Skórcz (german: Skurz, 1942-45: Großwollental) is a town in Starogard County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, 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 ...

, with 3,609 inhabitants (2017). It is located in the ethnocultural region of

Kociewie Kociewie is an ethnocultural region in the eastern part of Tuchola Forest, in northern Poland, Pomerania, south of Gdańsk. Its cultural capital is Starogard Gdański, the biggest town is Tczew, while other major towns include Świecie, Pelpl ...

in the historic region of

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

History

Following the joint German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

, which started

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 ...

in 1939, Skórcz was occupied by Germany. The nearby forest was the site of a massacre of 11

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 C ...

committed by the German ''

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 ...

''. A prison of the German gendarmerie was established in the town. Poles from Skórcz were among the victims of large massacres of Poles from the region committed by the occupiers in 1939 in the forests of Szpęgawsk and Zajączek as part of the ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders which was committed against the Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) early in the ...

''.Wardzyńska, pp. 150, 153 In 1942, the Germans renamed the town to ''Großwollental'' in attempt to erase traces of Polish origin. German occupation ended in 1945, and the town's historic name was restored. In 2010, the first monument to

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

, Polish President killed in the

Smolensk air disaster On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria, ...

, was unveiled in Skórcz.

Economy

Skórcz is home to the headquarters, production plant and distribution center of Iglotex, one of Poland's major producers and distributors of frozen foods. As of 2020, it employed nearly 700 people.

Sports

The

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

club LLKS Ziemi Kociewskiej Skórcz is based in the town.

Notable people

Grzegorz Gajdus Grzegorz Gajdus (born January 16, 1967 in Skórcz, Pomorskie) is a long-distance runner from Poland, who represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He ran his personal best (2:09:22) in 2003, when he finished in ...

(born 1967) a long-distance runner, competed in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

* Sławomir Pstrong (1975–2015), film and television director, screenwriter, and author of short stories.

References

Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Starogard County {{Starogard-geo-stub