Dobiegniew (german: Woldenberg) is a town in western

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 ...

, in

Lubusz Voivodeship Lubusz Voivodeship, or Lubuskie Province ( pl, województwo lubuskie ), is a voivodeship (province) in western Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra Voivodeships, pursuant to the Pol ...

, in

Strzelce-Drezdenko County __NOTOC__ Strzelce-Drezdenko County ( pl, powiat strzelecko-drezdenecki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government ( powiat) in Lubusz Voivodeship, western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Pol ...

. As of December 2021, the town has 3,004 inhabitants.

History

The area formed part of

Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; german: Großpolen, sv, Storpolen, la, Polonia Maior), is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city ...

in Piast-ruled

. The settlement was mentioned in 1250, when Duke Przemysł I of Greater Poland granted it to Cistercians from

Owińska Owińska is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czerwonak, within Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately north of Czerwonak and north of the regional capital Poznań. The villag ...

.Krzysztof Niedziałkowski, ''Ślad Woldenberczyków w życiu Dobiegniewa po 1945 roku'' (in Polish)
/ref> In 1280 it was mentioned under the Latinized name ''villa Dobegneve'' in a document of

Przemysł II Przemysł II ( also given in English and 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 from 1290 to 1291 ...

of Poland. It was granted

town rights 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 1298. In 1333 the town's name is mentioned as „Waldinborg“. In 1373, along with the region it became part of the Czech Crown Lands, ruled by the

Luxembourg dynasty The House of Luxembourg ( lb, D'Lëtzebuerger Haus; french: Maison de Luxembourg; german: Haus Luxemburg) or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as king ...

. In 1402, the Luxembourgs reached an agreement with

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 ...

, according to which Poland was to purchase and re-incorporate the region,Leon Rogalski, ''Dzieje Krzyżaków oraz ich stosunki z Polską, Litwą i Prussami, poprzedzone rysem dziejów wojen krzyżowych'', Vol. II, Warszawa, 1846, p. 59-60 (in Polish) but eventually the Luxembourgs sold it to the

Teutonic Order 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 ...

. It was captured by joint Polish-Czech forces in 1433, during the Polish–Teutonic War (1431–1435). When another Polish-Teutonic war broke out in 1454, the Teutonic Knights sold the region to the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out ...

in order to raise funds for war. The prosperity of the town came from agriculture, clothmaking and trade. It was located on the trade route connecting

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

and

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

, and despite its annexation from Poland, it still had strong ties with

. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

(1618–1648) many Poles settled in the town, and until 1660 local merchants were exempt from

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...

s in trade with

. From the 18th century it was part of 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: ...

and from 1871 also Germany, until 1945. During

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

Oflag II-C Oflag II-C Woldenburg was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located about from the town of Woldenberg, Brandenburg (now Dobiegniew, western Poland). The camp housed Polish officers and orderlies and had an area of with 25 brick hu ...

German

POW 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 prison ...

was located nearby (today within the city limits). The camp housed Polish officers. Today it houses the ''Muzeum Woldenberczyków'', which is dedicated to the history of the prisoners. The Germans also established a prison for foreigners, mostly Poles, accused of wanting to escape from

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of e ...

. In the final stages of World War II, the town was heavily destroyed and finally captured in January 1945. Subsequently, the town became again part of Poland and its historic name ''Dobiegniew'' was restored.

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Dobiegniew.

References

External links

Official town websiteJewish Community in Dobiegniew
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Cities and towns in Lubusz Voivodeship Strzelce-Drezdenko County