Szczecin
Encyclopedia
- For other meanings, see Szczecin (disambiguation)Szczecin (disambiguation)Szczecin may refer to the following places:* Szczecin , capital of West Pomeranian Voivodeship * Szczecin, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship * Szczecin, Łódź Voivodeship...
and Stettin (disambiguation)Stettin (disambiguation)Stettin is an alternate name for the city in Poland named Szczecin, named Stettin in German.Treaties named after the city:* Treaty of Stettin , ending the Northern Seven Years' War...
.
Szczecin (AUD; ʃtɛˈtiːn; ʂtɛˈtənɔ), is the capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship
West Pomeranian Voivodeship
West Pomeranian Voivodeship, , is a voivodeship in northwestern Poland. It borders on Pomeranian Voivodeship to the east, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the southeast, Lubusz Voivodeship to the south, the German federal-state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania to the west, and the Baltic Sea to the north...
in 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...
. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
in Poland on the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427.
Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Bay of Pomerania
Bay of Pomerania
The Bay of Pomerania or Pomeranian Bay is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Poland and Germany....
. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake
Dabie Lake
Dąbie is a lake in the delta of the Oder in northwestern Poland in Szczecin. South of the lake lies a Szczecin district also called Dąbie....
, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. Szczecin borders with the town of Police
Police, Poland
Police is a town in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, northwestern Poland. It is the capital of Police County. As of 2006, the town had 34,284 inhabitants. The name comes from Polish pole, which means "field"....
, the seat of Police County
Police County
Police County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-western Poland, on the Polish-German border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and...
, situated on an estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
of the Oder River.
The city's beginnings were as an 8th century Slavic Pomeranian stronghold, built at the site of today's castle. In the 12th century, when the surrounding settlement had become one of Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
's main urban centers, it subsequently lost its independence to Piast Poland, Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
, the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and Denmark
History of Denmark
The history of Denmark dates back about 12,000 years, to the end of the last ice age, with the earliest evidence of human inhabitation. The Danes were first documented in written sources around 500 AD, including in the writings of Jordanes and Procopius. With the Christianization of the Danes c...
. At the same time, the Griffin dynasty
House of Pomerania
The House of Griffins or House of Pomerania, , also known as House of Greifen; House of Gryf, was a dynasty of Royal dukes that ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th century until 1637, after their power was temporarily derivated to Prussian Royal House...
established themselves as local rulers, the population was converted
Conversion of Pomerania
Medieval Pomerania was converted from Slavic paganism to Christianity by Otto von Bamberg in 1124 and 1128 , and in 1168 by Absalon .Earlier attempts, undertaken since the 10th century, failed or were short-lived...
to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and first German settlers
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
arrived, gradually assimilating the Slavs in the following centuries. In 1237/43, the town was built anew and granted vast autonomy rights
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of the German city of Magdeburg and developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was...
, it subsequently joined the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
. Szczecin's oldest, Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...
buildings date back to that period.
In the following centuries, the Griffins again erected a castle in the town and made it one of the Duchy 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 ....
's main residences. After the town became Swedish
Treaty of Stettin (1630)
The Treaty of Stettin or Alliance of Stettin was the legal framework for the occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania by the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War...
, it was fortified and remained a Swedish fortress
Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts...
until 1720
Treaty of Stockholm (Great Northern War)
With the death of Charles XII of Sweden in 1718 it was obvious that the Great Northern War was coming to a close. His successor Frederick I began negotiating the Treaty of Stockholm, which refers to the two treaties signed in 1719 and 1720 that ended the war between Sweden on one side and Hanover...
, when it was taken over by Prussia
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...
and became capital of the Province of Pomerania. In the late 19th century, Stettin became an industrial town, was de-fortified and vastly increased in size and population. During the Nazi era
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, the city's Jews
Jews
The 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...
were deported, 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...
were subjected to repression. After Germany was defeated by the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
in 1945, Szczecin became part of People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. With the remaining and returned Germans expelled
Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II
The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II...
after the war, Poles rebuilt and resettled the city, which became capital of the Szczecin Voivodeship
Szczecin Voivodeship
Szczecin Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by West Pomeranian Voivodeship.----Statistics :*Area: 10.000 km²...
. It played an important role in the anti-communist uprisings of 1970
Polish 1970 protests
The Polish 1970 protests were protests that occurred in northern Poland in December 1970. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase of prices of food and other everyday items...
and the rise of Solidarity trade union in the 1980s.
Name and its etymology
The city's first recorded name is "Stetin", in the early 12th century. The German version "Stettin", and the Polish version, "Szczecin" as well as the names of the town's neighbourhoods and oldest districts are of Pomeranian languagePomeranian language
The Pomeranian language is a group of dialects from the Lechitic cluster of the West Slavic languages. In medieval contexts, it refers to the dialects spoken by the Slavic Pomeranians...
origins (West Slavic
West Slavs
The West Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking West Slavic languages. They include Poles , Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Sorbs and the historical Polabians. The northern or Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, the extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages...
language group), however the exact words upon which it is based on is subject of ongoing research.
Historian Marian Gumowski (1881–1974) argued, based on his studies of early city stamps and seals, that the earliest name of the town was, in modern Polish spelling, Szczycin.
In 1310, Wartislaw IV
Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania
Wartislaw IV was Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1309 until his death. He was the only son of Duke Bogislaw IV of Pomerania and his wife Margareta, a daughter of Prince Wizlaw II of Rugia...
, Duke of Pomerania founded the city of Neustettin ("New Stettin", now 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...
). For distinction, the older part of the town was called Alt Stettin" ("Old Stettin")
Middle Ages
The history of SzczecinHistory of Szczecin
History of Szczecin - in Poland.-Prehistory:Tacitus located the East Germanic tribe of the Rugians in the area around Szczecin, as did modern historians...
, began in the 8th century, when West Slavs
West Slavs
The West Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking West Slavic languages. They include Poles , Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Sorbs and the historical Polabians. The northern or Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, the extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages...
settled Pomerania
Pomerania during the Early Middle Ages
The southward movement of Germanic tribes during the migration period had left Pomerania largely depopulated by the 7th century. Between 650 and 850 AD, West Slavic tribes settled in Pomerania. The tribes between the Oder and the Vistula were collectively known as Pomeranians, and those west of the...
and erected a new stronghold
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
on the site of the modern castle
Pomeranian Dukes' Castle, Szczecin
The Ducal Castle in Szczecin, Poland, was the seat of the dukes of Pomerania-Stettin of the House of Pomerania , who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from 1121 to 1637.-History:...
. Since the 9th century, the stronghold was fortified and expanded toward the Oder bank. Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I of Poland
Mieszko I , was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was son of Siemomysł; grandchild of Lestek; father of Bolesław I the Brave, the first crowned King of Poland; likely father of Świętosława , a Nordic Queen; and grandfather of her son, Cnut the...
took control of part of Pomerania
Pomerania during the Early Middle Ages
The southward movement of Germanic tribes during the migration period had left Pomerania largely depopulated by the 7th century. Between 650 and 850 AD, West Slavic tribes settled in Pomerania. The tribes between the Oder and the Vistula were collectively known as Pomeranians, and those west of the...
between the 960s and 1005 and annexed the city of Szczecin to Poland in 967 Subsequent Polish rulers, the Holy Roman Empire and the Liutician federation
Veleti
The Veleti or Wilzi were a group of medieval Lechites tribes within the territory of modern northeastern Germany; see Polabian Slavs. In common with other Slavic groups between the Elbe and Oder Rivers, they were often described by Germanic sources as Wends. In the late 10th century, they were...
aimed at control of the territory.
After the decline of neighboring regional center Wolin
Wolin (town)
Wolin is a town situated on the southern tip of the Wolin island off the Baltic coast of Poland. The island lies at the edge of the strait of Dziwna in Kamień Pomorski County in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship....
in the 12th century, the city became one of the more important and powerful seaports of the Baltic Sea south coasts.
In a campaign in the winter of 1121–1122, Bolesław III Wrymouth, the Duke of Poland, gained control of the region as well the city of Szczecin and its stronghold.
The inhabitants were converted to Christianity
Conversion of Pomerania
Medieval Pomerania was converted from Slavic paganism to Christianity by Otto von Bamberg in 1124 and 1128 , and in 1168 by Absalon .Earlier attempts, undertaken since the 10th century, failed or were short-lived...
by two missions of bishop Otto of Bamberg
Otto of Bamberg
Saint Otto of Bamberg was a medieval German bishop and missionary who, as papal legate, converted much of Pomerania to Christianity.-Life:Otto was born into a noble family in Mistelbach, Franconia...
in 1124 and 1128. At this time, the first Christian church of St. Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and Paul was erected. Polish minted coins were commonly used in trade in this period. The population of the city at that time is estimated to be at around 5,000-9,000 people
Polish rule ended with Boleslaw's death in 1138. During the Wendish Crusade
Wendish Crusade
The Wendish Crusade was an 1147 campaign, one of the Northern Crusades and also a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany inside the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Slavs ....
in 1147, a contingent led by the German margrave Albert the Bear, an enemy of Slavic presence in the region, papal legat, bishop Anselm of Havelberg
Anselm of Havelberg
Anselm of Havelberg was a German bishop and statesman, and a secular and religious ambassador to Constantinople. He was a Premonstratensian, a defender of his order and a critic of the monastic life of his time, and a theorist of Christian history...
and Konrad of Meißen besieged the town. There, a Polish contingent supplied by Mieszko III the Old
Mieszko III the Old
Mieszko III the Old , of the royal Piast dynasty, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1138 and High Duke of Poland, with interruptions, from 1173 until his death....
joined the crusaders. However the citizens had placed crosses around the fortifications, indicating they already had been Christianized. Ratibor I, Duke of Pomerania
Ratibor I, Duke of Pomerania
Ratibor I of the House of Pomerania was Duke of Pomerania. He was married to Pribislawa, and was the ancestor of the Ratiborides sideline of the Griffins....
, negotiated the disbandement of the crusading forces.
a.png)
Battle of Verchen
The Battle of Verchen was a battle between Saxons and West Slavic Obotrites on 6 July 1164.The Obotrites were attacked by Saxons and Danes in 1160, resulting in the death of the Obotrite prince, Niklot, and the partition of the Obotrite lands...
in 1164, Szczecin duke Bogislaw I
Bogislaw I, Duke of Pomerania
Bogislaw I of the House of Pomerania was Duke of Pomerania-Stettin from 1156 to 1187. He co-ruled the Duchy of Pomerania with his brother Casimir I of Pomerania-Demmin. His father was Wartislaw I...
became a vassal of the Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
's Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
. In 1173, Szczecin castellan Wartislaw II
Wartislaw II, Duke of Pomerania
Wartislaw II was a duke of Pomerania-Demmin. He either was a son of Bogislaw I and Walburga of Denmark, or Wartislaw of the Swantiboride sideline of the Griffins, castellan of Szczecin....
could not resist a Danish attack and became vassal of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. In 1181, duke Bogislaw I of Szczecin became a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1185, Bogislaw again became a Danish vassal. Following a conflict between his heirs and king Canute VI
Canute VI of Denmark
Canute VI was King of Denmark . Canute VI was the eldest son of King Valdemar I and Sophia of Polotsk.-Life:...
, the settlement was destroyed in 1189, but the fortress was reconstructed and manned with a Danish force in 1190. While the empire restored her superiority over 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 ....
in the Battle of Bornhöved
Battle of Bornhöved (1227)
The Battle of Bornhöved took place on 22 July 1227 near Bornhöved in Holstein. Count Adolf IV of Schauenburg and Holstein — leading an army consisting of troops from the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg, about 1000 Dithmarsians and combined troops of Holstein next to various north German nobles —...
in 1227, Szczecin was one of two bridgeheads remaining under Danish control (until 1235, Wolgast
Wolgast
Wolgast is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom that can be accessed by road and railway via a bascule bridge...
until 1241/43 or 1250).
In the second half of the 12th century, a group of German tradesmen ("multus populus Teutonicorum" from various parts of the Holy Roman Empire) settled in the city around St. Jacob's Church, which was donated in 1180 by Beringer, a trader from Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
, and consecrated in 1187. Hohenkrug (now in Szczecin-Struga) was the first village in the Duchy of Pomerania which was clearly recorded as German (villa teutonicorum) in 1173. Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
accelerated in Pomerania during the 13th century. Duke Barnim I of Pomerania
Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania
Barnim I the Good from the Griffin dynasty was a Duke of Pomerania from 1220 until his death.-Life:...
granted Szczecin a local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
charter in 1237, separating the German settlement from the Slavic community settled around the St. Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
Church in the neighborhood of Kessin . In the charter, the Slavs were put under German jurisdiction.
When Barnim granted Szczecin Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg Rights or Magdeburg Law were a set of German town laws regulating the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by a local ruler. Modelled and named after the laws of the German city of Magdeburg and developed during many centuries of the Holy Roman Empire, it was...
in 1243, part of the Slavic settlement was reconstructed The duke had to promise to level the burgh in 1249. Most Slavic inhabitants were resettled to two new suburbia north and south of the town. Last records of Slavs in Stettin are from the 14th century, when a Slavic bath (1350) and bakery are recorded, and within the walls, Slavs lived in a street named Schulzenstrasse. By the end of the century, the remaining Slavs had been assimilated.
On 2 December 1261, Barnim I allowed Jewish settlement in Szczecin according to Magdeburg law in a privilege renewed in 1308 and 1371. The Jewish Jordan family was granted citizenship in 1325, but none of the 22 Jews allowed to settle in the duchy in 1481 lived in the city, and in 1492, all Jews in the duchy were ordered to convert to Christianity or leave - this order remained effective throughout the rest of the Griffin era.
Stettin was part of the federation of Wendish towns, a predecessor of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, in 1283. The city prospered due to the participation in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
trade, primarily with herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
s, grain and timber; also craftmenship prospered and more than forty guilds were established in the city. The far-reaching autonomy from the House of Pomerania
House of Pomerania
The House of Griffins or House of Pomerania, , also known as House of Greifen; House of Gryf, was a dynasty of Royal dukes that ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th century until 1637, after their power was temporarily derivated to Prussian Royal House...
was in part reduced when the dukes reclaimed Stettin as their main residence in the late 15th century. The anti-Slavic policies of German merchants and craftsmen intensified in this period, resulting in bans on people of Slavic descent joining craft guilds
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
, doubling customs tax for Slavic merchants, or bans against public usage of their native language. More prosperous Slavic citizens were forcefully stripped of their possessions which were awarded to Germans. In 1514, the guild of the tailors added a Wendenparagraph to its statutes, banning Slavs.
While not as heavily affected by medieval witchhunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
s as other regions of the empire, there are reports of the burning of three women and one man convicted of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
in 1538.
In 1570, during the reign of Pomeranian duke Johann Friedrich
Johann Friedrich, Duke of Pomerania
Johann Friedrich was Duke of Pomerania from 1560 to 1600, and Bishop of Cammin from 1556 to 1574...
, a congress was held at Stettin ending the Northern Seven Years' War
Northern Seven Years' War
The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...
. During the war, Stettin had tended to side with Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, while Stralsund
Stralsund
- Main sights :* The Brick Gothic historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.* The heart of the old town is the Old Market Square , with the Gothic Town Hall . Behind the town hall stands the imposing Nikolaikirche , built in 1270-1360...
tended toward Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
- as a whole, the Duchy of Pomerania however tried to maintain neutrality. Nevertheless, a Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
that had met in Stettin in 1563 introduced a sixfold rise of real estate taxes to finance the raising of a mercenary army for the duchy's defense. Johann Friedrich also succeeded in elevating Stettin to one of only three places allowed to coin money in the Upper Saxon Circle
Upper Saxon Circle
The Upper Saxon Circle was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, created in 1512.The circle was dominated by the electorate of Saxony and the electorate of Brandenburg. It further comprised the Saxon Ernestine duchies and Pomerania...
of the Holy Roman Empire, the other two places were Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and 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...
.
Bogislaw XIV, who resided in Stettin since 1620, became the sole, and Griffin duke when Philipp Julius
Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania
Philipp Julius was duke of Pomerania in the Teilherzogtum Pomerania-Wolgast from 1592 to 1625.-Early life:...
died in 1625. Before 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....
reached Pomerania, the city as all of the duchy declined economically due to the sinking importance of the Hanseatic League and a conflict between Stettin and Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
.
The 17th to 19th Centuries
Following the Treaty of Stettin of 1630Treaty of Stettin (1630)
The Treaty of Stettin or Alliance of Stettin was the legal framework for the occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania by the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War...
, the town (along with most of Pomerania) was allied to and occupied by the Swedish Empire
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"...
, which managed to keep the western parts of Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts...
after the death of Bogislaw XIV in 1637 and the Peace of Westphalia
Peace of Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October of 1648 in Osnabrück and Münster. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic, with Spain formally recognizing the...
in 1648 – despite the protests of Elector 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
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, who had a legal claim to inherit all of Pomerania
Treaty of Grimnitz
The Treaty of Grimnitz was the final settlement of a long-standing dispute between the House of Pomerania and the House of Hohenzollern regarding the legal status and succession in the Duchy of Pomerania. It renewed and amended the Treaty of Pyritz of 1493.With some formal caveats, the House of...
. The exact partition of Pomerania between Sweden and Brandenburg was settled in Stettin in 1653
Treaty of Stettin (1653)
The Treaty of Stettin of 4 May 1653 settled a dispute between Brandenburg and Sweden, who both claimed succession in the Duchy of Pomerania after the extinction of the local House of Pomerania during the Thirty Years' War. Brandenburg's claims were based on the Treaty of Grimnitz , while Sweden'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...
moving from Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
; Czarniecki's sea based route is today mentioned in Polish anthem and numerous locations in the city honour his name.
Wars inhibited the city's economical prosperity, which had undergone a deep crisis during the devastations of the Thirty Years' War and was further impeded by the new Swedish-Brandenburg-Prussian frontier, cutting Stettin off its traditional Farther Pomerania
Farther Pomerania
Farther Pomerania, Further Pomerania, Transpomerania or Eastern Pomerania , which before the German-Polish border shift of 1945 comprised the eastern part of the Duchy, later Province of Pomerania, roughly stretching from the Oder River in the West to Pomerelia in the East...
n hinterland. Due to a Black Death
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...
epidemic during the Great Northern War
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...
, the city's population dropped from 6,000 people in 1709 to 4,000 inhabitants in 1711. In 1720, after the Great Northern War, Sweden was forced to cede the city to King Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
. Stettin was made the capital city of the Brandenburg-Prussian Pomeranian province
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...
, since 1815 reorganized as Province of Pomerania. In 1816, the city had 26,000 inhabitants.
The Prussian administration deprived Stettin of her administrative autonomy rights, abolished guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
privileges as well as its status as a staple town, and subsidized manufacturers. Also, colonists were settled in the city, primarily Hugenots.
From 1683 to 1812, one Jew was permitted to reside in Stettin, and an additional Jew was allowed to spend a night in the city in case of an "urgent business". These permissions were repeatedly withdrawn between 1691 and 1716, also between 1726 and 1730 although else the Swedish regulation was continued by the Brandenburg-Prussian administration. Only after the Prussian edict of emancipation of 11 March 1812, which granted Prussian citizenship to all Jews living in the kingdom, did a Jewish community emerge in Stettin, with the first Jews settling in the town in 1814. Construction of a synagogue started in 1834; the community also owned a religious and a secular school, an orphanage since 1855 and a retirement home since 1893. The Jewish community had between 1,000 and 1,200 members by 1873 and between 2,800 and 3,000 members by 1927/28. These numbers dropped to 2,701 in 1930 and to 2,322 in late 1934.
After the Franco Prussian war of 1870–1871
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, 1,700 French POWs were imprisoned there in deplorable conditions. As a result, 600 of them died; after the Second World War monuments in their memory were built by the Polish authorities.
Until 1873, Stettin remained a fortress. When part of the defensive structures were levelled, a new neighborhood, Neustadt ("New Town") as well as canalization, water pipes and gas works, were built to meet the demands of the growing population.
19th-20th century
Stettin developed into a major PrussianKingdom 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...
port and became part of the Prussian-led 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. While most of the province retained an agrarian character, Stettin was industrialized
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
and its population rose from 27,000 in 1813 to 210,000 in 1900 and 255,500 in 1925. Major industries prospering in Stettin since 1840 were shipbuilding, chemical and food industries and machinery construction. Starting in 1843, Stettin became connected to the major German and Pomeranian cities by railways, and the water connection to the Bay of Pomerania
Bay of Pomerania
The Bay of Pomerania or Pomeranian Bay is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Poland and Germany....
was enhanced by the construction of the Kaiserfahrt (now Piast) canal.
On 20 October 1890, Poles created the Towarzystwo Robotników Polsko Katolickich (Society of Polish-Catholic Workers) in the city, one of the first Polish organisations.
In 1914, before World War I, the Polish community in the city numbered about 3,000 people These were primarily industrial workers and their families who came from the 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...
area, but also a few local wealthy industrialists and merchants. Among them was Kazimierz Pruszak, director of the Gollnow industrial works and a Polish patriot, who predicted the eventual return of Szczecin to Poland.
During the interwar era, Stettin was Weimar Germany
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...
's largest port at the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, and her third-largest port after Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
. Cars of the Stoewer
Stoewer
Stoewer was a German automobile manufacturer before World War II whose headquarters were in Stettin .The first company was founded by the Stoewer brothers, Emil and Bernhard in 1896 for manufacturing sewing machines in Stettin...
automobile company were produced in Stettin from 1899 to 1945. By 1939, the Reichsautobahn 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...
-Stettin was completed.
In 1935 the German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
made Stettin the headquarters for Wehrkreis II, which controlled the military units
Military organization
Military organization is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer military capability required by the national defence policy. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in a nation's armed forces...
in all of Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
and Pomerania. It was also the Area Headquarters for units stationed at Stettin I and II; Swinemünde
Swinoujscie
Świnoujście is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. It is situated mainly on the islands of Uznam and Wolin, but also occupies smaller islands, of which the largest is Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by a Piast...
; Greifswald
Greifswald
Greifswald , officially, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is a town in northeastern Germany. It is situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at an equal distance of about from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg. The town borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed...
; and Stralsund
Stralsund
- Main sights :* The Brick Gothic historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.* The heart of the old town is the Old Market Square , with the Gothic Town Hall . Behind the town hall stands the imposing Nikolaikirche , built in 1270-1360...
.
In 1933 German elections to Reichstag, the Nazis and German nationalists from DNVP won most of the votes in the city, obtaining together 98.626 of 165.331 votes(the NSDAP 79.729 and the DNVP 18.897)
In the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
the Polish minority numbered 2,000 people. A number of Poles were members of the Union of Poles in Germany
Union of Poles in Germany
Union of Poles in Germany is an organisation of the Polish minority in Germany, founded in 1922. In 1924, the union initiated collaboration between other minorities, including Sorbs, Danes, Frisians and Lithuanians, under the umbrella organization Association of National Minorities in Germany....
(ZPN), which was active in the city since 1924, also, a Polish consulate was hosted in the city between 1925 and 1939. On initiative of the consulate and ZPN activist Maksymilian Golisz, a number of Polish institutions were established, e.g. a Polish Scout team and a Polish school. German historian Musekamp writes that "however, only very few Poles were active in these institutions, which for the most part were headed by employees of the [Polish] consulate." The withdrawal of the consulate from these institutions led to a general decline of these activities, which were in part upheld by Golisz and Aleksander Omieczyński. Intensified repressions by the Nazis, who exaggerated the Polish activities to propagate an infiltration, led to the closing of the school. In 1938 the head of Szczecin’s Union of Poles unit, Stanisław Borkowski, was imprisoned in Oranienburg
Oranienburg
Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...
. In 1939 all Polish organisations in Szczecin were disbanded by the German authorities. Golisz and Omieczyński were murdered during the war. Since the role of the pre-war Polish community had been exaggerated for propagandistic purposes during the Communist era, according to Musekamp, "the numerically insignificant Polonia of Stettin became probably the best-researched social group" in history of the city. After Nazi Germany was defeated, the city honoured Golisz by naming a street after him.
World War II
During the 1939 invasion of Poland, which started World War II in Europe, Stettin was the base for the German 2nd Motorized Infantry Division, which cut across the Polish CorridorPolish Corridor
The Polish Corridor , also known as Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia , which provided the Second Republic of Poland with access to the Baltic Sea, thus dividing the bulk of Germany from the province of East...
.
On 15 October 1939, neighbouring municipalities were amalgamated into Stettin, creating Groß-Stettin with about 380,000 inhabitants in 1940. The city had become the third-largest German city by area, after 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 Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
As the war started, the number of non-Germans in the city increased as slave workers were brought in. The first transports came in 1939 from Bydgoszcz, Toruń
Torun
Toruń is an ancient city in northern Poland, on the Vistula River. Its population is more than 205,934 as of June 2009. Toruń is one of the oldest cities in Poland. The medieval old town of Toruń is the birthplace of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus....
and Łódż. They were mainly used in a synthetic silk factory near Szczecin. The next wave of slave workers was brought in 1940, in addition to PoWs who were used for work in the agricultural industry. According to German police reports from 1940, 15,000 Polish slave workers lived within the city.
During the war, 135 forced labour camps for slave workers were established in the city. Most of the 25,000 slave workers were Poles, but Czechs, Italians, Frenchmen and Belgians, as well as Dutch citizens, were also enslaved in the camps.
In February 1940, the Jews of Stettin were deported to the Lublin reservation
Nisko Plan
The Nisko Plan, also Lublin Plan or Nisko-Lublin Plan , was developed in September 1939 by the Nazi German Schutzstaffel as a "territorial solution to the Jewish Question"...
. International press reports emerged, describing how the Nazis forced Jews, regardless of age, condition and gender, to sign away all property and loaded them on to trains headed to the camp, escorted by members of the SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
and SS. Due to publicity given to the event, German institutions ordered such future actions to be made in a way unlikely to attract public notice
Public notice
Public notice is a notice given to the public regarding certain types of legal proceedings.-By government:Public notices are issued by a government agency or legislative body in certain rulemaking or lawmaking proceeding....
.
Allied air raids
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
in 1944 and heavy fighting between the German and 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....
armies destroyed 65% of Stettin's buildings and almost all of the city centre, the seaport and local industries. Polish Home Army intelligence assisted in pinpointing targets for Allied bombing in the area of Stettin. The city itself was covered by Home Army's structure "Bałtyk" and Polish resistance infiltrated Stettin's naval yards Other activities of the resistance consisted of smuggling people to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
In April 1945, Nazi authorities of the city issued an order of evacuation and most of the city’s German population fled. The Soviet 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...
captured the city on 26 April. Stettin was virtually deserted when it fell, with only approx. 6,000 Germans in the city, when Polish authorities tried to gain control. In the following month the Polish administration was forced to leave again twice. Finally the permanent handover occurred on 5 July 1945. In the meantime, part of the German population had returned, believing it might become part of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and the Soviet authorities had already appointed the German Communists Erich Spiegel and Erich Wiesner
Erich Wiesner
Erich Wiesner was a German communist Politician and last German Mayor of Stettin .- Biography :...
as mayors. Stettin is located mostly west of the Oder river, which was considered to become Poland's new western border. This was in accordance with the results of 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...
, the Potsdam Agreement
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
between the victorious Allied Powers, which envisaged the new border to be in "a line running from the Baltic Sea immediately west of Swinemünde, and thence along the Oder River[...]". Because of the returnees, the German population of the town swelled to 84,000 again. The mortality rate
Mortality rate
Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...
was at 20%, primarily due to starvation. However, Stettin and the mouth of the Oder River became Polish on 5 July 1945, which had been decided in a treaty signed on 26 July 1944 between the Soviet Union and the Polish Committee of National Liberation
Polish Committee of National Liberation
The Polish Committee of National Liberation , also known as the Lublin Committee, was a provisional government of Poland, officially proclaimed 21 July 1944 in Chełm under the direction of State National Council in opposition to the Polish government in exile...
(PKWN). On 4 October 1945, the decisive land border of Poland was established west of the 1945 line, but excluded the Police (Pölitz)
Police, Poland
Police is a town in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, northwestern Poland. It is the capital of Police County. As of 2006, the town had 34,284 inhabitants. The name comes from Polish pole, which means "field"....
area, the Oder river itself and the Szczecin port, which remained under 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....
administration. The Oder river was handed over to Polish administration in September 1946, and the port was subsequently handed over between February 1946 and May 1954.
After 1945
Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II
The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II...
, 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...
moved in. Settlers from Central Poland made up about 70% of Szczecin's new population. Additionally Poles and Ukrainians from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. settled there. In 1945 and 1946 the city was the starting point of the northern route used by the Jewish underground organization Brichah to channel Jewish DPs
Displaced person
A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...
from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
to the American occupation zone.
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
n coal) for Poland, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, and East Germany. Cultural expansion was accompanied by a campaign resulting in the "removal of all German traces." In 1946 Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
prominently mentioned Szczecin in his Iron Curtain speech
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent".
The 1962 Szczecin military parade
1962 Szczecin military parade
The 1962 Szczecin military parade of October 9, 1962 led to a road traffic accident in which a tank of the Polish People's Army crushed bystanders, killing seven children and injuring many more. The resultant panic in the crowd led to further injuries in the rush to escape...
led to a road traffic accident in which a tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
of the Polish People's Army crushed bystanders, killing seven children and injuring many more. The resultant panic in the crowd led to further injuries in the rush to escape. The incident was covered up for many years by the Polish communist authorities
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
.
The city witnessed anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
revolts in 1970
Polish 1970 protests
The Polish 1970 protests were protests that occurred in northern Poland in December 1970. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase of prices of food and other everyday items...
. In 1980, one of the four agreements, known as the August Agreements, which led to the first legalization of Solidarity, was signed in Szczecin. Pope John Paul II visited the city on 11 June 1987. The introduction of martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
in December 1981 met with a strike by the dockworkers of Szczecin shipyard, joined by other factories and workplaces in a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
. All these were suppressed by the authorities. Another wave of strikes in Szczecin broke out in 1988 and 1989, which eventually led to the Round Table Agreement
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
and first semi free elections in Poland
Contract Sejm
Contract Sejm is a term commonly applied to the Polish Parliament elected in the Polish parliamentary elections of 1989. The contract refers to an agreement reached by the Communist Party and the Solidarity movement during the Polish Round Table Agreement. The final agreement was signed on April...
.
Since 1999 Szczecin has been the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship
West Pomeranian Voivodeship
West Pomeranian Voivodeship, , is a voivodeship in northwestern Poland. It borders on Pomeranian Voivodeship to the east, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the southeast, Lubusz Voivodeship to the south, the German federal-state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania to the west, and the Baltic Sea to the north...
.
Architecture and urban planning
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
is due to trends popular in the last half of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century, Academic art
Academic art
Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism,...
and Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
. In many areas built after 1945, especially in the city centre, which had been destroyed due to Allied bombing, social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
is prevalent.
The city has an abundance of green areas: park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s and avenues wide streets with trees planted in the island separating opposite traffic (where often tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
tracks are laid); and roundabout
Roundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
s. In that manner, Szczecin's city plan resembles that of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, mostly because Szczecin was rebuilt in the 1880s
1880s
The 1880s was the decade that spanned from January 1, 1880 to December 31, 1889. They occurred at the core period of the Second Industrial Revolution. Most Western countries experienced a large economic boom, due to the mass production of railroads and other more convenient methods of travel...
according to a design by Georges-Eugène Haussmann
Baron Haussmann
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, commonly known as Baron Haussmann , was a French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris...
, who had redesigned Paris
Haussmann's renovation of Paris
Haussmann's Renovation of Paris, or the Haussmann Plan, was a modernization program of Paris commissioned by Napoléon III and led by the Seine prefect, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870...
under Napoléon III. This course of designing streets in Szczecin is still used, as many recently built (or modified) city areas include roundabouts and avenues.
Brick Gothic
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...
, as well as 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...
buildings,were picked as worthy of conservation. The motivation behind this decision was that Renaissance architecture was used by the Griffin dynasty
House of Pomerania
The House of Griffins or House of Pomerania, , also known as House of Greifen; House of Gryf, was a dynasty of Royal dukes that ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th century until 1637, after their power was temporarily derivated to Prussian Royal House...
, who had Slavic roots and was viewed to be of Piast extraction by some historians (later the Piast myth was replaced by a local Griffin myth, whereby the Slavic roots of the Griffin dynasty were to justify the post-war Polish presence in Pomerania). This view was manifested e.g. by erecting respective memorials, and the naming of streets and enterprises, while else German traces were replaced by symbols of three main categories: Piasts, Martyrdom of Poles and gratitude to the Soviet and Polish armies. The ruins of the former Griffin residence
Pomeranian Dukes' Castle, Szczecin
The Ducal Castle in Szczecin, Poland, was the seat of the dukes of Pomerania-Stettin of the House of Pomerania , who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from 1121 to 1637.-History:...
, initially renamed "Piast Palace", also played a central role in this concept and were reconstructed in Renaissance style, with all traces of later eras removed. In general, post-Renaissance buildings, especially from the 19th and early 20th centuries were deemed unworthy of conservation until the 1970s, and were in part used in the Bricks for Warsaw campaign (an effort to rebuild Warsaw after it had been razed to the ground by the Germans
Planned destruction of Warsaw
The planned destruction of Warsaw refers to the largely realised plans by Nazi Germany to completely raze the city. The plan was put into full motion after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944...
): with 38 million bricks, Szczecin became Poland's largest brick supplier.
The Old Town was rebuilt in the late 1990s, consisting of new buildings, some of which were reconstructions of buildings destroyed in World War II.
A portion of the Szczecin Landscape Park
Szczecin Landscape Park
Szczecin Landscape Park is a protected area in north-western Poland, established in 1981 and covering an area of...
, in the forest of Puszcza Bukowa, lies within Szczecin's boundaries.
Municipal administration
The city is administratively divided into districts (Polish: dzielnica), which are further divided into smaller neighbourhoods. The governing bodies of the latter serve the role of auxiliary local government bodies called NeighborhoodNeighbourhood
A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...
Councils (Polish: Rady Osiedla). Election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s for Neighborhood Councils are held up to six months after each City Council elections. Attendance is rather low (on 20 May 2007 it ranged from 1.03% to 27.75% and was 3.78% on average). Councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s are responsible mostly for small infrastructure like trees, park benches, playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
s, etc. Other functions are mostly advisory. Official list of districts
Dzielnica Śródmieście (City Centre)
Centrum
Centrum, Szczecin
Centrum is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, situated on the left bank of Oder river, in Śródmieście District. It borders Śródmieście-Zachód to the west, Śródmieście-Północ to the north, Stare Miasto to the east, and Nowe Miasto to the south. As of January 2011 it had a...
, Drzetowo-Grabowo, Łękno, Międzyodrze-Wyspa Pucka, Niebuszewo-Bolinko
Niebuszewo-Bolinko
Niebuszewo-Bolinko is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, in Śródmieście District, north of the Szczecin Old Town. As of January 2011 it had a population of 22,403....
, Nowe Miasto
Nowe Miasto, Szczecin
Nowe Miasto is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, situated on the left bank of Oder river, in Śródmieście District. It borders Turzyn to the west, Śródmieście-Zachód, Centrum and Stare Miasto to the north, Międzyodrze-Wyspa Pucka to the east, and Pomorzany to the south....
, Stare Miasto, Śródmieście-Północ
Śródmieście-Północ
Śródmieście-Północ is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, in Śródmieście District. As of January 2011 it had a population of 12,507....
, Śródmieście-Zachód
Śródmieście-Zachód
Śródmieście-Zachód is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, in Śródmieście District. As of January 2011 it had a population of 15,996....
, Turzyn.
Dzielnica Północ (North)
Bukowo, Golęcino-Gocław
Golęcino-Gocław
Golęcino-Gocław is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the Oder river, and Dąbie Lake, north of the Szczecin Old Town, and Middle Town. As of January 2011 it had a population of 3,417....
, Niebuszewo, Skolwin, Stołczyn, Warszewo, Żelechowa.
Dzielnica Zachód (West)
Arkońskie-Niemierzyn
Arkońskie-Niemierzyn
Arkońskie-Niemierzyn is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the left bank of Oder river, north-west of the Szczecin Old Town, in Zachód District. As of January 2011 it had a population of 11,533....
, Głębokie-Pilchowo
Głębokie-Pilchowo
Głębokie-Pilchowo is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the left bank of Oder river, north-west of the Szczecin Old Town, in Zachód District. As of January 2011 it had a population of 1,216....
, Gumieńce, Krzekowo-Bezrzecze, Osów, Pogodno, Pomorzany, Świerczewo, Zawadzkiego-Klonowica
Zawadzkiego-Klonowica
Zawadzkiego-Klonowica is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, situated on the left bank of Oder river, in Zachód District. It borders Krzekowo-Bezrzecze to the west, Głębokie-Pilchowo and Osów to the north, Arkońskie-Niemierzyn to the east, and Pogodno to the south. As of...
.
Dzielnica Prawobrzeże (Right-Bank)
Bukowe-Klęskowo
Bukowe-Klęskowo
Bukowe-Klęskowo is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the right bank of Oder river, south-east of the Szczecin Old Town, and Middle Town. As of April 2011 it had a population of 14,441....
, Dąbie, Kijewo, Osiedle Majowe
Osiedle Majowe, Szczecin
Osiedle Majowe is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the right bank of Oder river, south-east of the Szczecin Old Town, and Middle Town. As of April 2011 it had a population of 7,679....
, Osiedle Słoneczne, Płonia-Śmierdnica-Jezierzyce
Płonia-Śmierdnica-Jezierzyce
Płonia-Śmierdnica-Jezierzyce is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland, situated on the right bank of Oder river, south-east of the Szczecin Old Town, and Middle Town. As of January 2011 it had a population of 3,933....
, Podjuchy, Wielgowo-Sławociesze
Wielgowo-Sławociesze
Wielgowo-Sławociesze is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the right bank of Oder river, south-east of the Szczecin Old Town, and Middle Town. As of April 2011 it had a population of 3,741....
, Załom, Zdroje, Żydowce-Klucz
Żydowce-Klucz
Żydowce-Klucz is a municipal neighbourhood of the city of Szczecin, Poland situated on the right bank of Oder river, south-east of the Szczecin Old Town, and Middle Town. As of January 2011 it had a population of 2,450....
.
Other historical neighborhoods
Babin, Barnucin, Basen Górniczy, Błędów, Boleszyce, Bystrzyk, Cieszyce, Cieśnik, Dolina, Drzetowo, Dunikowo, Glinki, Grabowo, Jezierzyce, Kaliny, Kępa Barnicka, Kijewko, Kluczewko, Kłobucko, Kniewo, Kraśnica, Krzekoszów, Lotnisko, Łasztownia, Niemierzyn, Odolany, Oleszna, Podbórz, Port, os.Przyjaźni, Rogatka, Rudnik, Sienna, Skoki, Słowieńsko, Sosnówko, Starków, Stoki, Struga, Śmierdnica, os.Świerczewskie, Trzebusz, Urok, Widok, Zdunowo.Demographics
Up to the end of World War II the vast majority of the population of Stettin were Protestants.Number of inhabitants in years
- 1720: 6,081
- 1740: 12,360
- 1756: 13,533
- 1763: 12,483
- 1782: 15,372 (no 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: 16,700 (no Jews)
- 1812: 21,255 incl. 476 Catholics and five Jews
- 1816: 21,528, incl. 742 Catholics and 74 Jews.
- 1831: 27,399, incl. 840 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 250 Jews - 1852: 48,028, incl. 724 Catholics, 901 Jews and two MennoniteMennoniteThe Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s. - 1861: 58,487, incl. 1,065 Catholics and 1,438 Jews, six Mennonites, 305 German CatholicsGerman CatholicsThe German Catholics were a schismatic sect formed in December 1844 by German dissidents from the Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of Johannes Ronge.-History:...
and three other citizens. - 1905: 224,119 (incl. the military), among them 209,152 Protestants, 8,635 Catholics and 3,010 Jews.
- 1933: 269,557, mostly Protestant inhabitants.
- 2009: 406,427
Members of European Parliament (MEPs) from Szczecin
- Zdzisław Chmielewski, POCivic PlatformCivic Platform , abbreviated to PO, is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Poland. It has been the major coalition partner in Poland's government since the 2007 general election, with party leader Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland and Bronisław Komorowski as President...
, historian, former rector of University of SzczecinUniversity of SzczecinThe University of Szczecin is a public university in Szczecin, western Poland. It is the biggest university in West Pomerania, with 33,267 students and a staff of nearly 1,200...
. - Bogusław Liberadzki, SLD-UPDemocratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Formed in 1991 as a coalition of centre-left parties, it was formally established as a single party on 15 April 1999. It is currently the third largest opposition party in Poland....
, economist, minister of transport. - Sylwester ChruszczSylwester ChruszczSylwester Arkadiusz Chruszcz is a Polish politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Lower Silesian Voivodship and Opole Voivodship with the Naprzód Polsko, part of the Union for Europe of the Nations and is member of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and...
, LPRLeague of Polish FamiliesThe League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
, architect and politician, elected in Silesian constituency, but lives in Szczecin.
Economy
Szczecin has three shipyards (Stocznia Remontowa Gryfia, Stocznia Pomerania, Stocznia SzczecińskaSzczecin Shipyard
Szczecin Shipyard or New Szczecin Shipyard was a shipyard in northwestern city of Szczecin, Poland. Formerly known as Stocznia Szczecińska Porta Holding S.A. or Stocznia im. Adolfa Warskiego. The shipyard specialized in the construction of container ships, chemicals transport ships, multi-purpose...
). Stocznia Szczecińska is the biggest shipyard in Poland. It has a fishing industry
Fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products....
and a steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
. It is served by Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport and by the Port of Szczecin
Port of Szczecin
The Port of Szczecin is a Polish seaport and deep water harbour in Szczecin, Poland located at Oder River and the Regalica river in Lower Oder River Valley, off the Szczecin Lagoon...
, third biggest port of Poland. It is also home to several major companies. Among them is the major food producer Drobimex, Polish Steamship Company, producer of construction materials Komfort, Bosman brewery and Cefarm drug factory. It also houses several of the new business firms in the IT sector.
Transportation
There is a popular public transitPublic transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
system operating throughout Szczecin, including a bus network
Bus network
A bus network topology is a network architecture in which a set of clients are connected via a shared communications line, called a bus. There are several common instances of the bus architecture, including one in the motherboard of most computers, and those in some versions of Ethernet...
and electric trams, that is run by.
Bundesautobahn 11
is an autobahn in eastern Germany that was opened in 1936. As it is partly in a dilapidated state, it is currently undergoing modernisation works on various stretches...
autobahn (portions of which are currently undergoing upgrade), from where one can reach Berlin in about 90 minutes (about 150 km). Road connections with the rest of Poland are of lower quality (no motorways), though the S3 Expressway
Expressway S3 (Poland)
Expressway S3 or express road S3 is major road in Poland which is planned to run from Świnoujście on the Baltic Sea through Szczecin, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Zielona Góra and Legnica, to the border with the Czech Republic, where it will connect to the D11 motorway...
that is currently under construction will begin to improve the situation after its stretch from Szczecin to Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski is a city in western Poland, on the Warta river. It is the biggest city in the Lubusz Voivodeship with 125,149 inhabitants...
is opened around 2010. Construction of Express Roads S6
Expressway S6 (Poland)
Expressway S6 or express road S6 is a major road in Poland which has been planned to run from the A6 autostrada at Goleniów in West Pomerania to Gdańsk parallel to the Baltic coast, forming the main connection between Gdańsk and Szczecin.At present, the only significant section of S6 that has been...
and S10
Expressway S10 (Poland)
Expressway S10 or express road S10 is major road in Poland which, when completed, will serve as a direct route between Szczecin and Warsaw. It has been planned to run from the junction with Motorway A6 on the eastern outskirts of Szczecin, through Bydgoszcz and Toruń, to a junction with express...
which are to run east from Szczecin has also started, though these roads will not be fully completed until about 2015.
Szczecin has good railway connections with the rest of Poland, but it is connected by only two single track, non-electrified lines with Germany to the west (high quality double-track lines were degraded after 1945). Because of this, the rail connection between Berlin and Szczecin is much slower and less convenient than one would expect between two European cities of that size and proximity. Plans have been made to restore the double track on the Berlin-Szczecin main line with complete electrification
Railway electrification system
A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units as well as trams so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world...
and other upgrades to allow 160 km/h (99.42 mph) running, but these have not been funded yet.
Szczecin is served by Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport which is 45 km northeast of the city.
Cultural events
- Days of the Sea (Polish Dni Morza) held every June.
- European Night of Museums (Polish Europejska Noc Muzeów)
- Street Artists' Festival (Polish Festiwal Artystów Ulicy) held every July.
- Days of The Ukrainian Culture (Polish Dni Kultury Ukraińskiej) held every May.
- Air showAir showAn air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows"....
on Dabie airport held every May. - InSPIRATIONS (Polish InSPIRACJE)
Szczecin was a candidate for The European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
2016.
Museums and galeries
- National Museum in SzczecinNational Museum, SzczecinNational Museum, Szczecin – a museum in Szczecin, Poland, established on 1 August 1945. The main part of an exhibition is placed in Landed Gentry House , Staromłyńska 27 Street...
(Polish Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie) is the largest cultural institution in the West Pomeranian VoivodeshipWest Pomeranian VoivodeshipWest Pomeranian Voivodeship, , is a voivodeship in northwestern Poland. It borders on Pomeranian Voivodeship to the east, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the southeast, Lubusz Voivodeship to the south, the German federal-state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania to the west, and the Baltic Sea to the north...
. It has branches:- The Main Building of Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie, Wały Chrobrego 3 Street.
- Szczecin's History Museum (Polish Muzeum Historii Szczecina) in the Old City Town Hall, SzczecinOld City Town Hall, SzczecinOld City Town Hall in Szczecin - the present day shingle-roofed Town Hall in the Old City district was built for the municipal government in the 15th century. At the time, it was considered the new Town Hall, erected at the site of the one built in the previous century. In 1968, the building was...
, Księcia Mściwoja II Street. - The Old Art Galery of Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie, Staromłyńska 27 Street.
- The Museum of Contemporary Art, Staromłyńska 1 Street.
- The Narrow Gauge Railway Exhibition in GryficeGryficeGryfice is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland with 16 632 inhabitants . It is the capital of Gryfice County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship , previously in Szczecin Voivodeship .-History:...
- Planned investments: Dialogue Center Breakthroughs (Polish Centrum Dialogu Przełomy) and Maritime Museum - Science Center (Polish Muzeum Morskie - Centrum Nauki).
- Literature Museum (Polish Muzeum Literatury)
- EUREKA - the miracles of science.
- The Castle Museum (Polish Muzeum Zamkowe) in the Pomeranian Dukes' Castle, SzczecinPomeranian Dukes' Castle, SzczecinThe Ducal Castle in Szczecin, Poland, was the seat of the dukes of Pomerania-Stettin of the House of Pomerania , who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from 1121 to 1637.-History:...
. - Museum of Technique and Communication - Art Depot (Polish Muzeum Techniki i Komunikacji - Zajezdnia Sztuki).
Arts and entertainment
- Bismarck tower Szczecin
- Kana Theatre (Polish Teatr Kana)
- Modern Theatre (Polish Teatr Współczesny)
- Opera in the Castle (Polish Opera na Zamku)
- Polish Theatre (Polish Teatr Polski)
- (ruins of) The Quistorp's Tower (Polish Wieża Quistorpa, German Quistorpturm)
- The Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in SzczecinPomeranian Dukes' Castle, SzczecinThe Ducal Castle in Szczecin, Poland, was the seat of the dukes of Pomerania-Stettin of the House of Pomerania , who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from 1121 to 1637.-History:...
(Polish Zamek Książąt Pomorskich w Szczecinie) - The Castle Cinema (Polish Kino Zamek)
- The Cellar by the Vault Cabaret (Polish Kabaret Piwnica przy Krypcie)
- The Crypt Theatre (Polish Teatr Krypta)
- The Pleciuga Puppetry Theatre (Polish Teatr Lalek Pleciuga)
- The Niema Theatre (Polish Teatr Niema)
Education and science
- University of SzczecinUniversity of SzczecinThe University of Szczecin is a public university in Szczecin, western Poland. It is the biggest university in West Pomerania, with 33,267 students and a staff of nearly 1,200...
(Polish Uniwersytet Szczeciński) with 35.000 students, rector Waldemar Tarczyński - West Pomeranian University of Technology
- Pomeranian Medical UniversityPomeranian Medical UniversityPomeranian Medical University was established in 1948 in Szczecin, Poland. It is referred to as Pomorski Uniwersytet Medyczny in Polish....
(Polish Pomorska Akademia Medyczna) - Branch of Academy of Music in Poznań (Polish Akademia Muzyczna w Poznaniu)
- Maritime University of Szczecin (Polish Akademia Morska w Szczecinie)
- The West Pomeranian Business School (Polish Zachodniopomorska Szkoła Biznesu)
- Higher School of Public Administration in Szczecin (Polish Wyższa Szkoła Administracji Publicznej w Szczecinie)
- High Theological Seminary in Szczecin (Polish Arcybiskupie Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne w Szczecinie)
- Higher School of Applied Arts (Polish Wyższa Szkoła Sztuki Użytkowej)
- Academy of European Integration (Polish Wyższa Szkoła Integracji Europejskiej)
- Wyższa Szkoła Ekonomiczno-Turystyczna
- Wyższa Szkoła Humanistyczna TWP
- Wyższa Szkoła Języków Obcych
- Wyższa Szkoła Techniczno-Ekonomiczna
- Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa- Collegium Balticum
- Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa "OECONOMICUS" PTE
- Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania
Scientific and regional organizations
- Western Pomeranian Institute (Polish Instytut Zachodnio-Pomorski)
- Szczecin Scientific SocietySzczecin Scientific SocietySzczecin Scientific Society is a general scientific society in Szczecin, Poland, associating researchers of all scientific branches....
(Polish Szczecińskie Towarzystwo Naukowe)
Sports
There are many popular professional sports teamProfessional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
in Szczecin area. The most popular sport today is probably football (thanks to Pogoń Szczecin
Pogon Szczecin
MKS Pogoń Szczecin is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, Poland. The club was founded by Poles from Lwów , who had been transferred west after the Soviet annexation of Poland's eastern territories in 1945. The founders of Pogoń Szczecin had previously been supporters of Pogoń...
just promoted to play in the 1st league in season 2004/2005). Amateur sports
Amateur sports
Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. Sporting amateurism was a zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, especially among the upper classes, but faced steady erosion throughout the 20th century with the continuing growth of pro sports...
are played by thousands of Szczecin citizens and also in schools of all levels (elementary, secondary, university).
Professional teams
- Pogoń SzczecinPogon SzczecinMKS Pogoń Szczecin is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, Poland. The club was founded by Poles from Lwów , who had been transferred west after the Soviet annexation of Poland's eastern territories in 1945. The founders of Pogoń Szczecin had previously been supporters of Pogoń...
- football teamFootball teamA football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football.Such teams could be selected to play in an against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-star team or even selected as a...
(2nd league in season 2008/2009) - STK Wilki Morskie Szczecin - basketball teamBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Arkonia Szczecin - football team (5th league in season 2008/2009)
- Pogoń II Szczecin - 2nd Pogoń football team (regional 6th league in season 2008/2009)
- KS Stal Szczecin - 15 youth and junior teams, 1 senior, being in 4th regional league in season 2008/2009
- Pogoń '04 Szczecin - futsal team (1st league of Polish futsal in season 2008/2009)
- KS Piast Szczecin - women's volleyball team, (Seria A in season 2003/2004 and 2004/2005)
- Pogoń Handball Szczecin - handballHandball in PolandHandball is a popular team sport in Poland.* Polish Seria A Handball League* Polish Seria B Handball League* Polish Seria A Women's Handball League* Polish Seria B Women's Handball League* Polish Cup in men handball* Polish Cup in women handball...
men and women teams playing in 2nd Polish Handball League - Wicher Warszewo - futsal team playing in Środowiskowa Liga Futsalu (Futsal League) - 2 regional Futsal League: 2nd place in 2006/2007 season - promotion in the first regional Futsal League
- Husaria Szczecin - American footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team playing in Polish American Football LeaguePolish American Football LeagueThe Polish American Football League or shortly PLFA is a structured system for the american football competitions in Poland founded in 2006 by Polish federation PZFA. Since 2008 season, PLFA is divided into two leagues between which there is promotion and relegation...
Amateur leagues
- Halowa Amatorska Liga Pilkarska - Hall Amateur Football League
- Halowa Liga Pilki Noznej- Hall Football League
- Szczecinska Liga Amatorskiej Koszykowki - Szczecin Amateur Basketball League
- Szczecinska Amatorska Liga Pilki Siatkowej - Szczecin Amateur Volleyball League - women league, 1st, 2nd and 3rd men league
- Elita Professional Sport - Elita Hall Football League - 1st and 2nd league, futsal cup
- Kaskada Szczecin Rugby Club - club rugby - 7 and 15 league, rugby cup
Twin towns — Sister cities
The twin towns and sister cities of Szczecin are:| Bremerhaven Bremerhaven Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham... in 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... Rostock Rostock Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders... in 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... Dalian Dalian Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's... in People's Republic of China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... Esbjerg Esbjerg Esbjerg Municipality is a municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. Its mayor is Johnny Søtrup, from the Venstre political party... in Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is the second borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg... in 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... Lübeck Lübeck The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World... in 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... |
Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of... in United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... Malmö Malmö Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County... in Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... Murmansk Murmansk Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland... in 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... St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St... , Missouri Missouri Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It... in United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... Klaipėda Klaipeda Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County.... in Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... Greifswald Greifswald Greifswald , officially, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is a town in northeastern Germany. It is situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at an equal distance of about from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg. The town borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed... , 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... |
Famous residents
Over the long course of its history Szczecin has been a place of birth and of residence for many famous individuals, including Empress Catherine the Great, actress Dita ParloDita Parlo
Dita Parlo was a German film actress.Born Grethe Gerda Kornstädt in Stettin , Parlo made her first film appearance in Homecoming in 1928 and quickly became a popular actress in Germany...
, the mathematician Hermann Günther Grassmann, and the poet Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński.
Panorama
See also
- Towns near Szczecin: Stargard SzczecińskiStargard SzczecinskiStargard Szczeciński is a city in northwestern Poland, with a population of 71,017 . Situated on the Ina River it is the capital of Stargard County and since 1999 has been in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship; prior to that it was in the Szczecin Voivodeship...
, PolicePolice, PolandPolice is a town in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, northwestern Poland. It is the capital of Police County. As of 2006, the town had 34,284 inhabitants. The name comes from Polish pole, which means "field"....
, GryfinoGryfinoGryfino is a town in Pomerania, northwestern Poland with 22,500 inhabitants . It is also the capital of Gryfino County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship , previously in Szczecin Voivodeship ....
, GoleniówGoleniówGoleniów is a town in Pomerania, northwestern Poland with 22,399 inhabitants . It is the capital of Goleniów County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship ; previously it was in Szczecin Voivodeship . Town area is 12.5 km², geographical situation 53°33'N and 14°49'E...
, PyrzycePyrzycePyrzyce , is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland, with 13,331 inhabitants Capital of the Pyrzyce County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship , previously in Szczecin Voivodeship .-History:...
, CedyniaCedyniaCedynia is a town in Poland, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in Gryfino County. It lies close to the Oder River, near the border with Germany, and is the westernmost town in Poland...
, ChojnaChojnaChojna is a small town in western Poland in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It lies approximately 60 km south of Szczecin and participates in the Douzelage....
, MieszkowiceMieszkowiceMieszkowice is a town in Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland, about east of the Oder river and the border with Germany...
, MoryńMorynMoryń is a town in Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 1,580 inhabitants .The English author Christopher Isherwood describes spending several months in the spring and summer of 1932 in Mohrin in chapter five of his biography Christopher & His Kind...
, Trzcińsko-ZdrójTrzcinsko-ZdrójTrzcińsko-Zdrój is a town in Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,591 inhabitants .-External links:*...
, Nowe WarpnoNowe WarpnoNowe Warpno is a town in northwestern Poland, in Police County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It lies on the shore of the Szczecin Lagoon, very close to the border with Germany. It is the seat of the urban-rural gmina called Gmina Nowe Warpno.The town's population is 1,170...
, PenkunPenkunPenkun is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated 25 km east of Prenzlau, and 23 km southwest of Szczecin.-Towns near Penkun:* Szczecin City * Eggesin...
(Germany), PasewalkPasewalkPasewalk is a town in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. Located on the Uecker river, it is the capital of the former Uecker-Randow district, and the seat of the Uecker-Randow-Tal Amt of which it is not part.Pasewalk became a town during the 12th...
(Germany), EggesinEggesinEggesin is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Uecker, 7 km southeast of Ueckermünde, and 42 km northwest of Szczecin.-Transport:...
(Germany), GartzGartzGartz is a town in the Uckermark district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located on the West bank of the Oder River, about 30 km south of Szczecin .-Overview:...
(Germany) - Villages near Szczecin: Kolbacz, PrzęsocinPrzesocinPrzęsocin is a small village south of the town of Police, Poland- History :Przęsocin, until 1945 known as Neuendorf , became part of Poland after the end of World War II and changed its name to the Polish Przęsocin.-Tourism:...
, Kołbaskowo - Szczecin Lagoon
- Wkrzanska ForestUeckermünder HeideUeckermünder Heide is a 1.000 km² large area of forest and heath in North Eastern Germany at the Oder river and the Szczecin Lagoon. Since 1945, the eastern part belongs to Poland, called Puszcza Wkrzańska...
- Central Cemetery in SzczecinCentral Cemetery in SzczecinThe Central Cemetery in Szczecin is a municipal cemetery in Szczecin, Poland. With an area of over 167,8 hectares, and still expanding, it is the biggest cemetery in Poland and the third biggest cemetery in Europe.-History:...