Tuchola
Encyclopedia
Tuchola t is a town
in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
in northern Poland
. The Pomerania
n town, which had a population of 13,976 as of 2004, is located close to the Tuchola Forests about 7t0 km north of Bydgoszcz, and is the seat of Tuchola County
. Forest areas to the east and north of the town form the protected area
of Tuchola Landscape Park
.
(Culm law) in 1346 from Heinrich Dusemer
, the Grand Master
of the Teutonic Knights
. After the Order's defeat in the Battle of Grunwald
, a Polish-Lithuanian army conquered the town on November 5, 1410. The Order retained the town in the First Peace of Thorn. At the end of the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), however, Tuchel was ceded to Poland in the Second Peace of Thorn and became part of Polish Royal Prussia
.
During the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Royal Prussia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia
. On May 17, 1781 the Church of St. Bartholomäus and vast parts of the town burned down. Tuchel became part of the Prussian-led German Empire
in 1871.
A prisoner-of-war camp
was established near the town by Germany during World War I
. After the town was transferred to the Second Polish Republic
in 1920 following the Treaty of Versailles
, the camp became known as Camp No. 7 and existed until 1923. At this time it housed mainly soldiers and cossack
s of the Imperial Russian
Army.
Beginning in the autumn of 1920 during Polish-Soviet war
thousands of captured Red Army
men were placed in the camp of Тuchola. These POW
s lived in trenches, while famine
, cold, and infectious diseases killed tens of prisoners daily. In the winter 1920/1921 POWs had a death rate of about 25%, which was attributed to malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions, lack of fuel and medicines, and physical maltreatment by the Polish supervisors.
«From the moment of opening an infirmary in February, 1921 till May 11, 1921 there was registered epidemic diseases 6491, not epidemic 12294, 2561 deaths» («Red Army POWs in the Polish POW camps 1919-1922», p. 671).
Lieutenant Colonel I. Matuszewski, the head of the II department of the Polish Joint Staff, informed the military minister of Poland in the letter on February 1, 1922, that 22 thousand of POWs were lost in the camp of Tuchol in all time of its existence. («Red Army POWs...», p. 671)
Tuchola was annexed by Nazi Germany
during World War II
. The town's ethnic German
population was subsequently expelled
after the war and replaced with Poles
.
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
-Transportation:Transportation infrastructure is of critical importance to the voivodeship's economy. Kuyavia-Pomerania is a major node point in the Polish transportation system. Railway lines from the South and East pass through Bydgoszcz in order to reach the major ports on the Baltic Sea...
in northern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The 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...
n town, which had a population of 13,976 as of 2004, is located close to the Tuchola Forests about 7t0 km north of Bydgoszcz, and is the seat of Tuchola County
Tuchola County
Tuchola County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and only town is Tuchola, which...
. Forest areas to the east and north of the town form the protected area
Protected area
Protected areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognised natural, ecological and/or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international...
of Tuchola Landscape Park
Tuchola Landscape Park
Tuchola Landscape Park is a protected area in north-central Poland, established in 1985, covering an area of in the Tuchola Forests close to the town of Tuchola....
.
History
Settlement around Tuchola dates to 980, while the town was first mentioned in 1287. It received German town lawGerman town law
German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
(Culm law) in 1346 from Heinrich Dusemer
Heinrich Dusemer
Heinrich Dusemer von Arfberg was the 21st Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1345 to 1351.Dusemer hailed from Swabia and joined the Teutonic Order in 1311. As a young knight he fought against the Lithuanians. Legend has it that he frequently would duel with Grand Duke Vytenis...
, the Grand Master
Hochmeister
The grand master is the holder of the supreme office of the Teutonic Order. It is equivalent to the grand master of other military orders and the superior general in non-military Roman Catholic religious orders...
of the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
. After the Order's defeat in the Battle of Grunwald
Battle of Grunwald
The Battle of Grunwald or 1st Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautas , decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led...
, a Polish-Lithuanian army conquered the town on November 5, 1410. The Order retained the town in the First Peace of Thorn. At the end of the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), however, Tuchel was ceded to Poland in the Second Peace of Thorn and became part of Polish Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia was a Region of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Polish Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land , Malbork Voivodeship , Gdańsk , Toruń , and Elbląg . It is distinguished from Ducal Prussia...
.
During the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Royal Prussia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
. On May 17, 1781 the Church of St. Bartholomäus and vast parts of the town burned down. Tuchel 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.
A prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
was established near the town by Germany during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After the town was transferred to the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
in 1920 following the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, the camp became known as Camp No. 7 and existed until 1923. At this time it housed mainly soldiers and cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s of the Imperial Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
Army.
Beginning in the autumn of 1920 during Polish-Soviet war
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
thousands of captured 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...
men were placed in the camp of Тuchola. These POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
s lived in trenches, while famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
, cold, and infectious diseases killed tens of prisoners daily. In the winter 1920/1921 POWs had a death rate of about 25%, which was attributed to malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions, lack of fuel and medicines, and physical maltreatment by the Polish supervisors.
«From the moment of opening an infirmary in February, 1921 till May 11, 1921 there was registered epidemic diseases 6491, not epidemic 12294, 2561 deaths» («Red Army POWs in the Polish POW camps 1919-1922», p. 671).
Lieutenant Colonel I. Matuszewski, the head of the II department of the Polish Joint Staff, informed the military minister of Poland in the letter on February 1, 1922, that 22 thousand of POWs were lost in the camp of Tuchol in all time of its existence. («Red Army POWs...», p. 671)
Tuchola was annexed by Nazi Germany
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...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The town's ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
population was subsequently expelled
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
after the war and replaced with Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
.
Education
- Higher School of Environmental Management
Famous residents
- Louis LewinLouis LewinLouis Lewin was a German pharmacologist. In 1886, he published the first methodical analysis of the Peyote cactus, which was originally named in his honor Anhalonium lewinii.He received his education at the gymnasium and the University of Berlin...
(1850–1929), physician, pharmacologist, toxicologist in Berlin - Senna Hoy (1882–1914), author anarchist
- Joachim von Delbrück (1886–1951), author, critic, publisher
- Bruno Binnebesel (1902–1944) catholic churchman
- Marcin JędrzejewskiMarcin Jedrzejewski (speedway rider)Marcin Jędrzejewski is a Polish speedway rider and has ridden for the Polish national junior team. He has been riding since 2003.- World Championships :* Individual U-21 World Championship...
- speedwayMotorcycle speedwayMotorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
rider and current member of Polish national junior team. - Jarosław Katulski - medicine doctor, a PO's member of Sejm of the Republic of Poland .
- Tadeusz ZwiefkaTadeusz ZwiefkaTadeusz Antoni Zwiefka is a Polish journalist and politician. Since 2004, member of the European Parliament.- Biography :Tadeusz Zwiefka comes from Tuchola in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship, he worked in Szczecin and Warsaw, and today he lives in Poznań....
- popular TV journalist, and a PO's Member of European ParliamentEuropean ParliamentThe European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
.