The Neustadt district was a Prussian district that existed from 1818 to 1920. It was in the part of West Prussia that fell to

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 ...

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 ...

through the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. From 1939 to 1945 the district was re-established in occupied Poland as part of the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. Today the area of the former district is in the Polish

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...

History

With 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 ...

, the district became part of 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 ...

in 1772 and initially belonged to the Dirschau district in the province of West Prussia. In the course of the Prussian administrative reforms, on April 30, 1815, the area became part of the Danzig administrative region in the province of West Prussia. As part of a comprehensive district reform in the Danzig region, the new ''district of Neustadt was'' formed on April 1, 1818 from the northern part of the Dirschau district. It included the urban centers of Neustadt, Hela and Putzig. The district office was established in Neustadt. From December 3, 1829 to April 1, 1878, West Prussia and

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

were united to form the Province of Prussia, which had belonged to the German Reich since January 1871. Due to the continuous growth of the population in the 19th century, some districts in West Prussia turned out to be too large and a downsizing appeared to be necessary. On October 1, 1887, the new Putzig district with the district office in the town of Putzig was formed from the northern part of the Neustadt district. The rural community of Zoppot received the town charter on April 1, 1902. After

, due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty, almost the entire Neustadt district had to be ceded by the German Reich on January 10, 1920. Most of the district was assigned to

. The city of Zoppot became part of the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

. A strip of territory west of Lake Żarnowiec with the municipality of Kniewenbruch remained in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and became part of the Lauenburg district in the Province of Pomerania. In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, the city of Neustadt was renamed ''Wejherowo'', after its founder Jakub Wejher. As a result of emigration, the German population in the area shrank considerably after 1920.

Demographics

Elections

In the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, the districts of Neustadt, Karthaus and Putzig formed the Reichstag constituency of ''Danzig 4''. This constituency was won by candidates from the Polish Party in all elections between 1871 and

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

Municipalities

In 1910, the Neustadt district comprised two cities and 55 rural communities: The city of Zoppot became part of the

in 1920 and the municipality of Kniewenbruch remained in Germany. All other municipalities were transferred to Poland in 1920.

Landkreis Neustadt in occupied Poland (1939–1945)

History

After the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

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 ...

, the territories of the former districts of Neustadt and Putzig were annexed and added to the newly formed Reichsgau West Prussia, later renamed Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. In the spring of 1945, the district was occupied by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and was restored to Poland.

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 ...

who settled in the district during the occupation, as well as native members of the German minority in Poland either fled or were expelled.

Place names

In some cases, place names were considered "not German" enough and were given a phonetic alignment, were translated or replaced by newly created names, for example: * Bojahn: Blücherode * Ceynowa: Ziegenhagen * Darslub: Buchheide * Gohra: first Bergen, then Rhedaberg * Goschin: Kaiserhof * Kolletzkau: Kollendorf * Polzin: Konradswiese * Quaschin: Quassendorf * Slawoschin: first Wittenbrock, then Wittenbrook

Notable people

* Florian Ceynowa (1817–1881), Kashubian activist, born in 1817 in Slawoschin, Neustadt district * Stanisław Maroński (1825–1907), grammar school teacher in Neustadt, published works on the subject of Polish history

References

{{coord missing, Pomeranian Voivodeship Neustadt district Neustadt WestPrussia Neustadt Westprussia district Wejherowo County