Tczew

Coordinates: 54°5′15″N 18°47′50″E / 54.08750°N 18.79722°E / 54.08750; 18.79722
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tczew
Tczew Market Square
Tczew Market Square
Car plates
GTC
Websitehttps://wrotatczewa.pl/

Tczew ([tt͡ʂɛf] ⓘ, Kashubian: Dërszewò; formerly German: Dirschauⓘ) is a city on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021).[1] The city is known for its Old Town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew, which played a key role in the Invasion of Poland during World War II.

It is the capital of Tczew County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the largest town of the ethnocultural region of Kociewie.

The city is the location for the annual English Language Camp arranged by the American-Polish Partnership for Tczew.

Geographical location

Tczew is located on the west bank of river Vistula, approximately 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Gdańsk Bay at the Baltic Sea and 35 kilometres (22 miles) south-east of Gdańsk.

History

Middle Ages

Tczew (Trsow, Dersowe, ‘weaver's town’[2]) was first mentioned as Trsow in a document by Pomeranian Duke Grzymisław bestowing the land to the Knights Hospitaller in 1198.[3] Around 1200 Sambor I, Duke of Pomerania, built a fortress here.[2] In some documents, the name Derszewo appears, which stems from the name of a feudal lord, Dersław. It is unknown whether Trsow and Derszewo referred to the same or two neighboring settlements. In order to obtain better control of traffic on the Vistula, Pomeranian Duke Sambor II moved his residence from Lubiszewo Tczewskie to Tczew.[4] By 1252 the settlement was known by the names Tczew and Dirschau.

Medieval town walls

In 1258 a city council was created and in 1260 Tczew was granted

Thirteen Years’ War, Bohemian mercenaries on the Order's service sold Tczew to Poland in lieu of indemnities.[8] The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) confirmed the reincorporation of Tczew to Poland. It became a county seat within the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the newly created Polish province of Royal Prussia, soon also part of the Greater Poland Province
.

Modern era

During the

Polish-Swedish Wars. In a nearby battle on 2 September 1657, the Poles were defeated by the combined troops of Brandenburg and Sweden under general Josias II, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen.[2]

The bridge over Vistula in 1858

The region was annexed from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Kingdom of Prussia during the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Tczew, as Dirschau, became part of the newly founded Province of West Prussia. During the Napoleonic Wars and the Polish national liberation fights the town was captured by Polish troops of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski in 1807, but became Prussian again in 1815. In 1818 Prussians closed down the Dominican monastery.[4] In October and November 1831, some Polish infantry, cavalry and artillery units of the November Uprising stopped in the city on the way to their internment places,[10] and later on, one of the insurgents' main escape routes from partitioned Poland to the Great Emigration led through the city.[11]

With the unification of Germany, the town became part of the German Empire in 1871 and from 1887 was the capital of the Dirschau district in the Province of West Prussia. The town grew rapidly during the 19th century after the opening of the Prussian Eastern Railway line connecting Berlin and Königsberg, with the Vistula bridge near Dirschau being an important part.

Under Prussian and German rule, the Polish population suffered from forced

Polish resistance, and Poles established various organizations, including the Bank Ludowy ("People's Bank").[4] According to the census of 1910, Dirschau had a population of 16,894, of which 15,492 (91.7%) were Germans and 1,397 (8.3%) were Poles.[13][14]

Maritime Academy in Tczew in the 1920s

After Poland regained independence in 1918, local Poles formed the People's Council in preparation for reintegration with Poland.[4] After World War I as a consequence of the Treaty of Versailles, Tczew became part of the so-called Polish Corridor and was incorporated into the re-established Polish state. The official handover happened on January 10, 1920, and on January 30, Polish General Józef Haller arrived in the town with his troops. The town became a center of cultural activities of the German minority in Poland, a German-language school and a theater was founded.[citation needed] The regional member of the Polish Parliament represented the German minority. In this period, the proportion of Germans in the town decreased drastically from over 90% in 1910 to around 9% in 1939. In 1921, Tczew had a population of 16,250, of which 4,600 (28.3%) were Germans.

During the Interwar period, Tczew was famous for its maritime academy (Szkoła Morska) which later moved to Gdynia.[3]

World War II

The Vistula bridge demolished by sappers of the Polish Army in September 1939 after the Wehrmacht invasion

According to the city's website, Tczew was the location of the start of World War II when German bombers attacked Polish sapper installations to prevent the bridges from being blown up at 04:34 on 1 September 1939 (the shelling of Westerplatte commenced at 04:45). The Germans sent two trains with soldiers to capture the bridges, disguised as freight trains, but thanks to Polish railroaders at Szymankowo, they came late, losing surprise factor, and the bridges were blown up after 6 am that day.[15]

During the

Volksliste, were imprisoned in Tczew and then murdered in a nearby forest.[21] From 1939 to 1941, the Einsatzgruppe operated a penal forced labour camp in the town.[22]

Monument to Poles murdered in Tczew by the Germans during World War II

In 1941, the Germans created a transition camp for Poles expelled from the region in a local factory (present-day museum).[23][24] People were held there for several weeks, and then expelled to the General Government.[23] Hundreds of Polish inhabitants of Tczew were expelled in 1940 and 1941.[25] Some inhabitants were also deported to forced labour to Germany.[4] In 1943, local Poles managed to save some kidnapped Polish children from the Zamość region, by buying them from the Germans at the local train station.[26]

After World War II the town, was one of the most damaged cities of Gdańsk Pomerania. Virtually none of its remaining factories were capable of production. There had been considerable loss of population down to around 18-20 thousand people. Shortly before the end of World War II it was occupied by the

People's Republic of Poland and renamed Tczew again. German residents were dispossessed and expelled; Polish residents took the first effort of reconstruction, and revitalization.[27]

Recent period

From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the Gdańsk Voivodeship. In 1984 the Museum of the Vistula River, a branch of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk, was opened in the building of the pre-war metal products factory, in which during World War II Germans operated a transit camp for Poles expelled from the region.[24]

Currently, there are several companies in the electrical industry and machine building.

January 30, i.e. the date of Tczew's return to Poland after the partition period, is celebrated as Tczew Day.[3]

Number of inhabitants by year

Road and railway bridges on the Vistula river in Tczew
Year Number
1772 1,442
1782 1,587
1831 2,310
1875 9,713
1880 10,939
1890 11,897
1900 12,808
1905 14,164
1921 16,250
1943 25,869
1960 33,700
1970 41,100
1980 53,600
1990 59,500
2000 61,200
2009 60,279
2020 59,430

Note that the above table is based on primary sources which may be biased:[2][28][29][30]

Coat of arms

The

Sambor II, who granted the town municipal rights
in 1260.

Sights

Sights of Tczew (examples)
Józef Haller Square
Church of Exaltation of the Cross
Saint Stanislaus Kostka church
Road bridge
Museum of the Vistula River
Main post office
Town Hall
Municipal Park
Municipal Public Library
Five-sailed windmill
  • Józef Haller Square (Plac Józefa Hallera), filled with preserved historic townhouses
  • Parish Church of the Holy Cross – situated in the centre of the Old Town, by Wyszyńskiego street. It is the oldest building in Tczew. The church was built in the 13th century and features a Baroque interior. The high brick tower is the oldest part of the church and its wooden top was destroyed during the fire in 1982. The interior church walls feature old frescoes, the oldest of which dates back to the latter half of the 15th century.
  • Post-Dominican Church of Saint
    Protestants
    .
  • Bridges on the
    German Army
    from accessing the city from the other side of the Vistula River. The bridges were rebuilt in 1940 and destroyed again in 1945 by the Germans. The final reconstruction of the bridges took place between 1958 and 1959.
  • Museum of the
    Vistula River – situated by 30 Stycznia street, in the pre-war agricultural machine factory where during World War II, a transitional camp for Poles expelled from the region was established and operated by Nazi Germany.[24] Then, the gas-meter factory operated in the building and after this the first museum of the Vistula River was established. In 2007, the building was renovated and now operates as the Museum of the Vistula River and Regional Centre of the Lower Vistula. It is a branch of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk.[24]
  • Water Tower – located on the corner of 30 Stycznia and Bałdowska streets. It was built in 1905. The water tower presents former architectural style of municipal facilities. The 40-metre-high tower with the power of natural pressure distributed the water to the houses.
  • Town Hall – the old town hall was situated in Hallera square, in the centre of the Old Town. It was destroyed during the fire in 1916 and has never been rebuilt since. Now only the outline of the former town hall can be seen in the square. The new town hall was built in the Piłsudskiego square in the early 20th century.
  • Dutch-type windmill – situated by Wojska Polskiego street. It was built in 1806. The windmill is wooden with brick foundations and has rarely seen five sails and a rotary head.
  • Post Office – situated on the corner of Dąbrowskiego and Obrońców Westerplatte streets. It is the oldest post office in Tczew, built in 1905. On the front wall we can see the crests of Gdańsk and Tczew and also the Polish state emblem.
  • The building of former Naval School – located by Szkoły Morskiej street. Built in 1911. At the beginning the girls’ school was situated there and later, between 1920 and 1930, it was the location of the first Naval School in Poland which was later moved to Gdynia. Nowadays, the building houses a secondary school.
  • The building of former municipal baths – situated on Łazienna street. Built in 1913. Now the powiat council is based in this building.
  • Municipal Park – located in the centre of Tczew, between Kołłątaja, Bałdowska, and Sienkiewicza streets occupies the area of 37 acres (15 ha). The lower part of the park arose in the second part of the 19th century, the upper part in the 20th century. In the park you can see an amphitheatre where, during the summer, many concerts take place. By the entrance to the park a monument of Tczew's scouts killed during the World War II is situated.

Transport

Tczew train station

It is an important railway junction with a classification yard. The Polish A1 motorway runs nearby, west of the city.

Sports

Sports clubs in Tczew include Unia Tczew (football and rowing), Wisła Tczew (football and boxing) and Sambor Tczew (handball, athletics and swimming).[31]

English Language Camp

For the last 19 years, the town has been the host location for the annual English Language Camp. The camp, often nicknamed "Camp Tczew" is hosted by the American-Polish Partnership for Tczew and offers students a three-week program where they have the opportunity to interact with Americans and improve their English.

Notable people

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland

Tczew is twinned with:[32]

Former twin towns:

  • Russia Kursk, Russia (1996–2022)
  • Belarus Slutsk, Belarus (2017–2022)

On 8 March 2022, Tczew ended its partnership with the Russian city of Kursk and the Belarusian city of Slutsk as a response to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[33]

References

  1. ^ a b "Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 18 August 2022. Data for territorial unit 2214011.
  2. ^ a b c d e Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6th edition, Vol. 5, Leipzig and Vienna 1903, p. 43.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Historia miasta Tczewa". Tcz.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "W grodzie Sambora II". Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  5. ISBN 0-19-925339-0
    .
  6. ^ Mikołajczyk, Witold (2009). Wojny polsko-krzyżackie (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Replika Zakrzewo. p. 26.
  7. ^ Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. p. XXXVII.
  8. ^ Józef Wiesław Dyskant, Zatoka Świeża 1463, p. 115–116.
  9. ^ "Wizyta Władysława IV". DawnyTczew.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  10. ^ Kasparek, Norbert (2014). "Żołnierze polscy w Prusach po upadku powstania listopadowego. Powroty do kraju i wyjazdy na emigrację". In Katafiasz, Tomasz (ed.). Na tułaczym szlaku... Powstańcy Listopadowi na Pomorzu (in Polish). Koszalin: Muzeum w Koszalinie, Archiwum Państwowe w Koszalinie. pp. 138, 140, 146.
  11. ^ Umiński, Janusz (1998). "Losy internowanych na Pomorzu żołnierzy powstania listopadowego". Jantarowe Szlaki (in Polish). No. 4 (250). p. 16.
  12. ^ Historia Pomorza, Tom 3, Część 2, Gerard Labuda Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, 1996, page 144.
  13. ^ Landesamt, Prussia (Kingdom) Statistisches (1912). Gemeindelexikon für die regierungsbezirke Allenstein, Danzig, Marienwerder, Posen, Bromberg und Oppeln: Auf grund der ergebnisse der volkszählung vom. 1. Dezember 1910 und anderer amtlicher quellen bearbeitet vom Königlich Preussischen Statistischen Landesamte (in German). verlag des Königlichen Statistischen Landesamts.
  14. ^ "Willkommen bei Gemeindeverzeichnis.de". www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  15. ISSN 1732-9450
    .
  16. ^ Wardzyńska, Maria (2009). Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. pp. 106–107.
  17. ^ Wardzyńska (2009), p. 109
  18. ^ Wardzyńska (2009), p. 150
  19. ^ Wardzyńska (2009), p. 155-156
  20. ^ Wardzyńska (2009), p. 157
  21. ISBN 978-83-8098-174-4
    .
  22. ^ "Einsatzgruppen-Straflager Dirschau". Bundesarchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  23. ^ a b Wardzyńska (2017), p. 88
  24. ^ a b c d "History of the building - Vistula River Museum". National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  25. ^ Wardzyńska (2017), p. 71, 105, 107
  26. Biblioteka Jagiellońska
    . p. 123.
  27. ^ "Historia miasta Tczewa". Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  28. ^ Johann Friedrich Goldbeck: Vollständige Topographie des Königreichs Preußen. Teil II, Marienwerder 1789, p. 52, no 2.
  29. ^ Michael Rademacher: Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Westpreußen, Kreis Dirschau Archived 2010-05-16 at the Wayback Machine (2006) (in German).
  30. ^ August Eduard Preuß: Preußische Landes- und Volkskunde. Königsberg 1835, pp. 390–391, no. 24.
  31. ^ "MKS Sambor Tczew" (in Polish). Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  32. ^ "Miasta partnerskie i zaprzyjaźnione". wrotatczewa.pl (in Polish). Tczew. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  33. ^ "Tczew zrywa współpracę z miastami partnerskimi z Rosji i Białorusi" (in Polish). 9 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tczew.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Dirschau".


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