Kostrzyn nad Odrą | |
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 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 Location in Gorzów County | |
  Kostrzyn nad Odrą | |
| Coordinates:52°35′18″N14°40′0″E / 52.58833°N 14.66667°E /52.58833; 14.66667 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship |  Lubusz |
| County | Gorzów |
| Gmina | Kostrzyn nad Odrą(urban gmina) |
| Established | 13th century |
| Town rights | 1300 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Andrzej Kunt |
| Area | |
• Total | 46.17 km2 (17.83 sq mi) |
| Population (2019-06-30[1]) | |
• Total | 17,778 |
| • Density | 385.1/km2 (997.3/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 66-470 |
| Area code | +48 95 |
| Vehicle registration | FGW |
| Climate | Cfb |
| National roads |   |
| Voivodeship roads |  |
| Website | http://www.kostrzyn.pl |
Kostrzyn nad Odrą (translated literally as Kostrzyn upon theOder;Polish pronunciation:[ˈkɔst.ʂɨnˌnadˈɔdrɔ̃];German:Küstrin[kʏsˈtʁiːn]) is atown inGorzów County,Lubusz Voivodeship in westernPoland, on the border withGermany.[2]
The town is situated within the historicLubusz Land (Ziemia Lubuska) region at the confluence of theOder andWarta rivers, on the western rim of the extended Warta mires. The town centre is located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) south ofSzczecin.
Until the end of World War II and the implementation of theOder–Neisse line in 1945, the municipal area also comprised theKüstrin-Kietz suburb on the west bank of the Oder river, which today is part of the GermanKüstriner Vorland municipality. The former town centre, the Kostrzyn fortress located on the headland between the Oder and Warta rivers, was destroyed by the Red Army as an act of revenge weeks before the end of WW2 and not rebuilt. Today Kostrzyn's central area is located aroundKostrzyn railway station east of the Warta's mouth.
Settled since theBronze Age, the area was held by thePiast dukes and kings ofPoland from about 960 until 1261, who had agord laid out in the borderlands with thePomeranian tribes in the north. DukeMieszko I used Kostrzyn's strategic location as a staging area during his expedition to theBattle of Cedynia in 972. Likewise, beginning in 1002, his successorBolesław I the Brave used the area to prepare for conquests and battles in theGerman–Polish War against KingHenry II.[3]
In 1223 DukeWładysław Odonic ofGreater Poland granted the fortress to theKnights Templar. The name of the town was first mentioned in 1232 in a Polish letter by theLubusz bishopWawrzyniec to the Knights Templar, in which the oldSlavic nameCozsterine (hence the later German nameKüstrin) was mentioned. In the 12th century it developed into a fortifiedcastellany and a Polish taxation post, however, together withLubusz Land it was seized by theAscanian margraves ofBrandenburg in 1261 and incorporated into theirNeumark territory east of the Oder river. By 1300 the town had receivedMagdeburg town rights from MargraveAlbert III of Brandenburg and started to grow rapidly, owing largely to trade on the rivers. From 1319 there was a dispute over the town between the Piasts, theGriffins and the Ascanians, and there were heavy fights between theDuchy of Pomerania and theDuchy of Saxe-Wittenberg in the area in 1322–1323.[4] A peace treaty between Pomerania and Saxe-Wittenberg was signed in the town on 5 December 1323.[4]
In 1373 the town became part of theLands of the Bohemian Crown (orCzech Lands), ruled by theLuxembourg dynasty. In 1402, the Luxembourgs reached an agreement withPoland inKraków, under which Poland was to buy and reincorporate Kostrzyn and the surrounding region,[5] but eventually the Luxembourgs sold the town to theTeutonic Order. After theThirteen Years’ War broke out in 1454, the Teutonic Knights sold the town to Brandenburg in order to raise funds for war against Poland.
In 1535–1571 the town was the seat ofJohn of Brandenburg-Küstrin, who made it the capital of theNeumark region and built a castle. With time this castle was expanded into a fortress, one of the largest such facilities in the region. While still crown prince,Frederick the Great was imprisoned in the fortress, from which he witnessed the execution of his friendHans Hermann von Katte on 6 November 1730. The town wasbesieged by the Russians during theSeven Years' War. Captured by the French in 1806, Küstrin was occupied by a French military garrison for the remainder of theNapoleonic Wars. During the Frenchretreat from the east in 1814, the town was set on fire and burnt to the ground.
The town recovered and became one of the most important railway hubs in theKingdom of Prussia and later theGerman Empire. One of the main escape routes for surviving insurgents of the PolishNovember Uprising from partitioned Poland to theGreat Emigration led through the town.[6] In 1857 it was linked toBerlin andFrankfurt (Oder) and in 1875 withStettin (Szczecin) on the Pomeranian coast. In 1900 its population reached 16,473, including the garrison of the fortress.
DuringWorld War I, aGerman strict regime prisoner-of-war camp for French, Russian, Belgian, British and Canadian officers was operated at the local fortress.[7] Notable inmates includedLeefe Robinson,Jocelyn Lee Hardy,Roland Garros andJules Bastin, who all made unsuccessful escape attempts.[8] It is considered the only German POW camp of World War I from which no one managed to escape.[9]
In September 1923, theBlack Reichswehr attempted aputsch from the Küstrin Fortress, but it was suppressed by the regularReichswehr.
At the outbreak ofWorld War II Küstrin had 24,000 inhabitants. During the war, the Germans used Polish prisoners of war asforced labourers to build theStalag III-CPOW camp in the present-day district ofDrzewice.[10] It housed Polish,French, Serbian, Soviet,Italian, British, American and Belgian POWs.[10] In 1943–45 the town also housed a sub-camp of theSachsenhausen concentration camp, whose prisoners were Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, French, Belgians and Dutch, with Poles and Russians treated particularly badly either by guards or ethnic German camp elders,[11] and a number of German forced labour camps. Due toAllied air raids on the railway hub and local factories and its position as a German bridgehead on the east bank of the Oder during theBattle of the Oder-Neisse and theBattle of the Seelow Heights, almost 95% of its buildings weredestroyed (including all 32 of the city's factories) and the town was generally deserted. The town was captured by theRed Army on 11 March 1945. Soviet troops killed some American POWs mistaking them for enemy troops.[10]
After the war the ruined town became part of Poland again by decision of thePotsdam Conference; Germans remaining in the town wereexpelled westward in accordance with thePotsdam Agreement. The town was repopulated by Poles, many of whom wererefugees fromSoviet-annexed former eastern Poland, from where they had been displaced by Soviet authorities in accordance to new borders decided atYalta Conference, while most were re-settlers from central Poland.[citation needed]
The remnants of the old town within the fortress walls, including the castle in which the young Frederick the Great had been imprisoned, were razed after the war and the bricks were used to rebuild Polish cities elsewhere. More recently, plans to rebuild some of the old town in a historical style were considered, but this project appears to be on hold. The section of the town on the west bank of the Oder remained in Germany and is now calledKüstrin-Kietz.Between 2004 and 2019 Kostrzyn hosted the annualPol'and'Rock Festival (formerly Przystanek Woodstock) in the summer, the largest open-air music festival in Europe and one of the largest in the world.
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| Note that the above numbers are based on primary, possibly inaccurate or biased sources.[12][13][14][15][16] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The localfootball club isCeluloza Kostrzyn nad Odrą [pl]. It competes in the lower leagues.
Kostrzyn is an industrial town with various factories. Arctic Paper (a paper manufacturer), Hanke Tissue (a hygiene products manufacturer) and ICT Poland (a stationery manufacturer) all have factories in western Kostrzyn.[17][18]
Kostrzyn nad Odrą istwinned with:
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Seat (not part of the county):Gorzów Wielkopolski | ||
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