Brusy (
Kashubian: ''Brusë''; formerly german: Bruß) 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 ...
, located in the
Pomeranian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 5,201.
History
Brusy was a royal village of the
Polish Crown
The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, incl ...
, administratively located in the Tuchola County in the
Pomeranian Voivodeship.
Since the 19th century Brusy was an important center of the
Kashub movement, although a fair amount of Kashubians from Brusy emigrated to Winona, Minnesota in the late 1900s. In 2007, the ninth Congress of Kashubians was held here, and in 2012, the annual
Kashubian Unity Day celebration was conducted here. A Kashubian secondary school is also located in the town.
During the
German occupation of Poland
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
**Ger ...
(
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
), inhabitants of Brusy were among over 450 Poles massacred by the Germans in autumn of 1939 in the Igielska Valley. In November 1939 the
SS,
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
and
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 ...
murdered local Polish teachers in a large massacre of Polish teachers near
Skarszewy. Further executions of local Poles were carried out in January 1940 in the Igielska Valley and in the fields near
Chojnice
Chojnice (; , or ''Chòjnice''; german: Konitz or ''Conitz'') is a town in northern Poland with 39,423 inhabitants as of December 2021, near the Tuchola Forest. It is the capital of the Chojnice County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
History
Pias ...
. In May 1942, the Germans
expelled dozens of Poles, whose farms were handed over to
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
as part of the ''
Lebensraum
(, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imper ...
'' policy. The secret
Polish resistance organization
Pomeranian Griffin (Gryf Pomorski) operated in the Brusy area under the leadership of Colonel Józef Wrycza, who was also a Roman Catholic priest. The Germans set up a
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
training ground in the vicinity, and located its administration in Brusy. Brusy was also the location of the Nazi German Bruss subcamp of the
Stutthof concentration camp
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German- ...
, in which around 500 female prisoners were held as
forced labour.
The town has obtained city rights on 1 January 1988.
Notable people
*
Stanisław Lamczyk (born 1957) a Polish politician, elected to the Sejm in 2005
*
Piotr Piekarski (born 1964) a retired Polish 800 metres runner, participated in the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
*
Jan Wyrowiński
Jan Alfons Wyrowiński (born 27 August 1947, Brusy) is a Polish politician and Kashubian activist. He was the chairman of Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
The Kashubian-Pomeranian Association ( Kashubian- Pomeranian: ''Kaszëbskò-Pòmòrscz ...
(born 1947) a Polish politician and Kashubian activist
See also
*
Brusy (PKP station)
*
Krëbane
References
External links
Official site
Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship
Chojnice County
{{Pomorze-geo-stub