Poznan
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Poznan
Also known as "Posen, Germany", "Posen, Prussia", "Province of Posen", "Provinz Posen", "Poznan, Poland", "Grand Duchy of Poznan", "South Prussia",
"Wielkopolsk."
From the Second Partition (1793) until the end of WWI (1919), this part of the world was a Prussian province, except for the decade in the early 1800s when Napoleon was in control.
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Poznan is one of the most ancient cities of Poland -- in
968 it became the first Roman Catholic bishopric in Poland; in 1793 it passed to
Prussia; in 1807, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; in 1815 it came
under Prussian rule again; in 1919 it reverted to Poland.
As one of Poland's oldest cities. It was the capital of
Greater Poland, the cradle of the Polish state and was Poland's capital in the
mid-10th century during the early Piast dynasty. The chief industries are
food processing and the manufacture of metals, engines, freight cars, machine
tools, chemicals, and ceramics.
Poznan was the capital of
Greater Poland, the cradle of the Polish state and was also Poland's capital in
the mid-10th century during the early Piast dynasty. Poznan's impressive
cathedral is the oldest church in the country, containing the tombs of the first
Polish rulers, Duke Mieszko I and King Boleslaus the Brave.
Today the city is a vibrant
center for trade, industry, and education. Poznan is Poland's 5th largest city
and 4th largest industrial center and the administrative capital of the Greater
Poland Voivodship.
From the 2nd partition of Poland
in 1793 until 1806, Poznan was in South Prussia. From 1806 to 1815, Poznan was
part of the Duchy of Warsaw. After Napoleon's defeat, the city once again became
part of Prussia, functioning as the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of
Poznan. After 1830, the Grand Duchy of Poznan became semi-autonomous and by
1846, in the midst of revolutions across the European continent, its autonomy
was revoked. In 1871, Poznan, along with the whole of Prussia, became part of
the German Empire. After Germany's
defeat in World War I and as part of the Treaty of Versailles, the Second Polish
Republic was created. The Allied decision was influenced in part by the Great
Poland Uprising that lasted from 1918 to 1919. Despite Soviet aggression and six
years of Nazi rule during World War II, Poznan has remained a part of Poland
ever since.
It is also referred to in Polish
as Stoleczne Miasto Poznan, in German as Posen (Haupt- und Residenzstadt Posen
between 20 August 1910 and 28 November 1918), and in Latin as Posnania and
civitas Posnaniensis. Early spellings include: Posna and Posnan.
The earliest surviving
references to the city were by Thietmar in his chronicles: episcopus
Poznaniensis ("Bishop of Poznan," 970) and ab urbe Poznani
("by" or "from the city Poznan," 1005).
History of Poznan
Mieszko I was the first known
duke of the Polans. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is the
oldest Polish cathedral, built in Poznan during the latter half of the 10th
century. The city would become the capital of Greater Poland. Mieszko I's son,
Boleslaus the Brave, was crowned king in 1025 and the Kingdom of Poland was
formed. Greater Poland became the 'cradle of the Polish state.’ Lubranski
Academy was established in 1519.
Poznan was the capital of the
Greater Poland area when it came under the control of Prussia in 1793 and had
its administrative area renamed to South Prussia. During the Greater Poland
Uprising of 1806, local Polish resistance fighters rebelled, thereby assisting
the efforts of Napoleon while simultaneously driving out the occupying Prussian
forces. The city became part of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and was capital of
the Poznan department. Napoleon's defeat led to the Congress of Vienna, where
the boundaries of Europe were redrawn by the victors. Greater Poland was
returned to Prussia and became the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of
Poznan. From the time of the Revolutions in the mid 1800s, it was an official
Prussian province and became part of the German Empire after the unification of
German states in 1871.
Shortly after Germany's defeat
in World War I, the Great Poland Uprising (1918-1919) occurred, leading to the
creation of the Second Polish Republic, where Poznan became the capital of
Poznan Voivodship. During World War II, Poland suffered under Nazi occupation
and the Polish population was severely repressed. Since the war's end, Poznan
has become the capital of the surrounding area through administrative district
boundary changes in 1957, 1975, and 1999. Poznan currently administrates Greater
Poland Voivodship, one of 16 provinces in the country. The Poznan riots of 1956
played a significant role in liberalizing the post war communist regime.
Since 1989 (the end of the
communist era), Poznan municipality and metro area have invested heavily in
infrastructure, especially transportation and improved public administration.
This has resulted in a massive investment from foreign companies in Poznan
itself, as well as in communities west and south of Poznan (namely, Kornik and
Tarnowo Podgorne).
Today the city is a vibrant
center for trade, industry, and education. Poznan is Poland's 5th largest city
and 4th largest industrial center and the administrative capital of the Greater
Poland Voivodship.
Early times
The first settlements in what is
now Poznan can be traced to the late period of the Stone Age. Later, various
cultures developed in the Bronze Age and Iron Age.
The first stronghold was built
in the 8th-9th century AD on the Ostrów Tumski - an island in the forks of
Warta and Cybina rivers. Subsequently it was surrounded by various settlements
on the islands and on both banks of Warta river. During the 10th century, Poznan
and Gniezno were the main sites of Polish dukes, and centers of the developing
Polish state. In 968 the first Polish bishoprics and the first Polish cathedral
were founded here.
During the internal religious
fightings and the Bohemian Czech invasion of Bretislaus I in 1038, Poznan and
Gniezno were destroyed and lost their capital cities status to Cracow under
Casimir I the Restorer (1039–1058). The two cities and bishoprics were rebuilt
by the king Boleslaus II the Generous (1058–1079).
Capital of Great Poland
(1138–1295)
Since the feudal fragmentation
of Poland began in 1138, Poznan was the capital of Greater Poland division and
the main site of local dukes dynasty started by Mieszko III the Old. The city
was developing quickly and in 12th century it was surrounded by trade-and-crafts
settlements of St. Gotard, St. Martin, St. Adalbert on the left bank of the
Warthe river and Srodka of the right bank.
In ca. 1230 the dukes founded in
Srodka an autonomous municipality based on Teutonic law, and in 1253 dukes
Przemysl I and Boleslaus the Pious founded the city in St. Gotard settlement, in
the present place of Old Market Square, based on Magdeburg law. The first mayor
of the local government was Thomas of Guben/Gubin, and in the following years he
brought many German settlers to the city.
Przemysl II, son of Przemysl I,
built a castle on the so called "Przemysl hill" and surrounded the
city with a wall. In 1295 Przemysl II was crowned king of Poland. After
Przemysl's death in 1296 there were four competitors for the Polish throne and
the control of Poznan: Ladislaus of Kuyavia, Henry I of Glogow, Wenceslaus II of
Bohemia, and Boleslaus of Opole.
Poznan in the Kingdom of Poland
(1295–1793)
With the unification of Poland
Poznan become the main political, cultural, academic and economic center. It was
the site of the royal Governor General for Greater Poland, the main trading
center between east (Ruthenia, Lithuania and west Germany, Bohemia. In 1519
Lubranski Academy was founded (the second institute of higher education in
Poland, after Cracow University) and in 1573 another school, Jesuits' College
(rector: Jakub Wujek).
Reformation and Religious
Affiliation of Burghers
The burghers of Posen/Posnan for
a large part took on Protestant beliefs. The Protestant church books (Kirchenbuch),
starting in 1596 with the evangelical churches of the city, also the Catholic
churches were filmed by the LDS Mormons, after Treaty of Versailles, see
external links below.
The 16th century is called
"the Golden Age" in the city's history. The population grew to 20.000
and Poznan was one of the biggest cities in Poland. This was ended with the
Swedish invasion in 1655 which started a series of wars, epidemics and
catastrophes. They led to slow economic decline and significant depopulation
(3,000).
Economic boom started again
after 1780 during activities of the Good Order Council. In years 1719-1753
Poznan absorbed several waves of rural settlers from Bamberg (Bambrzy) invited
by the city authorities. They were also significant groups of Dutch settlers (Oledrzy).
Both groups have added new cultural elements to the city.
Poznan in the Kingdom of Prussia
(1793–1918)
With the second partition of
Poland in 1793, the city fell to Kingdom of Prussia and was made the capital of
the province of South Prussia. During the Napoleonic Wars in 1806 the city was
liberated by the Polish troops under gen. J.H. Dabrowski and in years
1806–1815 it was the capital of Poznan department belonging to the Duchy of
Warsaw.
After the fall of Napoleon in
1815, according to the Vienna peace congress, Poznan fell to Prussia, and was
made the capital of the Grand Duchy of Poznan (1815–1846). At this time Poznan
was the site of the royal Governor, Duke Antoni Henryk Radziwill.
[The
Grand Duchy of Poznan (until 1846) (Polish: Wielkie Ksiestwo Poznanskie,
German: Großherzogtum Posen) was an autonomous province of the Kingdom of
Prussia in the Polish lands commonly known as "Great Poland" between
the years 1815-1848. The name was unofficially used afterwards for denoting the
territory, especially by Poles, and today is used by modern historians to
describe different political entities until 1918.] [Province of Posen (until
1918) The Province of Posen (German: Provinz Posen, Polish: Prowincja
Poznanska) was a province of Prussia from 1846-1918. Its capital was Poznan
(German: Posen). Known as the "cradle of the Polish nation," this
region was the home to Poles, Germans, some Jews.]
About the time of the 1848
revolutions, the duchy was renamed the Province of Posen (Provinz Posen,
1846–1918) of the Prussian state, governed by the royal Over-President. With
the unification of Germany by the Prussian king, the duchy became part of the
German Empire (1871–1918) and the city became an imperial residence city.
About 1912, a large gothic imperial palace was built west of the city center, as
well as a park, the new city theater, and the headquarters for the Settlement
Commission.
The population of Poznan was
half Polish, half German, and the proportion of Germans increasing up to the
peak of 1848 to 60%. When industrialization attracted people from the
countryside, the proportion of Germans gradually decreased (see also Ostflucht).
Polish population organized themselves around economic, cultural and scientific
activities: 1829 Raczynski Library, 1858 Science Friends Society, 1861 Central
Economic Society, 1875 Polish Theater.
In addition to its early
religious and state roles, Poznan was a military, commercial, rail-and-water
transportation, and postal center for the region. Transformation from Stadt
Posen ("Poznan city") to Festung Posen ("Poznan Stronghold"
- Polish: Twierdza Poznan) started in 1828 when the citadel Fort Winiary was
built on the hillock north of the old town (for some time it was a political
prison). This gave the military command supremacy over the local civil
government. Several estates to the north were converted into the "Truppenübungsplatz
Warthelager" ("Warthe barracks and troop practice fields") and
firing ranges were scattered around the surrounding countryside. Later, other
fortifications were built - Poznan became a town inside a polygonal fortress
(works were finished in 1851).
In 1876 a modernization of the Festung was begun.
A ring of 18 forts were built, 9 major, and 9 minor. Poznan had become a major
military post, headquarters for the Fifth Army Corp. of the German army. The
polygonal fortifications remained until 1900. In the early 1900s, zeppelins and
biplanes were a common site, as support for the army. Considerable commerce
floated by on the river Warta (German: Warthe), which separated the old town on
the western left bank from the channeled island (Chwaliszewo), and right bank
peninsula with the cathedral (today, like in middle ages, island called Ostrów
Tumski). The railroad was built in 1846-1848 and the first train from Szczecin
(German: Stettin) arrived on 8 August 1848, and left Poznan (returning to
Szczecin) on 10 August. The first station was located in the western Jezyce
suburb as dictated by the military administration of Festung Posen. A large new
main train station was built closer to the west side of the city in 1879, with
regional administrative offices and maintenance buildings. The tracks were laid
north/south, but split to the east and west north of the town, forming a
"T" shape. The eastern branch had another station and a spur that
serviced the slaughterhouse district north of the Jewish quarter in the
northeastern corner, where the Cybina river flows into the Warta (exactly to
branch of Warta called Cybina or Ulga Channel which separates Ostrów Tumski
from right bank). As a regional center, the postal service had its administrative
headquarters here (Oberpostdirektion) across the street from the Imperial
Residence. Also nearby was the offices of the Settlement Commission (German:
Ansiedlungskommission). Teachers and clerics were trained here.
Poznan in the Second Polish
Republic (1919–1939)
At the end of World War I, the
Great Poland Uprising (1918–1919) promised to restore Great Poland and its
capital as a Polish nation. According to the Versailles peace treaty, signed on
June 28, 1919, most of Posen province was ceded to Poland, and organized into
Poznan Voivodship. German inhabitants of the region and city (who had not fled
in January 1945) were given an option to stay or leave but most of them left to
Germany - also because of discrimination, and those who stayed made some 10% of
the city population.
In 1919 Poznan University was
opened, in 1921 Poznan Trade Fairs, from 1925 Poznan International Trade Fairs (Miedzynarodowe
Targi Poznanskie). In the following years Poznan has become a leading economic,
scientific and cultural center of Second Polish Republic.
Poznan in Nazi Germany
(1939–1945)
With the outbreak of the World
War II Poznan was annexed by Germany and briefly reorganized into the Reichsgau
Posen and then as the Reichsgau Wartheland (Warta province) for the duration of
the war.
The German army, police and
administration started a program of 're-germanisation of Poznan', and some
100,000 of inhabitants were expelled to central Poland General Government. Many
people were murdered as well in the notorious state-sponsored executions,
intended to prevent the creation of insurgencies. Another share of the
population was sent to central Germany as slave workers. Others were conscripted
to the German army.
The Polish and Jewish population
was replaced by the Volksdeutsche resettled from Baltic States, Eastern Europe
and central Germany. They were granted the property confiscated from the
expelled Poles and Jews.
Despite (and probably in many
cases because of) the rounding up and execution of local leaders and potential
leaders, some remaining Poles organized themselves into guerrilla groups under
the leadership of Home Army (Armia Krajowa). The city was liberated by Soviet
(8th Guardian Army) and Polish (over 5000 civil citizens of Poznan as supply to
Red Army, and small unit of 2nd Polish Army) troops after heavy fighting in
January-February 1945, but 55% of the city was destroyed (over 90% of old town).
Poznan in People's Republic of
Poland (1945–1989)The first years after World War II (1945-1948 were the era
of enthusiasm for peace and freedom, rebuilding the city from ruins, and
relative political freedom. With the rigged elections of 1947 Poland was put
under strict control of the communist party and the Sovietisation of the state
and economy.
1950 local government is
abolished
Worsening political and economic
conditions led to the first Polish anti-Communist protests. In June 1956 workers from the
city's Cegielski locomotive factory, the largest factory in Poland demanded
talks with the Prime Minister Cyrankiewicz to protest at low wages, being
cheated of overtime, unfavorable changes in taxation and enormous shortages of
food. The government refused to talk and after a series of strikes on the 28th
of June a protest march of between 15,000 and 100,000 workers (figures vary) from the Cegielski and Stalin works
was fired on by the
authorities. The crowds ransacked the Communist Party Headquarters and then
attacked the UB secret police headquarters where they were repulsed by police
shooting into the crowd. Figures are of between 53 and 76 people dead (67
official), hundreds injured and 700 arrested. The riots continued for two
days until on the second night the Government sent in the army. A two hour long
procession of tanks, armored cars, field guns, and lorries full of troops went
through the city and surrounded it. The riots ended. This led to the change of Polish
government to a milder communist faction.
Communist Party Domination
In October 1956, after the 20th
("de-Stalinization") Soviet Party Congress in Moscow and riots by
workers in Poznan, there was a shakeup in the communist regime. While
retaining most traditional communist economic and social aims, the regime of
First Secretary Wladyslaw Gomulka liberalized Polish internal life.
In 1968, the trend reversed when student
demonstrations were suppressed and an "anti-Zionist" campaign
initially directed against Gomulka supporters within the party eventually led to
the emigration of much of Poland's remaining Jewish population. In December
1970, disturbances and strikes in the port cities of Gdansk, Gdynia, and
Szczecin, triggered by a price increase for essential consumer goods, reflected
deep dissatisfaction with living and working conditions in the country. Edward
Gierek replaced Gomulka as First Secretary.
Fueled by large infusions of Western credit,
Poland's economic growth rate was one of the world's highest during the first
half of the 1970s. But much of the borrowed capital was misspent, and the
centrally planned economy was unable to use the new resources effectively. The
growing debt burden became insupportable in the late 1970s, and economic growth
had become negative by 1979.
In October 1978, the Bishop of Krakow,
Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, became Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic
Church. Polish Catholics rejoiced at the elevation of a Pole to the papacy and
greeted his June 1979 visit to Poland with an outpouring of emotion.
In July 1980, with the Polish foreign debt at
more than $20 billion, the government made another attempt to increase meat
prices. A chain reaction of strikes virtually paralyzed the Baltic coast by the
end of August and, for the first time, closed most coalmines in Silesia. Poland
was entering into an extended crisis that would change the course of its future
development.
The Solidarity Movement
On August 31, 1980, workers at the Lenin
Shipyard in Gdansk, led by an electrician named Lech Walesa, signed a 21-point
agreement with the government that ended their strike. Similar agreements were
signed at Szczecin and in Silesia. The key provision of these agreements was the
guarantee of the workers' right to form independent trade unions and the right
to strike. After the Gdansk agreement was signed, a new national union
movement--"Solidarity"--swept Poland.
The discontent underlying the strikes was
intensified by revelations of widespread corruption and mismanagement within the
Polish state and party leadership. In September 1980, Gierek was replaced by
Stanislaw Kania as First Secretary.
Alarmed by the rapid deterioration of the
PZPR's authority following the Gdansk agreement, the Soviet Union proceeded with
a massive military buildup along Poland's border in December 1980. In February
1981, Defense Minister Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski assumed the position of Prime
Minister as well, and in October 1981, he also was named party First Secretary.
At the first Solidarity national congress in September-October 1981, Lech Walesa
was elected national chairman of the union.
On December 12-13, the regime declared martial
law, under which the army and special riot police were used to crush the union.
Virtually all Solidarity leaders and many affiliated intellectuals were arrested
or detained. The United States and other Western countries responded to martial
law by imposing economic sanctions against the Polish regime and against the
Soviet Union. Unrest in Poland continued for several years thereafter.
In a series of slow, uneven steps, the Polish
regime rescinded martial law. In December 1982, martial law was suspended, and a
small number of political prisoners were released. Although martial law formally
ended in July 1983 and a general amnesty was enacted, several hundred political
prisoners remained in jail.
In July 1984, another general amnesty was
declared, and 2 years later, the government had released nearly all political
prisoners. The authorities continued, however, to harass dissidents and
Solidarity activists. Solidarity remained proscribed and its publications
banned. Independent publications were censored.
Roundtable Talks and Elections
The government's inability to forestall
Poland's economic decline led to waves of strikes across the country in April,
May, and August 1988. In an attempt to take control of the situation, the
government gave de facto recognition to Solidarity, and Interior Minister
Kiszczak began talks with Lech Walesa on August 31. These talks broke off in
October, but a new series, the "roundtable" talks, began in February
1989. These talks produced an agreement in April for partly open National
Assembly elections. The June election produced a Sejm (lower house), in which
one-third of the seats went to communists and one-third went to the two parties
which had hitherto been their coalition partners. The remaining one-third of the
seats in the Sejm and all those in the Senat were freely contested; virtually
all of these were won by candidates supported by Solidarity.
The failure of the communists at the polls
produced a political crisis. The roundtable agreement called for a communist
president, and on July 19, the National Assembly, with the support of some
Solidarity deputies, elected General Jaruzelski to that office. Two attempts by
the communists to form governments failed, however.
On August 19, President Jaruzelski asked
journalist/Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to form a government; on
September 12, the Sejm voted approval of Prime Minister Mazowiecki and his
cabinet. For the first time in more than 40 years, Poland had a government led
by non-communists.
In December 1989, the Sejm approved the
government's reform program to transform the Polish economy rapidly from
centrally planned to free-market, amended the constitution to eliminate
references to the "leading role" of the Communist Party, and renamed
the country the "Republic of Poland." The Polish United Workers'
(Communist) Party dissolved itself in January 1990, creating in its place a new
party, Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland. Most of the property of the
former Communist Party was turned over to the state.
The May 1990 local elections were entirely
free. Candidates supported by Solidarity's Citizens' Committees won most of the
races they contested, although voter turnout was only a little over 40%. The
cabinet was reshuffled in July 1990; the national defense and interior affairs
ministers--holdovers from the previous communist government--were among those
replaced.
In October 1990, the constitution was amended
to curtail the term of President Jaruzelski. In December, Lech Walesa became the
first popularly elected President of Poland.
The Republic of Poland
The Republic of Poland in the early 1990s made
great progress toward achieving a fully democratic government and a market
economy. In November 1990, Lech Walesa was elected President for a 5-year term.
Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, at Walesa's request, formed a government and served as
its Prime Minister until October 1991, introducing world prices and greatly
expanding the scope of private enterprise.
Poland's first free parliamentary elections
were held in 1991. More than 100 parties participated, representing a full
spectrum of political views. No single party received more than 13% of the total
vote. Since 1991, Poland has conducted five general parliamentary elections and
four presidential elections--all free and fair. Incumbent governments have
transferred power smoothly and constitutionally in every instance to their
successors. The post-Solidarity center-right and post-Communist center-left have
each controlled the parliament and the presidency since 1991.
Government and Political Conditions
The current government structure consists of a
council of ministers led by a Prime Minister, typically chosen from the majority
coalition in the bicameral legislature's lower house (Sejm). The president,
elected every five years for no more than two terms, is the head of state and
commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The judicial branch plays a minor role
in decision-making.
The parliament consists of the 460-member Sejm
and the 100-member Senat, or upper house. The new constitution and the reformed
administrative division (as of 1999) required a revision of the election
ordinance (passed in April 2001). The most important changes were liquidation of
a national list (all deputies are elected by voters in electoral districts) and
introduction of a new method of calculating seats (the modified St. Lague method
replaced the d'Hondt method, thus eliminating the premium for the top parties).
The law stipulated that with the exception of guaranteed seats for small ethnic
parties, only parties receiving at least 5% of the total vote could enter
parliament.
