Country Poland County Wąbrzeźno | Voivodeship Kuyavian-Pomeranian Gmina Książki | |
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Brudzawki [bruˈd͡zafki] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Książki, within Wąbrzeźno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately 5 kilometres (3 mi) east of Książki, 14 km (9 mi) north-east of Wąbrzeźno, and 48 km (30 mi) north-east of Toruń.
History
The village was most probably founded in the 13th century. According to the documents of the Order of Teutonic Knights, it was called Kl. Brusau, Klein Brudzaw, Browse, Bruschaw, Brusau. The name might come from „brnąć” – “to wade” – the settlement was located on the flooded areas through which inhabitants were wading. The land was cultivated only on hills. In the 15th century the village was owned by Osieczkowski family. In 1561 Mateusz Osieczkowski sold it to Jan Działyński. Olędrzy colonised Brudzawki in 1720. Their task was to drain the land and then bring it under cultivation. In 1773 there were 17 homesteads and a school which survived to the present day. Brudzawki was separated on 20 August 1828. The commune covered 627 ha. After 1914 Poles bought farms from Germans. When Pomerania was joined to Poland, the village became a part of Pomeranian Province.
On 8 September 1939 an operation unit of the security police of the Reich shot 50 Poles in a place where sand was mined, located by the road Książki – Brudzawki. To cover up the crime, Nazis exhumed the corpses by burning them on the spot in 1944. There is a monument and a plaque with the names of the people killed there.