Gniew
| Gniew | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Basic data | |||
| State : | Poland | ||
| Voivodeship : | Pomerania | ||
| Powiat : | Tczewski | ||
| Gmina : | Gniew | ||
| Area : | 6.23 km² | ||
| Geographic location : | 53 ° 50 ' N , 18 ° 49' E | ||
| Height : | 10 m npm | ||
| Residents : | 6840 (December 31, 2016) | ||
| Postal code : | 83-140 | ||
| Telephone code : | (+48) 58 | ||
| License plate : | GTC | ||
| Economy and Transport | |||
| Street : | DK 1 ( European route 75 ): Cieszyn - Świecie - Danzig | ||
| Ext. 230 : Wielgłowy - Cierzpice (- Gniew) | |||
| Ext. 234 : Skórcz – Morzeszczyn – Gniew | |||
| Rail route : | Railway connection shut down | ||
| Next international airport : | Danzig | ||
Gniew [ ɡɲef ] ( German Mewe ) is a small town in the powiat Tczewski of the Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship with about 6800 inhabitants. The city is the seat of the city-and-country municipality of the same name .
Geographical location
Gniew is located in the former West Prussia in the valley of the Lower Vistula above the mouth of the Wierzyca (heel) , about 60 kilometers southeast of Gdansk and 35 kilometers north of Grudziądz (Graudenz) .
The municipal area extends to the left of the Vistula and is crossed from north to south by the Droga krajowa 1 state road.
history
On an exposed location above the Vistula and the heel - the name Gniew is of Slavic origin and means elevation - there was probably a first fortified settlement as early as the 7th century, which was attached to the Polish state or the domain of the Pomerellian dukes in the 11th century . In 1229 the Oliva Monastery received the Mewer Land as a gift from Duke Sambor II , and the city was first mentioned in this context.
However, Sambor and his brother Swantopolk II occupied the Mewer Land again during the war and bequeathed it to the Teutonic Order in his will . After his death, the order was able to take possession of it in 1276 and for the first time expanded its sphere of influence to the left of the Vistula. Due to the strategically important location of Mewes, Dietrich von Speier was immediately appointed as the first Commander of Mewe and in 1283 the construction of a castle ( coming ) in Mewe began. Materials from the broken fortress Potterberg, which the order had created between Kulm and Althausen, were used. The castle remained the westernmost outpost of the order country until 1309. On September 25, 1297, Mewe was given a hand-held ceremony by the Landmeister of the Meinhardt von Querfurt order, after which Konrad von Rheden was entrusted with the office of inheritance and the occupation of the city of Mewe according to Kulmer law . The new city on the Vistula was settled by German colonists and quickly developed into a hub for beer, wood and wheat. Mewe was given a square market place and a checkerboard road network and was protected by a city wall and the order castle. A parish church already existed. The Gothic parish church of St. Nikolai was built at the beginning of the 14th century, at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries the town hall was built in the middle of the market.
The history of Mewe was always closely connected to the Teutonic Order Castle. As an important commander's seat, this was often visited by the Grand Masters . After Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg's abdication as Grand Master of the Order in 1422, the castle was given his place of residence after it had previously been refurbished.
After the Battle of Tannenberg , Mewe and its castle were occupied by Polish troops in 1410. As a result of the First Peace of Thorner , it was returned to the order in 1411. The clashes between the Teutonic Order and Poland-Lithuania continued, however. During the Thirteen Years' War Hermann Stargard, the mayor of Danzig, who was at war with the Teutonic Order as a member of the Prussian Confederation , was imprisoned in the Mewer Ordensburg until his death in 1461. Mewe had become a member of the Prussian Confederation very early on, but was back on the side of the order shortly afterwards after the citizenship had allowed the knights back into the city. In 1464, the city's close ties to the Teutonic Order ended when they had to give up the castle after a six-month siege by Poland. With the peace treaty of Thorn in 1466, Mewe became part of Royal Prussia , an autonomous province of the Crown of Poland until 1569. In place of a commander, a Starost resided in the castle until 1772 . Since Mewe had not been on the side of Poland at the end of the war, the self-determination of the citizens was restricted in the following period, which can be seen from the fact that the Reformation in Mewe could not assert itself in contrast to other cities in Prussia. The general parliaments of the Pomeranian Voivodeship , a subdivision of Royal Prussia, used to meet in Mewe.
The city was seriously damaged by the Second Swedish-Polish War , during which there was a battle near the city in 1626, in which the Polish troops under Sigismund III. Wasa subject to the Swedes under Gustav II Adolf . From 1667 to 1696 Johann Sobieski was Starost von Gniew. During his reign the town was rebuilt and he had a palace (Pałac Marysieńki) built on the castle hill for his wife Maria Kazimiera Sobieska from 1670 to 1674 .
Through the first partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1772, western Prussia was reunited with Mewe under Frederick II of Prussia with the eastern part of the Kingdom of Prussia to the extent that these parts were connected with each other at the time of the Teutonic Order . In 1887 Mewe became part of the Dirschau district in the West Prussian province of the German Empire .
After the end of the First World War , the previously German city administration was removed and taken over by a Polish vigilante who proclaimed the 'Republic of Gniew'. This tiny city-state existed until 1920. Due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty , Mewe had to be ceded to Poland in 1920 for the purpose of establishing the Polish Corridor .
For unknown reasons, a fire broke out in the castle in 1921, which severely damaged the Gniev landmark. From 1924 to April 1, 1932 Gniew was the district town of the powiat Gniewski, which then went up in the powiat Tczewski ( Dirschau ). The 1000 m long steel Vistula Bridge near Münsterwalde, built from 1905 to 1909, called Most w Opaleniu in Polish , was dismantled from 1927 to 1929 because Poland was not used for a bridge over to Marienwerder in East Prussia. Parts of the bridge were used for the Piłsudski Bridge upstream of the Vistula near Toruń in 1934.
Following the attack on Poland in 1939, the territory of the Polish Corridor was annexed by the German Reich in violation of international law . Mewe was incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . A resettlement camp for Poles from the Dirschau area has been set up in the city, now renamed to its old name Mewe .
Towards the end of the Second World War , Mewe was abandoned by the Wehrmacht on March 7, 1945 after long fighting with the Soviet Army and then liberated by the Red Army. In the period that followed, the war damage was repaired. The Protestant church built on the market square from 1818 to 1823 according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and under the supervision of Salomo Sachs , which had hardly been damaged during the Second World War, was demolished in autumn 1957 at the behest of Polish authorities.
Today Gniew is very popular with tourists thanks to its historic old town and the Ordensburg.
Demographics
- Population development until 1945
| year | Residents | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1772 | 850 | including 20 shopkeepers, two pharmacists and 83 craftsmen |
| 1783 | 1,374 | including 277 members of the garrison (staff and seven companies of a regiment donated in 1774), almost all Protestant Germans, only a few Catholics and Poles |
| 1802 | 2,034 | |
| 1810 | 1,618 | |
| 1816 | 1,855 | including 937 Protestants, 713 Catholics and 192 Jews |
| 1821 | 1,888 | |
| 1831 | 1,835 | partly Catholics, partly Evangelicals |
| 1864 | 3,443 | thereof 1,204 Evangelicals and 1,724 Catholics |
| 1871 | 4,081 | thereof 2,100 Evangelicals and 1,700 Catholics (1,080 Poles ) |
| 1875 | 4,587 | |
| 1880 | 4,715 | |
| 1885 | 4,499 | |
| 1890 | 4,080 | including 1,504 Protestants, 2,428 Catholics and 142 Jews |
| 1905 | 4.033 | including 1,728 with German as their mother tongue |
| 1910 | 3,821 | |
| 1921 | 3.131 | , including 260 Germans |
| 1943 | 3,625 |
- Population since 1945
| year | 1980 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 6,200 | 7.211 | 6,966 | 6,809 |
politics
coat of arms
Blazon : Standing in blue on a golden mountain, a soaring silver seagull with a golden fish in its beak.
Town twinning
Gniew has partnerships with the following locations:
Attractions
Deutschordensburg
The most important attraction of the city is the Teutonic Order Castle (Zamek krzyżacki) , the largest castle of the order west of the Vistula. From 1283, this square brick building with an inner courtyard and a side length of around 47 meters was built, which shields the city from the Vistula. The cube is flanked by three slender towers - instead of such a north tower, a keep with a diameter of 12.5 meters was built. From 1772 barracks were built in the empty castle. In 1803 it served as a warehouse, with the arched windows walled up and most of the Gothic vaults demolished as a remodeling measure. The structural condition of the castle deteriorated noticeably. A change began in the middle of the 19th century, when a prison was set up in the castle and the medieval castle was restored in the spirit of the romantic era and the sins of the building were removed. At that time, the keep was demolished halfway up and supplemented by an attachment similar to the other three towers. In addition to the fire of 1921, the Second World War brought destruction. For the time being, the structure was makeshift secured. In 1967 the local enterprise Zakłady Mechanizmów Okrętowych FAMA initiated the reconstruction, which was completed with a second construction phase after 1992, which was supported by the community. Since then, the castle has been the venue for historical festivals, spectacles and knight tournaments and a popular tourist destination.
City parish church
The town parish church of St. Nikolai (kościół Św. Mikołaja) dates from the 14th century. As the oldest part of this three-aisled Gothic brick - church hall in 1348 was choir completed. The tower and nave are crowned by stepped gables. In the following period the building was rebuilt several times: in the 16th century the chapels were added and in the 19th century the church was renovated in the spirit of the Gothic and the tower was increased. The mostly neo-Gothic interior is from this period . However, is get the Renaissance - choir stalls . The sun monstrance from the 17th century by the Danzig goldsmith Christian Schubert II is one of the most important in Poland.
Marketplace
- Especially on the market square (Plac Grunwaldzki) there are mainly Gothic town houses that were rebuilt from the 17th century. Many of them still have Gothic arcades . In the middle of the market is the town hall in the arched style , the construction of which comes from the Gothic. The alleys branching off from the market square are lined with low, small-scale buildings from the 19th century.
Baroque castle
- 1670–74 built Johann III. Sobieski as Starost von Mewe and Crown General of the Polish Empire on the castle hill next to the Ordensburg before attaining royal dignity the Baroque palace Pałac Marysieńki , which his wife Maria Kazimiera Sobieska lived in for a long time after his death. The castle later served as a barracks. The castle offers a beautiful view of the valley of the Vistula and the heel. The palace is now used as a hotel.
city wall
- In addition, remnants of the city wall from the 14th century have been preserved.
traffic
The Morzeszczyn – Gniew to Morzeszczyn (German: Morroschin, later Leutmannsdorf) railway used to exist . In addition, Mewe was connected to the surrounding areas with the Marienwerder Kleinbahnen .
Personalities
sons and daughters of the town
- Jacob Karweysse , cradle printer from the 15th century from Karweze ( Karwiese ) near Mewe
- Hedwig Prohl (1823–1886), German writer for young people
- Iwan Knorr (1853–1916), German composer and music teacher
- Johannes Merten (1857–1926), naval officer, most recently Vice Admiral of the Imperial German Navy and General of the Ottoman Empire
- Christa Lörcher (* 1941), German politician and Member of the Bundestag (SPD)
- Sylvester Murau (1907–1956), GDR State Security officer who fled to the West, who was kidnapped and executed in the GDR with the help of his own daughter.
Gmina Gniew
The urban and rural community Gniew has around 15,000 inhabitants on an area of 194.8 km².
A former place is the village of Karwiese, which has merged into the town of Mewe.
literature
- Johann Friedrich Goldbeck : Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia . Part II: Topography of West Prussia , Marienwerder 1789, pp. 63–64, No. 2.)
- JL Merten: News about some funerary urns found at Wewe . In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 4, Königsberg 1830, pp. 195–196 .
- Leopold Merten: History of the city of Mewe in West Prussia . In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 4, Königsberg 1830, pp. 329–357 .
- Leopold Merten: Modern history and statistical-topographical description of the city of Mewe . In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 4, Königsberg 1830, pp. 582–597 .
- About the new construction of the Protestant church in the city of Mewe in the years 1818-1823 and its solemn inauguration on August 3, 1823 . In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 3, Königsberg 1830, pp. 436–440 .
- JC Merten: Two criminal investigations negotiated at Mewe in 1584 . In: Preußische Provinzial-Blätter , Volume 4, Königsberg 1830, pp. 255–196.
- August Eduard Preuss: Prussian country and folklore . Königsberg 1835, pp. 387–388, No. 20 ( online )
- Ernst Bahr: Mewe . In: Handbook of historical sites , East and West Prussia . Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-520-31701-X , p. 147.
- Isaac Gottfried Gödtke : Church history of the city of Mewa . In: Archives for patriotic interests . New series, year 1845, Marienwerder 1845, pp. 746–763.
Web links
- Community website (Polish)
- Web presence of the castle in Gniew (English, Polish, Spanish)
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c See archive link ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Johann Friedrich Goldbeck : Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia . Part II: Topography of West Prussia , Marienwerder 1789, pp. 63–64, No. 2.)
- ↑ a b c d Cf. http://www.webarchiv-server.de/pin/archiv06/4420061104paz33.htm
- ↑ a b c d e f Ernst Bahr: Mewe . In: Handbook of historical sites , East and West Prussia . Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-520-31701-X , p. 147.
- ↑ a b August Eduard Preuss: Prussian country and folklore . Königsberg 1835, pp. 387–388, No. 20.
- ↑ a b See Danzig & East Pomerania. Vis a Vis, Dorling Kindersley 2000.
- ↑ Vistula Bridge Münsterwalde on brueckenweb.de
- ↑ a b c d Alexander August Mützell and Leopold Krug : New topographical-statistical-geographical dictionary of the Prussian state . Volume 5: T – Z , Halle 1823, p. 330, item 437.
- ^ E. Jacobson: Topographical-statistical manual for the administrative district Marienwerder , Danzig 1868, pp. 106-107, no. 159 .
- ^ Gustav Neumann: Geography of the Prussian State . 2nd edition, Volume 2, Berlin 1874, pp. 48-49, item 2.
- ^ A b c Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. Province of West Prussia, district of Marienwerder. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
- ↑ http://polonius.bibliothek.uni-ulm.de:8080/Meyers2/seite/werk/meyers/band/11/seite/0558/meyers_b11_s0558.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.gemeindeververzeichnis.de/gem1900//gem1900.htm?westpreussen/marienwerder.htm
- ↑ Article “Mewe” in: Der Große Brockhaus, 15th edition , Leipzig: FA Brockhaus, 1932.
- ^ Encyclopedia Powszechna PWN
- ↑ a b c http://www.stat.gov.pl/bdr/dane_podgrup.wyswietl?p_zest_id=420230&p_typ=HTML ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See archive link ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
