Rajkowy (historical names: Raicovo, Raycow, Raichowe, Reykow, Reichenek; Kashubian: ''Rôjkòwë''; Raikau) is a large and historically significant

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 ...

of the Kociewie Land, in the administrative district of

Gmina Pelplin __NOTOC__ Gmina Pelplin is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Pelplin, which lies approximately south of Tczew and south of the regional capital Gda ...

, within

Tczew County __NOTOC__ Tczew County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. I ...

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 ...

, in northern Poland. It lies approximately north of

Pelplin Pelplin () is a town in northern Poland, in the Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Population: 8,320 (2009). Pelplin is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in Pomerania. It is home to one of the finest collections of medieval art ...

, south-east of

Tczew Tczew (, formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). It is the capital of Tczew County and the largest city of the ethnocultural region of Kociewie within th ...

, and south of the regional capital

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

. It is located within the historic region of

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

. Rajkowy finds its first mention in history in 1224 in the context of the donation of some of its lands to the

Oliwa Abbey The Oliwa Abbey was the Cistercians, Cistercian monastic community in Oliwa (now a district of Gdańsk), the oldest monastic establishment in Gdańsk Pomerania, which existed continuously from 1188 to 1831, now a Historic Monument (Poland), Histor ...

by Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania. The village was deeded in its entirety to the Abbey by

Mestwin II Mestwin II ( or ''Mszczuj II'') ( 1220 – December 25, 1294) was a Duke of Pomerelia, member of the Samborides dynasty. He ruled Pomerelia as a sole ruler from 1273 to 1294. Early life Mestwin II was the son of Swietopelk II and the Přemyslid ...

in 1289. Rajkowy was a royal village of the

Polish Crown The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (; ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland, assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the pa ...

, administratively located in the Tczew County in the

. 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 ...

), Rajkowy was one of the sites of executions of

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 ...

, carried out by the Germans in 1939 as part of the ''

Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders committed against the Polish people, Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) during the ...

''.''The Pomeranian Crime 1939'', IPN, Warsaw, 2018, p. 45

Notable people

Kazimierz Piechowski Kazimierz Piechowski (; 3 October 1919 – 15 December 2017) was a Polish engineer, and boy scout during the Second Polish Republic, and political prisoner of the Nazis held at Auschwitz concentration camp. He was a soldier of the Polish Home ...

(1919–2017), Polish engineer and soldier of the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

, escapee from

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

References

Villages in Kociewie Villages in Tczew County {{Tczew-geo-stub