Skwierzyna

Skwierzyna
Town hall
Flag Coat of arms
Skwierzyna
Coordinates:
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Lubusz
County	Międzyrzecz
Gmina	Skwierzyna
Government
• Mayor	Lesław Hołownia
Area
• Total	35.69 km2 (13.78 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	10,010
• Density	280/km2 (730/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	66-440
Car plates	FMI
Website	http://www.skwierzyna.pl

Skwierzyna [skfʲɛˈʐɨna] (German: Schwerin an der Warthe) is a town of 10,339 inhabitants (2005) in Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland, the administrative seat of the Gmina Skwierzyna. It is located at the confluence of the Obra and Warta rivers, about 18 km (11 mi) north of Międzyrzecz and 23 km (14 mi) south-east of the regional capital Gorzów Wielkopolski. The town is situated in a particularly green part of Poland. Extensive forests and numerous lakes can be found in the vicinity.

History

Skwierzyna already held town privileges upon the death of the Piast duke Przemysł II of Greater Poland in 1296, renewed by the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło in 1406. The colonization of the area was largely implemented by the Cistercian monks of nearby Paradyż Abbey, a filial monastery of Lehnin Abbey in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. With its predominantly German citizens, the town for centuries belonged to the Polish Poznań Voivodeship, situated near the western border of the Lands of the Polish Crown with the Brandenburgian Neumark region.

In the course of the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Skwierzyna was annexed together with the whole region of Greater Poland by the Kingdom of Prussia. It was part of Grand Duchy of Warsaw between 1807 and 1815. It was incorporated into the Kreis Birnbaum of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1815. From 1887 it was the administrative seat of Kreis Schwerin within the Prussian Province of Posen. In 1919, according to the Treaty of Versailles, this district was left in the small Posen-West Prussia area which remained part of Weimar Germany. It was part of Germany until occupation by the Red Army in 31 January 1945.

At the end of World War II the lands east of the Oder-Neisse line fell to the Republic of Poland, the German population was expelled and replaced by Poles who had been expelled or left the territories annexed by the Soviet Union in Ukraine and Lithuania.

Notable people

• Johann Christian Metzig (1804–1868), physician
• Johann Gottfried Piefke (1817–1884), musician and composer (Preußens Gloria)
• Sebastian Świderski (born 1977), volleyball player.

International relations

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

Twin towns — Sister cities

Skwierzyna is twinned with:

• Bryansk, Russia
• Bernau bei Berlin, Germany

External links

• Skwierzyna
• Skwierzyna
• Virtual tour of Skwierzyna
• Jewish Community in Skwierzyna on Virtual Shtetl