Poznan Fortress
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 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
Figure of the Archangel Michael by Ludwig Stürmer, 1855 (at the Eichenwaldtor)
Fort VII (Fort Colomb) , (first extermination camp 1939, today a memorial)
literature
- Hugo Sommer: The Poznan fortress and its Prussian commanders . Historical Society for Poznan, 1928.
Web links
- Twierdza Poznań - Mariusz Wojciechowski
- Twierdza Poznań - Marcin Walkowiak
- Early history of the Poznan Fortress
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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