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Bytów (; csb, Bëtowò; formerly german: Bütow ) is a town in the
Gdańsk Pomerania Gdańsk Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze Gdańskie), csb, Gduńsczim Pòmòrzã, german: Danziger Pommern) is a geographical region within Pomerelia in northern and northwestern Poland, covering the bulk of Pomeranian Voivodeship. It forms a part and t ...
region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of
Bytów County __NOTOC__ Bytów County ( csb, bëtowsczi pòwiat, pl, powiat bytowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Po ...
in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The origins of Bytów can be traced back to the early Middle Ages when a fortified stronghold once stood near the town. In 1346 as ''Bütow'' it obtained Chełmno town rights from the Teutonic Order, which controlled it since 1329. During the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the town was the site of heavy fighting and changed hands over time. Eventually, King
Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the mo ...
granted the town to
Eric II, Duke of Pomerania Eric II or Erich II (between 1418 and 1425 – 5 July 1474) was a member of the House of Pomerania (also known as the House of Griffins) and was the ruling Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1457 to 1474. He was the son of Wartislaw IX of Pomera ...
, as a perpetual fiefdom. After the Partitions of Poland, Bytów became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and later also Germany, within which it remained until the end of World War II. At the final stages of the war, Bytów was the center of heavy artillery shelling initiated by the Red Army, resulting in more than 55% of the buildings destroyed. Throughout its whole history, Bytów was known to be a multicultural town inhabited by Kashubians,
Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Cen ...
,
Slovincians Slovincians, also known as Łeba Kashubians, is a near-extinct ethnic subgroup of the Kashubian people, who originated from the north western Kashubia, located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, from the area around the lakes of Łebsko and ...
, Germans, and Jews. Since 2000 a
bugle call A bugle call is a short tune, originating as a military signal announcing scheduled and certain non-scheduled events on a military installation, battlefield, or ship. Historically, bugles, drums, and other loud musical instruments were used fo ...
is played during important events which taking place in the area. Bytów is a popular tourist destination in the region of Pomerania and is famous for its medieval Teutonic Castle built in the late 14th century.


History

According to the city's official webpage the name Bytów comes from the founder of the settlement named "Byt".
Bytów Official Site
A settlement was first mentioned by the name of ''Butow'' in 1321. Bytów passed to the Teutonic Knights in 1329. From 1335 comes the oldest mention of a Catholic parish, which, however, could have existed since the 12th or 13th century. In 1346 it was granted
town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...
. The castle seen today was built by the Knights between 1399 and 1405 at the site of the older castle, to protect their western border. It has been the seat of an administrator of the State of the Teutonic Knights. This castle was captured by Poland after the
Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...
(1410), and king Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland gave it to
Bogislaw VIII, Duke of Pomerania Bogisław VIII ( – 11 February 1418),Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.149, a member of the House of Griffins, was Duke of Pomerania ruling in Pomerania-Stolp from 1395 until his death. He also served as administrator of the Prin ...
, for all of his lifetime as payment for support obtained from him against the Teutonic Knights. In the
Peace of Thorn (1411) The (First) Peace of Thorn was a peace treaty formally ending the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War between allied Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania on one side, and the Teutonic Knights on the other. It was signed on 1 February 1 ...
Bogislaw had to return the castle to the Knights. The town did not join the
Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the a ...
's revolt against the Teutonic Knights. The town alternated between Poland and the monastic state during the Polish-Teutonic Wars, and returned to Polish control after the Second Peace of Thorn (1466). Poland gave Bytów as lien to the Dukes of Pomerania. Since 1526 the Pomerania dukes held it as an inheritable lien. In 1627 during the Thirty Years' War, the town was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire. When the Pomeranian dukes died out in 1637 Bytów ceased to be a Polish fief and became directly ruled by Poland, administratively part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Then the local nobility obtained equal rights with the nobility of the entire Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Bytów was overshadowed by Lębork, which developed faster and became the seat of local starosts. In 1651 there was a dispute between the city authorities and the starost
Jakub Wejher Jakub Wejher (or Weyher, German ''Jakob Weiher'') (1609 – 1657), was a member of the Polish line of the Weyher family, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire and member of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth szlachta (nobility). His coat of ar ...
, regarding overdue taxes. To gain an ally against Sweden during
the Deluge The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microc ...
, in 1657 King John II Casimir of Poland gave the
Lauenburg and Bütow Land Lauenburg and Bütow Land (german: Länder or , csb, Lãbòrskò-bëtowskô Zemia, pl, Ziemia lęborsko-bytowska) formed a historical region in the western part of Pomerelia (Polish and papal historiography) or in the eastern part of Farther ...
to
Margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...
Frederick William of
Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenz ...
as a hereditary fief in the Treaty of Bydgoszcz. Although Poland still retained sovereignty, the town was administered by Brandenburg and, after 1701, by the Kingdom of Prussia. Brandenburg imposed higher taxes to pay off its debts after the Thirty Years' War. During the 18th century, the town suffered from fires and plague. In 1773 in the First Partition of Poland the town was wholly incorporated in the Prussian Province of Pomerania. In the 18th century attempts began at
Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In ling ...
of the indigenous Polish-Kashubian population by introducing
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
into schools. It remained a center of Polish resistance against Germanisation and was a Polish-Kashubian printing center. From 1846 to 1945, Bütow was the seat of the Landkreis Bütow district in Prussia. The town became part of the
German Empire The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...
in 1871 during the Prussian-led unification of Germany. Polish minority remained active in the city, and in 1910 a Polish Bank Ludowy was founded here. After the end of World War I and the re-establishment of independent Poland, the Treaty of Versailles kept the town in the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
in 1919. There was an economic decline, many Germans emigrated to western Germany, and the population was slowly decreasing. In the
interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
numerous Polish organizations, including the
Union of Poles in Germany Union of Poles in Germany ( pl, Związek Polaków w Niemczech, german: Bund der Polen in Deutschland e.V.) is an organisation of the Polish minority in Germany, founded in 1922. In 1924, the union initiated collaboration between other minorities, ...
, operated in the town. Poles were subjected to repressions. The hero of the local Polish population was a local Polish teacher, Jan Bauer, who was arrested by the Germans in 1929. Months before World War II, in 1939, the Germans carried out arrests of notable local Poles, incl. activists and the head of the local Polish bank. During World War II the Polish population was subject to deportations and executions, two of its leaders, and were imprisoned in
Sachsenhausen Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
and
Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...
s, however, the town remained a local center of the Polish resistance movement ( Kashubian Griffin). It was captured by the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
Red Army on 8 March 1945. Some inhabitants had fled before the Soviet advance. In April 1945, it was put under Polish administration, confirmed after the end of the war by the Potsdam Conference and the Polish name ''Bytów'' was restored. Those German inhabitants, which had remained in the town or had returned to it short after the war, were later on expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The indigenous Polish-Kashubian population was joined by Poles displaced from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union and from the rest of Kashubia. Bytów became the seat of a powiat (1946–1975, 1999-) within Poland. From 1975 to 1998 it was administratively part of the
Słupsk Voivodeship Słupsk Voivodeship. was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from 1975 to 1998, previously part of Szczecin Voivodeship (1945–50) and Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–75), superseded (since 1999) by Pomeranian Voivod ...
.


Kashubian Emigration to America

During the
Kashubian diaspora The Kashubian diaspora resulted from the emigration of Kashubians mainly in two waves occurring in the second half of the 19th century. The majority of Kashubian emigrants settled in the United States; others emigrated to Canada and Brazil. An onlin ...
, many families from Bytów such as the Brezas and the Pehlers emigrated to the area of Winona, Minnesota in the United States, beginning in 1859. The Prussian policy was to force the Kashubians out to make room for German settlers. Some Kashubians moved across the Mississippi River to Pine Creek, Wisconsin in the early 1860s. Many found jobs in the lumber mills during the lumber boom of the late 1800s occurring in the region.


Demographics

Up to the end of World War II most inhabitants of the town were Protestants. ;Number of inhabitants by year The above table is based on primary, possibly biased, sources.Kratz (1865)
p. 52
/ref>


Sights

*
Bytów Castle Bytów Castle is a gothic Teutonic castle and a former stronghold for Pomeranian dukes. History Teutonic Castle The Teutonic Knights began building the castle in 1390 on a hill in southeast Bytów. Mikołaj Fellenstein directed the castle's c ...
of the Teutonic Knights, built in 1399–1405, former castle of the Teutonic Knights, Dukes of Pomerania from the Griffin dynasty, and Polish royal officials, now housing the West Kashubian Museum (''Muzeum Zachodniokaszubskie'') *
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
tower of the old Saint Catherine church from the 14th century, now a historic museum * Church of St. George from the 17th century * Saints Catherine and John the Baptist church * Old railway bridge over Boruja river


Sports

Polish football club Bytovia Bytów is based in Bytów.


Notable residents

* Szimón Krofey (1545–1589), Polish-Kashubian pastor, teacher and publisher *
Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen (5 September 1775 – 16 July 1815) was a German chemist. Life and education Gehlen was born in Bütow, Farther Pomerania (now Bytów, Poland), he is known as the publisher of ''Neues allgemeines Journal der Chemie'' (1 ...
(1775–1815) German chemist, died from arsenic poisoning in Munich age 39 * Georg Warsow (1877-??) a German road racing cyclist who competed in the
1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, bet ...
* Wilhelm Abel (1904–1985), German economist, particularly agricultural economics and economic history. * Hansjoachim Walther (1939–2005), politician, became member of the
Third Kohl cabinet The Third Kohl cabinet led by Helmut Kohl was sworn in on March 12, 1987. The cabinet was formed after the 1987 elections. This cabinet oversaw the German Reunification. It laid down its function on January 18, 1991, after the formation of the ...
* Natalia Szroeder (born 1995) a Polish singer, songwriter and TV presenter * Kamil Małecki (born 1996) a Polish professional racing cyclist


International relations

Bytów is twinned with: One regular activity is the exchange of high school students between Bytow and Winona, .


Municipality of Bytów

Sołectwo A sołectwo (Polish plural: ''sołectwa'') is an administrative unit in Poland, an optional subdivision of a gmina. The actions and organs of the sołectwo are decided by the gmina council. On 31 December 2018 Poland had 40 740 sołectwa. Go ...
s in the urban-rural commune ( gmina) of Bytów include: Dąbie, Gostkowo, Grzmiąca, Mądrzechowo, Mokrzyn, Niezabyszewo, Płotowo, Pomysk Mały Pomysk Wielki, Rekowo, Rzepnica, Sierżno, Świątkowo, Udorpie, Ząbinowice.


Gallery

File:Saints Catherine and John the Baptist church in Bytów.jpg, Saints Catherine and John the Baptist Church File:Bytow(pischmak).JPG, Tower of St. Catherine Church File:Bytów (Bëtowò) - fotopolska.eu (123370).jpg, Town centre File:Old bridge in Bytów.JPG, Railway bridge in Bytów File:Bytów (Bëtowò), Sąd Rejonowy - fotopolska.eu (123050).jpg, District court


See also

*
Lauenburg and Bütow Land Lauenburg and Bütow Land (german: Länder or , csb, Lãbòrskò-bëtowskô Zemia, pl, Ziemia lęborsko-bytowska) formed a historical region in the western part of Pomerelia (Polish and papal historiography) or in the eastern part of Farther ...


References

;Footnotes


External links


Official website

Photo gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bytow Populated places established in the 12th century Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Bytów County Kashubian-American history Kulm law