Zaniemyśl 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 ...

Środa Wielkopolska County Środa is the Polish word for Wednesday. It appears in the names of Polish towns holding Wednesday weekly fairs. There are two towns in Poland called Środa: * Środa Śląska, in south-west Poland (Lower Silesian Voivodeship) * Środa Wielko ...

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 west-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 Zaniemyśl __NOTOC__ Gmina Zaniemyśl is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Środa Wielkopolska County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. Its seat is the village of Zaniemyśl, which lies approximately south-west of Środa Wielkop ...

. It lies approximately south-west of

Środa Wielkopolska Środa Wielkopolska (; until 1968 ''Środa'') is a town in western-central Poland, situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, about southeast of Poznań, with 22,001 inhabitants (2009). It is the seat of Środa Wielkopolska County, and of Gmina ...

and south-east 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 ...

. Zaniemyśl lies next to a series of lakes, making it a popular tourist destination. There is also a steam railway running between Zaniemyśl and Środa Wielkopolska. This is the oldest steam railway in Poland.

History

Niezamyśl 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 Pyzdry County in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1331, during the Polish–Teutonic War of 1326–1332, it was the site a battle between the Poles and the invading Teutonic Knights, won by the Poles. In 1742, it was granted

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

and renamed ''Zaniemyśl''. It was a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

, owned by the

Poniński The House of Poniński is the name of an old Polish noble family that derived from the place of Ponin. Members of the family held the title of Prince. Notable members *Adam Poniński (1732–1798) Adam Poniński (1732 or 1733 – 23 July 1798 ...

and Jaraczewski families. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(

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 ...

), several

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 ...

from Zaniemyśl, including landowners, teachers and a school principal, were among the victims of a public execution of Poles, perpetrated by the occupiers in nearby

on October 20, 1939. In 1940, the German police and gendarmerie carried out expulsions of Poles, whose houses and farms were handed over to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

colonists as part of the ''

Lebensraum (, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...

'' policy. The Poles were either deported to the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

in the more-eastern part of German-occupied Poland, or enslaved as

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 ...

in the region or deported to Germany. The Polish resistance movement was active in Zaniemyśl, including local units of the ''Wielkopolska Organizacja Wojskowa'', ''Wojskowa Organizacja Ziem Zachodnich'' and

Home Army The Home Army (, ; 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) established in the ...

. Bogdan Wysocki, organizer of the unit of the ''Wielkopolska Organizacja Wojskowa'', was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

in 1940, then held in various prisons, sentenced to death in

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

and executed in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

in 1942, whereas Zbigniew Leonard Kasztelan, leader of the local unit of the Home Army, was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1944, and then imprisoned, tortured, sentenced to death and executed in Żabikowo in 1945.

Demographics

References

{{Authority control Populated lakeshore places in Poland Villages in Środa Wielkopolska County