Tczew | |
|---|---|
 Market Square  Tczew Road Bridge  Vistula River Museum | |
.svg) Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Tczew | |
| Coordinates:54°5′15″N18°47′50″E / 54.08750°N 18.79722°E /54.08750; 18.79722 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship |  Pomeranian |
| County |  Tczew |
| Gmina | Tczew(urban municipality) |
| Established | 12th century |
| City rights | 1260 |
| Government | |
| • City mayor | Łukasz Brządkowski |
| Area | |
• Total | 22.26 km2 (8.59 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 25 m (82 ft) |
| Population (31 December 2021) | |
• Total | 59,111 (73rd)[1] |
| • Density | 2,655/km2 (6,878/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 83-110 |
| Area code | +48 58 |
| Car plates | GTC |
| Website | https://tczew.pl |
Tczew ([tt͡ʂɛf] ⓘ, formerlyGerman:Dirschauⓘ) is a city on theVistula River in thePomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland,[2] with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021).[1] It is the capital ofTczew County and the largest city of the ethnocultural region ofKociewie within the historic region ofPomerania.
Founded in theMiddle Ages with city rights since 1260, Tczew was a major river port on the Vistula, and prospered as a major center for grain trade in Poland. The city is known for its Old Town with medievalGothic churches, and the Vistula bridges, which played a key role in theInvasion of Poland at the onset ofWorld War II. During the war, it was the location of a major German-operated transit camp forPoles expelled from the region, now home to the Vistula River Museum, the main museum devoted to the history of Poland's longest river.
Tczew is the largest railroad junction in northern Poland, with railroads towardsGdańsk,Bydgoszcz,Warsaw andChojnice, and a location for the electric machinery and food industries.
Tczew is located on the west bank of riverVistula, approximately 30 kilometres (19 miles) south ofGdańsk Bay at theBaltic Sea and 35 kilometres (22 miles) south-east ofGdańsk.
Tczew (Trsow,Dersowe, ‘weaver's town’[3]) was first mentioned asTrsow in a document byPomeranian Duke Grzymisław bestowing the land to theKnights Hospitaller in 1198.[4] Around 1200Sambor I, Duke of Pomerania, built a fortress here.[3] 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 DukeSambor II moved his residence fromLubiszewo Tczewskie to Tczew.[5] By 1252 the settlement was known by the namesTczew andDirschau.
In 1258 a city council was created and in 1260 Tczew was grantedtown rights.[4] It is the only case in Poland for a city council to be established before granting city rights.[4] Craft and trade developed, there was a port on the Vistula and amint.[4] DukeMestwin II in 1289 brought theDominican Order to the city.[4] It was part of Poland until 1308. Following theTreaty of Soldin in 1309, Tczew was purchased fromBrandenburg byHeinrich von Plötzke of theTeutonic Knights, despite the fact that the initial claims to the region by Brandenburg were of dubious legality.[6] The townspeople were expelled by the Teutonic Knights[7] and the town's organization ceased to exist for more than half a century. It was rebuilt from 1364 to 1384, and was grantedKulm law byWinrich von Kniprode. After the Polish victory in theBattle of Grunwald in 1410, the town was briefly recaptured by Poland.[5] In 1434 the town was burnt down by theHussites. In 1440 the town joined thePrussian Confederation, opposing Teutonic Order's rule.[5][8] In 1457, during theThirteen Years’ War, Bohemian mercenaries on the Order's service sold Tczew to Poland in lieu ofindemnities.[9] TheSecond Peace of Thorn (1466) confirmed the reincorporation of Tczew to Poland. It became a county seat within thePomeranian Voivodeship in the newly created Polish province ofRoyal Prussia, soon also part of theGreater Poland Province.
During theProtestant Reformation most of the town's inhabitants converted toLutheranism. In 1626, it was occupied by kingGustav II Adolf ofSweden, who built a pontoon bridge across riverVistula and who had his camp at the southern side of the town.[3] After the war Tczew was visited twice by Polish KingWładysław IV Vasa, in 1634/1635 and 1636.[10] Although it was rebuilt, it then suffered during thePolish-Swedish Wars. In a nearby battle on 2 September 1657, the Poles were defeated by the combined troops ofBrandenburg and Sweden under generalJosias II, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen.[3]
The region was annexed from thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by theKingdom of Prussia during theFirst Partition of Poland in 1772. Tczew, as Dirschau, became part of the newly foundedProvince of West Prussia. During theNapoleonic Wars and thePolish national liberation fights the town was captured by Polish troops of GeneralJan Henryk Dąbrowski in 1807, but became Prussian again in 1815. In 1818 Prussians closed down the Dominican monastery.[5] In October and November 1831, some Polish infantry, cavalry and artillery units of theNovember Uprising stopped in the city on the way to their internment places,[11] and later on, one of the insurgents' main escape routes from partitioned Poland to theGreat Emigration led through the city.[12]
With theunification of Germany, the town became part of theGerman Empire in 1871 and from 1887 was the capital of theDirschau district in the province of West Prussia. The town grew rapidly during the 19th century after the opening of thePrussian Eastern Railway line connectingBerlin andKönigsberg, with the Vistula bridge near Dirschau being an important part.
Under Prussian and German rule, the Polish population suffered from forcedGermanization; for example Poles were denied Polish schools, and refused to teach their children German. The German official Heinrich Mettenmeyer wrote that German-appointed teachers were treated with the highest disdain by Polish children and their parents.[13] The town remained a center ofPolish resistance, and Poles established various organizations, including theBank Ludowy ("People's Bank").[5] According to the census of 1910, Dirschau had a population of 16,894, of which 15,492 (91.7%) wereGermans and 1,397 (8.3%) werePoles.[14][15]
After Poland regained independence in 1918, local Poles formed the People's Council in preparation for reintegration with Poland.[5] AfterWorld War I as a consequence of theTreaty of Versailles, Tczew became part of the so-calledPolish Corridor and was incorporated into the re-establishedPolish state. The official handover happened on January 10, 1920, and on January 30, Polish GeneralJózef 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 thePolish 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%) wereGermans.
During theInterwar period, Tczew was famous for its maritime academy (Szkoła Morska) which later moved toGdynia.[4]
According to the city's website, Tczew was the location of the start ofWorld War II when German bombers attacked Polishsapper installations to prevent the bridges from being blown up at 04:34 on 1 September 1939 (the shelling ofWesterplatte commenced at 04:45). The Germans sent two trains with soldiers to capture the bridges, disguised as freight trains, but due to Polish railroaders' intervention atSzymankowo, they came late, losing the element of surprise, and the bridges were blown up after 6 am that day.[16]
During theGerman occupation of Poland (1939–45) Tczew, asDirschau, was annexed into the newly formed province ofReichsgau Danzig-West Prussia ofNazi Germany. ThePolish population was subjected to mass arrests, repressions,expulsions and murder. TheSS-Heimwehr-Sturmbann Götze entered the town in September 1939 to carry out actions against Poles, including mass arrests with the help of local Germans organized in theSelbstschutz, who denounced local Polish activists.[17] The Germans imprisoned hundreds of Poles in camps established in a former factory (present-day museum), in a craft school and in military barracks.[18] In November 1939, Germans carried out executions of numerous Poles from Tczew, including local teachers, officials (including pre-war mayor Karol Hempel,) craftsmen, a policeman, and even a seventeen-year-old student.[19] Catholic priests fromPelplin, who were not murdered in Pelplin, were imprisoned in the Tczew barracks and then murdered in theSzpęgawski Forest (see alsoNazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland).[20] In January 1940, theSS andSelbstschutz carried out two public executions of 33 Polish residents, including railway employees, officials, craftsmen and merchants, at the market square.[21] Also Poles fromStarogard andTuchola counties, who refused to sign theVolksliste, were imprisoned in Tczew and then murdered in a nearby forest.[22] From 1939 to 1941, theEinsatzgruppe operated a penalforced labour camp in the town.[23]
In 1941, the Germans created a transition camp for Poles expelled from the region in a local factory (present-day museum).[24][25] People were held there for several weeks, and then expelled to theGeneral Government.[24] Hundreds of Polish inhabitants of Tczew were expelled in 1940 and 1941.[26] Some inhabitants were also deported toforced labour to Germany.[5] In 1943, local Poles managed to save somekidnapped Polish children from theZamość region, by buying them from the Germans at the local train station.[27]
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 theSoviet Army. After the end of war the town became part ofPeople's Republic of Poland and renamed Tczew again. German residents were dispossessed and expelled; Polish residents took the first effort of reconstruction, and revitalization.[28]
From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in theGdańsk Voivodeship. In 1984 the Museum of the Vistula River, a branch of theNational Maritime Museum inGdańsk, 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.[25]
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 thepartition period, is celebrated as Tczew Day.[4]
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| Note that the above table is based on primary sources which may be biased.[3][29][30][31][32] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thecoat of arms of Tczew depicts a redgriffin in honor of DukeSambor II, who granted the townmunicipal rights in 1260.
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It is an importantrailway junction with aclassification yard. The PolishA1 motorway runs nearby, west of the city.
Sports clubs in Tczew includePogoń Tczew andGryf Tczew (football),Unia Tczew (football and rowing),Wisła Tczew (football and boxing) and Sambor Tczew (handball,athletics and swimming).[33]
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.
Witten, Germany (1990)
Lev HaSharon, Israel (1997)
Biržai, Lithuania (1998)Werder, Germany (1998)
Barking and Dagenham, England, United Kingdom (1999)Dębno, Poland (2000)
Beauvais, France (2005)
Chornomorsk, Ukraine (2006)
Aizkraukle, Latvia (2007)Former twin towns:
On 8 March 2022, Tczew ended its partnership with the Russian city of Kursk and the Belarusian city of Slutsk as a response to the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[35]
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