History of Szczecin
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History of Szczecin in Poland.
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Prehistoric stronghold
A stronghold of the Lusatian culture in the early Iron Age period.
Slavonic stronghold (until 1243)
Another stronghold was built in the 8th century-first half of the 9th century at the ford of the Oder river, (at the same location where later was a ducal castle) and a few craftsmen, fishermen and traders settled in the vicinity.
It was the main centre of a small Western Slavonic tribe living in the fork of the Odra river between the main branch and the Randow river. It is not certain if this tribe belonged to the Pomeranians who lived on the right bank of the Odra, or to the Polabians or Veleti who lived on the left bank of the Odra. It is also possible that Szczecin was controlled in some manner by both tribes. It is very likely that Mieszko I of Poland, who conquered Pomerania in the years 967–972, also took control of Szczecin and Wolin. Piasts rule in Szczecin was overthrown by pagan counter-revolution around 1005. In the coming century, Pomerania was several times subject of the attempts of central Polish government to unify again with the mainland. However, most of the time, Pomeranians kept their Slavic pagan faith.
After the decline of Wolin in the 12th century, Szczecin became one of the most important and powerful cities of the Baltic Sea south coasts, having some 5,000 inhabitants. It was a city republic ruled by a class of rich nobility who were usually tradesmen, pirates and landowners.
In a winter campaign of 1121–1122, Szczecin was subjugated by Boleslaus II of Poland, who invited bishop Otto of Bamberg to baptize the citizens (1124). In the next years it was subjugated by the Warcislaw I, duke of Pomerania, who organized the second visit of Bishop Otto in 1128. At this time the first Christian church of St. Peter and Paul was erected.
Warcislaw Swietoborzyc a castellan of Szczecin, cousin of the ruling Gryffin dynasty, in mentioned as a protector of the young dukes Boguslaw and Kazimierz in years 1189. In 1189 Szczecin was captured by the Danish forces, and Jaromir I, duke of Rugia was made the Szczecin governor in place of Warcislaw.
In the second half of the 12th century, a group of German tradesmen (from various parts of the Holy Roman Empire) settled in the city around St. Jacob's church, which was founded by Beringer, a trader from Bamberg, and consecrated in 1187. Duke Barnim I granted a local government charter to this community in 1237, separating the Germans from the Slavic majority community settled around St. Nikolas church (in the neighbourhoods of Chyżyn, Upper Wik, Lower Wik). Full location charter under the Magdeburg law was granted to Szczecin in 1243.
Around that time the major ethnical group of Szczecin changed from Slavonic to German.
Trading city (1243-1630)
In the years 1295–1464 Szczecin was the capital of a splinter Pomeranian realm known as the Duchy of Szczecin. (Its Dukes were Otto I, Barnim III the Great, Casimir III, Swantibor I, Boguslaw VII, Otto II, Cazimir V, Joachim I the Younger, Otto III)
In the 13th and 14th centuries Szczecin become the main Pomeranian centre of trade in grains, salt and herrings, receiving various trading privileges from their dukes (known as emporium rights). It was granted special rights and trading posts in Denmark, and belonged to the Hanse trading cities union. In 1390 trade privileges were granted to Szczecin by the Polish king Ladislaus Jagiello who established new trade routes from the Polish mainland to the Pomeranian ports. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Szczecin conducted several trade wars with the neighboring cities of Garz, Gryfino and Stargard Szczecinski over a monopoly on grains export. The grain supplying area was not only Pomerania but also Brandenburg and Greater Poland — trade routes along the Oder and Warta rivers. The 16th century saw the decline of the city's trading position because of the competition of the nobility, as well as church institutions in the grains exports, a customs war with Frankfurt an der Oder, and the fall of the herring market. Social and religious riots marked the introduction of reformation (protenstantism) in 1534.
Under Swedish rule (1630-1720)
During the Thirty-Years War, Szczecin refused to accept imperial armies, and in 1630 was taken over and fortified by Sweden. After the death of the last Pomeranian duke, Boguslaw XIV, Szczecin was awarded to Sweden with the western part of the duchy in the Peace of Westfalia (1648). The city was thus cut off from its main trading area, and was besieged in several wars with Brandenburg which shattered th city's economy, which fell in prolonged economic decline.
In 1713, Szczecin was incidiously occupied by Prussia-Brandenburg (the Prussian forces entered the city as neutrals to watch the ceasefire and refused to leave) and in 1720 officially awarded by Sweden to Prussia. In the following years Szczecin became the capital of the Prussian province of Pomerania, and the main port of the Prussian state. From 1740 onwards, the Oder waterway to the Baltic Sea and the new Pomeranian port of Swinoujscie were constructed.
Major Prussian port (1720-1918)
In the following years, large groups of French Huguenots settled in Szczecin, bringing new developments into the city crafts and factories. The population increased from 6000 in 1720 to 21'000 in 1816, and 58'000 in 1861. The 19th century was the age of large territorial expansion for the city, especially after 1873, when the old fortress was abolished. In 1821, the crafts corporations were abolished, and in steam transport on the Oder began, allowing further development of trade. The port was developing quickly, specialising in exports of agricultural products and coal from Silesia. Economic develpoment and rapid population growth brought many ethnic Poles from Pomerania and Greater Poland, looking for new career opportunities in the Szczecin industry.
In 1843, Szczecin was connected by the first railway line to Berlin, and in 1848 by the second railway to Poznan. New branches of industry were developing, including shipbuilding (at the Wulkan shipyard) and ironworks using Swedish ores. The population grew to 236 thousand in 1910 and 382 thousand in 1939.
Provincial city of Germany (1918-1939)
After the World War I (1914-1918) Szczecin economy fell in decline again because the seaport was separated form its natural agricultural supply areas in Greater Poland with creation of Polish State. Many of the local Poles flew from Szczecin at this time, especially when the Nazi persecution against the Polish organizations began in the 1930s. However Polish community was still there, and Polish organizations like Polish Union in Germany (Związek Polaków w Niemczech) and Polish scouts were active in Szczecin till the outbreak of World War II in 1939 when the Polish activists were arrested, murdered or sent to concentration camps and their property confiscated.
In the Third Reich (1939-1945)
Szczecin1945.JPG
During World War II Szczecin was a main centre of weapons industry (including the car production Stoewer), and there were several slave workers camps in the city. 65% of Szczecin's buildings and almost all of the city centre, seaport, and industry was destroyed during the Allied air raids in 1944, and heavy fightings between the German and the Soviet Army (26 April 1945).
Voivodship capital in Poland (after 1945)
After WWII, the Allies moved the Polish-German border to the west to of the Oder-Neisse line. Most of Pomerania, including Szczecin and the Oder mouth, fell to Poland. The German inhabitants of Szczecin first fled from the city, but later returned as it was undecided if the city would be in Poland, or in the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. Many Germans also worked in the Soviet military bases that were outside Polish jurisdiction. In the 1950s most of the Szczecin's Germans were expelled from the city, although there was a significant German minority for the next 10 years.
In 1945 there was already a small Polish community consisting of the Szczecin citizens from before of WWII and the Polish enforced workers during WWII, who survived the war. The city was settled with the new inhabitants from every region of Poland, mainly from Pomerania (Bydgoszcz Voivodship) and Greater Poland (Poznan Voivodship), but also including those who lost their homes in the eastern Polish territories lost to the Soviet Union, especially people from Wilno. This settlement process was coordinated by the city of Poznan.
Old and new settlers did a great effort to raise the Szczecin from ruins, rebuild, reconstruct and extend the city's industry, residential areas but also the cultural hiritage (e.g the Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in Szczecin), and it was still harder to do this under the communist regime. Szczecin became a major industrial centre of and a principal seaport not only for Poland (especially the Silesian coal) but also for Czechoslovakia and East Germany.
Szczecin together with Gdansk, Gdynia and Upper Silesia was the main centre of the democratic anti-communist movements in first in March 1968 and December 1970. The protesters attacked and burned the communist party (PZPR) regional headquarters and the Soviet consulate in Szczecin. The bloody riots were pacified by the secret police and the armed forces; see: Coastal cities events. After 10 years in August 1980 the protesters locked themselves in their factories to avoid the bloody riots. The strike was led by Marian Jurczyk, leader of the Szczecin Shipyard workers and it proved successful with the outbreak of the Solidarity movement.
From 1946 to 1998 Szczecin was the capital of the Szczecin Voivodship, but the region's boundaries were redrawn in the administrative reorganizations in 1950 and 1975. Boundaries of the Szczecin City were extended by joining with Dąbie in 1948. Since 1999 it is the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodship. Communist-dominated municipal administration was replaced by a genuine local government in 1990, and the direct election of the city president (mayor) was introduced in 2002 with Marian Jurczyk being the first one such elected.