Pobiedziska () () is a town in

Poznań County Poznań 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 passed in 1998. ...

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 ...

, with 8,209 inhabitants as of the year 2004. It is also the seat of the administrative district (

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...

) called

Gmina Pobiedziska __NOTOC__ Gmina Pobiedziska is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Poznań County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. Its seat is the town of Pobiedziska, which lies approximately north-east of the regional capital ...

. The town's name comes from the word ''pobieda'' meaning victory. It was named by

Casimir I the Restorer Casimir I the Restorer (; 25 July 1016 – 19 March 1058), a member of the Piast dynasty, was the duke of Poland from 1040 until his death. Casimir was the son of Mieszko II Lambert and Richeza of Lotharingia. He is known as the Restorer because ...

in 1048 AD, possibly to commemorate his defeat of Masław, a rebellious

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

namiestnik A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

History

In 1257, Pobiedziska was granted

town privileges 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 ...

by Duke Przemysl who was co-ruler of

Posen Posen may refer to: Places Europe * Poznań (German: ''Posen''), city in Poland * Grand Duchy of Posen, autonomous province of Prussia, 1815–1848 * Province of Posen, Prussian province, 1848–1918 * Posen (region), the south-western part of t ...

, making the town independent from the

Ostrów Lednicki Ostrów Lednicki is an island in the southern portion of Lednica (lake), Lake Lednica in Poland, located between the cities of Gniezno and Poznań. The word ''ostrów'' is an Old Polish, archaic Polish word for "holm" (i.e., river or lake island) ...

castellany. In the various campaigns initiated by the Poles, in 1331, the town was destroyed by 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 ...

and it took many years to recover. It was a royal town of the Kingdom of Poland, administratively located in the Gniezno County in the

Kalisz Voivodeship Kalisz Voivodeship may also refer to: *Kalisz Voivodeship (1314–1793) * Kalisz Voivodeship (1816–1837) *Kalisz Voivodeship (1975–1998) The Kalisz Voivodeship was a voivodeship (province) of the Polish People's Republic from 1975 to 1989, an ...

in the Greater Poland Province. The town was often visited by

Władysław Jagiełło Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to: People Mononym * Włodzis ...

. In 1423 he funded the construction of a Church of the Holy Spirit as well as a hospital for the poor. After a century of anarchy in Poland, the country was partitioned between Europe's three Great Powers, Russia, Prussia and Austria. During 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 ...

, the province of Posen 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 ...

in 1793. After the Napoleonic wars it was re-annexed by Prussia in 1815, and from 1871 Posen province was also part of

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

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 ...

awarded Posen province, including the town, to the new resurrected Poland. Following the joint German-Soviet

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 ...

, which started

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 ...

in September 1939, the town was occupied by Germany until 1945. The first expulsions of 218

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 ...

were carried out in December 1939. A local unit of the ''Wielkopolska Organizacja Wojskowa'' Polish resistance organization was founded already in 1939, and the following year it became part of the larger ''Wojskowa Organizacja Ziem Zachodnich'' organization. Mieczysław Golus, commander of the local unit of the

Union of Armed Struggle The Union of Armed StruggleThus rendered in Norman Davies, ''God's Playground: A History of Poland'', vol. II, p. 464. (; ZWZ), also translated as the Union for Armed Struggle, Association of Armed Struggle, and Association for Armed Struggle ...

, was arrested by the Germans in 1942 and then sentenced to death and executed the following year.

Demographics

Sights

Sights of Pobiedziska include: * ''Rynek'' (Market Square) with colourful old townhouses and the

Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919) Greater Poland Uprising (also Wielkopolska Uprising or Great Poland Uprising) may refer to a number of armed rebellions in the region of Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish histor ...

Monument, a statue of Jesus Christ and the Lech, Czech, and Rus' Fountain *

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

Saint Michael Archangel church * Monument to

* Lakes: Biezdruchowskie, Małe, Dobre * Medieval open-air museum * Miniature park * Neoclassical Holy Spirit church * Convent of the Society of the Sacred Heart * Former home and memorial of

Michał Kozal Michał Kozal (27 September 1893 – 26 January 1943) was a Polish Roman Catholic bishop. Kozal was noted for his intelligence and dedication to studies and studied to become a priest during World War I, which disrupted his studies but did not p ...

, Polish bishop murdered by Nazi Germany in the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

Blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified * Blessed, a saint title assigned by the Eastern Orthodox Church to various saints, typical ...

of the Catholic Church.

Transport

Stacja kolejowa Pobiedziska - maj 2019 - 4

There are two railway stations in the town: Pobiedziska and Pobiedziska Letnisko, and the

voivodeship road According to classes and categories of public roads in Poland, a voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed sinc ...

194 passes through the town.

Sport

Pobiedziska is home to the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team Huragan Pobiedziska.

Notable residents

(1893–1943), Polish Roman Catholic bishop, murdered by the Germans in the

, served as a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

in Pobiedziska in 1918–1920. *

Andrzej Pieczyński Andrzej Pieczyński (born 17 December 1956) is a Polish actor. In 2003, he starred in the film '' An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God'' under Jerzy Hoffman. He is the ex-husband of actress Małgorzata Pieczyńska Małgorzata Pieczyńska ...

(born 1956), actor *

Antoni Palluth Antoni Palluth (11 May 1900, Pobiedziska, Province of Posen – 18 April 1944) was a founder of the AVA Radio Company. The company built communications equipment for the Polish military; the work included not only radios but also cryptographic e ...

(1900-1944), cryptographer and engineer * Antoni Świadek (1909-1945), priest and martyr * Jarosław Molenda (born 1965), writer * Wacław Strażewicz (born 1952), politician *

Willy Kaiser Wilhelm "Willy" Kaiser (16 January 1912 – 24 July 1986) was a German boxer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. Kaiser was born in Pudewitz, Province of Posen, German Empire. He won the gold medal in the flyweight class after ...

(1912–1986), German boxer, Olympic Gold medal 1936

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Populated lakeshore places in Poland Poznań County