Konitz district

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The Konitz district was a Prussian district that existed in different delimitations between 1772 and 1920. It was located in the part of West Prussia that fell to Poland after the First World War through the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 . Its county seat was Konitz . From 1939 to 1945 the district was re-established in occupied Poland under the name Landkreis Konitz as part of the newly established Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia . Today the former district area is in the Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship .

The Konitz district within the boundaries from 1772 to 1818
The Konitz district on a map from 1914
West Prussia Province in 1919
  • Gdansk administrative district
  • Marienwerder administrative district

    • Administrative history

    The area of ​​the Konitz district became part of Prussia after the first division of Poland in 1772 . Until 1818 the district comprised the entire southern part of Pomerania . The Prussian provincial authorities ordinance of April 30, 1815 and its implementing provisions made the area part of the new administrative district of Marienwerder of the new province of West Prussia . As part of a comprehensive district reform in the Marienwerder administrative district, three districts were formed from the area of ​​the old Konitz district on April 1, 1818, the Schlochau district , the Schwetz district and the now much smaller Konitz district. This now comprised the cities of Konitz and Tuchel , the Amt Tuchel, part of the Amt Friedrichsbruch and 159 noble estates. The seat of the district office was the city of Konitz.

    From December 3, 1829 to April 1, 1878, West Prussia and East Prussia were united to form the Province of Prussia , which had belonged to the North German Confederation since July 1, 1867 and to the German Empire since January 1, 1871 . Due to the steady increase in the population in the 19th century, several districts in West Prussia turned out to be too large and a reduction in size appeared necessary. Against this background, the new Tuchel district was created in 1875 from parts of the Konitz district . On April 1, 1882, the rural communities Gotthelp and Pustki were reclassified from the Preußisch Stargard district to the Konitz district.

    Due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty , the district had to be ceded to Poland on January 10, 1920 for the purpose of establishing the Polish Corridor . In the German Reich only two small exclaves of the Konitz district with the manor districts of Klein Jenznick, Mankau and Platendienst remained, which were reclassified to the Schlochau district on December 1, 1919. In Poland, the district continued as Powiat Chojnicki ( Konitzer Kreis ).

    After the German invasion of Poland and the annexation of the territory by the German Reich, the district was assigned to the administrative district of Danzig in the newly formed Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia on November 26, 1939 as the district of Konitz . After the occupation by the Red Army in the spring of 1945 , the Konitz district reverted to Poland.

    politics

    District administrators

    Local constitution

    Before it was ceded to Poland, the Konitz district was divided into the city of Konitz, into rural communities and independent manor districts .

    elections

    In the German Reich, the Konitz district together with the Tuchel district formed the Reichstag constituency of Marienwerder 6 . This constituency was won by candidates from the Polish parliamentary group in all Reichstag elections between 1871 and 1912 :

    population

    Overview according to official statistics

    The following is an overview with official information on the number of inhabitants, denominations and language groups. It should be noted that the circle was reduced in size in 1875 and the figures cannot be compared over this point in time.

    year 1821 1831 1852 1861 1871 / 1890 1900 1910
    Residents 26,433 35,050 54,334 62,083 70,817 / 52,483 57,952 63,723
    Evangelical
    Catholics
    Jews     		5,640
    20,191
    602    		 6,913
    27,224
    913    		 12,182
    40,255
    1,897    		 13,999
    45,902
    2,182    		 15,601
    53,021
    2,193    		 /
    /
    /    		 10,547
    40,974
    953    		 11,213
    46,080
    648    		 11,529
    51,728
    434
    German-speaking
    bilingual Polish -speaking
    *     		  12,262
    -
    22,788    		 24,012
    -
    30,322    		 28,343
    -
    33,740    		   /
    /
    /    		 24,454
    909
    27,106    		 26,214
    640
    31,087    		 28,032
    753
    34,917

    Kashubian speakers also fall under “Polish- speaking” .

    languages

    With regard to the language groups, restrictions must be made with regard to the informative value of the information. In the years 1831, 1852 and 1861 “German-speaking” included all persons who had mastered the German language, including many with their native language Polish. Also because of other methodological inaccuracies, the information on Polish speakers for these years is only to be regarded as a minimum value. In the years 1890, 1900 and 1910 the mother tongue was raised. However, despite the generally improved methodology, possible sources of error were also included here. Against the background of the conflict between the German state and the Polish national movement at the time, the counting forces and local authorities sometimes tended to make certain "corrections" to the detriment of the Polish language group. The so-called bilingual people, for example, are usually fully assigned to that group.

    These restrictions cannot be ruled out for the language count among school children, which was carried out every five years in the Prussian districts between 1886 and 1911. On the other hand, as a second point of reference, it can help to clarify the linguistic relationships. The information for the years 1891, 1901 and 1911 for the Konitz district:

    year 1891 1901 1911
    School children 10.177 11,617 12,718
    German-speaking,
    bilingual, Polish -speaking
    		 4,411
    236
    5,530    		 4,717
    411
    6,489    		 4,799
    511
    7,406

    If one calculates the percentages for the absolute values ​​of the population censuses and schoolchildren censuses, the following picture emerges (again, the reduction of the circle 1875 is to be considered):

    year 1831 1852 1861 / 1890/91 1900/01 1910/11
    German speaking according to German census
    according to school children census     		? ? ? / 46.6%
    43.3%    		 45.2%
    40.6%    		 44.0%
    37.7%
    bilingual according to census
    bilingual according to school children census     		? ? ? / 1.7%
    2.3%    		 1.1%
    3.5%    		 1.2%
    4.0%
    Polishsp. according to census
    Polish language according to school children census     		65.0% +
         		 55.8% +
         		 54.3% +
         		 / 51.6%
    54.3%    		 53.6%
    57.3%    		 54.8%
    58.2%

    With the necessary addition of bilinguals to Polish speakers, this means that before the First World War between 56 and 62% of the population of the Konitz district had Polish or Kashubian as their mother tongue, and this proportion was still increasing.

    cities and communes

    In 1910, the Konitz district included the city of Konitz and 68 rural communities.

    • Old Juncza
    • Annafeld
    • Bielawi
    • Blumfelde
    • Bonk
    • Borsk
    • Bruß
    • Czapiewitz
    • Czarniss
    • Czarnowo
    • Czersk
    • Czyczkowo
    • German Cekzin
    • Döringsdorf
    • Frankenhagen
    • Gildon
    • Glowczewitz
    • Görsdorf
    • Gotthelp
    • Götzendorf
    • Granau
    • Gross Kladau
    • Gurki
    • Harmsdorf
    • Hennigsdorf
    • Hutta
    • Karschin
    • Klaskawa
    • Little Chelm
    • Little Glisno
    • Little Konitz
    • Clonia
    • Royal Neukirch
    • Konitz , city
    • Kossabude
    • Crojants
    • Kruschin
    • Short
    • Legbond
    • Lendy
    • Lichnau
    • Long
    • Lossini
    • Lottyn
    • Lubna
    • Lubnia
    • Malachin
    • Mechikal
    • Miedzno
    • Mockrau
    • Mosnitz
    • Müskendorf
    • Odry
    • Orlik
    • Ossovo
    • Osterwick
    • Rittel
    • Rolbick
    • Schlagenthin
    • Schoenberg
    • Schwornigatz
    • Skoszewo
    • Weitsee
    • Wielle
    • Wildau
    • Windorp
    • Wissokasaborska
    • Zalesie
    • Zappendowo

    In 1910, the district also included 36 manor districts.

    Konitz district in occupied Poland 1939–1945

    Konitz (above) and the Koschneiderei 1926

    Administrative history

    After the invasion of Poland , the Powiat Konitz was converted with a new bureaucracy into the Konitz district, which was assigned to the Gdansk administrative district . The cities of Heiderode and Konitz were subject to the German municipal code of January 30, 1935, which was valid in the Altreich and provided for the enforcement of the Führer principle at the municipal level. The other communities were grouped together in administrative districts , manor districts no longer existed. Most recently, on April 1, 1944, the 11 communities in the " Koschneiderei " (Osterwick district, Kr. Konitz) were awarded the German municipal code.

    District administrators

    • 1939–1940 00Forester ( acting )
    • 1940–1943 00Artur Jäger ( acting )

    Place names

    In view of the ethnically mixed population, many places had both Polish and German names (e.g. Angowice = Hennigsdorf), one of which - depending on the current state affiliation of the district - was the official name.

    After reintegration into the German Reich in 1939, the place names that had been valid before 1918/1920 continued to apply for the time being, following an unpublished decree of December 29, 1939. By means of the order concerning the change of place names of the Reich Governor in Danzig-West Prussia of June 25, 1942, all place names were Germanized with the consent of the Reich Minister of the Interior. All place names were linguistically adjusted or translated, for example:

    • Chotzenmühl → Holzmühl
    • Ciß → Eibenort
    • Czersk → Heiderode
    • Dombrowo → Eichenfier
    • Gurki: Görken, Kr. Konitz
    • Karschin → Karschen
    • Lesno → Leisten, Kr. Konitz
    • Lubna → Lubben
    • Schwornigatz → Schwarnegast
    • Zappendowo → zapping

    literature

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Johann Friedrich Goldbeck (ed.): Complete topography of the Kingdom of Prussia . tape 2 . Marienwerder 1789, p. 70 ff . ( Digitized version ).
    2. ^ Max Töppen: Historisch-Comparative Geographie von Preussen . Justus Perthes, Gotha 1858, p. 355 ( digitized version ).
    3. ↑ Database of members of the Reichstag ( memento of the original from January 6, 2015 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / zhsf.gesis.org
    4. ↑ Leszek Belzyt: Linguistic minorities in the Prussian state from 1815 to 1914. Marburg 1998. p. 107.
    5. ↑ Leszek Belzyt: Linguistic minorities in the Prussian state from 1815 to 1914 . Marburg 1998. p. 7 ff.
    6. ↑ Leszek Belzyt: Linguistic minorities in the Prussian state from 1815 to 1914 . Marburg 1998. p. 107.
    7. ↑ Municipal directory 1910 with population figures