Chełmno (; older en, Culm; formerly ) is a town in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

near the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in t ...

river with 18,915 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the seat of the Chełmno County 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 divid ...

. Due to its regional importance in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the city gave its name to the entire area, Chełmno Land (and later an administrative unit of the Kingdom of Poland, the Chełmno Voivodeship), the local Catholic diocese and

Kulm law Kulm law, Culm law or Chełmno Law (german: Kulmer Recht; lat, Jus Culmense vetus; pl, Prawo chełmińskie) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities during the Middle Ages. It was initia ...

, which was used to found cities and towns around Poland, including the current capital city of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

Name

The city's name ''Chełmno'' comes from ''chelm'', the old Polish word for hill. After the area was granted to 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 on ...

as a Polish

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

in 1232, the Germanized name ''Kulm'' was used in official documents regarding the town, as the city was a member of the Hanseatic League and part of the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order (german: Staat des Deutschen Ordens, ; la, Civitas Ordinis Theutonici; lt, Vokiečių ordino valstybė; pl, Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego), also called () or (), was a medieval Crusader state, located in Cent ...

. Chełmno was annexed by Prussia in the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and, as part of a larger

Germanization 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 ling ...

effort, it was officially renamed ''Kulm''. 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 193 ...

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 ...

, the town was again renamed from Chełmno to ''Kulm''.

History

The first written mention of Chełmno is known from a document allegedly issued in 1065 by Duke Bolesław II the Generous of Poland for the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

monastery in Mogilno. In 1226 Duke

Konrad I of Masovia Konrad I of Masovia (ca. 1187/88 – 31 August 1247), from the Polish Piast dynasty, was the sixth Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia from 1194 until his death as well as High Duke of Poland from 1229 to 1232 and again from 1241 to 1243. Life Konrad w ...

invited the

to Chełmno Land. In 1233 Kulm was granted city rights known as "

" (renewed in 1251), the model system for over 200 Polish towns. The town was made the nominal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chełmno under the archbishop of Riga by the

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

William of Modena in

1243 Year 1243 ( MCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March – King Ferdinand III (the Saint) turns the independent Taifa of Murcia ...

(however, the cathedral and the residence of the bishop were located actually in the adjacent Chełmża). The town grew prosperous as a member of the mercantile Hanseatic League. Kulm and Chełmno Land were part of the Teutonic Knights' state until 1454. In 1440, the town was one of the founding members of the

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the ...

, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which 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 ...

reincorporated the territory to 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 ...

in 1454. In May 1454 the town pledged allegiance to the Polish King in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

. After the end of the Thirteen Years' War, the Teutonic Knights renounced claims to the town, and recognized it as part of Poland. It was made the capital of Chełmno Voivodeship. After dissolution of the Archdiocese of Riga in 1566, the bishops of Chełmno attended the councils of the

Ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the metropolitan of Gniezno. This practice was recognised by the Holy See by the Bull ''De salute animarum'' in 1821, when Chełmno diocese became de jure a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Gniezno. Chełmno diocese was enlarged on that occasion ( Górzno,

Krajna Krajna is a forested historical region in Poland, situated in the border area between the Greater Poland, Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeships. The region consists of parts of Złotów, Piła, Sępólno, Nakło, Bydgoszcz and ...

and Działdowo). In 1692, the local gymnasium was transformed into the Chełmno Academy (''Akademia Chełmińska''), which in 1756 became a branch of the Jagiellonian University in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

, the oldest and leading Polish university. Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, one of the greatest Polish Baroque composers, was a lecturer at the Academy in the 1690s. In 1772, following the First Partition of Poland, the town was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: ...

. Between 1807 and 1815 Chełmno was part of the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, being re-annexed by Prussia at the end of 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 Fren ...

. As ''Kulm'', it had been a garrison town. In 1776

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

founded here a cadet school which was to serve in Germanising Polish areas and nobility.''Polacy i Niemcy wobec siebie'' Stanisław Salmonowicz, Ośrodek Badań Naukowych im. W. Kętrzyńskiego, 1993 In 1890 the garrison included 561 military staff.''Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon''. 14th edition, vol. 4, Berlin and Vienna 1892, p. 624-625 (in German). On 1 October 1890 the cadet school was moved to

Koszalin Koszalin (pronounced ; csb, Kòszalëno; formerly german: Köslin, ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-stat ...

(then ''Köslin'') in

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 t ...

.''Meyers Konversations-Lexikon''. 6th edition, vol. 11, Leipzig and Vienna 1908, p. 785-786 (in German). Also as part of

anti-Polish Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, ( pl, Antypolonizm), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These incl ...

policies, the Prussians expelled the Kraków professors from Chełmno, abolished the local Polish academy, and closed down Catholic monasteries. Poles were subjected to various repressions, local Polish newspapers were confiscated. Chelmno - klasztor i lazaret

Renown Polish surgeon Ludwik Rydygier opened his private clinic in the town in 1878, where he conducted pioneering surgical operations, including the first in Poland and second in the world surgical removal of the pylorus in a patient suffering from stomach cancer in 1880 and the first in the world peptic ulcer resection in 1881. Rydygier sold the clinic to one of his employees, Leon Polewski, in 1887, due to harassment from the Prussian authorities. On January 22, 1920 Polish troops were greeted by a large crowd of residents and Chełmno was reintegrated with Poland, which regained independence after

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, ...

. When

broke out in 1939, Nazi German authorities murdered 5,000 Polish civilians upon taking control of the territory.Institute of National Remembrance data, based on Leszczynski, Kazimierz "Eksterminacja ludności w Polsce w czasie okupacji niemieckiej 1939-1945", Warsaw, 1962 The atrocities took place in

Klamry Klamry (german: Klammer) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately east of Chełmno, north of Toruń, and north-e ...

, Małe Czyste,

Podwiesk Podwiesk (german: Podwitz) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately east of Chełmno, north of Toruń, and north-east ...

Płutowo Płutowo () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kijewo Królewskie, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. North of Płutowo village there is the Płutowo Nature Reserve with a total are ...

Dąbrowa Chełmińska Dąbrowa Chełmińska is a village in Bydgoszcz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Dąbrowa Chełmińska. It lies east of Bydgoszcz and north-w ...

, and

Wielkie Łunawy Wielkie Łunawy is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmno, within Chełmno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies east of Chełmno and north of Toruń. It is located in Chełmno Land wi ...

, while many other Poles were executed in forests. The rest of the Polish population was expelled to the General Government in the more eastern part of German-occupied Poland in line with the German policy of

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 Impe ...

. Polish Secret State resistance groups such as Polska Żyje ("Poland Lives"), Rota, Grunwald, and Szare Szeregi were also active in the area. The area was administered as part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and served as the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of the district/county (''kreis'') of Kulm. On 25 January 1945 German forces set fire to several buildings in the city, including a hospital, a railway terminal, and a brewery, while retreating (see

scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, commun ...

). The town was administratively part of the

Toruń Voivodeship Toruń Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–1998, superseded by the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Its capital city was Toruń. Major cities and towns (population in 1995 ...

from 1975 to 1998.

Demographics

Since its founding, the city had a mixed population of Poles and

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, with the former making ⅔ of its population in the second half of the 19th century.

Main sights

Chełmno has a well-preserved medieval center, with five

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

churches and a beautiful

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

town hall in the middle of the market square. The Old Town is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments ('' Pomnik historii''), as designated 20 April 2005, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland. Chełmno ratusz

*Gothic churches: **Church of St Mary, former main parochial church of town, built 1280-1320 (with St. Valentine

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

) **Church of Saints James and Nicholas, former Franciscan church, from the 14th century, rebuilt in the 19th century **Church of Saints Peter and Paul, former Dominican church, from the 13th and 14th centuries, rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries **Church of Saints John the Baptist and Johns the Evangelist, former Benedictine and Cistercian nuns' church, with monastery, built 1290-1330 **Church of Holy Ghost, from 1280–90 * Town hall, whose oldest part comes from the end of the 13th century, rebuilt in manneristic style (under Italian influence) in 1567-1572 *City walls which surround whole city, preserved almost as a whole, with watch towers and Grudziądzka Gate *

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

building constructed in 1811, now the seat of public library in Chełmno * Baroque building of the Chełmno Academy, reconstructed in the 19th century *Park Planty *Monument of Ludwik Rydygier Chełmno gives its name to the

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

called Chełmno Landscape Park, which stretches along the right bank of the Vistula.

Notable residents

* Brunon Bendig (1938–2006), amateur boxer *

Adam Cieśliński Adam Cieśliński (born 11 May 1982 in Chełmno) is a Polish footballer who plays as a forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association ...

(born 1982), footballer *

Friedrich-Carl Cranz __NOTOC__ Friedrich-Carl Cranz (14 November 1886 – 24 March 1941) was a German general during World War II who commanded 18th Infantry Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Cranz was killed 24 March 1941 in a tr ...

(1886–1941), general * Hans Dominik (1870–1910), colonial officer * Roderich von Erckert (1821-1900), ethnographer * Friedrich Fülleborn (1866–1933), physician and tropical disease specialist * Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (ca. 1665–1734), Polish Baroque composer, lecturer at the Chełmno Academy *

Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in th ...

(1888–1954), German general, ''blitzkrieg'' and tank theorist * Hyacinth (Jacek) Gulski (1847-1911), Roman Catholic Priest, leader of the Polish Diaspora in the United States, particularly in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

* Wojciech Stanisław Leski (1702–1758), Bishop of Chelmno * Hermann Löns (1866–1914), writer * Ernst Wilhelm Lotz (1890–1914), writer * Michael Otto (born 1943), entrepreneur * Franciszek Raszeja (1896–1942), doctor *

Leon Raszeja Leon Raszeja (1901–1939) was a Polish activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a ...

(1901–1939), lawyer * Maksymilian Raszeja (1889–1939), theologian * Ludwik Rydygier (1850–1920), renown surgeon and professor of medicine * Antoni Grabowski (1857–1921), chemical engineer,

Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...

activist *

Georg Salzberger Georg may refer to: * Georg (film), ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also

* George (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

(1882–1975), Jewish rabbi * Walter Schilling (1895–1943), Wehrmacht general * Kurt Schumacher (1895–1952), German politician *

Max Sperling __NOTOC__ Max Sperling (4 September 1905 – 6 June 1984) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht during World War II who briefly commanded the 9th Panzer Division. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Awards ...

(1905–1984), Wehrmacht officer *

Max Stirner Johann Kaspar Schmidt (25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner, was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is often seen a ...

(1806–1856), philosopher * Adolf Wach (1843–1926), German jurist *

Jakub Zabłocki Jakub Zabłocki (14 July 1984 – 22 August 2015) was a Polish professional footballer who played as a striker. Career In February 2011, he joined Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as ...

(1984–2015), footballer

Gallery

File:SM Chełmno Ratusz (4) ID 601491.jpg, Chełmno Market Square File:Chełmno Church of St James and St Nicholas 1.jpg, Saints James and Nicholas church File:CHEŁMNO, AB-034.jpg, Historic townhouses at the Market Square File:Chelmno Biskupia 2 01.jpg, Historic townhouses in the Old Town File:Chełmno, kościół św. Piotra i św. Pawła (1).jpg, Saints Peter and Paul church File:Kościół Garnizonowy, Chełmno, Polska - panoramio (3).jpg, Garrison Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa File:CHEŁMNO, AB-045.jpg, Grudziądzka Street in the Old Town File:Chelmno brama Grudziadzka wsch 02.jpg, Grudziądzka Gate File:Chelmno baszty (01).jpg, Defensive walls File:Chelmno, park.jpg, Planty Park File:Chełmno, szkoła, 1862-1866.JPG, High school File:Chełmno, Rybacka 2, poczta.jpg, Post office File:Chełmno, wieża ciśnień (2).jpg, Water tower File:Chełmno - Ulica Dworcowa Urząd Miasta - panoramio.jpg, Municipal office

References

External links

* "Shoah (Film) Interview with Gustav Laabs"
Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelmno Cities and towns in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Chełmno County Populated places on the Vistula Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939) Kulm law Nazi war crimes in Poland