Stargard

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For other uses, see Stargard (disambiguation).

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"Starogród" redirects here. For a village in the Masovian Voivodeship, see Starogród, Masovian Voivodeship.
Stargard
From top left, clockwise: St. John's Church, St. Mary's Church, Weavers' Tower and museum, National Music school, White Head Tower, Mill Gate, tire factory
From top left, clockwise: St. John's Church, St. Mary's Church, Weavers' Tower and museum, National Music school, White Head Tower, Mill Gate, tire factory
Flag of Stargard
Flag		 Coat of arms of Stargard
Coat of arms
Motto: Stargard - Klejnot Pomorza
Stargard - Jewel of Pomerania
Country  Poland
Voivodeship  West Pomeranian Voivodeship
County Stargard
Gmina Stargard (urban gmina)
Established 8th century
First mentioned 1124
City rights 1243
Government
 • City mayor Rafał Zając
Area
 • Total 48.1 km2 (18.6 sq mi)
Elevation 20 m (70 ft)
Population (31 December 2021)
 • Total 67,293 Decrease[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 73-100
to 73-110
Area code(s) +48 91
Car plates ZST
Website http://www.stargard.pl

Stargard ([ˈstarɡart] ( listen); 1945: Starogród, 1950–2016: Stargard Szczeciński; formerly German: Stargard in Pommern, or Stargard an der Ihna; Kashubian: Stôrgard) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 2021 it was inhabited by 67,293 people.[1] It is situated on the Ina River. The city is the seat of the Stargard County, and, extraterritorially, of the municipality of Stargard. It is the second biggest city of Szczecin agglomeration. Stargard is a major railroad junction, where the southwards connection from Szczecin splits into two directions: towards Poznań and Gdańsk.

Etymology

The city's name is of Pomeranian (Kashubian) origin and stands for old (stari) town/city (gard or gôrd).[2]

In this meaning, the term gard is still being used by the only surviving Pomeranian language speakers, the Kashubs. However, some experts say that the name is of proto-Norse origin: starn (star) and gate (as in English).[3]

History

Middle Ages

File:Stargard Szczeciński, kolegiata.jpg
St. Mary's Church, a Gothic architecture masterpiece and Historic Monument in Poland

The settlement was founded in the 8th century at the site of the present-day district of Osetno near downtown Stargard.[4] In 967 it became part of the emerging Polish state under the first Polish rulers from the Piast dynasty.[4] Stargard was first mentioned in 1124,[5] when it was part of Poland under Bolesław III Wrymouth, and received Magdeburg city rights in 1243 from Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania.

It was one of the most important towns and a major trade centre of the Duchy of Pomerania, after it split off from Poland as a result of the 12th-century fragmentation of Poland. From 1283, the city had a port at the mouth of the Ina River in the nowadays abandoned village of Inoujście.[5] Defensive city walls were built in the 13th century and expanded in the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries.[6] In 1363 the city joined the Hanseatic League.

As a result of the ongoing fragmentation of Pomerania, in 1368 Stargard became part of the Duchy of Słupsk (Pomerania-Stolp) and in 1377 it became the capital of a separate eponymous duchy, which in 1403 fell back to Duchy of Słupsk, a vassal state of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1478 Stargard became part of the reunified Duchy of Pomerania.

In the meantime, the trade rivalry with the nearby city of Szczecin led to the outbreak of the Stargard-Szczecin war in 1454,[5] which ended in 1464. In 1477 Stargard helped Duke Wartislaw X recapture the town of Gartz during a Brandenburgian invasion.[7]

Modern period

File:Stargard Lubinus.PNG
Stargard in the 17th century

Stargard was part of the Duchy of Pomerania until its dissolution after the death of the last duke Bogislaw XIV in 1637.[5] During the Thirty Years' War the city was captured by Sweden in 1630.[6] It was besieged by the troops of the Holy Roman Empire in 1635,[8] and in order to hamper the attacks the Swedish commander set fire to the suburbs, causing a city fire, however, it was still captured by imperial troops.[9] In 1636 it was recaptured by the Swedes, then it was taken and plundered by Imperial troops to fall back to the Swedes again after the Battle of Wittstock.[10] In 1637 it was again captured by Imperial troops and then by Sweden.[10] As a result of the war, the population decreased by about 75%.[11]

In accordance to the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, in 1653 it was incorporated, together with the rest of East Pomerania, into Brandenburg-Prussia.[5] In 1701 Stargard became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and in 1818, after the Napoleonic Wars, Stargard became part of the new district Szadzko (then officially Saatzig) within the Province of Pomerania. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), the Prussians established a prisoner-of-war camp for French troops in the city.[12]

As a result of the unification of Germany in 1871 the city became part of the German Empire. On 1 April 1901 it became an independent city, separate from the Saatzig District. According to the Prussian census of 1905, Stargard had a population of 26,907, of which 97% were Germans and 3% were Poles.[13] In interwar Germany, the town was the site of a concentration camp for unwanted Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.[14] In the March 1933 German federal election the Nazi Party received 58.7% of the vote in the city.[15]

World War II

File:Stalag II D Stargard.jpg
Stalag II-D, 1939–1945

In 1939, during the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, the Germans established the Dulag L temporary camp for Polish (including Kashubian) prisoners of war and civilians near Stargard, which in October 1939 was transformed into the large prisoner-of-war camp Stalag II-D.[16] Then, after the battle of France in 1940, also the French, the Dutch and Belgians were held there, from 1941 also Yugoslavian and Soviet POWs, from 1942 also thousands of Canadians captured at Dieppe, one of whom was Gerald MacIntosh Johnston, a Canadian actor, who was killed trying to escape, and after 1943 also Italians. The POWs were subjected to racial segregation, and Poles, Africans, Arabs, Jews and Soviet troops were separated from POWs of other nationalities and subjected to worse treatment.[17] Serbs also faced more severe treatment.[18]

There was also a subcamp of the Ravensbrück concentration camp in the city, as well as seven forced labour camps.[5]

In February 1945, one of the last German armoured offensives, Operation Solstice, was launched from the Stargard area. The local population was evacuated by the Germans on the order of Heinrich Himmler before the approaching Soviets in the final stages of the war.[11][4]

As a result of World War II the town again became part of Poland, under territorial changes demanded by the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference. Polish local administration was appointed on March 23, 1945.[11] After the ethnic cleansing of its German population the town was repopulated by Poles, some of whom were displaced from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union.

Post-war period

In 1950 the city was renamed Stargard Szczeciński by adding the adjective Szczeciński after the nearby city of Szczecin to distinguish it from Starogard Gdański in Gdańsk Pomerania.[11] In 1961 the city limits were expanded by including the settlement of Kluczewo as a new district.[5]

In 1979 the city suffered a flood.

In 1993 the city celebrated the 750th anniversary of receiving city rights.[11]

In 2004 a north-western part of the town was made into an industrial park - Stargardzki Park Przemysłowy. Another industrial park is located in the south - Park Przemysłowy Wysokich Technologii.

On January 1, 2016, the town was renamed Stargard.[19]

Landmarks and monuments

Sights of Stargard
Brama Młyńska
167px
Renaissance Town Hall
167px
A Gothic townhouse, today a music school
167px
Arsenal
167px
Medieval town walls with the Pyrzycka Gate
167px
St. John's Church
167px
Wałowa Gate
167px
War cemetery

Heavy bombing during World War II devastated most of Stargard's fine historical sites and destroyed over 75% of the city. Some of these monuments, such as St. Mary's Church (13th–15th centuries) and the 16th-century town hall, have been rebuilt.[20] The newly restored buildings are on the European Route of Brick Gothic. Some of the notable surviving examples include:

  • St. Mary's Church, a distinctive Brick Gothic landmark of the city, dating back to the 15th century, one of the largest brick churches in Europe, listed as a Historic Monument of Poland[21]
  • St. John's Church from the 15th century
  • Medieval fortifications, including ramparts, walls, gates and towers, also listed as a Historic Monument of Poland,[21] prime examples:
    • Brama Młyńska (The Mill Gate) from the 15th century, the only Polish water gate still in existence and one of two in Europe
    • Wałowa Gate from the 15th century
    • Pyrzycka Gate from the 13th century
    • Red Sea Tower (Baszta Morze Czerwone) from 1513
    • Weavers' Tower (Baszta Tkaczy) from the 15th century
    • White Head Tower (Baszta Białogłówka) from the 15th century
  • Renaissance town hall, that has been known as one of the most remarkable examples of 16th-century central European architecture[22]
  • Gothic tenement houses
  • Gothic Arsenal (Arsenał)

Other sites include:

Sport

File:Spójnia Anwil 02.03.2019.jpg
Polish Basketball League match between Spójnia Stargard and Anwil Włocławek in Stargard in 2019

The city is home to Spójnia Stargard, a men's basketball team, which competes in the Polish Basketball League (the country's top division), 1997 runners-up, and Błękitni Stargard, formerly a multi-sports club, now a men's association football team, best known for reaching the Polish Cup semi-final in 2015.

Demographics

File:Budynek MDK Stargard po remoncie.jpg
Youth Culture Centre
File:Stargard - Sąd Rejonowy.jpg
District court
File:Cukrownia Kluczewo.jpg
Sugar refinery in the Kluczewo district
Number of inhabitants in years.[23][24][11][15]
Year Inhabitants
1618 12,000
1640 1,200
1688 3,600
1720 400
1740 5,529
1782 5,612
1786 6,243
1794 5,971
1812 8,900
1816 8,042
1831 9,907
1843 11,192
1852 12,473
1861 14,168
1875 20,173
1885 22,112
1900 26,858
1905 26,907
1910 27,551
1913 28,000
1929 34,600
1933 35,773
1939 39,760
1945 2,870
1950 20,684
1960 33,650
1970 44,460
1980 59,227
1990 71,000
1995 72,254

Notable people

File:Margaret (Małgorzata Jamroży) By Daniel Åhs Karlsson (cropped).jpg
Margaret, singer-songwriter

International relations

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See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Poland

Twin towns — sister cities

Stargard is twinned with:[25]

In Fiction

In The Cross Time Engineer science fiction series of novels the main character falsely claims Stargard origin to conceal he is a time traveler.

Notes

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Data for territorial unit 3214011.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Grzegorz Podruczny Niezrealizowane projekty twierdzy w Stargardzie, "Stargardia X" (2015), p. 282 (in Polish)
  7. ↑ Gustav Kratz, Die Städte der Provinz Pommern. Abriss ihrer Geschichte, zumeist nach Urkunden, Berlin, 1865, p. 363
  8. ↑ Podruczny, p. 283
  9. ↑ Kratz (1865), p. 367-368
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Kratz (1865), p. 368
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Jolanta Aniszewska, W obowiązku pamięci... Stalag II D i formy upamiętnienia jeńców wojennych w Stargardzie Szczecińskim, "Łambinowicki rocznik muzealny" Tom 34, Opole, 2011, p. 11 (in Polish)
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Aniszewska, p. 9, 14
  17. ↑ Aniszewska, p. 14
  18. ↑ Aniszewska, p. 17
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 17 września 2010 r. w sprawie uznania za pomnik historii "Stargard Szczeciński - zespół kościoła pod wezwaniem Najświętszej Marii Panny Królowej Świata oraz średniowieczne mury obronne miasta", Dz. U. z 2010 r. Nr 184, poz. 1236
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Kratz (1865), p. 370
  24. ↑ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. 6th edition, vol. 18, Leipzig and Vienna 1909, p. 857.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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