Kalisz Pomorski ( la, Nova Calisia; formerly german: Kallies) is a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Drawsko County __NOTOC__ Drawsko County ( pl, powiat drawski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local gover ...

West Pomeranian Voivodeship The West Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as the West Pomerania Province, is a voivodeship (province) in northwestern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin. Its area equals 22 892.48 km² (8,838.84 sq mi), and in 2021, it was i ...

in northwestern

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 about 4,500 inhabitants.

History

In the 8th century a Slavic

gród A gord is a medieval Slavonic fortified settlement, usually built on strategic sites such as hilltops, riverbanks, lake islets or peninsulas between the 6th and 12th centuries CE in Central and Eastern Europe. The typical gord usually consisted ...

existed in present-day Kalisz Pomorski. In the

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

it was part of

, located in northern

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed ...

. The town's name derives from the city of

Kalisz (The oldest city of Poland) , image_skyline = , image_caption = ''Top:'' Town Hall, Former "Calisia" Piano Factory''Middle:'' Courthouse, "Gołębnik" tenement''Bottom:'' Aerial view of the Kalisz Old Town , image_flag = POL Kalisz flag.svg ...

in southern Greater Poland. In order to develop this sparsely populated area, duke Przemysł I brought settlers from Kalisz to the settlement, which was newly named in Latin ''Nova Calisia'' (meaning ''New Kalisz''). It was part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

from the 18th century and between 1871 and 1945 it was part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. During

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 ...

, in 1944–1945, the Germans operated a

subcamp Subcamps (german: KZ-Außenlager), also translated as satellite camps, were outlying detention centres (''Haftstätten'') that came under the command of a main concentration camp run by the SS in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The Nazi ...

of the

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

in the town, in which they imprisoned around 500–1,000 people at a time.''Der Ort des Terrors: Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager'', Vol. IV, 2006, p. 559 (in German) After the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, the town became part of Poland again.

Gallery

Mlynskie (Ogorkowe) Lake in Kalisz Pomorski.jpg, Młyńskie Lake Kalisz Pomorski palac Wedlow (1).jpg, Palace in Kalisz Pomorski Kalisz Pomorski LO.jpg, High school PL KaliszPom Nadlesnictwo.JPG, Forest office building

Notable residents

Paul Sydow Paul Sydow (1 November 1851 in Kallies – 26 February 1925 in Sophienstädt near Ruhlsdorf) was a German mycologist and lichenologist, father of Hans Sydow (1879–1946). He worked as a schoolmaster in Berlin. With his son, Hans, he authored w ...

(1851 – 1925), German mycologist and lichenologist

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kalisz Pomorski is twinned with: *

Kaltenkirchen (nicknamed ''Kaki''; nds, Koldenkarken or ''Kolenkarken'') is a town located 35 km north of Hamburg in Germany. It is part of the Segeberg district, in Schleswig-Holstein. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. History First mentioned in the 1 ...

Torgelow Torgelow () is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the river Uecker, 12 km south of Ueckermünde, and 41 km northwest of Szczecin, Poland ...

Putlitz Putlitz () is a town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 15 km northwest of Pritzwalk, and 35 km northeast of Wittenberge. Demography Gallery File:Putlitz_Burghofer_Herrenhaus.jpg, Burghof manor ...

References

External links

* http://www.kaliszpom.pl/ Cities and towns in West Pomeranian Voivodeship Drawsko County {{WestPomeranian-geo-stub