Poznan Fortress

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The fortress poses ( Polish Twierdza Poznan ) originally consisted of 18 annularly around the Polish city poses lying outside forts and intermediate levels, four inner cont and as a " core material designated" citadel on a city dominant hill. It was built in the 19th and early 20th centuries and was the third largest fortress system of its kind in Europe .

history

General of the infantry Johann Leopold von Brese-Winiary , architect of the Posen Fortress, portrayed by Franz Krüger

General Karl Wilhelm Georg von Grolman , commander in chief of the Prussian army between 1815 and 1819, was the first to decide that the city ​​of Posen , which had belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918) since 1793 , should be surrounded by a fortress. This happened because on the one hand there was fear of an uprising against Prussian rule in the formerly Polish territories, on the other hand Prussia wanted to protect itself with this fortress against a possible attack by the Russian Empire .

The fortress was designed under the overall direction of the Inspector General of the Prussian fortresses, General of the Infantry Gustav von Rauch , by the fortress builder Major Johann Leopold von Brese-Winiary . The plans for the Poznan fortress were largely redesigned by the new ideas of the then captain and fortress construction director Moritz von Prittwitz , who finally completed its construction.

Second World War

In Fort VII , also called Fort Colomb , the National Socialists built a concentration camp after the attack on Poland in October 1939 at the latest . This was known as the Posen concentration camp . For the first time ever, a provisional or experimental gas chamber for killing people was built in one of the casemates. At least 350 people were gassed there by December 1939.

The fortress of Poznan was fought over in 1945 during the battle for Poznan , which lasted around a month .

Fortress Commanders (1945)

Surname Taking up the post Replacement on
Walter Petzel unknown January 21, 1945
Ernst Mattern January 22, 1945 January 30, 1945
Ernst Gonell January 31, 1945 February 23, 1945

Images of the fortress

  • Remains of the so-called Dom Schleuse, part of the inner defensive ring

  • Boundary stone of Fort IVa (Fort Waldersee II)

  • Fort I (Fort Röder)

  • Figure of the Archangel Michael by Ludwig Stürmer, 1855 (at the Eichenwaldtor)

  • Berlin Gate, 1890

  • Citadel of Poznan on the vineyard in the north of the city - Bastion Johann (Bastion I)

  • Fort II (Fort Stülpnagel)

  • Fort III (Fort Groeber) in Poznan New Town

  • Fort VI (Fort Tietzen) in Jersitz

  • Fort VII (Fort Colomb) , (first extermination camp 1939, today a memorial)

  • Fort Ia (Fort Boyen)

  • Fort IIa (Fort Thümen)

  • Fort IIIa (Fort Prittwitz), (now a crematorium)

  • Fort IVa (Fort Waldersee II)

  • Fort Va (Fort Bonin)

  • Fort VIa (Fort Stockhausen)

  • Fort VIIIa (Fort Rohr)

  • Fort IXa (Fort Witzleben)

  • Special war laboratory in the Poznan Citadel, now a military museum

  • Blockhouse of the Colomb Bastion

  • Remains of the so-called Dom Schleuse (interior view)

literature

  • Hugo Sommer: The Poznan fortress and its Prussian commanders . Historical Society for Poznan, 1928.

Web links

Commons : Poznan Fortress  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Werner Brähler: From my time (1943–1950) . Chapter 6: Fahnenjunkerschule Poznan , p. 179–298, in particular 218, 219, 254 ( ausmeinerzeit.de [PDF; 16.4 MB ]).

Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 18.7 ″  N , 16 ° 56 ′ 6.6 ″  E