and since 1951 it hosts a garrison of the Polish Army.

Transport

Czarne is located at the intersection of Voivodeship roads 201 and 202, and there is also a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is Czarni Czarne. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

* Rudolf Hellgrewe (1860–1935), landscape painter and illustrator * Alexander Beer (1873–1944), architect * Henryk Moruś (1943–2013), convicted serial killer

References

External links

French site about Stalag II-B
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Człuchów County