Odolanów is a town in the

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic re ...

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 ...

, about south-west from

Ostrów Wielkopolski Ostrów Wielkopolski () (often abbreviated ''Ostrów Wlkp.'', formerly called simply ''Ostrów'', , Latin: ''Ostrovia'') is a city in west-central Poland with 70,982 inhabitants (2021), situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship; the seat of Ostr ...

, with over 5000 inhabitants.

History

The first written document that mentions Odolanów dates back to 1301, when it was part of the fragmented

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. Branches of ...

-ruled

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 ...

and the location hosted a castle on the border between

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 ...

and

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. A settlement arose next to the castle, which acquired city rights in 1403 from King

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...

. It was a royal town of the Polish Crown, administratively located in the Kalisz County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. In 1629 on the east side of the town king

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

founded the ''New Town'' also called ''Konstancja'' (after the king's second wife). Nowadays it is a part of Odolanów named ''Górka''. At the end of the 17th century there were 18 shoemakers, 8 tailors, 3 millers, 3 tradesmen and 9 other craftsmen in the town. The majority of the population were tilthing and breeding cattle.Franciszek Olszanowski ''Parafia Świętego Marcina w Odolanowie'', Odolanów 1994 Until 1793, the town and surrounding villages belonged to princes, kings, or noblemen. Monarchs granted land to various rich feudals as fief or land tenancy. During this time, Odolanów was under the administrative influence of

Kalisz Kalisz () is a city in central Poland, and the second-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, with 97,905 residents (December 2021). It is the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of Gr ...

. In 1793 Odolanów 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, ...

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 ...

. After the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived

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 ...

, and then in 1815 it was reannexed by Prussia. The citizens took part in the Greater Poland uprising (1848) during the Spring of Nations, fighting against better armed Prussians in the battle of Odolanów on 21 April 1848. They also supported 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 ...

of 1863, delivering weapons and clothes to the insurgents. From 1871 it was part of Germany, however, despite the

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 ...

led by the

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 ...

, Odolanów preserved its Polish character – in 1910 at least 72.5% of inhabitants were speaking Polish. In addition to

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 ...

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

also lived there. The Protestant church built in 1780 and the 1835 synagogue are monuments of Odolanów’s once multicultural society. In 1909 the rail connection between Odolanów and

was opened.Józef Duczmal ''Kronika Odolanowa'', Odolanów 2003 The events shortly 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 ...

( Republic of Ostrów and the Greater Poland Uprising) are an important part of the town’s history. On 12 November 1918, a day after Poland declared independence, a ''Worker’s and Soldier’s Council'' was established in the town. Some days later the citizens elected deputies to the Polish Parliament in the

Prussian Partition The Prussian Partition (), or Prussian Poland, is the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth acquired during the Partitions of Poland, in the late 18th century by the Kingdom of Prussia. The Prussian acquisition amounted to ...

(Polski Sejm Dzielnicowy). On 31 December 1918 Poles took power in Odolanów from Germans as part of the Greater Poland Uprising. Insurgents from Odolanów fought a. o. in the battle of Granowiec during the night of 14–15 January 1918. In 1919 the town was confirmed to be 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 ...

. 74 insurgents from the former Odolanów County were killed in the uprising, and a monument dedicated to them was unveiled in the park in 1923. On 1 September 1939, the first day of the German

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 ...

, Odolanów was quickly captured by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

. The German administration was using terror, many Poles were expropriated, expelled, killed or sent to

concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...

. Local mayor Jan Krak was arrested and imprisoned in nearby

and then murdered in a large massacre of over 70 Poles from the region, carried out in Winiary on 14 December 1939. The Germans destroyed the pre-war monument to the fallen insurgents of the Greater Poland uprising, and established and operated a Nazi prison and a

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

camp for Jews in the town. The German occupation in Odolanów was over on 22 January 1945, when

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 ...

tanks entered the town. Some soldiers of the Polish underground continued their resistance, now against the Soviet dominance and the puppet Stalinist government (so-called cursed soldiers). On 22 October 1945 the troop of Jan Kempiński, nom de guerre ''Błysk'', operating in the Odolanów area was smashed by the Department of Security forces.Dawny Powiat Odolanowski na starych pocztówkach 1887-1932, Raszków, 2012, red. Jacek Bartczak.

Notable people

Jan Zborowski Jan Zborowski (19 December 1538 – 25 August 1603 in Odolanów) was a Polish Court Hetman of the Crown, royal secretary of king Sigismund II Augustus and Lord Castellan of Gniezno (since 1576). Zborowski was a Lutheran and fought in the Danzi ...

(1538–1603), Polish Court Hetman of the Crown * Rafał Leszczyński (1650-1703), Polish nobleman, father of King of Poland

Stanisław Leszczyński Stanisław I Leszczyński (Stanisław Bogusław; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766), also Anglicized and Latinized as Stanislaus I, was twice King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and at various times Prince of Deux-Ponts, Duk ...

* Wilhelm Altmann (1862-1951), historian and musicologist

References

External links

Odolanów On-Line
(in Polish) {{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Ostrów Wielkopolski County Populated riverside places in Poland