Szamotuły (german: Samter) is a town in western Poland, in

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo wielkopolskie; ), also known as Wielkopolska Voivodeship, Wielkopolska Province, or Greater Poland Province, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 o ...

, about northwest of the centre of

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

. It is the seat of

Szamotuły County __NOTOC__ Szamotuły County ( pl, powiat szamotulski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into existence on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish lo ...

and of the smaller administrative district

Gmina Szamotuły __NOTOC__ Gmina Szamotuły is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Szamotuły County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. Its seat is the town of Szamotuły, which lies approximately north-west of the regional capit ...

. The population was 19,090 in 2011.

History

Szamotuły was probably founded in the 11th century, and was first mentioned in documents in 1231. Duke

Przemysł I of Greater Poland Przemysł I (4 June 1221 – 4 June 1257), a member of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1239 until his death, from 1241 with his brother Bolesław the Pious as co-ruler. He was able to re-acquire large parts of Greater Poland, r ...

established local

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

s before 1257. Szamotuły was granted town rights in 1383 or earlier. It was a

private town A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family. History of Private Towns in Poland In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc. A ...

Polish nobility The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

, administratively located in the Poznań County in 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 ...

in the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = Prowincje I RP.svg , image_map_capt ...

. During the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

, which started

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 September 1939, the town was invaded and then occupied by Germany. On September 12, 1939, the German '' Einsatzgruppe VI'' entered the town to commit various atrocities against Poles as part of the ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders which was committed against the Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) early in the ...

''. The Germans carried out mass arrests of local Poles under the pretext of "gathering, plotting, mistreating the

Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of '' volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sin ...

and anti-German activity". Arrested Poles from the town and county were imprisoned in a newly established Nazi prison, and then hundreds were massacred in the nearby Bytyń, Kobylniki and forests between October 1939 and January 1940. On October 12–13 and December 13, 1939, the Germans also carried out public executions of Poles in the town. In December 1939, the Germans carried out first expulsions of Polish

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

and owners of shops and workshops, which were then handed over to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

colonists as part of the ''

Lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...

'' policy. Further expulsions of Poles were carried out in 1940–1941 and 1944. Despite such circumstances, the Polish resistance movement was active in the town, and structures of the

Polish Underground State The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...

were organized. The Germans also destroyed the pre-war monument of Polish insurgents of the Greater Poland Uprising. In 1945 the German occupation ended and the town was restored to Poland, although with a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-installed communist regime, which remained in power until the

Fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

in the 1980s. In June 1945, the

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

carried out a successful attack on a communist prison and liberated captured resistance members.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club is Sparta Szamotuły. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

Wacław z Szamotuł Wacław is a Polish masculine given name. It is a borrowing of cz, Václav, Latinized as Wenceslaus. For etymology and cognates in other languages, see Wenceslaus. It may refer to: * Wacław Leszczyński *Wacław of Szamotuły * Wacław Hańs ...

(1520s-1560s), composer and writer * John Jonston (1603-1675), natural scientist and historian * Siegmund Lubszynski (Lubin) (1841-1923), American film pioneer, the first Jewish "Movie Mogul" *

Philipp Scharwenka Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (16 February 1847, in Szamotuły amter Grand Duchy of Posen – 16 July 1917, in Bad Nauheim) was a German-Polish composer and teacher of music. He was the older brother of Xaver Scharwenka. Early training Scharwenka w ...

(1847-1917), composer and music educator *

Xaver Scharwenka Theophil Franz Xaver Scharwenka (6 January 1850 – 8 December 1924) was a German pianist, composer and teacher of Polish descent. He was the brother of Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917), who was also a composer and teacher of music. Life ...

(1850-1924), composer and pianist *

Hans Georg Friedrich Groß Hans Georg Friedrich Groß, (4 May 1860 – 27 February 1924), was a German balloonist and airship constructor. Luisenstadt 2008 Balloons In the 1890s, the ''Verein zur Förderung der Luftschifffahrt'' (an association promoting airflight foun ...

(1860-1924), German balloonist and airship constructor * Alexander Hollaender (1898–1986), scientist *

Maksymilian Ciężki Maksymilian Ciężki (; Samter, Province of Posen (now Szamotuły, Poland), 24 November 1898 – 9 November 1951 in London, England) was the head of the Polish Cipher Bureau's German section (''BS–4'') in the 1930s, during which time— ...

(1899-1951), cryptographer * Ernst Wellmann (1904–1970),

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

officer *

Małgorzata Braunek Małgorzata Braunek (30 January 1947 – 23 June 2014) was a Polish film and stage actress. Early life Małgorzata Braunek was born in Szamotuły. She studied acting department at National Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw until 1969, when she ...

(1947-2014), actress

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Szamotuły is twinned with:

Gallery

Szamotuły 422-64.jpg, Górka Castle seen from the park Collegiate in Szamotuły.JPG,

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Minor Basilica Church (formerly Collegiate Church) Collegiate in Szamotuly (7).jpg, Vault of the Gothic Collegiate Church Szamotuły 422-43.jpg,

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Holy Cross Church Szamotuły 873-58.jpg, Fountain in the old park Szamotuły 873-63.jpg, Monument to officer and cryptographer

References

External links

Official city webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szamotuly Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Szamotuły County Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939)