Jastrowie () is a town in northwestern Poland in

Złotów County __NOTOC__ Złotów County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. Its administrative seat and largest town is Złotów, which lies north of the regional capital ...

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic re ...

. It has 8,900 inhabitants (1998) and lies on the edge of the Gwda River valley. The town is located on the Osoka stream.

History

Jastrowie was one of the southernmost centres of the Pomeranians. The territory became a part of the emerging Polish state under its first historical ruler,

Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...

, in the 10th century. At the beginning of the 14th century, it belonged to the Ujście

castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

y. Jastrowie was a royal village of the Kingdom of Poland, administratively located in the Poznań County in the

Poznań Voivodeship Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...

in the Greater Poland Province. On May 5, 1602, Jastrowie received the

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 ...

granted by Piotr Potulicki and confirmed by King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

was introduced in 1587 when the Catholic pastor converted, and in 1600, the old church was demolished and replaced by a new building. However, the Protestants could only keep the former Catholic parish church until 1619 because that year, the preacher Martin Goldbach converted to Catholicism, after which the church was returned to the Catholics. In the 17th century, the town developed quickly. New settlers arrived, including

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

from

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

, Scots and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. The religious struggle in Jastrowie reached its climax in 1768 when soldiers belonging to the Polish nobleman Roskowski killed the Lutheran preacher Willich. After the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

, the town was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. For the time being, the

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

went to the church services in the neighboring Pomeranian villages of Zamborst and Flederborn, but later - after 1773 - got their church with the support of the Prussian government. One of the main escape routes for surviving insurgents of the Polish

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

from partitioned Poland to the

Great Emigration The Great Emigration () was the emigration of thousands of Poles and Lithuanians, particularly from the political and cultural élites, from 1831 to 1870, after the failure of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and of other uprisings such as ...

led through the town. In the 19th century, Jastrowie, then officially called ''Jastrow'' in German, became one of the most important centres of horse trade. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Germans operated a

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

subcamp of the Stalag II-B

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

for Allied POWs in the town. The Polish resistance conducted espionage on German activity in the town. During the war, the town was an important point of the Pomeranian Wall, one of the most important German lines of fortification in the East. Polish troops eventually captured the town on 2 February 1945 and then restored to Poland. Currently, Jastrowie is the site of several wood and bicycle factories. It was part of the Piła Voivodeship from 1975 until 1998 when the

superseded the administrative region. Jastrowie's most important cultural event is its International Folk Festival, "Bukowińskie Spotkania".

Sites of interest

* Town Market (18th century) * Old Town Hall (16th century) * St. Mary's Queen of Poland Church (1882) * Michael's Archangel Church (1913) * Monument to Polish soldiers fallen in the Battle of Jastrowie in 1945 * Old townhouses and

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

houses

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club is . It competes in the lower leagues.

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Populated riverside places in Poland Złotów County