Przedecz () is a historic town in

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. ...

in the

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 central

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 1,779 inhabitants (2006).

Geography

The town is situated in central Poland, midway between

Chodecz Chodecz is a town in Włocławek County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in central Poland. It is situated in the historic region of Kuyavia, midway between Lubień Kujawski and Przedecz. It is about north of Łódź, west of Warsaw and s ...

and

Kłodawa Kłodawa is a town in the Koło County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship in central Poland with 6,699 inhabitants (2014). Kłodawa lies on the Rgilewka (a tributary of the Warta River). The town contains the Kłodawa Salt Mine, the largest opera ...

. It is located about northwest of

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, west of

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 ...

and east of

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 southeast side of Przedecz borders on the shore of Lake Przedecz. Nearby is one of the sources of the

Noteć The Noteć (; , ) is a river in central Poland with a length of (7th longest) and a basin area of .Pope Innocent II Pope Innocent II (; died 24 September 1143), born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as Pope was controversial, and the first eight years o ...

, denoting the settlement as a possession held by the Polish

Archbishops of Gniezno In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

. With the historic

Kujawy Kuyavia (; ), also referred to as Cuyavia, is a historical region in north-central Poland, situated on the left bank of Vistula, as well as east from Noteć River and Lake Gopło. It is divided into three traditional parts: north-western (with t ...

region, the fortified town was conquered 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 ...

during the First Polish–Teutonic War in 1329. The Teutonic Knights murdered the town's defenders. Re-acquired by King

Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great (; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, retaining the title throughout the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. He was the last Polish king fr ...

upon the 1343 Treaty of Kalisz, municipal laws were introduced in 1365 and Przedecz obtained the status of a

royal city Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

of 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 ...

. It was a county seat in the

Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship The Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship (, ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland (later Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), from the 14th century to the Second Partition of Poland in 1793. It was part of th ...

in the Greater Poland Province. A castle with a round tower dating from that time was reconstructed in the 1970s.Przedecz.net - Nieoficjalny Serwis Miasta Przedecz
/ref> The city rights were confirmed according to Magdeburg town law by King

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...

in 1420. During the mid-17th-century

Swedish Deluge The Deluge was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense, it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Pol ...

campaigns, castle and town were burnt down completely. Upon 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, Przedecz was occupied by

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

forces and incorporated into the newly established

South Prussia South Prussia (; ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1793 to 1807 created out of territory annexed in the Second Partition of Poland. History South Prussia was created out of territory annexed in the Second Partition of Poland and i ...

province; it passed to the Napoleonic

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 ...

in 1807 and to Russian

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

in 1815. From about 1824, a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

church was built by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

settlers on the ruins of the medieval castle. The present town hall, a Neoclassical building, was erected in 1826. Other sites of interest comprise the early twentieth century

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

parish church of the Holy Family by renown Polish architect

Józef Pius Dziekoński Józef Pius Dziekoński (born 5 May 1844, Płock – died 4 February 1924, Warsaw) was a Polish people, Polish architect and heritage conservator, a representative of the 19th-century historicism (architecture), historicism. He became the first de ...

. 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 ...

, in February 1863, after the Russian regiment left the town, a Polish insurgent unit arrived, took over the local weapons storage and took 10 Russian prisoners of war. Przedecz was stripped of its town rights in 1867 as punishment for the Polish January Uprising. The town rights were restored in 1919, shortly after Poland regained independence in 1918. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(

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 Jewish community of Przedecz, numbering around 800 and comprising about 25 percent of the town's residents, was wiped out by the occupants. Some were murdered in the town; most were sent to 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 ...

where they were immediately gassed. There were only 13 known survivors but none returned to the town to live. Several historic buildings used by the community remain. In June 1940, 360

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 expelled from Przedecz, mostly 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 ...

, while 50 Poles were deported to

forced labour 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, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

to Germany, and their houses, shops and workshops were then handed over to German colonists as part of the ''

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 ...

'' policy.

Sports

The local

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 ...

club is Baszta Przedecz. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable people

Władysław Umiński Władysław Jan Umiński (10 November 1865 – 31 December 1954) was a Polish journalist, fiction author, and science educator. An early science-fiction writer, he has been dubbed "the Polish Jules Verne" and recognized as a pioneer of Polish s ...

(1865–1954), author

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Greater Poland Voivodeship Koło County Holocaust locations in Poland it:Przedecz