Międzyrzecz (; , ,
) is a
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in western
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 ...
, on the
Obra and Paklica river, with 17,667 inhabitants (2020). The capital of
Gmina Międzyrzecz and
Międzyrzecz County. Since the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998, it has been situated in
Lubusz Voivodeship
Lubusz Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in western Poland with a population of 972,140. Its regional capitals are Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra. The region is characterized by a landscape of forests, lake ...
. In 1975–1998 Międzyrzecz was part of
Gorzów Voivodeship. The
town limits cover .
Geography

The town's name refers to
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
("between rivers", ) and its location at the confluence of the Obra River and the
Paklica tributary, in the west of the historic
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 ...
region. About halfway between the towns of
Skwierzyna and
Åšwiebodzin
Åšwiebodzin (; ) is a town in western Poland with 20,744 inhabitants (2024). It is the capital of Åšwiebodzin County in Lubusz Voivodeship.
Åšwiebodzin is an important transportation hub, lying at the crossroads of the Polish National roads in P ...
, it is situated south of the regional capital
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski (), often abbreviated to Gorzów Wlkp. or simply Gorzów (formerly ), is a city in Geography of Poland, western Poland, located on the Warta, Warta River. It is one of the two principal cities and seats of the Lubusz Voivodes ...
and north of
Zielona Góra
Zielona Góra (; ''Green Mountain''; ) is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (). The region is closely associated with vineyards and holds an annual Zielona Góra Wine Fest, Wine Fest. Zie ...
.
The municipal area is in a particularly green part of Poland. Extensive forests and numerous lakes can be found in the vicinity, including two
Natura 2000
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...
protected areas south of the town.
Międzyrzecz is the seventh largest town in Lubusz Voivodeship. The number of inhabitants has slightly been on the decrease since the 1990s.
History
The settlement on the road leading from
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
to
Gniezno
Gniezno (; ; ) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (''powiat'') ...
was first mentioned as ''Mezerici'' by the medieval chronicler
Thietmar of Merseburg in the course of the 1005 campaign of King
Henry II of Germany into the
Polish lands of Duke
Bolesław I Chrobry. 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 ...
name ''Mezyriecze'' first appeared in the 1112/16 ''
Gesta principum Polonorum'' by
Gallus Anonymus.

It remained a western outpost of the
Duchy of Greater Poland
The Duchy of Greater Poland was a district principality in Greater Poland that was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland. It was formed in 1138 from the territories of the Kingdom of Poland, following its fragmentation started by the testament of ...
, established by the 1138
Testament of Bolesław III Krzywousty, after the loss of
Lubusz Land
Lubusz Land (; ) is a historical region and cultural landscape in Poland and Germany on both sides of the Oder river.
Originally the settlement area of the Lechites, the swampy area was located east of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and ...
in the mid-13th century and was incorporated into the
Poznań Voivodeship
Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...
of the
Polish Crown upon the coronation of King
Władysław I the Elbow-high in 1320. Under the rule of his successor
Casimir III the Great
Casimir III the Great (; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, retaining the title throughout the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king fr ...
(1333–1370) German settlers began to migrate into the area in the course of the
Ostsiedlung
(, ) is the term for the Early Middle Ages, early medieval and High Middle Ages, high medieval migration of Germanic peoples and Germanisation of the areas populated by Slavs, Slavic, Balts, Baltic and Uralic languages, Uralic peoples; the ...
. Town privileges were confirmed by 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 ...
in 1485. Międzyrzecz was a
royal town of the Polish Crown and the seat of
starosts (local royal administrators). In 1520 it was ravaged by the Germans.
The town remained part of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
until in the
Second Partition of Poland
The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...
of 1793 it was annexed together with the whole region of
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 ...
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 ...
. The town at first was part of the
South Prussia province, was ceded to the
Poznań Department of the Napoleonic
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...
by the 1807
Treaties of Tilsit, and upon the 1815
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
fell back to Prussia, administrated within the
Grand Duchy of Posen
The Grand Duchy of Posen (; ) was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, created from Prussian Partition, territories annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, and formally established following the Congress of Vienna in 1815. On 9 February 1 ...
. In 1818 the town became the capital of the Prussian ''
Kreis Meseritz'' within ''
Regierungsbezirk Posen''. After the failed
Greater Poland Uprising of 1848, it was incorporated into the
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...
, which, with Prussia, became part of the unified
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
in 1871. According to a 1900 census, 20.2% of the population were
Polish native speakers.
20th century
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 ...
, upon the
Greater Poland Uprising of 1918/19 and according to the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...
, the town was part of the small, mostwestern part of Greater Poland which remained part of
Weimar Germany. From 1922 these lands, located close to the border 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 ...
, were administrated as the Prussian Province of
Posen-West Prussia. Meseritz became the seat of the ''
Landeshauptmann
The Landeshauptmann (if male) or Landeshauptfrau (if female) (, "state captain", plural ''Landeshauptleute,'' ) is the chairman of a state government and the supreme official of an Austrian state and the Italian autonomous provinces of South Ty ...
'' governor, until in 1938 the province was dissolved and Meseritz was incorporated into the
Province of Brandenburg. From 1934 to 1938, the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
administration had the ''
Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen'' fortifications erected in the south of the town. During
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 ...
, in Obrawalde (present-day Obrzyce within the city limits), from 1942 to 1945, Germans murdered over 10,000 people,
[W. Dramowicz, ''Obrzyce, dzieje szpitala'', Międzyrzecz, 2004, p. 49] mostly mentally ill and disabled, as part of the ''
Aktion T4
(German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...
'', but also
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 ...
and political opponents.
In the late days of
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 ...
, Meseritz was occupied by
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
forces in the course of the
Vistula–Oder Offensive on 31 January 1945. Left to the
Republic of Poland, it was incorporated into
Poznań Voivodeship
Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...
on 7 July. The town's re-incorporation to Poland was confirmed with the
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...
and the implementation of the
Oder–Neisse line. While the Polish autochthonous minority was allowed to remain in Międzyrzecz, the German speaking majority was
expelled. Poles of whom a part had been expelled or left from former
Kresy
Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...
territories, annexed by the
Soviet Union
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 ...
, re-settled the town.
Sport
*MKS Orzeł Międzyrzecz (founded 15 April 1945) – men's
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 (Polish league level 6)
*KS Orzeł Międzyrzecz – men's
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
club (Polish league level 3)
*MKT Tenis Club Poland-Orzeł Międzyrzecz (founded 15 November 1993) – men's and women's
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
club
*MSBS Międzyrzecz – men's
duplicate bridge
Duplicate bridge is a variation of contract bridge where the same set of bridge deals (i.e., the distribution of the 52 cards among the four hands) are played by different competitors, and scoring is based on relative performance. In this way, ev ...
club
*MTB MOSiW Międzyrzecz – men's and women's
cycling
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
(
mountain biking
Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...
) club
Notable people
*
Christian Samuel Theodor Bernd (1775–1854), linguist and heraldist
*
Adolph Kullak (1823–1862), pianist and musicologist
*
Rudolf E. A. Havenstein (1857–1923), director of the
Reichsbank
*
Peter Berling (1934–2017), actor and writer
*
Dawid Murek (born 1977), volleyball player
*
Rafał Maślak
Rafał Maślak (Polish pronunciation: ; born 3 February 1989, Międzyrzecz) is a Polish male fashion model, Mister Poland 2014 and a television personality.
Life and career
He was born on 3 February 1989 in Międzyrzecz and grew up in Gorzyca, Lu ...
(born 1989), male model
*
Kamil Jóźwiak (born 1998), footballer
Twin towns – sister cities
See
twin towns of Gmina Międzyrzecz.
See also
*
Regenwurmlager
References
External links
Official website of the town and municipalityOfficial website of the town office
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Lubusz Voivodeship
Międzyrzecz County