Kościerzyna (; Pomeranian and ; former ) is a town in

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 ...

in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with 23,327 inhabitants as of June 2023. It has been the capital of

Kościerzyna County __NOTOC__ Kościerzyna County (, ) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1 ...

in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999; previously it was in Gdańsk Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.

Geographical location

Kościerzyna is in

Gdańsk Pomerania Gdańsk Pomerania (; ; ) is the main geographical region within Pomerelia (also known as Vistula Pomerania, Eastern Pomerania, and previously Polish Pomerania) in northern Poland, covering the bulk of Pomeranian Voivodeship. In contrast to ''Pome ...

, approximately south-west 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 ...

and Tricity and south-west of

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

, at a height of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

History

The history of the town dates back to the end of the 13th century. The oldest known mention comes from a document from 1284. In 1346 it was granted municipal rights, and in 1398 the settlement obtained the status of a town. The town's name comes from the

Old Polish The Old Polish language () was a period in the history of the Polish language between the 10th and the 16th centuries. It was followed by the Middle Polish language. The sources for the study of the Old Polish language are the data of the co ...

word ''kościerz'', which means "

thicket A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in th ...

". Kościerzyna was part of medieval

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 ...

, until, in 1310, it was annexed by the

Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...

. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), the town became part of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

again. Administratively it was part 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 ...

, located in the provinces of Royal Prussia and

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

. It was the seat of local Polish

starost Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

s. Kościerzyna was a small town, whose inhabitants made a living from trade, crafts and farming. The town suffered many times from fire. In 1463 it was first plundered and thereafter burned down completely by Poles during the Thirteen Years' War. Johann Friedrich Goldbeck: ''Volständige Topographie des Königreichs Preußen''. Part II, Marienwerder 1789
pp. 66–67, no. 5.
/ref> In 1626, during the

Polish–Swedish War (1626–29) This is a List of wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to ...

, it was completely burned down once more. During the years 1646, 1663 and 1669 it partly burned down, and in 1709 again, entirely. Mzkk hk477

In 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

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 ...

. It was administratively in the newly formed 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 ...

, where it remained until 1919. The town was subjected to anti-Polish policies, including

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 l ...

. During the Kashubian diaspora, many families from Kościerzyna, such as the Mrozeks, the Pellowskis and the Eichmans emigrated to the area of

Winona, Minnesota Winona ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, Minnesota, United States. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf (Winona, Minnesota), Sugar Loaf. The population was 2 ...

, in the United States, beginning in 1859. Despite Germanisation policies, the town was a center of Polish activity in the 19th century. In 1863, volunteers set out from the town to fight in the Polish

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

in the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

of Poland, but few managed to cross the Prussian-Russian border, while many were imprisoned by Prussians. Around 1900, the town had one Protestant church, one Catholic church, a synagogue, a high school, an academy for school teachers, a factory for the production of snuff, several breweries, a refinery, various mills, agriculture and forestry.''Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon'', 6th edition, Vol. 2, Leipzig and Vienna 1906, p. 656. In the late 19th and early 20th century

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 ...

founded various organizations, including the "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society, reading rooms, ''Bank Ludowy'' ("People's Bank"), and the Kashubian newspaper ''Gryf'' began publishing. Writer and activist Aleksander Majkowski was active in the town. After Poland regained independence after

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, the Polish population made efforts to reintegrate the town with Poland. In January 1919, the Germans sent a unit of 120 soldiers to the town to prevent the outbreak of a Polish uprising. Local activist Tomasz Rogala, who co-founded a secret Polish independence organization, went to the peace conference in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, where he demanded to include the town in reborn Poland. Kościerzyna was finally reintegrated with the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

in January 1920. The construction of the Polish Coal Trunk-Line in the interbellum contributed to the prosperity of Kościerzyna, as the town gained a modern railway connection with

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

and

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

World War II

After the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

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 ...

, between 1939 and 1945, it was occupied by

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 ...

were subjected to persecution, murders, deportations to

Nazi concentration camps 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 ...

, and expulsions (see ''

Nazi crimes against the Polish nation War crime, Crimes against the Polish nation committed by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, Axis collaborationist forces during the invasion of Poland, along with Schutzmannschaft#Police battalions, auxiliary battalions during the subsequent occu ...

''). In the first weeks of the occupation, in September 1939, the Germans arrested and imprisoned numerous

from the town and the surrounding area. About 600 Poles were murdered in the nearby forest, and some were deported to concentration camps. Between November 6 and 22, 1939, the Germans expelled 2,000 Poles, who were first deported to the temporary concentration camp in Wysin, and then to the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

in the more-eastern part of German-occupied Poland. The expulsions continued until March 1944. Among the expellees was Tomasz Rogala, who returned to Kościerzyna after the war, and in the following decades was commemorated with a monument. Poles who refused to sign the '' Volksliste'' were arrested and tortured by the ''

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

'', some were tortured to death, or murdered, while their families were deported to concentration camps. Despite this, the Poles managed to organize an underground resistance movement, including the Pomeranian Griffin secret military organization. In January 1945, a German-perpetrated

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...

of Allied prisoners-of-war from the Stalag XX-B

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

passed through the town. After

the town was restored to Poland.

Number of inhabitants by year

Tourist attractions

* Skansen Parowozownia Kościerzyna (railway museum) located at Towarowa 7 Street. * Muzeum Ziemi Kościerskiej (regional museum) * ''Rynek'' (Market Square) filled with colourful historic townhouses * Lake Gałęźne * Holy Trinity church, Sanctuary of Our Lady of KościerzynaArticle on the Sanctuary
. See als
Sanctuary's website
/ref> * Church of the Lord's Resurrection

Sports

* Kaszubia Kościerzyna - football club * Manta Kościerzyna - finswimming club

Notable residents

* Stanisław Ernest Denhoff (c.1673–1728), Polish aristocrat, politician and a military commander * Hilary Jastak (1914–2000), leading priest * Abraham Lissauer (1832–1908), German physician and archaeologist * Oswald Kohts (1844–1912), German physician and pediatrician * Gustav Flatow (1875–1945), German gymnast, competed at the

1896 Events January * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...

and at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

* Aleksander Majkowski (1876–1938), Kashubian writer, poet, journalist, editor, activist and physician * Hugo Neumann (1882–1962), German jurist, politician of the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

and writer * Marek Kulas (born 1963), Polish former racing cyclist, won the 1986 Tour de Pologne * Marcin Rekowski (born 1978), Polish professional heavyweight boxer * Rafał Kosznik (born 1983), Polish footballer, over 200 pro games * Seweryn Kiełpin (born 1987), Polish footballer, over 200 pro games * Daniel Pek (born 1991), Paralympic athlete from Poland, represented Poland at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

* Sławomir Stolc (born 1993), Polish volleyball player, a member of Poland men's national volleyball team * Patryk Dobek (born 1994), Polish athlete

Twin cities

Kościerzyna is twinned with:

Gallery

File:Koscierzyna, Poland - panoramio (19).jpg, City Hall File:koscierzyna steam2.jpg, Railway Museum File:retro gdynia koscierzyna.jpg, Retro train "Costerina"

- Kościerzyna File:Marketplace in Kościerzyna Poland.jpg, Marketplace File:724348 Kościerzyna k. Zmartwywstania Pańskiego.JPG, Church of the Lord's Resurrection

References

External links

Municipal website

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Kościerzyna County Populated lakeshore places in Poland Populated riverside places in Poland Kashubian-American history