Myślibórz | |
|---|---|
 Main square | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Myślibórz | |
| Coordinates:52°56′N14°52′E / 52.933°N 14.867°E /52.933; 14.867 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | West Pomeranian |
| County | Myślibórz |
| Gmina | Myślibórz |
| Town rights | 1253 |
| Area | |
• Total | 15.04 km2 (5.81 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
• Total | 11,867 |
| • Density | 789.0/km2 (2,044/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 74-300 |
| Area code | +48 95 |
| Vehicle registration | ZMY |
| National roads |   |
| Website | http://www.mysliborz.pl |
Myślibórz ([mɨˈɕlʲibuʂ];German:Soldin) is a town in northwesternPoland, inWest Pomeranian Voivodeship.[1] It is the capital of theMyślibórz County, with a population of 11,867.
It is home to the first monastery of theCongregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus and a sanctuary of theDivine Mercy.[2]
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The town's official webpage mentions a settlement inhabited by a pre-Slavic population fromLusatian culture on the shores of thelake (Polish: Jezioro Myśliborskie) in the 7th century, which later turned into aWest Slavic orLechitic fortress in the 10th and 11th centuries; the area was incorporated intoPoland by thePiast dukeMieszko I by the end of the 10th century.[3] According to the town's webpage, the town site was a fishing settlement calledSołtyń, located on a trading route betweenSilesia andGreater Poland towards the Oder delta. It is from this fishing settlement that the later German name of the town comes:Soldin.[3]
The site was acquired as a rest house by theDominican Order in 1234, while the fort was granted to theKnights Templar by DukeWładysław Odonic and finally sold to theAscanian margravesJohn I andOtto III ofBrandenburg in 1261. Together with the nearbycastellany ofSantok, the former Greater Polish lands were incorporated into the BrandenburgianNeumark ("New March";Polish:Nowa Marchia) territory. The town was first mentioned asSoldin in a 1270 deed and quickly became the administrative centre of the region, a Dominican monastery was founded there in 1275. However, in the first half of the 14th century Soldin declined due to famine and political strife of the Ascanian dynasty, in the course of which the Soldin Castle was destroyed. It was the place of signing of theTreaty of Soldin (1309) between theMargraviate of Brandenburg and theTeutonic Order State.
In 1373 the New March became part of theLands of the Bohemian Crown (orCzech Lands), ruled by theLuxembourg dynasty. In 1402, the Luxembourgs reached an agreement withPoland inKraków. Poland was to buy and re-incorporate the region,[4] but eventually the Luxembourgs sold it to theTeutonic Order. During thePolish–Teutonic War, in 1433 the town was destroyed by theHussites.[3] In 1455 the Teutonic Knights sold the town to theMargraviate of Brandenburg, now under the rule of theHouse of Hohenzollern, in order to raise funds for anotherwar with Poland. ElectorFrederick Irontooth had Brandenburg's suzerainty over the area formalized in the 1466Treaty of Soldin with thePomeranian dukes. In 1473 the town was briefly captured byBogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania.[3]
In the 16th century, MargraveJohn ofBrandenburg-Küstrin converted the Neumark toProtestantism, seceded from Brandenburg and transferred his court from Soldin toKüstrin (now Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Poland). The Dominican monastery was dissolved. Soldin suffered heavy damage in theThirty Years War, when it was overrun by theImperial army underAlbrecht von Wallenstein marching against KingChristian IV of Denmark. It began to recover only in the 18th century as a garrison town of theKingdom of Prussia underFrederick the Great. When theGerman Empire was formed in 1871, Soldin was the capital of arural district (Landkreis) within the PrussianProvince of Brandenburg. In the 19th century, Soldin was largely bypassed by the industrial revolution, and was not served by rail until 1888. Electrification came in 1898, and a municipal water system only in 1912. In the nearby forest, theLituanica plane crash occurred on 17 July 1933.
By the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, Soldin had 6,284 inhabitants. During the war, the Germans operated aforced labour subcamp of theStalag II-Dprisoner-of-war camp in the town.[5]
The town was captured without a fight by theRed Army on 31 January 1945. After a Soviet soldier attempting to rape a local woman was shot and killed by her husband on 3 February, the Soviets rounded up 160 civilians from the town, mostly teenaged boys and elderly men, and murdered 120 of them in a nearby quarry four days later. After the discovery of the mass grave of the victims in 1995, a memorial commemorating the victims was erected.[6]
In April 1945, a field hospital assigned to theFirst Polish Army was based in the town, treating Soviet and Polish soldiers.[7] On 13–15 April 1945, thequartermaster of the First Polish Army was stationed in the town.[7]
With the end of the war in 1945, the partly depopulated area was transferred to Poland under border changes promulgated at thePotsdam Conference. The surviving German population of Soldin wasexpelled[citation needed] in accordance with thePotsdam Agreement and the town, renamed Myślibórz, was gradually repopulated by Polish settlers.
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It was a county centre initially inSzczecin Voivodeship (1945-1975), then inGorzów one (1975-1998), finally inWest Pomeranian one since 31 December 1998.
Myślibórz istwinned with:
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