Country Poland Gmina Gmina Świecie Town rights 1338 Area 11.87 km² Local time Sunday 8:33 PM | County Świecie County Established 1198 Highest elevation 86 m (282 ft) Population 25,614 (2006) | |
Weather 13°C, Wind NW at 13 km/h, 76% Humidity Voivodeship Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship | ||
Świecie [ˈɕfʲɛt͡ɕɛ] (German: Schwetz) is a town in northern Poland with 25,968 inhabitants (2006), situated in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999); it was in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. It is the capital of Świecie County.
Contents
Map of Swiecie, Poland
Location
Świecie is located on the west bank of river Vistula at the mouth of river Wda, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) north-east of Bydgoszcz, 105 kilometers south of Gdańsk and 190 kilometers south-west of Kaliningrad.
History
Świecie became the residence of Pomeranian Duke Grimislaw, when in 1198 the St. Mary's church was erected there. Grimislaw's Duchy of Pomerania included prominent towns of Starogard Gdański and Lubiszewo Tczewskie, as well as Skarszewy with its surrounding region. The Teutonic Order conquered Gdańsk in 1309 and in 1310 bought Pomeralia in Soldin from the Margraves of Brandenburg. By then, the settlement already had the status of Civitas, just as Gdańsk and Tczew did. Świecie was granted a municipal form of government by the Teutonic Order, when it was still located on the high west bank of the Vistula. Probably because of destruction by fire, during the period 1338–1375 the town was relocated down into the valley at the Vistula. After the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) Świecie became part of the autonomous province of Royal Prussia incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland. In 1772, during the Partitions of Poland, the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, and Schwetz was integrated into the newly formed Province of West Prussia. In 1905 the town had a Protestant church, two Catholic churches and a synagogue. After World War I Świecie became part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship with the provincial capital in Toruń of the Second Republic of Poland.
During the Second World War, Nazi Germany occupied Świecie and annexed it on 8 October 1939, making it the seat of the Kreis county of Schwetz. It was administered as part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. Prominent Poles were arrested using secret politically targeted hit list and murdered using the Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz paramilitaries.
People shot were finished off by blows delivered by shovels and the butts of assault rifles; they were buried in mass graves when still alive. Mothers were forced to place their children in the pits where they were shot together. Before executions women and girls were raped.(...) [The atrocities] evoked horror even in the Germans, including some soldiers. Terrified at what they saw in the town of Świecie two of them felt compelled to submit a report [to military authorities].
After the defeat of Adolf Hitler in World War II Świecie became part of the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship formed in 1946 in the People's Republic of Poland. The town grew rapidly with population reaching 13,500 by 1961. Sugar refinery was expanded, meat, cattle feed plants, and mills were built, including the paper factory launched in 1968, with 4,600 employees.