Zakrzewo () () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Złotów County __NOTOC__ Złotów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. Its administrative seat and largest town is Złotów, which lies north of the regional capital ...

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 ...

, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

(administrative district) called Gmina Zakrzewo. It lies approximately north-east of

Złotów Złotów is a town in northwestern Poland, with a population of 18,303 inhabitants (2011), seat of the Złotów County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The town is located on the river Głomia and is surrounded by five lakes. It is part of the ...

and north of the regional capital

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

. A Blues Express festival is organized in Zakrzewo every July by the local culture centre.

History

The territory became a part of the emerging Polish state under its first historic ruler

Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...

in the 10th century. Zakrzewo was a private village of

Polish nobility The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

, administratively located in the Nakło County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. It 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

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 ...

in 1772, and from 1871 it was also part of Germany. According to the census of 1900, Zakrzewo had a population of 1,124, of which 78.1% were

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 ...

. Zakrzewo had a very strong and active Polish community, headed by the parson of a local parish,

Bolesław Domański Bolesław Domański (January 14, 1872 – April 21, 1939) was a famous Polish people, Polish Catholic Church in Poland, Catholic Catholic Priest, Priest, and was the President of the Union of Poles in Germany from 1931 to 1939. He served as the ...

. A Polish elementary school, kindergarten and community center were located there. In 1909, the Polish ''Bank Ludowy'' was founded in the village. In 1935,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

changed the village's name to ''Buschdorf'' in attempt to erase traces of Polish origin. In 1939, German persecution of Poles intensified. Local Polish activist Marcin Łangowski was expelled, and the local Polish community center was attacked by the Germans. The Polish school and Polish bank continued to resist German harassment, however, the Germans soon arrested local Polish teachers and the chairman of the local Polish bank's governance board, who were afterwards deported 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 ...

.Wardzyńska, p. 76 After Germany's defeat in

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 1945, the village became again part of Poland and its historic name was restored.

Transport

There is a train station in Zakrzewo, and the

voivodeship road According to classes and categories of public roads in Poland, a voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed sinc ...

188 runs through the village.

Sports

The local

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 is Jedność Zakrzewo. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

Johannes Block __NOTOC__ Johannes Block (17 November 1894 – 26 January 1945) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who held commands at division and corps level. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Blo ...

(1894–1945),

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 ...

general

References

{{Gmina Zakrzewo, Greater Poland Voivodeship Populated lakeshore places in Poland Villages in Złotów County