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

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

near the

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

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

Chełmno County Chełmno County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1 ...

in the

Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship * Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) in Poland. * Kuyavian-Pomeranian is one of 13 Polish constituency of the European Parliament. * Kuyavian-Pomeranian Regional Assembly is the regional legislature of t ...

. Due to its regional importance in the

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

, the town gave its name to the entire area, Chełmno Land (and later an administrative unit of the Kingdom of Poland, the

Chełmno Voivodeship The Chełmno Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland since 1454/1466 until the Partitions of Poland in 1772/1793. Its capital was at Chełmno. Together wi ...

), the local Catholic diocese and Kulm law, a municipal form of government for over 180 cities and towns in Central Europe, most notably

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsz ...

Płock Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

and

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

. It possesses a well-preserved historic Old Town, listed as a Historic Monument of Poland, with landmark Gothic churches and a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

town hall. It was an important education center in the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

, and the place of pioneering surgical operations by renown Polish 19th-century surgeon Ludwik Rydygier.

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 Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

as a Polish

fief A fief (; ) 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 feudal alle ...

in 1232, the Germanized name ''Culm/Kulm'' was used in official documents regarding the town, as the city was a member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

and part of the

State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...

. Chełmno was annexed by Prussia in the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

in 1772 and, as part of a larger

Germanization Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people, and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nati ...

effort, it was officially renamed ''Kulm''. During the German occupation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

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 " Kulm law" (renewed in 1251), the model system for over 200 currently Polish, Lithuanian and Russian 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, to some other part of the Catho ...

William of Modena William of Modena ( – 31 March 1251), also known as ''William of Sabina'', ''Guglielmo de Chartreaux'', ''Guglielmo de Savoy'', ''Guillelmus'', was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat.

in 1243 (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

. In the 14th century, papal verdicts ordered the restoration of the town and region to Poland, however, the Teutonic Knights did not comply and continued to occupy it. The town remained part of the Teutonic Knights' state until 1454. In 1440, the town was one of the founding members of the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

reincorporated the territory to the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

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

. 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

. 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, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

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 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 The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, the oldest and leading Polish university. Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, one of the greatest Polish

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

composers, was a lecturer at the Academy in the 1690s. In 1772, following the

, the town was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Between 1807 and 1815 Chełmno was part of the short-lived Polish

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

, being re-annexed by Prussia at the end of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

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

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

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. On 1 October 1890 the cadet school was moved to

Koszalin Koszalin (; ; , ) 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-status city and capital of Koszalin County of West Pomera ...

(then ''Köslin'') in

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

. Also as part of anti-Polish 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. 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 22 January 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. When

broke out in 1939,

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

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, Małe Czyste, Podwiesk,

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 area ...

, Dąbrowa Chełmińska, and Wielkie Łunawy, while many other Poles were executed in forests. A number of Chelmno citizens are interviewed about these events in the documentary film ''Shoah'' (1985). The rest of the Polish population was expelled to the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

in the more eastern part of German-occupied Poland in line with the German policy of

Lebensraum (, ) is a German concept of expansionism and Völkisch movement, ''Völkisch'' nationalism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' beca ...

. 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 Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia () was an Reichsgau, 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), and the Marienwerder (regi ...

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 may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

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 of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...

). 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 Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

and

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, with the former making up two-thirds of its population in the second half of the 19th century. Kosciol farny widoczna wieza z ktorej mozna podziwiac panorame miasta

Kosciol farny widoczna wieza z ktorej mozna podziwiac panorame miasta

Main sights

Chełmno has a well-preserved medieval center, with five Gothic churches and a beautiful

town hall in the middle of the market square. The Old Town is one of Poland's official national Historic Monuments (''

Pomnik historii Historic Monument (, ) is one of several categories of objects of cultural heritage in Poland, objects of cultural heritage (in the singular, ''zabytek'') in Poland. To be recognized as a Polish historic monument, an object must be declared suc ...

''), as designated 20 April 2005, and tracked by the National Heritage Board of Poland. *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 or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...

) **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

Grudziądz Grudziądz (, ) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its province. Grudziądz is one of the oldest citie ...

ka 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 *

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 or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

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

Notable residents

* Brunon Bendig (1938–2006), amateur boxer * Adam Cieśliński (born 1982), footballer * Friedrich-Carl Cranz (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

composer, lecturer at the Chełmno Academy *

Antoni Grabowski Antoni Grabowski (11 June 1857 – 4 July 1921)Julius Glück, ''El la klasika periodo de Esperanto (Grabowski kaj Kabe)'', en Muusses Esperanto Biblioteko No. 5, Purmerend, 1937. p. 6. was a Polish chemical engineer, and an activist of the early ...

(1857–1921), chemical engineer,

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

activist *

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

(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 is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

* Wojciech Stanisław Leski (1702–1758), Bishop of Chelmno * Hermann Löns (1866–1914), writer * Grzegorz Mielcarski, (born 1971), former professional footballer * Dariusz Mioduski (born 1964), entrepreneur, lawyer, owner of

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

* Michael Otto (born 1943), entrepreneur * Franciszek Raszeja (1896–1942), doctor * Leon Raszeja (1901–1939), lawyer * Ludwik Rydygier (1850–1920), renown surgeon and professor of medicine * Walter Schilling (1895–1943), Wehrmacht general * Kurt Schumacher (1895–1952), German politician * Max Sperling (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 oft ...

(1806–1856), philosopher * Adolf Wach (1843–1926), German jurist * Jakub Zabłocki (1984–2015), footballer

Gallery

File:SM Chełmno Ratusz (4) ID 601491.jpg, Chełmno Market Square File:Zespół klasztorny Sióstr Miłosierdzia w Chełmnie...JPG, Convent of the Sisters of Charity 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:CHEŁMNO, AB-045.jpg, Grudziądzka Street in the Old Town File:Chelmno brama Grudziadzka wsch 02.jpg, Grudziądzka Gate File:Chełmno, wieża ciśnień (2).jpg, Water tower File:Chelmno, park.jpg, Planty Park File:SM Chełmno Dominikańska 35 2022 (1).jpg, High school File:Chełmno, Rybacka 2, poczta.jpg, Post office File:Kościół Garnizonowy, Chełmno, Polska - panoramio (3).jpg, Garrison Church of Our Lady of Częstochowa File:Chełmno - Ulica Dworcowa Urząd Miasta - panoramio.jpg, Municipal office File:Chełmno, kaplica św. Marcina, XIV w.jpg, Saint Martin chapel

References

External links

* "Shoah (Film) Interview with Gustav Laabs"
Interview
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Chełmno County Populated places on the Vistula Kulm law Holocaust locations in Poland Sites of World War II massacres of Poles Members of the Hanseatic League