Chełmno, often known by its full name Chełmno nad Nerem (; meaning ''Chełmno on the Ner river'') is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of Gmina Dąbie, within

Koło County __NOTOC__ Koło County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms in 1998. ...

Greater Poland Voivodeship Greater Poland Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland (''Wielkopolska'' ). The modern province includes most of this historic re ...

, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Koło and east of the regional capital

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

. The village has a population of 350. It is the location of the founded in 1994.

History

The oldest known mention of the village comes from the Bull of Gniezno of 1136. In 1284, Duke of Greater Poland and future King of Poland

Przemysł II Przemysł II ( also given in English and Latin language, Latin as ''Premyslas'' or ''Premislaus'' or in Polish as '; 14 October 1257 – 8 February 1296) was the Duke of Poznań from 1257–1279, of Greater Poland from 1279 to 1296, of Kraków fr ...

, confirmed the donation of the village to the Archdiocese of Gniezno. A local parish church surely existed already in 1521.

Jan Łaski Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco (1499 – 8 January 1560) was a Polish Calvinist reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (1548–1553) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form ...

turned the village into a town, which was confirmed by King

Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV of P ...

of Poland in 1530; however, soon Chełmno became a village again. Administratively it was located in the Łęczyca County in the

Łęczyca Voivodeship Łęczyca Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland from the 14th century until the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of Greater Poland Province, and its capital was in Łęczyca. The voivod ...

in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. In the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

, in 1793, the village was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. In 1807, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived

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 ...

, and following the duchy's dissolution in 1815, it fell to the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

of Poland. In 1827, the village had a population of 335. During the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

, on October 7, 1863, a Polish insurgent unit repulsed a Cossack attack near Chełmno. Following

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 ...

, in 1918, Poland regained independence and control of the village. During

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 ...

, from 1939 to 1945, the village was occupied by Germany, which renamed it . It is the historic site of the

Chełmno extermination camp Chełmno, or Kulmhof, was the first of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and was situated north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Germany annexed ...

, operated in 1941–1945 by

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

. In 1987, the Holocaust Museum in Chełmno was established as branch of the District Museum in

Konin Konin () is a city in central Poland, on the Warta River. It is the capital of Konin County and is located within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. In 2021 the population of the city was 71,427, making it the fourth-largest city in Greater Poland af ...

. The site has been the subject of historical studies for decades, and a lot of preliminary work has already been done between 1961 and 1964; but also, serious mistakes were made at that time, for example, the remnants of the original gas van were not saved. In the 1980s,

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

was used to map out the precise location of the mass graves, the barracks and the field crematorium. Further archeological studies were conducted, and the foundations of various camp structures were unearthed and preserved, including the Las rzuchowski (Rzuchowski forest) cemetery. They were followed by archival research and interviews with the locals. The construction of the actual museum began in 1988. It was inaugurated on 17 June 1990, along with the newly built Wall of Remembrance long. The new memorials are still being added to the site. The camp museum is visited by around 50,000 guests annually.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Villages in Koło County Holocaust locations in Poland