Pila
Encyclopedia
Piła ' is a town in northwestern Poland
. It had 77,000 inhabitants as of 2001. It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship
(since 1999), previously capital of Piła Voivodeship (1975–1998). Piła is the largest town in the northern part of Great Poland. It is the capital of Piła County. The town is located on the Gwda
river and is famous for its green areas, parks and dense forests nearby. It is an important road and railway hub, located at the intersection of two main lines - Poznań
- Szczecinek
and Bydgoszcz - Krzyz
.
word meaning "saw
". This was a typical name denoting a village of woodcutters belonging to a local noble. The German name Schneidemühl means "sawmill
".
Following the German
colonist movement of the 13th century, and particularly after the end of the 1241 Mongolian
invasions, many German colonizers came to this densely wooded area of the Kingdom of Poland.
General immigration of German settlers diminished, however, when Poland under Casimir IV Jagiellon
(Kazimierz, 1447–92) defeated the Teutonic Order
in 1466.
The period of the Renaissance
and its ideas flourished in Poland during the reign of the last ruler of the two-hundred-year Jagiellonian
dynasty, Sigismund II Augustus
(Zygmunt). As a monarch, he was recognized for his humanist
ideas characterized by tolerance, far in advance of his time.
settlement of woodcutters
in the fishing village
Piła may have existed before any of the later villages and surrounding towns of the area were established. Thus, in the 14th century Piła grew to some extent because of its position on the Gwda a mere 11 kilometers from where it joins the river Notec. Yet, the settlement developed less than others that were situated at such major water routes as the rivers Warta or Vistula. Piła's simple layout of unpaved streets and primitive clay and timber houses gave little protection to its inhabitants and was still far from becoming a commercially interesting locale. If one were to credit a Privilegium (charter
) of the early 1380s as evidence, a document associated with the building of a church in Piła and ascribed to the very young Polish-Hungarian Queen Jadwiga d’Anjou
— a copied document that still existed in the archives of Schneidemühl prior to 1834 — then that period could well be regarded as the time the village of Piła/Snydemole was elevated to the status of town. The recurring Polish-German double naming Piła-Snydemole may be attributed to the fact that two originally separate localities took their name from the water-powered sawmill that had been part of the town's raison d’être from the beginning.
Documented references to Snydemole and Piła are reportedly found in parish church sources of 1449, where there is mention of a sawmill and of the name of the current wojewoda (governor) Paul. Evidence also exists of a letter from 1456 by the Brandenburg Elector Kurfürst
Friedrich II of Hohenzollern
, der Eiserne (the Iron one) who had purchased the Neumark region from the German Templars in 1455. The missive is addressed to bishop Andreas of Poznań and to Lukasz Gorka, the local judeophile Starosta
, the royal constable of Wielkopolska. The Kurfürst complained that in prevailing peace times some burghers of Snydemole and Piła were making raids on his lands. This accusation may tend to give additional credence to the earlier claim that Queen Jadwiga in the 1380s was indeed the founder of the town of Piła.
(Zygmunt) — during whose reign immigration of numerous Jews from the Iberian peninsula
, Bohemia
and Germany was encouraged — bestowed Magdeburger Stadtrecht, municipal rights, upon the town of Piła on 4 March 1513, a landmark decision. Attaining Stadtrecht was a sterling achievement for Piła since it gave the burghers not only status, but also the rights to self-administration and its own judiciary, leading to the elimination of different rights for Polish and German burghers. The administration of the town's affairs was now in the hands of three legislative bodies, elected from among the burghers. They were the council with the mayor, the Schöffencollegium (jury court) and the elders of the guilds. Only the position of the Vogt (bailiff
) remained in the hands of the crown or its deputy, the Starosta. The sovereign, however, remained the ultimate judge, warlord and owner of the land. Being free from the arbitrariness of a Kastellan (king's official) or of a Wojewoda (governor of the province) — Piła's town folk took advantage of the town's privileges by owning property, carrying on any trade and enjoying the right to hold much needed market fairs
.
and in power until the 17th century, included some of the wealthiest landowners and most influential nobles of Poland and was known to be benevolent to their town's folk.
In 1548 Piła obtained a privilege that banned any foreign potter
from the town's markets, and in 1561 a fishing privilege was obtained. Piła was part of the Województwo Poznań, the region divided into the four Starosty (land holdings) of Poznań
(Posen), Kościan
(Kosten), Wschowa
(Fraustadt) and Wałcz (Deutsch Krone), the latter encompassing the Starosty Ujscie-Piła (Usch-Schneidemühl), the area between the rivers Gwda, Notec and Drage. Stara Piła, the old Piła, a town that never had walls, was slow to grow.
By the middle of the 16th century, many German Protestant craftsmen and traders, driven out of Bohemia by religious persecution during the Reformation
, settled in numerous towns in the region. Some may have settled in Piła too, yet in 1563 the small town had no more than 750 inhabitants. They are known to have lived in 153 houses, primitively built, primarily with timber and clay, covered with straw and grouped mainly around the Alter Markt, the Old Market. When King Stephan Istvan Bathory confirmed two of the town's privileges on 3 September 1576, the burghers
were granted the right to hold their weekly market on a Monday, an important feat. Over the following 150 years, numerous privileges and charters were re-issued by the Polish crown, mainly as a result of loss by fire. By 1591 a statute allowing apprenticeships in various trades was obtained.
(Johan Zygmunt) married the pious 17-year old Catholic princess Constance of Austria
(Konstancja), Austrian archduchess from the House of Habsburg, in 1605. He presented the town of Piła, together with the lands of the domain of Ujscie, as a wedding gift to his new bride. By her husband's benevolence, she became responsible for changing Piła in several ways over the next few decades. Acting in concert with the tenets of the prevailing Catholic
Counter Reformation, the queen first attended to what seemed closest to her heart. She saw to it that numerous Protestant churches in the region of Wałcz, the most German of areas where seventeen Protestant villages existed, be handed over to the Roman Catholic clergy, hounding many a German Protestant burgher in the process.
After one of the town's frequent fires in 1619, the queen — in a benevolent gesture and as her ‘present’ to the burghers of Piła — appropriated funds from the large estate to have the old burnt-out wooden Catholic Church, the Alte Marienkirche, rebuilt. Alas, given the random, close proximity of houses to one another, town fires occurred with such regularity in numerous communities during that period that in 1626 another devastating fire broke out in Piła. This time the entire town was laid to ashes, including the newly built church. Konstancja subsequently charged her secretary Samuel Targowski on 15 July 1626 to survey what was left of the town. His proposal for a new layout was to be drastic for Christian
burghers; to the developing Jewish community it was most consequential and of particular detriment. Queen Konstancja decided on a distinct segregation of Jews and Christians. The Jewish community was to resettle in a ghetto
, what was to become a virtual town within a town. The new site, from thereon often referred to as Judenstadt, the Jews’ town. To demarcate the newly created ghetto, the decree called for a sizable trench to be dug to surround the Jewish quarters where feasible; otherwise a tall wooden fence had to serve to close in the area completely.
A new church arose in 1628. Unlike most other buildings in town, the choir room section of this edifice was to remain intact in its original form until 1945. New houses were constructed of brick and stone and the town was reconstructed in plain Renaissance
style. On July 24, 1655 during The Deluge
, Swedish
troops captured the mostly Lutheran
town, pillaged and destroyed most of it. During October 1656, a Polish troupe of Stefan Czarniecki's
army sought terrible retribution upon the largely German and Protestant burghers of Piła/Schneidemühl, accusing them of collusion with the Swedes — while Loyola's zealous disciples fanned their anti-Jewish hostilities in many parts of Poland. During the consecutive Great Northern
and Seven Years' War
s similar havoc was visited upon the remaining inhabitants. To add to the plight, it was discovered that the plague
had been carried in.
, Austria
and Russia
in 1772, the First Partition of Poland
was accomplished. Piła became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and was officially renamed Schneidemühl according to the town's name used by its German citizens for centuries. In 1793 it was recaptured for a short period by a Polish army led by Colonel Wyganowski. After Friedrich II signed the Besitzergreifungspatent, the Ownership Protocol of his Polish lands on 13 September 1772, he created out of the northern parts of Greater Poland and Kuyavia
the Département Westpreussen. Part of that area was later also known as the Netzedistrikt, a governmental administrative district consisting of a wide strip of land both sides of the river Netze (Notec), stretching from it source north of Września
(Wreschen) to the border of the Neumark, incorporating the Küddow and the Drage.
In the year 1781, another huge fire occurred in Schneidemühl, devastating half the town. Despite the fact that Prussian authorities had brought in chimney sweeps and regulations that spelled out fire emergency tasks, hardly anyone in the town was prepared for a major conflagration. Forty-four houses, thirty-seven stables and seventeen barns burned down.
Following Prussia's disastrous defeat at the hands of Napoleon at the battle of Jena
, and after signing the Peace of Tilsit of 7 July 1807, Prussia had lost nearly fifty percent of its recently acquired territory. Schneidemühl's new Polish-Prussian border ran very close to town and together with the largest part of Posen, Schneidemühl became part of Bonaparte's Grand Duchy of Warsaw. This semi-independent state was created out of parts of Prussia's Polish territories, headed by King Friedrich August of Saxony
.
gave Schneidemühl to Prussia again. After the prussian administrative reforms of 1916-18, the town belonged to Kolmar county
inside the Province of Posen
.
The Polish language was banned from offices and education and the city saw a significant influx of German settlers. By 1834 Schneidemühl had barely recovered from the worst outbreak of cholera
of 1831, an epidemic that affected the town's burghers to such an extent that a special Protestant cholera cemetery had to be laid out in the town's suburb Berliner Vorstadt. In the summer of 1834 the city was again struck by a fire that destroyed a large part of the city centre and the city archives. The city was rebuilt shortly afterwards.
In 1851 the city was connected to Berlin
and Bromberg by the Prussian Eastern Railway. The keepsake which remained after the period of railway development today is historical roundhouse whose care is taken by OKRAGLAK Roundhouse in Piła.
The Germanization policy of the Prussian and Imperial German government replaced its Polish identity with a German one. By the end of the 19th century the city had become one of the most important railway centers of the region and one of the biggest towns in the Province of Posen. It was turned into a Prussian military garrison
town. Schneidemühl was revisited by a catastrophe, known as the Brunnenunglück, or the ‘calamity of the well’ that made national headlines. The drilling of an artesian well in August 1892 went horribly wrong and led to unexpected widespread flooding of many of the streets laid out in 1834, causing numerous houses to simply collapse and leaving more than eighty families without shelter. The worst was that this disaster came only a few years on the heels of unexpected flooding caused by the spring thaw of March 1888 that had turned the Küddow into a raging river, when many people were forced to use rowboats to navigate the streets.
During the first World War Schneidemuhl had a prisoner of war camp, initially taking mainly Russian prisoners but later including prisoners from most allied nations including Australia. A telling account of life in the town during that period survives in the form of the diary of Piete Kuhr, then a young girl whose grandmother worked at the Red Cross canteen at the railway station. Piete Kuhr is better known for her later work under the pen name Jo Mihaly
.
, and after much protest by the German majority of its population, Schneidemühl was not included in the Polish Second Republic after World War I. After the Greater Poland Uprising
, the new Polish-German border ran five kilometers south of the city. On 21 July 1922 Schneidemühl became the centre for regional administration of the new province Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, comprising those three disconnected parts of the former Province of Posen and the western most parts of the Province of West Prussia, which were not ceded to Poland. In 1925, with the sudden influx of the so-called Optanten, inhabitants of the areas annexed by Poland who opted not to become Poles and thus left the annexed areas. With considerable publicity, the town's population swelled temporarily to 37,518.
. The administrative arrangement lasted only eleven years when the province, also known as Gau Kurmark, joined the province of Brandenburg as a governmental district. The city also served as headquarters to the 77th SS-Standarte
of the Allgemeine-SS.
In March and September 1938, a Verwaltungsgliederung, or administrative reform, merged the three territorially unconnected parts of the Province Posen-West Prussia into the respective neighbouring Prussian provinces of Brandenburg
, Silesia
and Pomerania — placing the bulk of the former province with the Netzekreis and Schneidemühl into Pomerania, within which it formed the new Regierungsbezirk Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, the governorate of Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia, as of 1 October 1938.
With the onset of the Nazi period and the begin of the Gestapo
's harassment of political and racial undesirables, the climate for Schneidemühl's shrinking Jewish community (whicht had reached over 1.000 members during the mid-19th century) changed irreversibly — institutionalized anti-Semitism had arrived in Schneidemühl. During the pogrom of 9/10 November 1938, (regrettably still mockingly known to this day by the moniker the Nazi regime used: Kristallnacht) an act of terror that embodied so much more than a night of broken glass, the freestanding structure of Schneidemühl's 100-year-old synagogue
became a prime target for the Nazis who set fire to it. The 300-year old Jewish community of Schneidemühl was destroyed when on 21 March 1940, on the order of Gauleiter Schwede-Coburg, the last remaining Jews of Schneidemühl, together with more than 500 Jews of the surrounding area within an 80 km radius of Schneidemühl, were arrested and held prisoner in various locations in Schneidemühl. A large number of them were subsequently taken to the labor camp Radinkendorf and the Glowno prisoner camp outside of Poznan and held there in detention under inhuman conditions. Over the following two years they were taken to various labour camps, hospices, hospitals in Pomerania, Bielefeld and Berlin. Those who had not committed suicide or had perished during that period were deported to concentration camps, the last in 1943. During World War II a camp for civil prisoners-of-war named "Albatros" was established. The city became part of the Pommernstellung a line of fortifications. In 1945 the town was declared a Festung by Adolf Hitler
. It was captured by the joint Polish
and Red Army
forces after two weeks of heavy fighting. 75% of the city was destroyed and almost 90% of the historic city centre was in ruins.
in 1945, the city became part of Poland, with the official name Piła. The remaining local German population was expelled
by Polish and Soviet troops from 1945 to 1948, while Polish expelees
from the east
and refugees from areas of Central Poland destroyed by the Germans were resettled in the city. The historical city centre was only partially restored.
In 1975 Piła became the capital of the newly-established Piła Voivodeship, which started a period of fast development of industry in the area. Currently Piła is one of the most important cities of the region. It is famous for its green areas and parks, as well as for its speedway
club Polonia Piła.
) elected from Piła constituency:
Members of polish Senate elected from Piła constituency:
with: Châtellerault
, France
Cuxhaven, Germany
Kronstadt
, Russia
Schwerin
, Germany
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...
. It had 77,000 inhabitants as of 2001. It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship
Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
(since 1999), previously capital of Piła Voivodeship (1975–1998). Piła is the largest town in the northern part of Great Poland. It is the capital of Piła County. The town is located on the Gwda
Gwda
The Gwda is a river in Poland.It is 146 kilometers long and begins at Lake Studnica, northeast of Szczecinek. Its upper course flows through many lakes...
river and is famous for its green areas, parks and dense forests nearby. It is an important road and railway hub, located at the intersection of two main lines - Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
- Szczecinek
Szczecinek
Szczecinek [] is a city in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland with some 39,777 inhabitants . Previously in Koszalin Voivodeship , it has been the capital of Szczecinek County in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999...
and Bydgoszcz - Krzyz
Krzyz
Krzyż may refer to the following places:*Krzyż, Łódź Voivodeship *Krzyż, Pomeranian Voivodeship *Krzyż, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship *Krzyż, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship...
.
City name
Piła is a PolishPolish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
word meaning "saw
Saw
A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive...
". This was a typical name denoting a village of woodcutters belonging to a local noble. The German name Schneidemühl means "sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
".
Overview
Piła traces its origins in a old fishing village, according to the website of the cityFollowing the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
colonist movement of the 13th century, and particularly after the end of the 1241 Mongolian
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
invasions, many German colonizers came to this densely wooded area of the Kingdom of Poland.
General immigration of German settlers diminished, however, when Poland under Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV KG of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło , and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna....
(Kazimierz, 1447–92) defeated the Teutonic Order
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 1466.
The period of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and its ideas flourished in Poland during the reign of the last ruler of the two-hundred-year Jagiellonian
Jagiellon dynasty
The Jagiellonian dynasty was a royal dynasty originating from the Lithuanian House of Gediminas dynasty that reigned in Central European countries between the 14th and 16th century...
dynasty, Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...
(Zygmunt). As a monarch, he was recognized for his humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
ideas characterized by tolerance, far in advance of his time.
Early history
It may be conjectured that a SlavicSlavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
settlement of woodcutters
Lumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
in the fishing village
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
Piła may have existed before any of the later villages and surrounding towns of the area were established. Thus, in the 14th century Piła grew to some extent because of its position on the Gwda a mere 11 kilometers from where it joins the river Notec. Yet, the settlement developed less than others that were situated at such major water routes as the rivers Warta or Vistula. Piła's simple layout of unpaved streets and primitive clay and timber houses gave little protection to its inhabitants and was still far from becoming a commercially interesting locale. If one were to credit a Privilegium (charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...
) of the early 1380s as evidence, a document associated with the building of a church in Piła and ascribed to the very young Polish-Hungarian Queen Jadwiga d’Anjou
Jadwiga of Poland
Jadwiga was monarch of Poland from 1384 to her death. Her official title was 'king' rather than 'queen', reflecting that she was a sovereign in her own right and not merely a royal consort. She was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou, the daughter of King Louis I of Hungary and Elizabeth of...
— a copied document that still existed in the archives of Schneidemühl prior to 1834 — then that period could well be regarded as the time the village of Piła/Snydemole was elevated to the status of town. The recurring Polish-German double naming Piła-Snydemole may be attributed to the fact that two originally separate localities took their name from the water-powered sawmill that had been part of the town's raison d’être from the beginning.
Documented references to Snydemole and Piła are reportedly found in parish church sources of 1449, where there is mention of a sawmill and of the name of the current wojewoda (governor) Paul. Evidence also exists of a letter from 1456 by the Brandenburg Elector Kurfürst
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
Friedrich II of Hohenzollern
Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick II of Brandenburg , nicknamed "the Iron" and sometimes "Irontooth" , was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1440 until his abdication in 1470, and was a member of the House of Hohenzollern.-Biography:Frederick II was born in Tangermünde to Frederick I, Brandenburg's...
, der Eiserne (the Iron one) who had purchased the Neumark region from the German Templars in 1455. The missive is addressed to bishop Andreas of Poznań and to Lukasz Gorka, the local judeophile Starosta
Starosta
Starost is a title for an official or unofficial position of leadership that has been used in various contexts through most of Slavic history. It can be translated as "elder"...
, the royal constable of Wielkopolska. The Kurfürst complained that in prevailing peace times some burghers of Snydemole and Piła were making raids on his lands. This accusation may tend to give additional credence to the earlier claim that Queen Jadwiga in the 1380s was indeed the founder of the town of Piła.
City rights
Until 1480 Piła was a Mediatstadt, a town owned by the nobility, belonging to Maciej Opalinski who later presented his holdings to King Kazimierz IV, at which time Piła became an Immediatstadt, a royal town. It is known that ten years later the burghers of the town were accused and penalized for tax evasion that had been traced over a period of five years. However, King Sigismund I the OldSigismund I the Old
Sigismund I of Poland , of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548...
(Zygmunt) — during whose reign immigration of numerous Jews from the Iberian peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and Germany was encouraged — bestowed Magdeburger Stadtrecht, municipal rights, upon the town of Piła on 4 March 1513, a landmark decision. Attaining Stadtrecht was a sterling achievement for Piła since it gave the burghers not only status, but also the rights to self-administration and its own judiciary, leading to the elimination of different rights for Polish and German burghers. The administration of the town's affairs was now in the hands of three legislative bodies, elected from among the burghers. They were the council with the mayor, the Schöffencollegium (jury court) and the elders of the guilds. Only the position of the Vogt (bailiff
Bailiff
A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
) remained in the hands of the crown or its deputy, the Starosta. The sovereign, however, remained the ultimate judge, warlord and owner of the land. Being free from the arbitrariness of a Kastellan (king's official) or of a Wojewoda (governor of the province) — Piła's town folk took advantage of the town's privileges by owning property, carrying on any trade and enjoying the right to hold much needed market fairs
Trade fair
A trade fair is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities...
.
16th century
Economic circumstances or personal feuds may have been responsible for the frequent changes of ownership of the town, as Piła was ‘purchased’ in 1518 by Hieronymus von Bnin; the document outlining the deed and ownership during his lifetime was given to him by King Zygmunt I in 1525. Following the demise of Bnin, the town became the property of the dynasty of the mighty Gorka family. This family, secretly leaning toward ProtestantismProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and in power until the 17th century, included some of the wealthiest landowners and most influential nobles of Poland and was known to be benevolent to their town's folk.
In 1548 Piła obtained a privilege that banned any foreign potter
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
from the town's markets, and in 1561 a fishing privilege was obtained. Piła was part of the Województwo Poznań, the region divided into the four Starosty (land holdings) of Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
(Posen), Kościan
Koscian
Kościan is a town on the Obra canal in west-central Poland, with a population of 24 059 inhabitants in June 2009. Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Leszno Voivodeship , it is the capital of Kościan County...
(Kosten), Wschowa
Wschowa
Wschowa is a town in the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland with 14,607 inhabitants . It is the capital of Wschowa County.-History:Wschowa was originally a border fortress in a region disputed by the Polish dukes of Silesia and Greater Poland. After German colonists had established a settlement nearby,...
(Fraustadt) and Wałcz (Deutsch Krone), the latter encompassing the Starosty Ujscie-Piła (Usch-Schneidemühl), the area between the rivers Gwda, Notec and Drage. Stara Piła, the old Piła, a town that never had walls, was slow to grow.
By the middle of the 16th century, many German Protestant craftsmen and traders, driven out of Bohemia by religious persecution during the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, settled in numerous towns in the region. Some may have settled in Piła too, yet in 1563 the small town had no more than 750 inhabitants. They are known to have lived in 153 houses, primitively built, primarily with timber and clay, covered with straw and grouped mainly around the Alter Markt, the Old Market. When King Stephan Istvan Bathory confirmed two of the town's privileges on 3 September 1576, the burghers
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
were granted the right to hold their weekly market on a Monday, an important feat. Over the following 150 years, numerous privileges and charters were re-issued by the Polish crown, mainly as a result of loss by fire. By 1591 a statute allowing apprenticeships in various trades was obtained.
17th century: Queen Constance reshaping the town
Piła was particularly affected when the widowed Sigismund III VasaSigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
(Johan Zygmunt) married the pious 17-year old Catholic princess Constance of Austria
Constance of Austria
Archduchess Constance of Austria was a Queen consort of Poland.-Biography:...
(Konstancja), Austrian archduchess from the House of Habsburg, in 1605. He presented the town of Piła, together with the lands of the domain of Ujscie, as a wedding gift to his new bride. By her husband's benevolence, she became responsible for changing Piła in several ways over the next few decades. Acting in concert with the tenets of the prevailing Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The 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...
Counter Reformation, the queen first attended to what seemed closest to her heart. She saw to it that numerous Protestant churches in the region of Wałcz, the most German of areas where seventeen Protestant villages existed, be handed over to the Roman Catholic clergy, hounding many a German Protestant burgher in the process.
After one of the town's frequent fires in 1619, the queen — in a benevolent gesture and as her ‘present’ to the burghers of Piła — appropriated funds from the large estate to have the old burnt-out wooden Catholic Church, the Alte Marienkirche, rebuilt. Alas, given the random, close proximity of houses to one another, town fires occurred with such regularity in numerous communities during that period that in 1626 another devastating fire broke out in Piła. This time the entire town was laid to ashes, including the newly built church. Konstancja subsequently charged her secretary Samuel Targowski on 15 July 1626 to survey what was left of the town. His proposal for a new layout was to be drastic for Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
burghers; to the developing Jewish community it was most consequential and of particular detriment. Queen Konstancja decided on a distinct segregation of Jews and Christians. The Jewish community was to resettle in a ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
, what was to become a virtual town within a town. The new site, from thereon often referred to as Judenstadt, the Jews’ town. To demarcate the newly created ghetto, the decree called for a sizable trench to be dug to surround the Jewish quarters where feasible; otherwise a tall wooden fence had to serve to close in the area completely.
A new church arose in 1628. Unlike most other buildings in town, the choir room section of this edifice was to remain intact in its original form until 1945. New houses were constructed of brick and stone and the town was reconstructed in plain Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
style. On July 24, 1655 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...
, Swedish
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"...
troops captured the mostly Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
town, pillaged and destroyed most of it. During October 1656, a Polish troupe of Stefan Czarniecki's
Stefan Czarniecki
Stefan Czarniecki or Stefan Łodzia de Czarnca Czarniecki Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth general and nobleman. Field Hetman of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. He was a military commander, regarded as a Polish national hero...
army sought terrible retribution upon the largely German and Protestant burghers of Piła/Schneidemühl, accusing them of collusion with the Swedes — while Loyola's zealous disciples fanned their anti-Jewish hostilities in many parts of Poland. During the consecutive Great Northern
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
and Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
s similar havoc was visited upon the remaining inhabitants. To add to the plight, it was discovered that the plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
had been carried in.
Schneidemühl in the Kingdom of Prussia
With the signing of the definitive treaty to divide Poland between PrussiaKingdom 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...
, Austria
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
and Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in 1772, 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...
was accomplished. Piła became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and was officially renamed Schneidemühl according to the town's name used by its German citizens for centuries. In 1793 it was recaptured for a short period by a Polish army led by Colonel Wyganowski. After Friedrich II signed the Besitzergreifungspatent, the Ownership Protocol of his Polish lands on 13 September 1772, he created out of the northern parts of Greater Poland and Kuyavia
Kuyavia
Kujawy , is a historical and ethnographic region in the north-central Poland, situated in the basin of the middle Vistula and upper Noteć Rivers, with its capital in Włocławek.-Etymology:The origin of the name Kujawy was seen differently in history...
the Département Westpreussen. Part of that area was later also known as the Netzedistrikt, a governmental administrative district consisting of a wide strip of land both sides of the river Netze (Notec), stretching from it source north of Września
Wrzesnia
Września is a town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants . It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Poznań Voivodeship , on the Wrzesnica River.- History :...
(Wreschen) to the border of the Neumark, incorporating the Küddow and the Drage.
In the year 1781, another huge fire occurred in Schneidemühl, devastating half the town. Despite the fact that Prussian authorities had brought in chimney sweeps and regulations that spelled out fire emergency tasks, hardly anyone in the town was prepared for a major conflagration. Forty-four houses, thirty-seven stables and seventeen barns burned down.
Following Prussia's disastrous defeat at the hands of Napoleon at the battle of Jena
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
, and after signing the Peace of Tilsit of 7 July 1807, Prussia had lost nearly fifty percent of its recently acquired territory. Schneidemühl's new Polish-Prussian border ran very close to town and together with the largest part of Posen, Schneidemühl became part of Bonaparte's Grand Duchy of Warsaw. This semi-independent state was created out of parts of Prussia's Polish territories, headed by King Friedrich August of Saxony
Frederick Augustus I of Saxony
Frederick Augustus I was King of Saxony from the House of Wettin. He was also Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and Duke Frederick Augustus I of Warsaw...
.
19th century: industrialization and railyway hub
In 1815 the Congress of ViennaCongress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
gave Schneidemühl to Prussia again. After the prussian administrative reforms of 1916-18, the town belonged to Kolmar county
Kreis Kolmar in Posen
Kreis Kolmar was one of several Kreise in the northern administrative district of Bromberg, in the Prussian province of Posen.- Table of Standesämter :...
inside the Province of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
.
The Polish language was banned from offices and education and the city saw a significant influx of German settlers. By 1834 Schneidemühl had barely recovered from the worst outbreak of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
of 1831, an epidemic that affected the town's burghers to such an extent that a special Protestant cholera cemetery had to be laid out in the town's suburb Berliner Vorstadt. In the summer of 1834 the city was again struck by a fire that destroyed a large part of the city centre and the city archives. The city was rebuilt shortly afterwards.
In 1851 the city was connected to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and Bromberg by the Prussian Eastern Railway. The keepsake which remained after the period of railway development today is historical roundhouse whose care is taken by OKRAGLAK Roundhouse in Piła.
The Germanization policy of the Prussian and Imperial German government replaced its Polish identity with a German one. By the end of the 19th century the city had become one of the most important railway centers of the region and one of the biggest towns in the Province of Posen. It was turned into a Prussian military garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
town. Schneidemühl was revisited by a catastrophe, known as the Brunnenunglück, or the ‘calamity of the well’ that made national headlines. The drilling of an artesian well in August 1892 went horribly wrong and led to unexpected widespread flooding of many of the streets laid out in 1834, causing numerous houses to simply collapse and leaving more than eighty families without shelter. The worst was that this disaster came only a few years on the heels of unexpected flooding caused by the spring thaw of March 1888 that had turned the Küddow into a raging river, when many people were forced to use rowboats to navigate the streets.
During the first World War Schneidemuhl had a prisoner of war camp, initially taking mainly Russian prisoners but later including prisoners from most allied nations including Australia. A telling account of life in the town during that period survives in the form of the diary of Piete Kuhr, then a young girl whose grandmother worked at the Red Cross canteen at the railway station. Piete Kuhr is better known for her later work under the pen name Jo Mihaly
Jo Mihaly
Jo Mihaly was a German dancer and writer.-Early years and war diary:Kuhr grew up in Schneidemühl , then about 80 miles from the German-Russian border, now in Poland...
.
Schneidemühl as provincial capital of the Weimar Republic
After the signing of the Treaty of VersaillesTreaty 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...
, and after much protest by the German majority of its population, Schneidemühl was not included in the Polish Second Republic after World War I. After the Greater Poland Uprising
Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)
The Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918–1919 or Posnanian War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region against Germany...
, the new Polish-German border ran five kilometers south of the city. On 21 July 1922 Schneidemühl became the centre for regional administration of the new province Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, comprising those three disconnected parts of the former Province of Posen and the western most parts of the Province of West Prussia, which were not ceded to Poland. In 1925, with the sudden influx of the so-called Optanten, inhabitants of the areas annexed by Poland who opted not to become Poles and thus left the annexed areas. With considerable publicity, the town's population swelled temporarily to 37,518.
Nazi rule and Second World War
The city experienced a short period of growth followed by a period of decline in the early 1930s. High unemployment and the ineffectiveness of local administration led to rising support for the NSDAPNational Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
. The administrative arrangement lasted only eleven years when the province, also known as Gau Kurmark, joined the province of Brandenburg as a governmental district. The city also served as headquarters to the 77th SS-Standarte
77th SS-Standarte
The 77th SS-Standarte was a regiment formation of the Allgemeine-SS that operated from the city of Schneidemühl in eastern Germany . The Standarte was established in 1934, one year after Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party assumed power, and by 1935 was at full complement.One notable member of the...
of the Allgemeine-SS.
In March and September 1938, a Verwaltungsgliederung, or administrative reform, merged the three territorially unconnected parts of the Province Posen-West Prussia into the respective neighbouring Prussian provinces of Brandenburg
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
, Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
and Pomerania — placing the bulk of the former province with the Netzekreis and Schneidemühl into Pomerania, within which it formed the new Regierungsbezirk Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, the governorate of Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia, as of 1 October 1938.
With the onset of the Nazi period and the begin of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
's harassment of political and racial undesirables, the climate for Schneidemühl's shrinking Jewish community (whicht had reached over 1.000 members during the mid-19th century) changed irreversibly — institutionalized anti-Semitism had arrived in Schneidemühl. During the pogrom of 9/10 November 1938, (regrettably still mockingly known to this day by the moniker the Nazi regime used: Kristallnacht) an act of terror that embodied so much more than a night of broken glass, the freestanding structure of Schneidemühl's 100-year-old synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
became a prime target for the Nazis who set fire to it. The 300-year old Jewish community of Schneidemühl was destroyed when on 21 March 1940, on the order of Gauleiter Schwede-Coburg, the last remaining Jews of Schneidemühl, together with more than 500 Jews of the surrounding area within an 80 km radius of Schneidemühl, were arrested and held prisoner in various locations in Schneidemühl. A large number of them were subsequently taken to the labor camp Radinkendorf and the Glowno prisoner camp outside of Poznan and held there in detention under inhuman conditions. Over the following two years they were taken to various labour camps, hospices, hospitals in Pomerania, Bielefeld and Berlin. Those who had not committed suicide or had perished during that period were deported to concentration camps, the last in 1943. During World War II a camp for civil prisoners-of-war named "Albatros" was established. The city became part of the Pommernstellung a line of fortifications. In 1945 the town was declared a Festung by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. It was captured by the joint Polish
First Polish Army (1944-1945)
The Polish First Army was a Polish Army unit formed in the Soviet Union in 1944, from the previously existing Polish I Corps as part of the People's Army of Poland . The First Army fought westward, subordinated to the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, during the offensive against Germany that led to...
and 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...
forces after two weeks of heavy fighting. 75% of the city was destroyed and almost 90% of the historic city centre was in ruins.
Poland
As a result of the border changes agreed at the Potsdam ConferencePotsdam 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...
in 1945, the city became part of Poland, with the official name Piła. The remaining local German population was 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...
by Polish and Soviet troops from 1945 to 1948, while Polish expelees
Repatriation of Poles (1944–1946)
The Polish population transfers from the former eastern territories of Poland also known as the flight and expulsion of Poles towards the end – and in the aftermath – of World War II refer to the forced migration of Poles between 1944–1946...
from the east
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
and refugees from areas of Central Poland destroyed by the Germans were resettled in the city. The historical city centre was only partially restored.
In 1975 Piła became the capital of the newly-established Piła Voivodeship, which started a period of fast development of industry in the area. Currently Piła is one of the most important cities of the region. It is famous for its green areas and parks, as well as for its speedway
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
club Polonia Piła.
Historical population
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Attractions
- 19th century building of former arsenalArsenalAn arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
- St. Stanislaus Kostka's church - built in Neo-Gothic style
- Holy Family's church - built in Neo-baroqueNeo-baroqueThe Baroque Revival or Neo-baroque was an architectural style of the late 19th century. The term is used to describe architecture which displays important aspects of Baroque style, but is not of the Baroque period proper—i.e., the 17th and 18th centuries.Some examples of Neo-baroque architecture:*...
style, formerly concathedral of the Prałatura Pilska - St. Anthony's Church with the biggest wooden figure of JesusJesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in Europe, seven metres tall (church built in 1930) - museum in house of Stanisław Staszic
- two war cemeteries (prisoners from World War I and Polish and Soviet soldiers killed during the battle of Wał Pomorski (Pommerstellung) during World War II); cemeteries are in uptown Piła, in Leszków.
Sports
- PTPS Piła - women's volleyballVolleyball in PolandVolleyball in Poland is a popular team sport. It is the second most popular sport after football. The Men's national team is ranked 5th and the Women's team is ranked 9th in the FIVB World Rankings...
team playing in PlusLiga Kobiet (Polish Women Volleyball Extraleague): championship in 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2001/2002 seasons, 2nd place in 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 seasons and 3rd place in 2004/2005 and 2008/2009 seasons. - Joker Piła - men's volleyball team playing in Polish Volleyball 1st League
- Basket Piła - men's basketball team playing in Polish Basketball 3rd League
- Polonia Piła - speedway team, Polish Champions 1999
Piła constituency
Members of Parliament (SejmSejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
) elected from Piła constituency:
- Adam SzejnfeldAdam SzejnfeldAdam Szejnfeld is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 26568 votes in 38 Piła district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list.He was also a member of Sejm 1997-2001 and Sejm 2001-2005.-External links:...
- Platforma Obywatelska - Jakub RutnickiJakub RutnickiJakub Rutnicki is a Polish politician. He was born in Szamotuły.He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 3182 votes in 38 Piła district, candidating from Platforma Obywatelska list...
- Platforma Obywatelska - Stanisław Chmielewski - Platforma Obywatelska
- Piotr Waśko - Platforma Obywatelska
- Maks KraczkowskiMaks KraczkowskiMaks Kraczkowski is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 10458 votes in 38 Piła district. He was a candidate from the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość list.-External links:...
- Prawo i Sprawiedliwość - Tomasz GórskiTomasz GórskiTomasz Górski is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 8664 votes in 39 Poznań district, candidating from Prawo i Sprawiedliwość list.-External links:...
- Prawo i Sprawiedliwość - Romuald Ajchler - Lewica i Demokraci
- Stanisław Stec - Lewica i Demokraci
- Stanisław Kalemba - Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe
Members of polish Senate elected from Piła constituency:
- Mieczysław Augustyn - Platforma Obywatelska
- Piotr Głowski - Platforma Obywatelska
Municipal politics
- The president of the Town of Piła: Piotr Głowski
- Vicepresidents: Krzysztof Szewc, Beata Dudzińska
- Town council chairman: Rafał Zdzierela
- Town council vicechairmans: Paweł Jarczak, Janusz Kubiak
Notable people
- Wolfgang AltenburgWolfgang AltenburgWolfgang Altenburg is a retired German general. He served as Chief of Staff of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, from 1996 to 1999, and as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1986 to 1989.-Biography:...
(born 1928), former Chief of Staff, Bundeswehr - Dirk GalubaDirk GalubaDirk Galuba is a German television actor.-Selected filmography:*1972 Und der Regen verwischt jede Spur *1976 Derrick - Season 3, Episode 5: "Schock"...
( b. 1940), actor - Carl Friedrich GoerdelerCarl Friedrich GoerdelerCarl Friedrich Goerdeler was a monarchist conservative German politician, executive, economist, civil servant and opponent of the Nazi regime...
(1884–1945), German politician - Fritz GoerdelerFritz GoerdelerFritz Hermann Goerdeler was a German jurist and resistance fighter. Goerdeler was born as the younger brother of Carl Friedrich Goerdeler in Schneidemühl and grew up in Marienwerder, where his father had taken office as a judge at the local court in 1890. Goerdeler studied law and worked as a...
(1886–1945), jurist and resistance fighter - Andrzej GronowiczAndrzej GronowiczAndrzej Gronowicz is a Polish sprint canoer who competed in the 1970s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the C-2 500 m event at Montreal in 1976....
(b. 1951), athlete - Maximilian KallerMaximilian KallerMaximilian Kaller was Roman Catholic Bishop of Ermland in East Prussia from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.-Early life:...
, first Roman Catholic church administrator of Schneidemühl - Hein KötzHein KötzHein Kötz is a German jurist, former Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for foreign and international private law , the Bucerius Law School and Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft .-Biography:...
(born 1935), jurist - Erwin KramerErwin KramerErwin Kramer was a German politician, East German Minister of transportation and General Director of the Deutsche Reichsbahn ....
(1902–1979), politician - Jo MihalyJo MihalyJo Mihaly was a German dancer and writer.-Early years and war diary:Kuhr grew up in Schneidemühl , then about 80 miles from the German-Russian border, now in Poland...
(born Elfriede Alice Kuhr) (1902–1989), dancer and writer - Karl RetzlawKarl RetzlawKarl Retzlaw was a German politician, representative of the Social Democratic Party, Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany and Communist Party of Germany....
(1896–1979), politician - Eberhard SchenkEberhard SchenkEberhard Schenk is a former German Track and field athlete.Schenk was born in Schneidemühl and became a successful East German athlete of the 1950s. He was twice the East German hurdle race champion.Schenk started for Einheit Rostock, later SC Empor Rostock...
(born 1929), athlete - Bernard SchultzeBernard SchultzeBernard Schultze was a German painter who co-founded the Quadriga group of artists. In 1955, he married another painter named Ursula Bluhm....
(1915–2005), painter - Stanisław Staszic (1755–1826), a priest and activist of the Polish EnlightenmentAge of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, also an economist of the Congress PolandCongress PolandThe Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire... - Johanna TöpferJohanna TöpferJohanna Töpfer, née Schrocko , was an East German politician and Deputy Director of the FDGB.- Biography :...
(1929–1990), politician
Twin towns — Sister cities
Piła 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: Châtellerault
Châtellerault
Châtellerault is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in France.It is located to the north of Poitou, and the residents are called Châtelleraudais.-Geography:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Cuxhaven, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...