Bytów
Encyclopedia
Bytów AUD is a town
in the Middle Pomerania
region of northern Poland
in the Bytów Lakeland with 16,888 inhabitants (2004). Previously in Słupsk Voivodeship (1975–1998), it is the capital of Bytów County
in Pomeranian Voivodeship
(since 1999).
An old Pomeranian settlement was first mentioned by Latin name castrum nomine Bitom in 1113 in Gallus Anonymus
' Chronicle, as conquered by Polish king Bolesław III Wrymouth. In 1321 the city was mentioned as "Butow" when it became private possession of the noble family von Behr, who sold it to the Teutonic Knights
in 1329.
In 1346 the Grand Master Heinrich Dusemer
granted Bütow city rights under Kulm Law. The Teutonic Knights had started in 1335 with the construction of a rectory
. The town alternated between Poland and the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights
during the Polish-Teutonic Wars, and returned to Polish control after the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), who gave it as lien to the Dukes of Pomerania
. The final legal situation of Bytów was regulated in 1526
In 1627 during the Thirty Years' War
, the town was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire. Between 1627 and 1657 Bytów ceased to be a Polish fief and became directly ruled by Poland. To gain an ally against Sweden
during the Deluge
, in 1657 King John II Casimir of Poland
gave the Lauenburg and Bütow Land
to Margrave
Frederick William
of Brandenburg-Prussia
as a hereditary fief in the Treaty of Bydgoszcz
. Although Poland still retained sovereignty, the town was administered by Brandenburg and, after 1701, by the Kingdom of Prussia
. During the 18th century, the town suffered from fires and plague.
In 1773 in the First Partition of Poland
the town was wholly incorporated in the Prussian Province of Pomerania
. From 1846-1945, Bütow was the seat of the Landkreis Bütow district in Prussia. The town became part of the German Empire
in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany
. Polish minority remained active in the city, and in 1910 a Polish Bank Ludowy was founded here.
Although reconstituted Poland
desired Bütow at the end of World War I
, the Treaty of Versailles
kept the town in the Weimar Republic
in 1919. The decision led the local Kashubians to protests and hundreds of them took part in march known as "marsz na Bytów".
According to Polish sources (published in 1969) The area remained the main centre of activity by Polish minority in the region and in 1923 Związek Polaków na obszar Kaszubski was founded in the city In 1928 Jan Bauer, a Polish teacher organised Polish language lessons, and reinvigorated the Polish movement in the city, which resulted in repressions by German state, and his eventual conviction and exile from Germany in 1932, founding himself at the outbreak of Second World War in Berlin he was arrested and murdered by Germans in 1940 .
Bütow was occupied by the Soviet
Red Army
on 8 March 1945. In 1945, after the end of the war, the town was put under Polish administration according to the Potsdam Conference
and renamed to the Polish Bytów. Its German inhabitants were expelled
and replaced with Poles
, mainly from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
.
Bytów became the seat of a powiat
(1946–1975, 1999-) within Poland.
Number of inhabitants in years
with:
Frankenberg, Hesse
, Germany Gdańsk
, Poland Winona, Minnesota
, USA
) of Bytów (historical German names and Kashubian names in italics):
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in the Middle Pomerania
Middle Pomerania
The term Middle or Central Pomerania can refer to two distinct areas, depending on whether it is used as a translation of the corresponding German or Polish terms Mittelpommern or Pomorze Środkowe, respectively.-Mittelpommern, Mittelpommerscher Keil:Mittelpommern or Mittelpommerscher Keil in...
region of northern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in the Bytów Lakeland with 16,888 inhabitants (2004). Previously in Słupsk Voivodeship (1975–1998), it is the capital of Bytów County
Bytów County
Bytów County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Bytów, which lies west of...
in Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship, or Pomerania Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in north-central Poland. It comprises most of Pomerelia , as well as an area east of the Vistula River...
(since 1999).
History
According to the city's official webpage the name Bytów comes from the founder of the settlement named "Byt".An old Pomeranian settlement was first mentioned by Latin name castrum nomine Bitom in 1113 in Gallus Anonymus
Gallus Anonymus
Gallus Anonymus is the name traditionally given to the anonymous author of Gesta principum Polonorum , composed in Latin about 1115....
' Chronicle, as conquered by Polish king Bolesław III Wrymouth. In 1321 the city was mentioned as "Butow" when it became private possession of the noble family von Behr, who sold it to the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
in 1329.
In 1346 the Grand Master Heinrich Dusemer
Heinrich Dusemer
Heinrich Dusemer von Arfberg was the 21st Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1345 to 1351.Dusemer hailed from Swabia and joined the Teutonic Order in 1311. As a young knight he fought against the Lithuanians. Legend has it that he frequently would duel with Grand Duke Vytenis...
granted Bütow city rights under Kulm Law. The Teutonic Knights had started in 1335 with the construction of a rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
. The town alternated between Poland and the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
during the Polish-Teutonic Wars, and returned to Polish control after the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), who gave it as lien to the Dukes of Pomerania
Duchy of Pomerania
The Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania ....
. The final legal situation of Bytów was regulated in 1526
In 1627 during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, the town was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire. Between 1627 and 1657 Bytów ceased to be a Polish fief and became directly ruled by Poland. To gain an ally against Sweden
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
during the Deluge
The Deluge (Polish history)
The term Deluge denotes a series of mid-17th century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish–Lithuanian theaters of the Russo-Polish and...
, in 1657 King John II Casimir of Poland
John II Casimir of Poland
John II Casimir was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania during the era of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Duke of Opole in Upper Silesia, and titular King of Sweden 1648–1660. In Poland, he is known and commonly referred as Jan Kazimierz. His parents were Sigismund III Vasa and...
gave the Lauenburg and Bütow Land
Lauenburg and Bütow Land
Lauenburg and Bütow Land formed a historical region in eastern in eastern Pomerania. Composed of two districts centered around the towns of Lauenburg and Bütow , it was on the western periphery of Pomerelia...
to Margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
Frederick William
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...
of Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
as a hereditary fief in the Treaty of Bydgoszcz
Treaty of Bydgoszcz
The Treaty of Bromberg or Treaty of Bydgoszcz was a treaty between John II Casimir of Poland and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia, ratified at Bromberg on 6 November 1657...
. Although Poland still retained sovereignty, the town was administered by Brandenburg and, after 1701, by the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. During the 18th century, the town suffered from fires and plague.
In 1773 in the First Partition of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
the town was wholly incorporated in the Prussian Province of Pomerania
Province of Pomerania (1653–1815)
The Province of Pomerania was a province of Brandenburg-Prussia, the later Kingdom of Prussia. After the Thirty Years' War, the province consisted of Farther Pomerania. Subsequently, the Lauenburg and Bütow Land, Draheim, and Swedish Pomerania south of the Peene river were joined into the province...
. From 1846-1945, Bütow was the seat of the Landkreis Bütow district in Prussia. The town became part of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
. Polish minority remained active in the city, and in 1910 a Polish Bank Ludowy was founded here.
Although reconstituted Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
desired Bütow at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
kept the town in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
in 1919. The decision led the local Kashubians to protests and hundreds of them took part in march known as "marsz na Bytów".
According to Polish sources (published in 1969) The area remained the main centre of activity by Polish minority in the region and in 1923 Związek Polaków na obszar Kaszubski was founded in the city In 1928 Jan Bauer, a Polish teacher organised Polish language lessons, and reinvigorated the Polish movement in the city, which resulted in repressions by German state, and his eventual conviction and exile from Germany in 1932, founding himself at the outbreak of Second World War in Berlin he was arrested and murdered by Germans in 1940 .
Bütow was occupied by the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
on 8 March 1945. In 1945, after the end of the war, the town was put under Polish administration according to the Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
and renamed to the Polish Bytów. Its German inhabitants were expelled
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
and replaced with Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, mainly from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
Immediately after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of World War II, the Soviet Union invaded the eastern regions of the Second Polish Republic, which Poles referred to as the "Kresy," and annexed territories totaling 201,015 km² with a population of 13,299,000...
.
Bytów became the seat of a powiat
Bytów County
Bytów County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Bytów, which lies west of...
(1946–1975, 1999-) within Poland.
Demographics
Up to the end of World War II most inhabitants of the town of Bütow belonged to the religious group of the Protestants.Number of inhabitants in years
- 1782: 990, incl. 19 JewsJewsThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. - 1794: 1,085, incl. 12 Jews.
- 1812: 1,217, incl. 44 CatholicsRoman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and 49 Jews. - 1816: 1,395, incl. 40 Catholics and 126 Jews.
- 1831: 2,062, incl. 106 Catholics and 199 Jews.
- 1852: 3,509, incl. 318 Catholics and 274 Jews.
- 1861: 4,247, incl. 312 Catholics and 343 Jews.
- 1875: 5,820
- 1900: 6,487, mostly Protestants.
- 1925: 8,890, mostly Protestants.
- 1960: 8,600
- 1970: 10,700
- 1975: 12,500
- 1980: 13,300
- 2011: 20,943
Notable residents
- Adolph Ferdinand GehlenAdolph Ferdinand GehlenAdolph Ferdinand Gehlen was a German chemist.Gehlen was born in Bütow, Farther Pomerania , he is known as the publisher of Neues allgemeines Journal der Chemie , Journal für Chemie und Physik and the Repetitorium für die Pharmacie .-Sources:...
(1775–1815), chemist - Hansjoachim Walther (1939–2005), politician
- Georg WarsowGeorg WarsowGeorg Warsow was a German road racing cyclist who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.He was born in Bütow....
(1877-?), athlete
Sights
- OrdensburgOrdensburgAn Ordensburg was a fortress built by crusading German military orders during the Middle Ages. "Ordensburg" was also used during Nazi Germany to refer to training schools for Nazi leaders.- Medieval Ordensburgen :...
of the Teutonic KnightsTeutonic KnightsThe Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
, built 1399-1405 - Church of St. CatherineCatherine of AlexandriaSaint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius...
from the 14th century - Church of St. George from the 16th century
Twin towns — sister cities
Bytów is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
Frankenberg, Hesse
Frankenberg, Hesse
Frankenberg an der Eder is a town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany.The mountain at a ford over the Eder north of the Burgwald range was for a long time a fortified place, playing an especially important rôle under the Franks in the Saxon Wars...
, Germany Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, Poland Winona, Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota
Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....
, USA
Municipality of Bytów
Sołectwos in the urban-rural commune (gminaGmina
The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...
) of Bytów (historical German names and Kashubian names in italics):
- Dąbie (Dampen, Dãbie)
- Gostkowo (Gustkow, Gòstkòwò)
- Grzmiąca (Gramenz, Grzmiãcò)
- Mądrzechowo (Mangwitz)
- Mokrzyn (Petersdorf)
- Niezabyszewo (Damsdorf, Niézabëszéwò)
- Płotowo (Platenheim, Płotowa)
- Pomysk Mały (Klein Pomeiske, Małë Pòmësk)
- Pomysk Wielki (Gross Pomeiske, Wiôlgë Pòmësk)
- Rekowo (Reckow, Rekowò)
- Rzepnica
- Sierżno (Zerrin, Sérzno)
- Świątkowo (Luisenhof)
- Udorpie (Hygendorf, Ùdorp)
- Ząbinowice (Gersdorf)