Ostrów Wielkopolski

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Ostrów Wielkopolski
Coat of arms of Ostrów Wielkopolski
Ostrów Wielkopolski (Poland)
Ostrów Wielkopolski
Ostrów Wielkopolski
Basic data
State : Poland
Voivodeship : Greater Poland
Powiat : Ostrów
Area : 42.39  km²
Geographic location : 51 ° 39 ′  N , 17 ° 49 ′  E Coordinates: 51 ° 39 ′ 0 ″  N , 17 ° 49 ′ 0 ″  E
Height : 123 m npm
Residents : 71,947
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Postal code : 63-400 to 63-410
Telephone code : (+48) 62
License plate : POS
Economy and Transport
Street : Kalisz - Wroclaw
Rail route : Łódź – Krotoszyn
Kluczbork – Jarocin
Ostrów Wielkopolski – Grabowno Wielkie
Next international airport : Wroclaw
Gmina
Gminatype: Borough
Surface: 42.39 km²
Residents: 71,947
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Population density : 1697 inhabitants / km²
Community number  ( GUS ): 3017011
Administration (as of 2015)
City President : Beata Klimek
Address: al. Powstańców Wielkopolskich 18
63-400 Ostrów Wielkopolski
Website : www.umostrow.pl



Ostrów Wielkopolski (German Ostrowo , Latin Ostrovia ) is a district town and capital of the municipality and district of the same name in the south-eastern part of the Polish Greater Poland Voivodeship .

City arms and patron saint

The city coat of arms of Ostrów Wielkopolski shows a blue royal apple in red, which is crowned with a golden cross . Two crossed golden apostle keys are underlaid on the apple. The patron saint of the city ( city ​​patron ) has been the bishop-martyr Stanislaus Szczepanowski since 2004 .

Overview of the city's history

Ostrowo on the Olobok river , southeast of the city of Poznan and southwest of the city of Kalisch , on a map of the province of Poznan from 1905 (areas marked in yellow indicate areas with a predominantly Polish- speaking population at the time ).

From 1400 to 1815

The city was founded by a noble landlord around 1404, but was insignificant in the first three centuries: the tax revenues were very low, which indicates a small number of residents. Even then it was in the shadow of the ancient and wealthy neighboring town of Kalisch (distance: 21 km) and was nothing more than a place to relax for merchants on the important trade route Breslau- Kalisch- Thorn . Most of the inhabitants of that time seem to have been farmers . The misery of the city ​​plagued by the plague and large fires was so great that the Ostrower citizens applied for the cancellation of the city ​​rights in 1711 in order not to have to pay taxes. It was granted.

A certain upswing did not come until 1714, when the new owner, Grand Treasurer of Poland Jan Jerzy Przebendowski , re-established the city on May 26th (at that time it had only 12 houses inhabited by 20 families). The expected new settlers were exempt from all taxes for six years. Przebendowski's work was continued by his successor as landlord, Crown Marshal Franciszek Bieliński : At the end of the 18th century, the town had 2,500 inhabitants and a garrison . The approximately 500 Protestant Germans built a half-timbered church in 1778 , which is today the oldest architectural monument in Ostrowo.

Nineteenth century

Ostrower Ring before 1914, with Kaiser Wilhelm monument

The second and third partition of Poland and the fragmentation by the Congress of Vienna had brought economic advantages for Ostrowo: After 1815, when the entire province of Posen became Prussian, Ostrowo became a Prussian model city close to the border of Congress Poland , i.e. the Russian Empire. The 19th century saw rapid industrial development and expansion of the city. In the first decades of Prussian rule Ostrowo belonged to the Adelnau district (Polish Odolanów ); Most of the district authorities ( district administrator , land registry office , registry office , district court , etc.) had their seat in Ostrowo. From an agricultural town, Ostrowo became an important trading town and a center for cloth weaving. The export went to Russia via Kalisch . It was only after 1825, when the Russian authorities introduced protective tariffs, that cloth weaving became unprofitable. Many weavers emigrated to Congress Poland, especially to Kalisch and Zgierz . At that time the city had an estimated 8,000 inhabitants, one third each from Poland, Jews and Germans.

The second half of the 19th century brought a lasting upswing for the city. In 1845 King Frederick William IV , who was inclined towards Poles - he knew the city from his visits to the family of Prince Radziwill in Antonin near Ostrowo, who were related to the Hohenzollern family - approved the establishment of a Catholic grammar school. The entire province of Poznan had only three such schools. This drew a crowd of highly educated personalities who became teachers at the grammar school in the city, which had hitherto been dominated by merchants, officials and craftsmen. Around this time the first Polish and German newspapers and publishers came into being. The center of the city, which was undamaged in both World Wars, still has a Prussian-Wilhelmine character, with imposing buildings such as the grammar school (1844), the district court with prison (1863), the barracks (1867) and the post office (1886). If Breslau was called "Little Berlin" because of its architecture, Ostrowo is a "Mini-Mini-Berlin", with many houses in the style of the German Wilhelminian era .

The end of the 19th century brought further progress: the city received a gas works in 1867 and the sewerage system in 1897 . In 1875 the city got a railway connection with Posen and Kreuzburg , until about 1905 the connections with Breslau, Kalisch and Lissa were added. At the end of the century Ostrowo had 12,000 inhabitants.

Twentieth century to 1945

Ostrowo, new cath. Church (today: Co-Cathedral of the Diocese of Kalisz)
Aerial view of the Co-Cathedral

The 20th century began with the construction of the large and massive new Catholic parish church, built in the style of historicism , a kind of imitation of Marienburg , which was inaugurated in 1906. The years up to the outbreak of the First World War passed slowly, with the city's population growing in prosperity. Of the 12,000 inhabitants that the city had at that time, about 60% were Poles, 30% Germans and 10% Jews. The Prussian era ended with the Polish uprising against Prussian rule, led by Stefan Rowiński, which broke out around November 7, 1918 and led to the proclamation of the "Republika Ostrowska" ( Republic of Ostrowo ) on November 10 , one month before the great uprising brought about union with Poland in the whole province of Poznan . In the new, Second Polish Republic, the city retained its status as an important railway junction, industrial center and district capital in the Poznan Voivodeship. As a result of Rowiński's efforts (he became the first Polish mayor of Ostrowo), a large state wagon factory was established in the city in 1924, which was one of the largest investments of the Second Republic. The urban area grew through numerous incorporations of neighboring villages and aristocratic estates: in 1914 it comprised 652 hectares and 20 years later already 2,866 hectares. The population was 16,421 in 1921 and 31,723 in 1939. There were also new buildings built in the style of modernism : a new, modern elementary school (1926), the Polish State Bank (1930) and a new parish church of St. Anthony of Padua (1939). Other buildings from these years were two sports stadiums, a swimming pool and three modern residential areas.

After the invasion of Poland in 1939, the city, along with the areas of the old province of Posen and part of the former Congress Kingdom, was annexed by the Greater German Reich in violation of international law and experienced the same fate as the neighboring cities of Kalisch , Jarotschin and Krotoschin , i.e. H. Expulsion of Poles and Jews, settlement of Germans from the Baltic States and Volhynia , Gestapo terror, etc. The Ostrow synagogue , initially used as a department store after the German occupation, later fell victim to arson. The occupation by the Soviet Army in late January 1945 ended the German occupation .

post war period

The post-war period brought further expansion of the city and the establishment of new industries, especially in the electrical industry and mechanical engineering for the food industry. New buildings were also built in the city: a new hospital for railway children (1958), the new municipal hospital (1966), a new lyceum (1954) and a new technical high school for industrial automation (1978). On the other hand, the loss of the district authorities and in 1975, after the formation of the Kalisz Voivodeship , the city was incorporated into it, was unfavorable for the city . This was abolished by a new administrative reform in 1999. Since then, Ostrów Wielkopolski has been a district town again.

After 1990, the restructuring of the previously exclusively state-owned companies into private stock corporations and limited liability companies began, often with the participation of foreign capital, e.g. B. General Motors and Vattenfall . Ostrów Wielkopolski was the first Polish city to introduce municipal obligations after 1990 . By 2005 there were three issues. The resulting money was used, among other things, to improve the road network.

Districts

Surname German name
1815-1918 1939-1945
Krępa Krempa Krempa
Nowy Staw Neuteich Neuteich
Piaski Sand jar Sand jar
Pruślin Pruschlin Prussendorf
Śródmieście City center City center
Szczygliczka Goldfinch Goldfinch
Stare Kamienice Old Kamienitz Old Steinitz
Stary Staw Old pond Old pond
Wenecja Venetia Venetia
Zacharzew Sakarshev Sachert
Zębców Sembsow Sembsow

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Personalities associated with the city

  • Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918), famous aviator, served 1913-1915 in the cavalry regiment stationed in Ostrowo
  • Robert Hassencamp (1848–1902), spent most of his service time in Ostrowo
  • Stefan Rowiński (1875–1943), Polish politician and publisher, leader of the Ostrower uprising of 1918, first Polish mayor of Ostrowo
  • Otto Landsberg (1869–1957), a German lawyer and since 1890 member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
  • Janusz Radziwiłł (1880–1967), prince and creator of Polish diplomacy in the Second Republic, attended the local grammar school
  • Eduard Lasker (1829-1884), German politician, went to school in Ostrowo
  • Aleksander Skrzyński (1882–1931), Polish politician and Prime Minister, died in Ostròw
  • Berthold Kempinski (1843–1910), German restaurateur and namesake of the Kempinski Hotels, went to school in Ostrowo
  • Aron Freimann (1871–1948), German historian, grew up in Ostrowo
  • Israel Meir Freimann (1830–1884), German rabbi, worked as a rabbi in Ostrowo and died there
  • Krzysztof Komeda (1931–1969), Polish jazz pianist, composer of jazz and film music, lived here from 1946–51

School system

The city has:

  • 17 municipal and one private kindergarten
  • 8 municipal and two private primary schools
  • 4 municipal and two private high schools (roughly equivalent to Realschule )
  • 4 general education municipal and 5 private high schools
  • 5 Technical or Economic Lyceums
  • 8 adult lycies
  • 5 branches of Poznan and Lodz universities.

economy

In 2002, 8,434 companies were registered in the city, 125 in the public sector and 8,309 in the private sector. Of these, only 2 were state-owned companies, 368 were GmbHs . 56 companies were AGs with foreign capital participation. The largest group (3,143) were trading and service companies. The average wage was 1,736.06 zlotys (average in the Province: 2,047.58 zloty). 2,727 families or 8,178 people, i.e. more than 10% of the city's population, received social assistance .

traffic

Ostrów Wielkopolski is located on the Kluczbork – Poznań , Łódź – Forst (Lausitz) and Ostrów Wielkopolski – Grabowno Wielkie railway lines .

In 2002, 30,701 motor vehicles were registered in the city, of which 22,315 were passenger cars . Urban transport has 61 buses that run the total distance of 712 km and carry 6,578 passengers annually.

Politics and administration

City President

At the head of the city administration is the city ​​president . Since 2014 this has been Beata Klimek, who runs for her own election committee, which was also supported by the left-wing SLD . The regular election in October 2018 led to the following results:

  • Beata Klimek (Election Committee “Beata Klimek - Friendly City and District”) 65.2% of the votes
  • Łukasz Mikołajczyk ( Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ) 20.4% of the vote
  • Damian Grzeszczyk ( Koalicja Obywatelska ) 12.7% of the vote
  • Alojzi Motylewski (Election Committee Alojzi Motylewski) 1.8% of the vote

Klimek was thus re-elected for a further term in the first ballot.

City council

The city council has 23 members who are directly elected. The election in October 2018 led to the following result:

  • Election committee “Beata Klimek - Friendly City and District” 44.4% of the votes, 11 seats
  • Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) 28.8% of the vote, 7 seats
  • Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) 23.1% of the vote, 5 seats
  • Alojzi Motylewski electoral committee 3.8% of the vote, no seat

Town twinning

literature

Web links

Commons : Ostrów Wielkopolski  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division. As of June 30, 2019. Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS) (PDF files; 0.99 MiB), accessed December 24, 2019 .
  2. ^ Website of the city, Prezydent Miasta Ostrowa Wielkopolskiego ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2015 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. , accessed February 10, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ostrow-wielkopolski.um.gov.pl
  3. ^ Alicke, Klaus-Dieter (2008). "Ostrowo (Poznan)". Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area . 3 vols. Güterloh: Gütersloh publishing house. Online version: www.jüdische-gemeinden.de . Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  4. ^ Result on the website of the election commission, accessed on August 24, 2020.
  5. ^ Result on the website of the election commission, accessed on August 24, 2020.