Czarne (; formerly german: Hammerstein) is a town in

Człuchów County __NOTOC__ Człuchów County ( csb, Człëchòwsczi kréz, pl, powiat człuchowski) 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

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 ...

in northwestern

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 ...

. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 5,747.

Demographics

ImageSize = width:450 height:220 PlotArea = left:70 right:40 top:20 bottom:20 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify Colors = id:gray1 value:gray(0.9) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:6035 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2000 start:0 gridcolor:gray1 PlotData = bar:1772 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:670 width:15 text:670 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1810 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:1188 width:15 text:1188 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1857 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:1833 width:15 text:1833 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1900 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:3025 width:15 text:3025 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1939 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:4387 width:15 text:4387 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1955 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:2500 width:15 text:2500 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:1980 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:5400 width:15 text:5400 textcolor:red fontsize:8px bar:2004 color:gray1 width:1 from:0 till:6035 width:15 text:6035 textcolor:red fontsize:8px

History

The area formed part of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

until the Teutonic invasion in 1308. Konrad von Jungingen granted the settlement

town privileges 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 traditio ...

in 1395. It lay on the bank of the Czarna river, hence its modern name. It was an important trade and military point due to the nearby Teutonic Order and Pomeranian frontier. In 1454 the town and region were incorporated to

by 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 m ...

. After the Thirteen Years' War, according to the

Second Peace of Thorn (1466) The Peace of Thorn or Toruń of 1466, also known as the Second Peace of Thorn or Toruń ( pl, drugi pokój toruński; german: Zweiter Friede von Thorn), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 betwe ...

, it was recognized as part of Poland. Since then the town was part of the

in the Polish province of

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 later also in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

of Greater Poland. Czarne was the seat of the starosts (local royal administrators), they resided in the local castle. In 1627, it was site of the

Battle of Czarne The Battle of Czarne, also known as Battle of Hammerstein or Hamersztyn, took place during the Polish–Swedish War (1626–1629), between April 12 and 17, 1627 at Czarne (Hammerstein), in the province of Royal Prussia, Poland. The Polish force ...

, in which Poles under the command of

Stanisław Koniecpolski Stanisław Koniecpolski (1591 – 11 March 1646) was a Polish military commander, regarded as one of the most talented and capable in the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was also a magnate, a royal official (''starosta''), ...

defeated the invading

Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...

. After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the town was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

. It became part of the newly established 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 ...

in 1773. Prussian authorities ordered the demolition of the Czarne castle. In 1885 the

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

built a large training ground (''Übungsplatz'') there. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

used it for a large

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

for Russian prisoners. In

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 ...

it was the site of the notorious

Stalag II-B Stalag II-B was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp situated west of the town of Hammerstein, Pomerania (now Czarne, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland) on the north side of the railway line. It housed Polish, French, Belgian, Serbian, Dutch ...

in which tens of thousands, mainly

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

prisoners, died from disease, mistreatment and malnutrition. In 1945 the town became part of Poland under the terms of the post-war

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...

Notable residents

* Rudolf Hellgrewe (1860–1935), landscape painter and illustrator, painted Germany's colonies. * Alexander Beer (1873–1944), architect *

Henryk Moruś Henryk Moruś ( 25 March 1943 – August 18, 2013) was a Polish serial killer who was convicted in 1993 for committing seven murders in the territory of Piotrków Voivodeship. He was the last prisoner to be sentenced to death in Poland in accorda ...

(1943–2013), Polish serial killer who was convicted in 1993 for committing seven murders

References

External links

French site about Stalag II-B
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Człuchów County

Demographics

History

Notable residents

See also

References

External links