Germans in Pabianice
The Germans in Pabianice (German Pabianitz , 1940 briefly castle town ) were part of the German minority in Poland .
In 1860, 1,425 Germans lived in Pabianice. They made up 29% of the city's residents. In 1913 the number of people of German origin in Pabianice reached 6,918 (14% of the population); In 1921 due to the destruction of the First World War, there were only 1,634 inhabitants (5.5% of the population) who stated that they were Germans; on the other hand, the number of Germans rose to 4,494 (9.8%) by 1931.
Beginnings of German settlement
According to documents, the stay of the first Germans in Pabianice can be dated to 1793, when the city was incorporated into the Prussian state as a result of the second partition of Poland . German residents at the end of the 18th century included Christian Rexer, Johannes Heinrich Ufmann, who was employed by the brewery, Karl Haux, the tailor Johann Martin Erhart, Johannes Bether and Johannes Keler. Many Germans came to Pabianice as civil servants during the years of Prussian rule. Samuel Gottfried Schimink was a clerk and Johannes Schulz was director in the Pabianitz office. Johannes Gottlob Wolmar was responsible for the case law.
The next wave of immigration by German settlers came in the 1820s as a result of the Congress of Vienna . In this it was decided to establish the Kingdom of Poland from the majority of the former Prussian territories and to subordinate this to the Russian Tsar. The Warsaw government, through its intention to industrialize the country, encouraged the settlement of further immigrants. Due to the presence of watercourses, convenient transport routes and abundance of wood, Pabianice seemed suitable for the settlement of cloth makers and weavers . This should give Pabianice the status of a factory town. The government sent advertisers to the German textile regions, especially to Saxony , Silesia , Prussia and the Sudetenland .
On the city map from 1824, a special district for the immigrating skilled craftsmen was marked on the left side of the Dobrzynka River : the New Town. In 1825 14 cloth makers came to Pabianice. In 1826 there were already 30 cloth makers from Germany in Pabianice. The newcomers were initially given rooms in the castle, the old courtyard of the Krakow chapter, and the rear buildings of the castle, where the first handlooms were housed. Each settler later got a building site and a loan of 600 złoty for the construction of a wooden house or 1,500 zł for a brick house. A fulling mill for processing, compressing and refining fabrics was set up on the Dobrzynka River.
The majority of German-speaking craftsmen gathered in the cloth makers' guild founded in 1826. This guild was founded by Ambrosius Schulze, Gottlieb Krusche, Johannes Gottlieb Grunwald Senior, Christian Sigismund, Josef Engel, Wenzel Hilebrant, Antonius Friesche, Josef Debich, Johannes Hermann, Wenzel Habel, Josef Rose, Antonius Eifeld, Nikolaus Hille, Gottlieb Krauze, Josef Führig , Antonius Fibiger, Antonius Domm, Wenzel Hornig, Johannes Krastof Held, Johannes Ekert and Johannes Gottlieb Schwertner.
The books of the cloth makers guild were kept in both Polish and German, as the majority of the members were of German descent. In 1836 the cloth makers donated the first flag, in 1854 the second. From the second only the decorated tip with the German inscription "Long live the Löb championship of the weavers' guild in Pabianice" is preserved.
The board of directors of the cloth makers' guild consisted almost exclusively of German craftsmen. The elders and masters, during the Russian period, were among others: Ambrosius Schulze and Gottlieb Krusche (in the years 1826–1843), Josef August Führih and Józef Nowotny (in the years 1844–1846), Antonius Dinzer and Kilkar (1847–1849 ), Ambrosius Hazek (1850–1853), Josef August Führih and E. Krusche (1855–1864), Vincencius Dere and Josef Schnabel (1865–1877), Nikolaus Wendler (1878–1885), Franciszek Gryzel (1887–1894), Adolf Jaroszka (1906–1909), Adolf Hille (1910–1917).
History of the Germanness of a central Polish city and its surroundings
In 1781 a whole row of 26 buildings fell victim to a major fire, while in 1797 another 14 houses went up in flames.
The 13 South Prussian years from 1793 to 1806 and the following decades acquired special significance for the city as well as for the entire area.
If you came to the place as a stranger, you couldn't quite tell whether it was a dilapidated village or an attacked jungle. The Prussians turned it into an industrial city with 50,000 inhabitants. Pabianitz may have been formally founded as early as 1333, but it was 450 years without any significance or influence for the immediate and distant environment. Even the author of the Polish work on Pabianitz, Maximilian Baruch, admits that this place only got a certain meaning since the Prussian era. Like Johann Dlugosch in 1450, that researcher even calls the Pabianitz from 1827 a miserable nest. At that time, German immigrants had been working on building urban and rural areas for thirty years. What might have been reminiscent of a city in that “wretched nest” before those thirty years of German reconstruction work? If the Prussians found some houses in the city again in 1793 after the great fire of 1760, it was only thanks to the fact that immigration had already started here shortly before 1793 and all sorts of things had been done in the meantime.
When the Prussians took over the "city" it already had seventy-five houses, 48 of which were still thatched, while the rest had shingle roofs. The cityscape was adorned with 64 barns, and 39 other places were deserted. Of the 482 inhabitants, 13 were Jews . There were 29 craftsmen, exclusively drapers. Since the inhabitants of the city were known to be arable citizens , the Prussian government intended to degrade this "Pabianitz state" to a village.
The Prussians began
But now we went to work at full speed. The sanded and muddy roads were regulated and paved. Not so the old market. Like everything old, it was left behind because the main interest was in the far, western bank of the Dobrzunta. The new town was built at a brisk pace. It formed the core of today's city. In 1803 there were already over 200 German hosts with a number well over 1000 souls. The city's exposed squares, 202 in number, in more than 340 acres, including 107 gardens, were instantly sold out. It had been given at perpetual rent for a very low interest rate.
Pabianitz had, in the truest sense of the word, an astonishing new birth.
Although it cannot be said that, as in most cases, the church was the center of urban life in Pabianitz too, since the strong technical development here had to give the life of the citizen a special line, it is nevertheless advantageous if we first take a closer look at the history of the Protestant community. In the course of this, we soon come across figures and data that provide an overview of the development of the whole of Pabianitz's Germanness.
It's a tough fight
The history of the German Protestant community in Pabianitz begins in 1804, in other words still during the South Prussian period, with a request from the community leader Georg Mattner to the royal South Prussian government in Warsaw. In this paper, the government was presented with the necessity of founding a parish with a Protestant church in Pabianitz and at the same time asked for appropriate subsidies. In August 1804, the head of the department "Mattner and consorts" was given a very favorable decision and asked not only to find a suitable place in Pabianitz for the construction of a Lutheran church and the parish, school and sexton's houses, but also a construction plan and drawing to have made. So much for the good start. The Pabianitz Germans still had to fight for a quarter of a century for a similarly good ending. Soon the Prussians had to leave the country, and it was not until 1816 that further steps were taken to found the church. But now it was not clear whether only Pabianitz would be considered for a Protestant church. Above all, a certain Oberamtmann Werner, the owner of a schnapps distillery and leaseholder of the Pabianitz alcohol monopoly, was keen to prevent the establishment of a church in the city because of the risk to his sales. He knows how to convince the voivodship commission that it is more important to build the church in Sulzfeld . At that time, Łódź was also proposed as the evangelical parish of the area. At that time this city did not have any German Protestant immigrants.
The letter from the superintendent Sienell in Kalisch to the honorable commission, which he wants to convince, contrary to the representations of the snappy senior bailiff, that Pabianitz is the right place for the construction of an evangelical church, is revealing. From this we gather that even before January 22nd, 1817, 250 Protestant landowners lived in the Pabianitz area within a radius of just one mile, whose number of souls with their relatives was exactly 1230.
The memorandum to the Kalischer Voivodship Commission also mentions the names of the German Protestant families in the individual villages from 1816.
The year 1796
The town of Pabianice from 1796 consisted of a few blocks around the market square. In 1794 the Prussians counted only 75 houses, 48 of which were covered with straw and the rest with clapboards . Of course, even chimneys were still a striking innovation back then. Somewhere in the gable there was an opening from which the smoke found a way into the open, as far as it could not escape through the house entrance. There were 64 barns. The honorable citizens of a laudable episcopal town of Pabianice went about their livelihood behind their ox, with which they plowed their fields. On Sunday everything was in church, because according to the decree, every citizen and resident of Pabianice had to attend church every Sunday and public holiday for mass and sermon under the threat of a Polish penny , according to his Christian duty . Visiting the tavern was neither recommended nor forbidden. After all, a clergy could not advertise the tavern, although on the other hand they provided the necessary material with their own brewery and distillery . The map sketch from 1796 shows the hop gardens and the brewery. On the estate ( Vorwerk ) the day laborers toiled under the supervision of the Wlodarze (driver or supervisor) who knew how to swing the stick accurately. The barns and granaries and the residential buildings of the estate administration stood there. The name Fabianice was often used instead of Pabianice, or Fabianitz among the former Lodz Swabians .
Industrial companies
"Krusche & Ender"
The most earning manufacturers of German descent were the Krusches and Enders. In 1825 the cloth maker Gottlieb Krusche (born 1769 in Reichenau) came to Pabianice from Saxony. In the beginning he only had a hand-weaving mill with nine workshops for the manufacture of cotton products. In 1850 his son Benjamin had the first steam engine brought to the town on Dobrzynka. In 1865 he built a main office at 3 Zamkowa (Castle) Street. The company received many awards in international industrial exhibitions (in Warsaw, Moscow and Paris) for the good quality of its products. In 1872 Karl Ender from Saxony was included as a co-owner of Benjamin Krusche. Soon he expanded the weaving mill for the cotton waste. Since 1874 the company used the name "Krusche & Ender". In the 1880s, the owners of the cotton factory won further awards in industrial exhibitions (in Saint Petersburg, Moscow and Warsaw). From 1896 the company had the right to use the Russian national coat of arms (two-headed tsar's eagle) on its goods. In 1891 a fine spinning mill was set up, which enabled the manufacture of underwear fabrics.
In 1899 the company was transformed into the joint-stock company of the Pabianic cotton manufactories "Krusche & Ender" with a share capital of 3,500,000 rubles. The founders of the corporation were: Karl Ender, Hermann Krusche and Theodor Ender. A year later, the company received a gold medal at the Paris exhibition. The members of the board of the stock corporation since 1908 were Theodor Ender (chairman and general director), Felix Krusche (technical director), Theodor Hadrian (business director), Ludwig Knothe (technical director) and Dr. Alfred Scholz (head of the main warehouse in Lodz).
The corporation had accounts in the Warschauer Handelsbank (Lodz branch), Lodzer Handelsbank, Warschauer Diskontbank, Berliner Handels- und Industriebank and Berliner Deutsche Bank. The main sales office was in Lodz. The company also had warehouses in Warsaw and Russia: Riga, Kharkov, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don. In 1911 the company employed 4,303 workers and produced 20,569,371 meters of fabric annually.
For the employees, the stock corporation “Krusche & Ender” set up institutions of a social and educational culture character. In 1869 Benjamin Krusche established the first health insurance for workers. On the initiative of Auguste Ender (née Krusche), the construction of the workers' houses ("family houses") began in 1882. In 1895 the building was erected on Skromna Street (today Wyszyńskiego Street), where the elementary factory school was later located. In 1905 the factory library and in 1906 a free bathing establishment for the workers was set up on Grobelnastrasse. The factory hospital built in 1909 on the św. Rochastrasse had 50 beds and an outpatient clinic.
The company "Krusche & Ender" also shaped social activities at the city level. In 1900 she transferred 10,000 rubles for the construction of the Catholic Church in the New Town. In 1910 she agreed to donate 4,000 rubles for the construction of the Catholic children's institution on St. Johannesstrasse. The joint-stock company donated 10,000 rubles for the construction of the city hospital in 1904–1907 and an additional 1,000 rubles for the establishment of the department for the mentally ill in 1908. The company also covered the deficits of the Pabianice Business School. In the years 1899-1905, it paid 51,320 rubles into the school treasury.
In 1926 the company celebrated its 100th anniversary. On this occasion, Felix Krusche and Stefan Ender presented the Polish President Ignacy Mościcki with a souvenir album with the company's recordings. In 1930 the company "Krusche & Ender" merged with the joint stock company "Moszczenicer Manufaktur T. Ender & Erben". In the interwar period, linen fabrics, colored linen, printed fabrics, bed and tablecloths, handkerchiefs and tablecloths as well as velor were produced. In 1938 the company's capital was PLN 14,875 million and the number of employees was 4,130. In the same year the construction of the factory for the production of technical materials in Baranów near Sandomir began.
R. Kindler
The third most important German manufacturer family was the Kindler family. Rudolf Kindler came to Pabianice as the first representative of this family in 1848 and took the position of manager of the dye works at Benjamin Krusche. In 1859 he went into business for himself by installing a few dozen looms. In 1861 he founded a hand-weaving mill for woolen and semi-woolen goods, which consisted of 68 looms and a dye works. As early as 1865 he took part in an industrial exhibition in Moscow, and in the agricultural-industrial exhibition in Paris he received a medal. In 1879 the company employed 650 workers, making it second in the wool industry in the whole of Congress Poland .
In 1888, Rudolf Kindler's wool manufacture decided to transform it into a stock corporation. The company took the name: "Aktiengesellschaft Halbwollener Waren R. Kindler". The registered capital was 1,000,000 rubles. It was divided into 1,000 shares, the nominal value of which was 1,000 rubles. This was typical for a family business. In the group of the founders were: Rudolf, Ludwig and Oskar Kindler.
Further successes came in the 1890s. At the All-Russian Industry and Craft Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896 , the company acquired the right to use the state coat of arms on its products. The Russian Empire formed the sales market for the Kindler company. The main warehouse was in Lodz, the rest in Warsaw, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Odessa, Kharkov and Tbilisi, and the company's agencies were in Rostov-on-Don, Riga and Helsinki. At the turn of the century the company made investments in Pabianice. The facilities in the area of Schlossstrasse and Ogodowastrasse (today Trauguttastrasse) were expanded. In 1913 the R. Kindler joint stock company became the leader in the wool industry in Congress Poland.
The R. Kindler corporation also made an effort in a social and educational-cultural direction by creating appropriate institutions on the company premises. Around 1872, Rudolf Kindler founded a health insurance company for workers. In 1879, Julius Kindler established a fire brigade consisting of nine uniformed firefighters equipped with special equipment. The food cooperative for civil servants was founded around 1898. In 1904 a building complex of the city hospital was built on Boczna Street (today Żeromskiegostraße). Maintaining the 45 beds in the hospital cost 21,000 rubles. The hospital's chief physician was a well-known social worker, Dr. Witold Eichler. In 1906 the elementary school for working class children began its activity. A library, founded in 1905 and containing 3,000 volumes of books, supported both schools.
The R. Kindler company financially supported Pabianic citizens' initiatives. In 1900 the company donated 4,000 rubles for the construction of the Catholic St. Mary's Church and all the oak doors for the church which cost 3,000 rubles. In 1910 the company donated 2,000 rubles to build the Catholic children's institution. From 1904 to 1907 it supported the construction of the city hospital with 9,050 rubles. In addition, it donated 570 rubles to the establishment of the Department for the Insane in 1908. The R. Kindler corporation also covered the deficits of the Pabianicer commercial school. In the years 1898-1905, she paid 37,692 rubles into the school treasury.
The company's development was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. The company's losses skyrocketed to 5,000,000 gold francs , in Russia to 100,000 pounds sterling. The energetic entrepreneur Oskar Kindler, who died on December 23, 1918 in Warsaw, was missing during the difficult times. As a member of the State Council he had defended the interests of industry in the Kingdom of Poland. Despite all efforts, the company was unable to recover after the end of the war and ultimately had to declare bankruptcy. In 1927 the English company "F. Willey & Co. Ltd “and the state treasury the stock corporation of the Pabianicer Textilwerke formerly R. Kindler.
Schweikert and Resiger
The German manufacturers also played an important role in the chemical industry. At the end of the 1880s / beginning of the 90s, the chemical fabric factory was founded by Ludwig Schweikert and Robert Resiger. Soon Emanuel Frölich joined, thanks to him the production could be expanded with new articles. The company took on the name: "Aniline and chemical dyes and Pharmaceutical Manufactory Schweikert & Frölich". From this time on the era of uninterrupted development began. The pharmaceutical department was founded before 1898. Eventually the company became the center of interest for Swiss capital.
In 1899 the company Schweikert and Frölich merged with the Swiss stock corporation "CIBA AG" from Basel . This is how: the "Pabianicer Aktiengesellschaft für Chemische Industrie" was born. The status was approved by Tsar Nicholas II. The share capital in the amount of 750,000 rubles was divided into 1,500 shares with a value of 500 rubles each. The main shareholders were Ludwig Schweikert and Emanuel Frölich.
The funds gained from the establishment of the joint stock company enabled further investments to be made. In 1900 the construction of a one-story main building began, which stretched along the entire Sachsenstrasse (today Piłsudzkiegostrasse). In 1910, work began in the department that was to produce sodium sulfide and formic acid . The production of antichlorine began and the construction of a sewage treatment plant on the grounds of the miller settlement "Pliszka" began. The company was one of the largest chemical companies in Congress Poland (in terms of production value and number of employees). The sales market was Russia, where a department of the chemical works was founded in Moscow around 1900 and a sales office was located.
The development of the company was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The German occupiers confiscated some of the products and semi-finished goods as well as machines. Production was limited. Ludwig Schweikert was arrested and after his release he left for Russia, where he died in Moscow in 1916. The resumption of production only took place after the regaining of Polish independence.
In the interwar period, the “Pabianicer Aktiengesellschaft für Chemische Industrie” produced organic and artificial pigments, chemicals and pharmaceutical preparations. The company had its commercial agencies in: Gdansk, Warsaw, Bielitz, Lemberg, Poznan and Vilnius.
R. Saenger
The development of the paper industry in Pabianice is linked to the activity of the German manufacturers. The paper mill was founded by Leonhard Fessler in 1863. In 1874 the company was acquired by Robert Saenger from Warsaw. Initially, wrapping paper was produced for the Pabianic and Lodz industries, cardboard, tubes and bobbins for the spinning mills. After Robert Saenger's death in 1879, the company was taken over by Artur Steinhagen (a relative of the owner).
The company belonged to three people: Oskar Saenger, his mother Marinna Saenger and sister Baroness Ike-Dunikowski. The general tendency towards a concentration of industry led the owners to found a joint stock company. In 1898 the company was registered as the “Aktiengesellschaft Pabianicer Papier Manufaktur Robert Saenger”. The company chairmen were: Marinna and Oskar Saenger as well as Andreas Ike. The share capital in the amount of 750,000 rubles was divided into 1,500 shares with a value of 500 rubles each. 160 workers worked in one shift in the company. By 1903 the number of employees had grown to 360.
According to information from 1908, the R. Saenger corporation produced high quality packing, writing, workshop and tipping paper. The company employed 380 workers - women and men. Up until the outbreak of the First World War, the company produced 450 to 500 tons of paper per month. In addition to the products listed above, the company also manufactured stop and album paper of excellent quality. The company remained undamaged from 1914 to 1918. The machines were not dismantled by the German occupiers.
The Saenger family was keen to expand by bringing more paper mills into their hands. In the interwar period, the Pabianice company was united with paper mills in Myszków and Warsaw and operated under the name “Aktiengesellschaft der Papier und Zellulose Manufaktur Steinhagen und Saenger”. The Pabianicer factory was known for the good relationship between employer and worker, as well as for supporting social events.
W. Krusche
The machine industry emerged in Pabianice in 1895 when Waldemar Krusche founded his factory. He came from a well-known family of manufacturers. The company had its own iron foundry and manufactured parts for textile machines and agricultural equipment. Since 1908, Dr. Alex Krusche co-owner of the machine works and iron foundry. In 1913 the company employed 180 workers.
In the interwar period, W. Krusche's company manufactured looms and agricultural equipment (threshing and chopping machines). The company specialized in the production of milling machines as well as drilling and grinding machines. The company also had branches in Katowice, Krakow, Poznan and Warsaw.
Evangelical parish
The majority of the immigrants flowing into Poland were of Protestant denomination. In 1827 655 Protestants lived in Pabianice, which made up 30.4% of the population. In 1848 there were 1,416 Lutheran residents (34.3%), and in 1909 the number of Evangelicals in the city rose to 5,591 believers (14.4%). In the interwar period, Protestants made up around 10% of the population (2,725 in 1921; 4,688 in 1931).
A Protestant transition chapel was set up around 1803 in the castle, which was then the seat of the Prussian administration. The congregation was looked after by the field preacher Friedrich Wilhelm Schramm stationed in Petrikau. An independent Evangelical Augsburg congregation was founded in 1818. Samuel Friedrich Jäckel was appointed the first pastor of Pabianice on September 27, 1818. From 1822 the pastor's position was vacant for the next five years, and the congregation was provided for by neighboring village cantors and pastors. For this reason the community fell into disrepair and had to be re-established in 1827. In 1827 the authorities counted 320 Lutheran families, 16 of them in Pabianice (32 localities belonged to the parish, mainly German colonies such as Effingshausen, Hochweiler and Königsbach). In the same year Pastor Gottfried Hayn was elected pastor of the community. It was decided to build the Lutheran church on the property at Neumarkt, the construction of which was completed in 1827. The clapboard rectory, built in 1828, was located east of the church, near the Dobrzynka River. When it turned out that the building was in danger of collapse due to the swampy soil, it was recommended that the church be demolished.
After the death of the 26-year-old Pastor Hayn, Pastor Daniel Gottlieb Biedermann was introduced, whose main tasks included the completion of the church, which was achieved at the end of 1830. After the renovation, the church was inaugurated on November 25, 1832 by Superintendent Ernst Johann August von Modl from Kalisch. In the next few years the interior of the church was restored. In 1844 three bells were ordered from the Richter company in Kalisch. Bernhard Wohlfart from Pabianice was commissioned to build an organ. At Pastor Biedermann's instigation, factory owner Gottfried Herwig in Pabianice gave an altarpiece with Holy Communion. In 1853 Gottlieb Krusche donated a marble baptismal font. A Protestant cemetery was founded, for which the community received land on the provost land on Dłutower Weg adjacent to the Catholic cemetery. In 1838 the Protestant elementary school was founded, which was located in the pastorate. In 1843 the community already had 6 schools, including one in the city.
Towards the end of Pastor Biedermann's tenure in 1864, the congregation had 780 families with 3,000 souls. After his death, Pastor Wilhelm Reinhold Zimmer was elected. This earned the greatest merit with the renovation of the church (1875–1876). With the reconstruction of the bell tower, the church received a new facade, with statues of the apostles Paul and Peter by the sculptor Alexander Pruszyński on the tower. The old wooden bell tower was dismantled and rebuilt in the cemetery. The interior of the church was painted with white oil paint. With the construction of the second choir, the church now had around 1,000 seats. In 1876 Rudolf Kindler donated two large mosaic windows from Saxony, which were located on both sides of the altar and framed by decorations depicting the baptism of Jesus by John and Mary at the feet of the risen Christ. The altarpiece, a work and gift of the painter Adalbert Gerson, shows Jesus in Gethsemane. In 1896 a new organ was installed by the Walter brothers in Gurau and inaugurated on Christmas Eve. The Evangelical Augsburg Church Choir was founded in 1867 and the Trumpet Choir in 1881. Pastor Zimmer also did a great job for the city by creating a public park and avenues in the mid-1870s. He also devoted himself to the school system, for which the government awarded him a medal. At the end of his term of office, the parish included a church, six prayer houses, seventeen cemeteries, ten elementary schools and a cantorate. 1,100 children were taught in the cantor's council and schools.
Zimmer's successor, Pastor Rudolf Moritz Schmidt (1896–1938), was the author of a large number of religious books in German. The church was always overcrowded. Crowds flocked to church on Sundays from town and country. In 1904 the Protestant community had around 12,400 members, making it the largest in the country. In order to relieve the large flow of visitors to the church for the main worship services, secondary services had to be introduced. So morning and evening services were held. In the years 1911 to 1914, Eugen Engel supported Pastor Schmidt as the second pastor. In addition, were Bible studies , children's services , evangelistic meetings , mission hours , Mission celebrations and Festival introduced. Numerous new institutions and associations of a religious and social character emerged during Schmidt's tenure. In 1899, a Protestant children's institution for children between 3 and 7 years of age was founded. In 1900, an evangelical greisenheim was opened on Wodnastraße, financed by community donations.
In 1902 a new pastorate was built near the church on Schlossstrasse, which is one of the most beautiful rectories in the country. In 1903, the Protestant community decided to build a community hall for the children's custody, the cantor school and the confirmation hall, which was completed in 1904. Also in 1904, an Art Nouveau mausoleum was erected at the cemetery, which Sophie Kindler donated for her deceased husband Ludwig Kindler and endowed it with a donation of 5,000 rubles annually. In 1911 it was given to the Protestant community as a cemetery chapel. In 1904 the evangelical virgin association and the youth association with headquarters on Wodnastraße were established. In 1909 the evangelical women’s association was founded, the main aim of which was to care for the poor and sick.
The Protestant community was also very active in the interwar period. In 1927 the community celebrated its 100th anniversary. On the occasion of this festival, a book about the history and work of the evangelical community in Pabianice was published under the title “A Hundred Years of Divine Grace and Work on the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Pabianice. Have they become a blessing to you too? ”Published by the church college of the congregation. At the end of the 1930s, the Committee of the Organization of Polish Lutherans was established, which initiated the Protestant services in the Polish language. (The first Polish service was held in 1900.) Since 1938 (after the death of Pastor Schmidt), Pastor Julius Rudolf Horn worked as a pastor and Erich Lembke as vicar in the congregation.
Catholic parish
Some of the immigrants were of the Catholic faith. Like the Protestants, they tried to establish their own religious organizations. In 1871 they founded the men's choir "Leo", which had its own room on Fabrikstrasse (ul. Fabryczna) 17 (today ul. Waryńskiego). In 1934 the association had 131 members. The chairman of the choral society was Bernhard Reinhold and the conductor Bruno Arndt. In 1883 the Catholic-German women's choir "Cäcilie" was founded. Its seat was at Poniatowskistraße 9. The choir had 123 members. The chairman of the women's choir was Leonhard Rensch and conductor Robert Neumann. "Cäcilie" joined forces with other choirs in the 1930s to build their own building on Garncarskestrasse (now a complex of vocational schools no. 3).
In 1898 the Catholic Germans, together with the Poles, began building the Neustädter Marienkirche. One of the altars was donated by German-speaking Catholics, while three colorful windows above the main altar were donated by the Protestant manufacturer Felix Krusche. The parish priest from 1908-1919 was Franz Jütter.
In 1918 the German Catholic Association was founded. The association had 410 members. The chairman was Felix Hans and the patron was priest Johann Wagner.
German culture, education, sport
The German minority in Pabianice also set up secular educational, cultural and sports clubs and organizations. The first emerged at the time of the partition of Poland.
In the 19th century there was already an elementary school with German as the language of instruction. In 1864 it was located on Schlossstrasse 6. At the beginning of the 20th century, Berthold Schulz held the position of teacher here. Later from 1918 the school was given the function of a primary school. It was called Primary School No. 9.
During the First World War, the Pabianicer Deutsche Gymnasium was established, founded by the German Gymnasium Association. It was located at 6. St. Johannesstrasse. The school was co-educational. Its director was Gotthold Hanelt. In 1932 the grammar school was relocated to a newly constructed building on Legionówstraße (today elementary school No. 9 on Partyzanckastraße).
Sports clubs were among the active German clubs. The first association was the Bürgererschützengilde, which was founded in 1852 by Germans. Benjamin Krusche was one of the founders of this organization. According to the statutes, rifle festivals were organized every year for the title of the rifle king, who received a rifle belt. The members of the Bürgererschützengilde wore green uniforms and hats with feathers. The exercises and competitions were held on the shooting range leased by the magistrate (today Wolnościpark). After 1914, the activities of the Bürgererschützengilde came to a halt. The club was re-founded in 1927 under the name Pabianicer Sport- und Schützenklub. In 1928 the members of the club tried to get the shooting range back from the President of the City of Pabianice Władysław Gacki. As a result of a long court process, the verdict was passed, which returned the firing range to the Pabianice City Council. In 1933 a shooting range was set up in the fields of the village of Karnyszewice.
The second sports club was the Pabianicer Turnverein founded in 1864 by the Pabianicer Germans. The headquarters of the association was on Długa Street (today 36 Pułaskiego Street) in a building built in 1907 especially for gymnastics purposes. Hermann Thommen (director of the chemical plant) was elected honorary chairman. The club had six sections. The Pabianicer Turnverein was an honorary member of the “Amicita” gymnastics club in Basel.
In 1921 the next German sports club, the Pabianicer sports club "Burza", was founded at 4 Orlastrasse. In 1934 the club had 152 members. The chairman was Theofil Zobel. The seat of the club was at Śiętokrzyskasrta 37. The club had two sections, football and netball.
A gymnastics club, which had both Germans and Poles as members, was the sports club of the employees of the company "Krusche & Ender". The association was founded in 1922 on the initiative of the chairman of the company Richard Kanenberg. The "Krusche & Ender" club was the city's most important sports facility. Right from the start, the office of president was held by Felix Krusche, the chairman of the company "Krusche & Ender". In 1934 the club was divided into eight sections. He owned a gym, an indoor building with a volleyball court and a running track, ski jump and throwing facility as well as a 5 hectare sports field in the city center, on Schlossstrasse. In addition to the football stadium, there was also a sports field for sports games, a six-lane running track with a length of 400 meters, ski jumps and throwing facilities, two tennis courts, a shooting range and a covered audience box. In addition, the sports club had a room on Pierackiegostraße.
The Pabianicer Männer-Gesangsverein, which was founded in 1888, also belonged to the secular associations. In 1934 it had 160 members. The chairman was Julius Filtzer and the conductor Franz Pohl. The headquarters of the Pabianicer Männer-Gesangsverein was at Pierackiegostraße 3.
Political activity
During the time of the division of Poland, the majority of Germans could be described as loyal citizens. The November Polish uprising (1830–1831) against the Russians was incomprehensible to the Germans and was viewed as an uprising against a legitimate ruler. The uprising brought the industrialists a threat to their economic existence, which was based on trade with the Russian Empire. Only after the assimilation did some of the colonists take part in the January uprising (1863–1864).
It turned out that the outbreak of World War I and the German-Russian disputes were very unfavorable for German manufacturers. As a result of the German offensive, Pabianice came under German rule in 1915. Due to the closure of the border with Russia, the major sales markets of the Pabianicer industry were lost. The German manufacturer Ludwig Schweikert, who did not agree with the way things were going, was captured and, after his release, forced to emigrate to Russia. With that he brought the administration of the chemical company to Moscow.
The German occupiers appointed new authorities in the city. The mayor became the industrialist Dr. A. Krusche, Josef Hans became his deputy. The second mayor was the industrialist Paul Graeser. Many Pabianic Germans came to the city council, including: Adolf Krusche (the chairman), Theodor Ender, Theodor Hadrian, Oskar Kindler and Oskar Krusche. The official languages were German and Polish.
As early as the beginning of the occupation, the factories began to systematically devastate, with machines, semi-finished products and finished goods being brought to Germany. Most of the companies that were owned by Germans lost the most in the company "Krusche & Ender". B. Confiscated materials and raw materials valued at $ 1,950,000 without compensation. In 1916, workers were captured on the streets and later brought to Germany as forced labor. In February 1917 - under the sign of disagreement with the policy of the German occupiers - Dr. A. Krusche is back from his position as mayor. An officer of the German Army Dankwerst was promoted to his place, who held this position until October 1917.
In November 1918 the German occupation in Pabianice came to an end. The stationed German soldiers were disarmed by the Polish independence organizations.
In the interwar period, German manufacturers were loyal to the Polish government and enjoyed its support. The Pabianicer Germans were active in their own political organizations and took part in the city and parliamentary elections. One of the stronger parties was the German People's Association , whose chairman in Pabianice was Bernhard Horn. In the 1930 elections, the German electoral bloc won a seat for Josef Spickermann in the Senate (the second chamber of the Polish parliament).
The situation worsened in the 1930s. After 1933, hostilities arose between Poles and Germans because of the growing nationalism of both ethnic groups. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, there were National Socialist groups in Pabianice. In addition to the German People's Association, there was the Young German Party in Pabianice, chaired by Emil Schmidt. In 1939 the national activists were arrested and the German Gymnasium, the Pabianicer Turnverein and the German People's Association were dissolved. On September 8th, Pabianice was occupied by the Wehrmacht.
In 1942 the German Wehrmacht cleared a ghetto for 9,000 Jews set up in Piabance; the Krusche and Ender factory served as a collection point; 5,600 Jews marked as fit for work were transported to the ghetto in Lodz. 150 Jewish patients in the Jewish hospital and other defending Jews were murdered.
See also
literature
- Text of the permanent exhibition in the Evangelical Augsburg St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Pabianice: Pabianicer of German origin in the history of the town of Pabianice (until 1939).
- R. Adamek, T. Nowak: 650 lat Pabianic. German "650 years of the city of Pabianice"; Lodz 2005.
- R. Adamek: Krusche, Ender, Kindler, królowie bawełny w Pabianicach XIX – XX wiek. (German: "Krusche, Ender, Kindler, the kings of cotton in Pabianice in the 19th and 20th centuries.") catalog wystawy, 1998.
- Church college of the parish in Pabjanice: Hundred years of divine grace and work on the Evangelical Lutheran parish in Pabjanice. Have they become a blessing for you too? Brief history of the Evangelical Lutheran parish in Pabjanice for the 100th anniversary on June 12, 1927. Lodz 1927.
- K. Brzeziński, A. Gramsz: Ulica Zamkowa w Pabianicach. German "Castle Street in Pabianice." Lodz 2004.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erwin Kiss: Our home. Issue 5, Poznan 1939.
- ↑ Shmuel Krakowski: The Chełmno / Kulmhof death camp: the beginning of the "final solution". Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0222-8 , p. 156 (online)