Lębork (; ; ) is a town on the

Łeba Łeba (, ; ) is a seaside town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland. It is located in the region of Gdańsk Pomerania ( Pomerelia), near Łebsko Lake and the mouth of the river Łeba on the Slovincian Coast of the Baltic Sea. History ...

and Okalica rivers in the

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 ...

region 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 ...

. It is the capital of

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

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 ...

. Its population is 37,000.

History

Middle Ages

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, dating back to the 10th century. Its name was Germanised to ''Lewin'' and then ''Lewinburg'' by the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

, 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 Plei ...

Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights The grand master of the Teutonic Order (; ) is the supreme head of the Teutonic Order. It is equivalent to the Grand master (order), grand master of other Military order (religious society), military orders and the superior general in non-milit ...

, 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 (; ; ) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities in the Middle Ages and early modern period. It was initiated on 28 December 1233 in the Monastic State o ...

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

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

completed the ''

Ordensburg ''Ordensburg'' (plural ''Ordensburgen'') is a German language, German term meaning a "castle of a (military) order". It is used specifically for the fortified structures built by Crusades, crusading German Military order (religious society), m ...

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

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald 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 respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), a ...

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

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (, ) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Marienwerder (present-day Kwidzyn) by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the arbitrariness of the Teutonic Knights. It was based o ...

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

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

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

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

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 ...

, 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 ...

. 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 Griffins) and was the ruling Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1457 to 1474. He was the son of Wartislaw IX of Pomerania-Wolga ...

, 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 (; ), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 between the Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon and the Teutonic Knig ...

, 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 ( or , , ) formed a historical region in the western part of Pomerelia (Polish and papal historiography) or in the eastern part of Farther Pomerania (German historiography). It was composed of two districts centered on th ...

, a Polish

fief A fief (; ) 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 of feudal alle ...

Modern era

The

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

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

Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and claimant of the thrones of Monarchy of Sweden, Sweden and List of Russian monarchs, Russia. Born into the House of Vasa as a prince ...

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 Griffin. He was the third ...

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

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 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 Poland in the Early Modern era (1569–1795), history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. ...

and Jakub Wejher. The

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

was largely ineffective in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

town. Lębork was occupied by

Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...

in the

Northern Wars "Northern Wars" is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern Europe, northern and northeastern Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, primarily between the territorial rivals of the Swedish Empire, Tsardom of Russia, Poland–Lithuani ...

. 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 or Le Déluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-L ...

, King

John II Casimir of Poland John II Casimir Vasa (; ; 22 March 1609 – 16 December 1672) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1648 to his abdication in 1668 as well as a claimant to the throne of Sweden from 1648 to 1660. He was the first son of Sigis ...

gave the Lauenburg and Bütow Land to Margrave

Frederick William The name Frederick William usually refers to several monarchs and princes of the Hohenzollern dynasty: * Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620–1688) * Frederick William, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1675–1713) * Frederick William I of ...

of Brandenburg-Prussia 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 t ...

. 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 ( (); (); () 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, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...

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

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

-administered territory under the sovereignty of the

Polish Crown 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 pa ...

. From 1737 to 1752,

Polish Reformed Church The Polish Reformed Church, officially called the Evangelical Reformed Church in the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Kościół Ewangelicko-Reformowany w RP'') is a historic Calvinistic Protestant church in Poland established in the 16th century ...

services were held in the town. The 1773 Treaty of Warsaw granted full sovereignty over the territory to Prussia 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 ...

. 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

(''Lauenburg-Bütowscher Kreis''), was first included in the newly established province of West Prussia, but was transferred to the Province of Pomerania (1653–1815), province of Pomerania in 1777. 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 to Danzig and Szczecin, 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 in 1871 during the unification of Germany. Chancellor Otto Fürst von Bismarck (1815–1898) was made an honorary citizen in 1874. (He was also created Duke of Lauenburg in 1890 after his resignation as Chancellor of the German Empire, but this title refers to the city of Lauenburg/Elbe in present-day Germany, and should not be confused with Lębork/Lauenburg in Pomerania.) New Germans, German settlers came to the town, but Polish people, Poles also still settled there. Despite Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions, Germanisation policies, the Polish-Kashubian movement developed. Helpful in preserving Polish culture and identity was the local Catholic church, in which Polish language lessons were still organized. Second Polish Republic, Poland regained independence after World War I 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. Despite Polish attempts at regaining control of the region, the Treaty of Versailles did not restore the pre-Partitions of Poland, 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 Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939), Pomeranian Voivodeship. The town's economy has declined and the nationalists, communists and Nazi Party, Nazis gained popularity among the German population. The Poles were active in the Union of Poles in Germany. After the Nazis took power, Poles, as well as Jews, were persecuted. Under the leadership of Willy Fruggel a ''Hochschule'' 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, the persecution of indigenous Poles, including Kashubians, intensified, and the patients of the local psychiatric hospital were Massacres in Piaśnica, murdered in Piaśnica, however, the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish resistance movement remained present in the district. In 1942, the Germans founded a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp and sent prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp 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 under German rule during World War II, forced labour subcamp of the Stalag II-B German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II, prisoner-of-war camp for Allies of World War II, Allied POWs in the town. The town was occupied without resistance by the Soviet Union, Soviet Red Army on 10 March 1945. Most of the Old Town burned in the subsequent Soviet rampage, although the Gothic architecture, Gothic 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. Germans remaining in the town were either immediately expulsion of Germans after World War II, expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement or were allowed to voluntarily leave in the 1950s. The remaining Polish people, Polish inhabitants were joined by other Poles, incl. those displaced from Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, Poland's eastern lands annexed after the war by the Soviet Union. The town was administratively part of the Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975), Gdańsk Voivodeship in 1945–1975, and then the Słupsk Voivodeship 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 subtype for this climate is "Köppen climate classification#Group C: Temperate/mesothermal climates, Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).

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 railway station, Lębork and Lębork Nowy Świat (PKP station), Lębork Nowy Świat.

Sports

The local Association football, football team is . It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

* Julius Friedrich August Bahnsen (1830 – 1881), philosopher, the originator of characterology * Paul Gottlieb Nipkow (1860–1940) a German technician, television pioneer, invented the Nipkow disk * Josef Horovitz (1874–1931) a Jewish German orientalist * Gerhard Obuch (:de:Gerhard Obuch, de) (1884–1960), politician and lawyer * Edward Sapir (1884–1939), ethnologist and linguist * Erich von dem Bach (1899–1972), SS officer * Ethel Reschke (1911–1992) a German actress IMDb Database
retrieved 8 November 2018 * Ewa Paradies (1920–46), concentration camp overseer * Jürgen Echternach (1937–2006) CDU politician * Hilbert Meyer (:de:Hilbert Meyer, de) (born 1941) professor of the science of education in Oldenburg * Eugeniusz Geno Malkowski (1942–2016), artist and painter * Peter Roehr (1944–68) a German artist * Maciej Gołąb (born 1952), professor of musicology *Else Streit (1869-?), composer * Anna Fotyga (born 1957) a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament, MEP, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; Sport * Zbigniew Zarzycki (born 1948) a former Polish volleyball player, Olympic Champion in 1976 * Zbigniew Kaczmarek (footballer), Zbigniew Kaczmarek (born 1962) a former Polish football player, played 30 times for Poland * Alexandra Wójcik (gymnast), Alexandra Wojcik (born 1985) a Polish group rhythmic gymnast, participated at the 2004 Summer Olympics * 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

International relations

Lębork is Twin towns and sister cities, 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, ), 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