History of Toruń

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The following article details the history of Toruń, a city in Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland.

Early history

The first settlement in the vicinity of

BC (Lusatian culture).[1] During early medieval times, in the 7th through 13th centuries, it was the location of an old Slavonic settlement,[2] at a ford in the Vistula river. In the 10th century it became part of the emerging Polish state ruled by the Piast dynasty
.

In spring 1231 the

Franciscan friars settled in the city, followed in 1263 by Dominicans. In 1264 the adjacent New Town was founded predominantly to house Toruń's growing population of craftsmen and artisans. In 1280, the city (or as it was then, both cities) joined the mercantile Hanseatic League
, and thus became an important medieval trade centre.

Gothic City Hall (Ratusz) started in the 13th century

During the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, in 1410, the townspeople expelled the Teutonic Knights from the city, welcomed Polish troops and recognized Polish rule.[5] Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło granted Toruń new privileges.[6] After the First Peace of Thorn was signed in the city in February 1411, the city fell back to the Teutonic Order. In 1411 the city left the Hanseatic League. In the 1420s, King Władysław II Jagiełło built the Dybów Castle, located in present-day left-bank Toruń, which he visited numerous times.[7] During the next big Polish–Teutonic War, the Dybów Castle was occupied by the Teutonic Knights from 1431 to 1435.[7] The city refused to pay taxes to the Teutonic Knights, not wanting to finance their war against Poland.[8]

In 1440, the gentry of Toruń co-founded the anti-Teutonic

Thirteen Years' War. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the Polish King during the incorporation in March 1454 in Kraków,[11] and then in May 1454, an official ceremony was held in Toruń, during which the nobility, knights, landowners, mayors and local officials from Chełmno Land, including Toruń, again solemnly swore allegiance to the Polish King and the Kingdom of Poland.[12] Since 1454, the city was authorized by King Casimir IV to mint Polish coins.[13] After almost 200 years, the New and Old Towns amalgamated in 1454. The Poles systematically destroyed the Teutonic castle because they didn't want the Knights, or anyone else, returning to take over.[14] During the war, Casimir IV often stayed at the Dybów Castle,[15] and Toruń financially supported the Polish Army. In September and October 1466, the Polish king stayed in Toruń during the Polish–Teutonic peace talks.[16] The Thirteen Years' War ended in October 1466 with the Second Peace of Thorn, in which the Teutonic Order renounced any claims to the city and recognized it as part of Poland.[17] It was administratively located in the Chełmno Voivodeship
.

Copernicus House in Toruń, now housing a museum

The Polish King granted the city great privileges, similar to those of

royal city of Poland. In 1528, the royal mint started operating in Toruń. In 1568 a gymnasium was founded, which after 1594 became one of the leading schools of northern Poland for the centuries to come.[18] A city of great wealth and influence, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period.[19] It was also one of four largest cities of Poland.[20] Sejms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were held in Toruń in 1576 and 1626.[21]

In 1557, during the

Roman Catholic. Under Mayor Henryk Stroband (1586–1609), the city became centralized. Administrative power passed into the hands of the city council. In 1595 Jesuits arrived to promote the Counter-Reformation, taking control of St. John's Church. The Protestant city officials tried to limit the influx of Catholics into the city, as Catholics (Jesuits and Dominican friars) already controlled most of the churches, leaving only St. Mary's to Protestant citizens. In 1645, at a time when religious conflicts occurred in many other European countries and the disastrous Thirty Years' War was fought west of Poland, in Toruń, on the initiative of King Władysław IV Vasa, a three-month congress of European Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists was held, known as Colloquium Charitativum, an important event in the history of interreligious dialogue.[22]

Toruń in the 17th century

In 1677 the Prussian historian and educator Christoph Hartknoch was invited to be director of the Toruń Gymnasium, a post which he held until his death in 1687. Hartknoch wrote histories of Prussia and the cities of the province of Royal Prussia.

During the

Tumult of Thorn
of 1724.

In September 1711, Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian national hero who found refuge in Poland after the fall of the Rákóczi's War of Independence against Austria, stopped in the city during his travel from Jarosław to Gdańsk.[24]

In the age of the Polish partitions

In 1793 the

epic poem by Adam Mickiewicz, was first printed in partitioned Poland in Toruń in 1858. In 1870 French prisoners of war taken during the Franco-Prussian War were directed to build a chain of forts surrounding the town. The following year the city, along with the rest of Prussia, became part of the new German Empire
.

Toruń was part of the area subject to Prussian and later German attempts to Germanise the province. Toruń became a centre of resistance to Germanization and Kulturkampf by Poles, who established a Polish-language newspaper, Gazeta Toruńska.[2] In 1875 a Polish Scientific Society was established, and in 1884 a secret organization dedicated to the restoration of Poland.[2] During Prussian and German rule, especially in the second half of the 19th century, the German authorities promoted ethnic German settlement in the city by falsifying census results. To diminish the number of Poles, one method involved counting all bilingual Poles who spoke German as Germans. Additionally, German soldiers stationed in the city were included in census figures as citizens for propaganda purposes.[26] In order to achieve German majority over Polish population in Toruń, German authorities helped settle large numbers of German officials, workers and craftsmen by legal and administrative means.[27] The number of Germans decreased from 27,509 in 1910 to 2,255 in 1926 and further to 2,057 in 1934.[28]

Interwar Poland

In 1918, Poland regained independence, and according to the Treaty of Versailles following World War I in 1919, Toruń was re-assigned to Poland. It became the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

In 1925, the Baltic Institute was established in the city, and worked on documenting Polish heritage and history in Pomerania. In general, the interwar period was a time of significant urban development in Toruń. Major investments were completed in areas such as transportation (new streets, tramway lines and the Piłsudski Bridge), residential development (many new houses, particularly in Bydgoskie Przedmieście suburb) and public buildings. Following the bridge's construction, in 1938 the nearby town of Podgórz, on the left bank of the Vistula, was incorporated into Toruń.

Modern-day Toruń, located on the banks of the Vistula

In 1934 the Polish government abrogated the German-Polish treaty of protection of national minorities which was concluded as part of the Versailles treaties restoring the region and city to Poland.[29]

The Jewish community in Toruń was very active before World War II. Just before the Nazi German invasion of Poland, Jews supported the Polish government fund-raising for Air Defence (Dz.U.R.P.Nr 26, poz. 176) much more generously than average Torunians.

World War II

Second World War

The German army entered the city on 7 September 1939, during the

Untermenschen by German authorities, with their fate being slave-labor, executions, expulsions and deportations to concentration camps. In October 1939 the new regional gauleiter, Albert Forster, announced in the city that in a few years, not a word of Polish will be spoken here.[14]

A group of Polish railwaymen and policemen from Toruń was murdered by the German gendarmerie and Wehrmacht in Gąbin on 19–21 September 1939.[31] Local Poles, including activists, teachers and priests, arrested in Toruń and the Toruń County from September 1939, were initially held in the pre-war prison, and after its overcrowding, from October 1939, the Germans imprisoned Poles in Fort VII of the Toruń Fortress.[32] Only on 17–19 October 1939, the German police and Selbstschutz arrested 1,200 Poles in Toruń and the county.[32] In early November 1939, the Germans carried out further mass arrests of Polish teachers, farmers and priests in Toruń and the county, who were then imprisoned in Fort VII.[32] Imprisoned Poles were then either deported to concentration camps or murdered on site.[32] Large massacres of over 1,100 Poles from the city and region, including teachers, school principals, local officials, restaurateurs, shop owners, merchants, farmers, railwaymen, policemen, craftsmen, students, priests, workers, doctors, were carried out in the present-day district of Barbarka.[33] Six mass graves were discovered after the war, in five of which the bodies of the victims were burnt, as the Germans tried to cover up the crime.[34] By the end of November 1939 the city was declared Judenfrei, with several hundred Jews who chose to stay, deported to the Łódź Ghetto and other locations in the Warthegau.[35] Local teachers were also among Polish teachers murdered in the Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg, Mauthausen and Dachau concentration camps.[36]

German execution of Poles in Barbarka in 1939

From 1940 to 1943, in the northern part of the city there was a German transit camp (Umsiedlungslager Thorn) for Poles expelled from Toruń and the surrounding area, which became infamous for inhuman sanitary conditions.[37] Over 12,000 Poles passed through the camp, and around 1,000 died there, including about 400 children.[37] After the camp was dissolved, the remaining Polish prisoners were deported to the Potulice concentration camp.[14] From 1941 to 1945, a German forced labour camp was located in the city.[38] In the spring of 1942, the Germans murdered 30 Polish scouts aged 13-16 in Fort VII.[39]

Despite such circumstances, the

Lwów).[40] From 1941, underground Polish press smuggled from Nasielsk and Warsaw was distributed in Toruń.[41] One of the main transfer points for underground Polish press smuggled to German-occupied Pomerania was based in Toruń, and from January 1945 the underground Polish newspaper Strażnica Bałtyku was published in the city itself.[42] Polish intelligence infiltrated various branches of the German arms industry.[43]

During

expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, primarily to East Germany
, between 1945 and 1947.

Post-war history

After World War II, the population increased more than twofold and industry developed significantly. The founding of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in 1945 was significant. Over the years, it has become one of the best universities in Poland. The university has strongly influenced the intellectual, artistic and cultural life of the city, as well as its perception by non-locals. The university was founded by Polish professors formerly associated with the University of Wilno. After the war, they were forced to leave former eastern Poland, which was annexed by the Soviet Union, and settle in post-1945 Poland.

Year Population Remarks
1768 approx. 1,000
1793 5,570 (cit: Historia Torunia) [45]
1806 8,954
1815 7,095
1828 11,265
1831 8,631 (cit: Preußische Landes 1835) [46]
1864 14,106 without German military: 2,111 [47]
1875 18,631 (cit: Deutschen Reichs 1903–15) [48]
1880 20,617 (cit: Deutschen Reichs 1903–15) [48]
1885 23,906 (cit: Deutschen Reichs 1903–15) [48]
1890 27,018 (cit: Deutschen Reichs 1903–15) [48]
1900 29,635 (cit: Deutschen Reichs 1903–15) [48]
1906 43,435 including German military [49]
1910 46,227 (cit: Deutschen Reichs 1903–15) [48]
1931 54,280 (cit: GUS)
1943 78,224
2009 205,934 (cit: GUS)

Since 1989, when local and regional self-government was gradually reintroduced and the market economy was introduced, Toruń, like other cities in Poland, has undergone deep social and economic transformations. Locals debate whether the changes have been as successful as they had hoped for, but Toruń has recently reclaimed its strong position as a regional leader, together with Bydgoszcz. Bydgoszcz–Toruń rivalry has existed for centuries.[50][51]

In 1992, by a

John Paul II, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toruń was established as a successor to the former Diocese of Chełmno, founded in 1243.[52]

In 1997, the historic city center of Toruń was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in 2007 it was named one of the Seven Wonders of Poland.

On 7 June 1999 Toruń was visited by Pope John Paul II.[52] The Pope first met at the Nicolaus Copernicus University with some 1,200 academic and cultural figures from 200 various Polish universities and colleges, and afterwards celebrated a mass for some 300,000 people.[53] During the mass, the Pope beatified Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, a Polish priest from Toruń and prisoner of German concentration camps during World War II, who died in Dachau of typhus contracted while providing aid to sick fellow prisoners.[54]

In 2008, the 12999 Toruń asteroid was named after the city.

References

  1. ^ Hypothetical reconstruction of a Lusatian culture settlement, built using bronze age tools: Wola Radziszowska, Poland Archived 2012-02-19 at the Wayback Machine, part of a study by scientists from the Jagiellonian University’s Institute Of Archaeology.
  2. ^ a b c Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN Warsaw 1976
  3. ^ "Krzyżacy – założyciele Torunia" (Teutonic Knights — the founders of Thorn). (Internet Archive) Urząd Miasta Torunia. "The foundation charter for Thorn was signed on 28th December 1233 by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Herman von Salza and the National Master for Prussia and the Slavonic Lands Herman Balka. In that way Thorn was founded by the Teutonic Order and managed by the Knights until 1454." Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  4. ^ Max Töppen Historisch-comparative Geographie von Preussen: Nach den Quellen, namentlich auch archivalischen, J. Perthes, 1858; PDF
  5. ^ Potkowski, Edward (1994). Grunwald 1410 (in Polish). Kraków: Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza. p. 61.
  6. ^ Potkowski, p. 62
  7. ^ a b c Grzeszkiewicz-Kotlewska, Lidia (2002). "Zamek Władysława Jagiełły w Dybowie w świetle badań archeologicznych w latach 1998-2001". Rocznik Toruński (in Polish). 29. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika: 19.
  8. ^ Kętrzyński, Wojciech (1882). O ludności polskiej w Prusiech niegdyś krzyżackich (in Polish). Lwów: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. p. 605.
  9. ^ Górski 1949, p. XLI.
  10. ^ F. Kiryk, J. Ryś, Wielka Historia polski, t. II, 1320-1506, Kraków 1997, p. 160-161
  11. ^ Górski 1949, pp. 71–72.
  12. ^ Górski 1949, pp. 76–77.
  13. ^ Górski 1949, p. 63.
  14. ^ a b c d "Torun History".
  15. ^ Grzeszkiewicz-Kotlewska, p. 19-20
  16. ^ Górski 1949, p. LXXIII.
  17. ^ Górski 1949, p. 88.
  18. ^ "Historia szkoły". I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu (in Polish). Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  19. ^ Polska Encyklopedia Szlachecka, t. I, Warsaw 1935, p. 42.
  20. ^ Maria Bogucka, Miasto i mieszczanin w społeczeństwie Polski nowożytnej XVI-XVIII w., Warsaw 2009
  21. ^ Władysław Konopczyński, Chronologia sejmów polskich 1493-1793.
  22. ^ "Colloquium Charitativum". Toruński Serwis Turystyczny (in Polish). Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  23. ISBN 978-3-447-05793-6
    .
  24. ISBN 978-83-62235-88-9
    .
  25. ^ "Toruń stolicą Polski? Przez trzy tygodnie". Interia Nowa Historia (in Polish). Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  26. ^ "Toruń dwóch narodów." Gazeta Miejska Nr 1 (44) z 13 stycznia 2000, Urzad Miasta Torunia (Toruń City Council).
  27. ^ Lidia Kuchtówna, "Wielkie dni małej sceny," Teatr Narodowy na Pomorzu. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1972, pp. 13 - 204
  28. ISBN 3-447-03997-3
    .
  29. ^ Minderheitenschutzvertrag zwischen den Alliierten und Assoziierten Hauptmächten und Polen
  30. ^ Wardzyńska 2009, p. 61.
  31. ^ Wardzyńska 2009, p. 97.
  32. ^ a b c d Wardzyńska 2009, p. 161.
  33. ^ Wardzyńska 2009, pp. 161–163.
  34. ^ Wardzyńska 2009, p. 162.
  35. ^ Maciej Kołyszko (2013). "Zarys historii Torunskiej mniejszosci Żydowskiej (History of Jews in Torun)". Żydzi z Torunia. Cmentarze Żydowskie w Polsce. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  36. ^ Wardzyńska 2009, pp. 180–181.
  37. ^ a b Tomasz Ceran "Piekło w fabryce smalcu"
  38. ^ "Arbeitserziehungslager Thorn". Bundesarchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  39. Biblioteka Jagiellońska
    . p. 56.
  40. ISSN 1641-9561
    .
  41. ^ Chrzanowski 2022, p. 30.
  42. ^ Chrzanowski 2022, pp. 29, 57.
  43. ^ Chrzanowski 2022, p. 48.
  44. ISSN 0557-2177
    .
  45. Polska Akademia Nauk
    ). (in Polish)
  46. ^ August Eduard Preuß: Preußische Landes- und Volkskunde. Königsberg 1835, pp. 413–416, no. 30.
  47. ^ Steinmnn: Der Kreis Thorn – Statistische Beschreibung, Thorn 1866, p. 47.
  48. ^ a b c d e f Michael Rademacher: Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Provinz Westpreußen, Stadt- und Landkreis Thorn (2006).
  49. ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6th edition, Vol. 19, Leipzig and Vienna 1907, p. 501–502.
  50. ^ Rywalizacja toruńskich "krzyżaków” i bydgoskich "prusaków” trwa pięćset lat!
  51. ^ Ein Streifzug durch Brombergs Geschichte
  52. ^ a b Śladami Jana Pawła II po Polsce: Toruń (in Polish). Warszawa: Bellona. 2008. p. 44.
  53. ^ Śladami Jana Pawła II po Polsce: Toruń, pp. 44–45
  54. ^ Śladami Jana Pawła II po Polsce: Toruń, p. 45

Bibliography

  • Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni.
  • Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN.
  • Chrzanowski, Bogdan (2022). Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 (in Polish). Gdańsk:
    ISBN 978-83-8229-411-8
    .
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