Śrem

Śrem
Old Franciscan baroque church
Car plates		PSE
Climate	Cfb
Website	www.srem.pl

Śrem [ɕrɛm] (German: Schrimm) is a town on the Warta river in central Poland. It is the seat of Śrem County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. As of 1995, the population of Śrem was 29,800.

Śrem is 45 kilometres (28 miles) to the south of Poznań, a local road junction on the road from Poznań to Rawicz; other roads lead from the town to Września, Leszno and Głuchowo. The Śrem District has a population of 39,672, of which about 31,000 live in the town of Śrem.

History

burgher

of Śrem in 1791

Śrem was founded in the second half of the 10th century in the cradle of the emerging Polish state, when a fortified settlement, which protected the ford across the Warta on an important trade route from Silesia to Poznań, was erected on the right bank of the Warta river, and soon a trade settlement developed on the left bank.^[1] It is numbered among the oldest Lechitic settlements. Śrem received municipal rights from dukes Bolesław the Pious and Przemysł I of Greater Poland in 1253,^[1] the same year as Poznań.

Śrem developed rapidly and in the 14th century, it became a

The town was annexed by

Śrem was bombed by Germany on 1 September 1939, the first day of the

in the 1980s.

From 1975 to 1998 it was administratively part of the Poznań Voivodeship. In August 1980, employees of local factories joined the nationwide anti-communist strikes,^[8] which led to the foundation of the Solidarity organization, which played a central role in the end of communist rule in Poland.

Economy

At present, the town has a population of about 30,000, with a fast-developing economy. ^{[citation needed]} It is the seat of many firms with private and foreign capital, which have invested in metallurgy, furniture production, transport, window and door production, textiles and food processing. The Śrem Iron Foundry is the biggest plant in Śrem and Śrem County. Business activity in the area is supported by such institutions as the Craftsmen's Guild, the Śrem Centre for Support of Small Business, and the County Branch of the Wielkopolska Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Attractions

For attractions, promoters cite the scenery, palaces and manors with surrounding parks, domestic and religious architecture, as well as nature sanctuaries. Infrastructure includes accommodation, restaurants, and sports and leisure facilities (see below).

Śrem is also the seat of education facilities: vocational and secondary schools as well as a branch of

of Poznań. The branch offers Bachelor of Science courses in material chemistry and tourism. In addition, there are cultural institutions such as the Śrem Museum, the public library, the Culture Centre, and local media including the press, television.

There are also monuments to notable people connected with Śrem, including

participants and the victims of World War II.

• 
  Water tower
• 
  Town hall
• 
  Market Square
• 
  High School
• 
  Gothic Church of St. Mary
• 
  Józef Wybicki monument

Sports

There are multiple sports facilities in Śrem: pitches, a stadium, a swimming pool, bowling alleys, gyms, and a yacht club with a landing stage on Lake Grzymisławskie. Śrem is the starting point of almost all major marked cycling routes in the region.

The local football club is Warta Śrem [pl]. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

• Julius Schreiber (1848–1932), internist
• Piotr Wawrzyniak (1849–1910), priest, economic and educational activist
• Francis J. Borchardt (1849–1915), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Józef Surzyński [pl] (1851–1919), composer, conductor, historian
• Ludwik Wiesiołowski [pl] (1854–1892), painter
• Teodor Jeske-Choiński (1854–1920), Polish intellectual, writer and historian, attended school in Śrem
• Ludwik Mycielski (1854–1926), Polish politician, attended school in Śrem
• Heliodor Święcicki [pl] (1854–1923), gynecologist and philanthropist
• Eugen Mittwoch (1876-1942), rabbi
• Hermann Schreiber (1882-1954), rabbi, philosopher and journalist
• Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke (1913–1944), Luftwaffe pilot
• Włodzimierz Kolanowski (1913–1944), Polish Air Force officer, who co-organized the Great Escape from the Stalag Luft III POW camp, attended school in Śrem
• Jerzy Jurga [pl] (1940–2009), painter and crossbow designer
• Krzysztof Budzyń (born 1957), entrepreneur and amateur historian
• Zenon Jaskuła (born 1962), Olympic medalist and pro cyclist
• Jakub Paś (born 1977), Scientist
• Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz (born 1994), Olympic sprinter
• Dawid Kurminowski (born 1999), footballer

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Śrem.