Tczew

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Tczew
Tczew Old Town seen from Vistula riverbank
Tczew Old Town seen from Vistula riverbank
Flag of Tczew
Flag		 File:POL Tczew COA 1.svg
Coat of arms
Tczew is located in Poland
Tczew
Tczew
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country  Poland
Voivodeship Pomeranian
County Tczew County
Gmina Tczew (urban municipality)
Established 12th century
Town rights 1260
Government
 • Mayor Mirosław Pobłocki
Area
 • Total 22.26 km2 (8.59 sq mi)
Elevation 25 m (82 ft)
Population (2009)
 • Total 60,279
 • Density 2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 83-110
Area code(s) +48 58
Car plates GTC
Website http://www.tczew.pl

Tczew [tt͡ʂɛf] (Kashubian: Dërszewò; German: <phonos file="Dirschau.ogg">Dirschau</phonos>) is a town on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 60,279 inhabitants (June 2009). It is an important railway junction with a classification yard dating to the Prussian Eastern Railway (German: Preußische Ostbahn). The city is known for its attractive old town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew, damaged during World War II.

It is the capital of Tczew County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously a town in Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–1998).

The town 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 km (22 mi) south-east of Gdańsk.

History

Tczew (Trsow,, Dersowe, `weaver's town´[1]) was first mentioned as Trsow in a document by Pomeranian Duke Grzymisław bestowing the land to the Knights Hospitaller in 1198.[citation needed] Around 1200 Sambor I, Duke of Pomerania, built a fortress here.[1] 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 form Lubiszewo Tczewskie to here.[citation needed] By 1252 the settlement was known by the names Tczew and Dirschau. In 1260 it became a town and received Lübeck rights,[citation needed] Tczew was purchased by Heinrich von Plötzke of the Teutonic Knights following the Treaty of Soldin in 1309. It was rebuilt from 1364–1384, and was granted Kulm law by Winrich von Kniprode. In 1434 the town was burnt down by the Hussites. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), it was transferred from the Teutonic Order to the newly created Polish province of Royal Prussia.

During the Protestant Reformation most of town's inhabitants converted to Lutheranism. In 1626 it was occupied by king Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, who built a pontoon bridge across river Vistula and who had his camp at the southern side of the town.[1] Although it was rebuilt, it then suffered 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.[1]

The region was annexed from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Kingdom of Prussia during the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Dirschau became part of the newly founded Province of West Prussia. During the Napoleonic invasion in Prussia the town was occupied by Polish troops of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski in 1807, but became Prussian again in 1815. It became part of the German Empire in 1871.

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 the Prussian and German rule, the Polish minority suffered from policies of forced Germanization; for example Poles were denied Polish schools, and refused to teach their children German, German official Heinrich Mettenmeyer wrote that German appointed teachers were treated with highest disdain by Polish children and their parents[2]

After World War I as a consequence of the Treaty of Versailles Tczew became part of the Polish Corridor and was incorporated into the Second Polish Republic. On January 30, 1920, 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.

During the Interwar period, Tczew was famous for its maritime academy which later moved to Gdynia.

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 bridge from being blown up at 04:34 on 1 September 1939 (the shelling of Westerplatte commenced at 04:45). During the time span 1939–45 Dirschau was integrated into Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia of the administrative district of Regierungsbezirk Danzig of Germany's Third Reich. 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. Short before the end of World War II it was occupied by the Soviet Army. After the end of war the town became part of People's Republic of Poland and renamed Tczew again. Residents took the first effort of reconstruction, and revitalization. Currently, there are several companies in the electrical industry and machine building.

Number of inhabitants by year

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

Note that the above table is based on primary sources which may be biased:[1][3][4][5]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Tczew depicts a red griffin in honor of Duke Sambor II, who granted the town municipal rights in 1260.

Sights

Parish Church of Exaltation of the Cross
Museum of the Vistula River
Municipal Park
The Vistula bridge demolished by sappers of the Polish Army in September 1939 after the Wehrmacht invasion
  • 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 Stanislaus Kostka – located on Świętego Grzegorza square. It comes from the 14th century and is built in the Gothic style, with a characteristic octagonal tower. After the liquidation of the order, it was rebuilt into a school and later, till 1945, used by Protestants.
  • Bridges on the Vistula River – located by Jana z Kolna street and the Vistula boulevard are Tczew's main sights. The road bridge was the first one to be constructed, between 1851 and 1857. At the time, with its 837 metres’ length, it was one of the longest bridges in the world. Originally, the bridge had ten towers and two gateways – today only four towers remain. The other, railway bridge, was built between 1888 and 1890, when one bridge was no longer sufficient. On 1 September 1939 at 5:30AM, the bridges were destroyed by Polish sappers in order to prevent 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, the Nazi transitional camp for the people of Tczew was located. 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.
  • 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.
  • City Hall – the old city 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 city hall can be seen in the square. The new city 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.

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.

Famous residents

International relations

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

Twin towns — Sister cities

Tczew is twinned with:

External links

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6th edition, Vol. 5, Leipzig and Vienna 1903, p. 43.
  2. ↑ Historia Pomorza, Tom 3,Część 2, Gerard Labuda Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, 1996, page 144.
  3. ↑ Johann Friedrich Goldbeck: Vollständige Topographie des Königreichs Preußen. Teil II, Marienwerder 1789, p. 52, no 2.
  4. ↑ Michael Rademacher: Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Westpreußen, Kreis Dirschau (2006) (German).
  5. ↑ August Eduard Preuß: Preußische Landes- und Volkskunde. Königsberg 1835, pp. 390–391, no. 24.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]


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