Sępólno Krajeńskie (german: Zempelburg) is a town in northern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, in the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as Cuiavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship or simply Kujawsko-Pomorskie, or Kujawy-Pomerania Province ( pl, województwo kujawsko-pomorskie ) is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divide ...
. It is the capital of
Sępólno County
__NOTOC__
Sępólno County ( pl, powiat sępoleński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish l ...
(P''owiat Sępoleński'') and
Gmina Sępólno Krajeńskie.
Zempelburg was part of Greater Poland until 1772. From 1772 to 1807, it belonged to Prussia. From 1807 to 1815, it was part of the Duchy of Warsaw. The city was recaptured by Prussia and became part of
West Prussia
The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kin ...
from 1815 to 1920.
In 2016, it had a total population of 15,907 with an urban population of 9,258 and rural population of 6,649.
Location
The city is located in the historical
Krajna
Krajna is a forested historical region in Poland, situated in the border area between the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Greater Poland, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomeranian Voivodeships of Pol ...
forest on a high bank of the
Sępólna River. It is located 63 km northwest of
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with mor ...
(Bromberg).
History
The town formed part of the
Kalisz Voivodeship of the
Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown
Greater Poland Province ( pl, Prowincja Wielkopolska) was an administrative division of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1795. The name of the province comes from the historic land of Greater Poland.
The Greater Poland Province c ...
from 1314-1793.
The town received
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...
in 1360 from King
Casimir the Great of Poland.
The Catholic church, mentioned as early as 1360, suggests that it was located in the
Sępólna River valley. According to legend, the castle manor was lost when the river and nearby Dziechowo lake flooded.
Sępólno was founded as a
private town
A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family.
History of Private Towns in Poland
In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc.
...
. It initially belonged to the Pakoski family. Later, it was owned by the
Ostroróg, Goślubski, Zebrzydowski, Smoszewski, Brez and Potulicki families until 1821.
During the
Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...
the area was captured by the Knights and the town was looted.
Sępólno suffered during the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
invasions and epidemics of the 17th century.
The Evangelical church on Schulenberg was destroyed in 1620. The location of a castle mentioned in 1679 is unknown.
In 1764, the Niederstadt had 79 houses and the suburbs 71.
In the 18th century, the town had a number of weavers, shoemakers and farmers. In 1773 Zempelburg had 70 craftsmen, including eight cloth makers and numerous shoemakers.
A new synagogue was built in 1734.
The
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
of the town traded textiles and other fabricated goods to both
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...
and
Duchy of Prussia
The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...
. The Jewish community in Zempelburg was still active until the early 20th century.
The town was annexed by the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
during the
First Partition of Poland in 1772. Fires in 1781 and 1782 destroyed 73 houses, so that there existed now 84 devastated sites in the town.
In the year of 1783 the town had altogether 183 houses, most of them having
thatched roof
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk o ...
s.
There was an influx of
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, who, however, gradually emigrated westwards in the 19th century.
[
Sępólno was part of the short-lived Polish ]Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...
in 1807–1815 during the Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
, and afterwards it was re-annexed by Prussia. The Evangelical church was built in 1857-1858 and has since been demolished.
In the 19th century, Jews were obliged to give 30 Tympf
The Tympf (rarely Timpf, Polish: Tymf) was a low-grade silver coin used in Poland-Lithuania, Brandenburg-Prussia, and Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
History
The coin was first struck in 1663 in Bromberg (present-day Bydgoszcz) in Poli ...
, nine veal roasts, six beef roasts, six pounds of tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, primarily made up of triglycerides.
In industry, tallow is not strictly defined as beef or mutton fat. In this context, tallow is animal fat that conforms to certain technical criteria, includ ...
, and one pound of gunpowder to the Catholic parish every year on Corpus Christi and Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...
.
In 1871, the town became part 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 hereditary ...
. Zempelburg formed part of the Flatow district of the province of West Prussia
The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kin ...
. It was a center for the textile and shoemaking industries. Despite 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 lin ...
policies, Poles established various organisations, including the ''Bank Ludowy'' ("People's Bank") in 1910.
Until 1919, Zempelburg belonged to the district of Flatow in the administrative district of Marienwerder
Kwidzyn (pronounced ; german: Marienwerder; Latin: ''Quedin''; Old Prussian: ''Kwēdina'') is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa River, with 38,553 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Kwidzyn County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Geog ...
in the province of West Prussia of the German Reich. The city had 3818 inhabitants in 1910, of which 637 were Poles. In terms of religion, in 1905 there were 57.0% Protestants, 32.7% Catholics and 10.3% Jews.
After the First World War, Zempelburg had to be ceded to Poland without a referendum due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 19 ...
in 1920 for the purpose of establishing the Polish Corridor
The Polish Corridor (german: Polnischer Korridor; pl, Pomorze, Polski Korytarz), also known as the Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia (Pomeranian Voivodeship, easter ...
. It was incorporated into the new Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province ( Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk.
Th ...
. The German-speaking residents of Zempelburg became the ethnic minority of German Poles. Zempelburg received the Polish name Sępólno Krajeńskie. At that time, the town was the district seat of the Sępoleński Powiats.
In 1920, the eastern part of the former Flatow district with the towns of Kamień Krajeński
Kamień Krajeński (; ''Kamień Pomorski'' between 1920–1945; german: Kamin in Westpreußen) is a town in Sępólno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, with 2,276 inhabitants (2004). It is located within the ethnocultur ...
, Więcbork and Sępólno was reintegrated with the restored Polish Republic after the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...
. The town became the seat of Sępólno County
__NOTOC__
Sępólno County ( pl, powiat sępoleński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish l ...
.
World War II
Sępólno was invaded
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
on September 1, 1939,[ the first day of ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, and was later annexed and made the seat of Zempelburg district within the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship ( Polish Corridor ...
. During the German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...
, 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 ...
were subject to persecutions, mass arrests, 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 lin ...
, expulsions and massacres. Numerous Poles were imprisoned in a concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
in Radzim and in a prison established by the ''Selbstschutz
''Selbstschutz'' (German for "self-protection") is the name given to different iterations of ethnic-German self-protection units formed both after the First World War and in the lead-up to the Second World War.
The first incarnation of the ''Selb ...
'' in Sępólno, and later murdered on site or deported to other Nazi concentration camps.[Maria Wardzyńska, ''Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion'', IPN, Warszawa, 2009, p. 168 (in Polish)] Mass arrests of Poles were carried out from September 1939,[ and the first executions of Polish inhabitants were carried out by the Germans at the turn of September and October 1939.][ Mass executions of Poles in Sępólno were carried out in various places, for example on the railway tracks connecting Sępólno and Kamień Krajeński (in October 1939), at the primary school and at the shooting range (in November 1939),][ local Poles were also murdered in Radzim, Karolewo, Rudzki Most.][ Local Jews were also murdered in Radzim.][ In early 1945, the town was captured by the ]Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in ...
, who plundered the town, sexual abused residents, deported Germans to Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
, and fought the Polish underground resistance movement.[ Afterwards the town was restored to Poland.
Landmarks of Sępólno Krajeńskie include a ]Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
church in the market built in 1857.
Number of inhabitants by year
Points of interest
Notable residents
* Moritz Brasch (1843-1895), philosopher
* (born 1967), Polish international footballer
* Aaron ben Eliezer Lipman (mid-seventeenth century), rabbi
References
External links
Official town website
Literature
* F. W. F. Schmitt: ''Topographie des Flatower Kreises''. In: ''Preußische Provinzialblätter'', ''Andere Folge'', Vol. VI, Königsberg 1854, pp. 257–289
Online
and pp. 432–461
Online
, Vol. VII, Königsberg 1855, pp. 42–46
Online
and pp. 105–118
Online
(in German)
* Goerke, Otto: ''Der Kreis Flatow. In geographischer, naturkundlicher und geschichtlicher Beziehung dargestellt.'' . Auflage: 19182. Auflage, Gifhorn 1981, mit einem Nachtrag über die Zeit von 1918 bis 1945 von Manfred Vollack (902 Seiten, 113 Abbildungen und sieben Karten) (in German)
* Mathias Niendorf: ''Minderheiten an der Grenze - Deutsche und Polen in den Kreisen Flatow (Złotów) und Zempelburg (Sępólno Krajeński) 1900–1939'' (PhD thesis, University of Kiel 1996). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1997,
restricted preview, in German
* Günter Bleck: ''Die deutsche Bevölkerung in den Herrschaften Zempelburg und Vandsburg 1750–1812''. J. G. Herder-Bibliothek Siegerland, 1991 (in German).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sepolno Krajenskie
Cities and towns in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Sępólno County
Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)