Around Pila

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• published: 06 Aug 2011
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SEE MY HISTORY SITE ON FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Heaths-History-Page/173472422695696 twitter : @ceepackaging I do not travel into Piła, but instead take the ring road around the town. Piła has a long history. Following the German colonist movement of the 13th century colonizers came to this densely wooded area of the Kingdom of Poland. Many of these early German-speaking settlers may well have reached the Krajna, the borderland between the rivers Notec, Drage and Gwda. The area remained under Brandenburg's control until 1368 when the land of the Krajna became Polish. General immigration of German settlers diminished when Poland under Casimir IV Jagiellon (Kazimierz, 1447--92) defeated the Teutonic Order in 1466. The area around the settlement of Piła, situated in the southern Pomeranian Lake District, was one of dense pine forests and lakes. Legend has it that two ancient routes once crossed here, namely an ancient Heerstrasse (military highway) from central German lands, leading across the River Oder, running parallel to the River Notec, the river that became later known by its German name Netze. That route led into an area of the Vistula, further east, claimed by some to have been the old amber route of the Romans. This ancient military highway is said to have intersected a road from the south of Poland that led to the Baltic Sea. Speculation exists that a narrow ford through the River Gwda or Küddow — as early German settlers called the river that was a tributary of the Notec — may have led the road to the east, prompting a primitive settlement on its banks. With the signing of the definitive treaty to divide Poland between Prussia, Austria and Russia in 1772, the First Partition of Poland was accomplished. Piła became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and was officially renamed Schneidemühl. In 1793 it was recaptured for a short period by a Polish army led by Colonel Wyganowski. Following Prussia's disastrous defeat at the hands of Napoleon at the battle of Jena, and after signing the Peace of Tilsit of 7 July 1807, Prussia lost nearly fifty percent of its recently acquired territory. Schneidemühl's new Polish-Prussian border ran very close to town and together with the largest part of Posen, Schneidemühl became part of Bonaparte's Grand Duchy of Warsaw. This semi-independent state was created out of parts of Prussia's Polish territories, headed by King Friedrich August of Saxony. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna gave Schneidemühl to Prussia again. After the Prussian administrative reforms of 1916-18, the town belonged to Kolmar county inside the Province of Posen. The city saw a significant influx of German settlers. In 1851 the city was connected to Berlin and Bromberg by the Prussian Eastern Railway. By the end of the 19th century the city had become one of the most important railway centers of the region and one of the biggest towns in the Province of Posen. It was turned into a Prussian military garrison town. During the first World War Schneidemuhl had a prisoner of war camp, initially taking mainly Russian prisoners but later including prisoners from most allied nations including Australia. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Schneidemühl was not included in the Polish Second Republic after World War I. The new Polish-German border ran five kilometers south of the city. On 21 July 1922 Schneidemühl became the centre for regional administration of the new province Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, comprising those three disconnected parts of the former Province of Posen and the western most parts of the Province of West Prussia, which were not ceded to Poland. There was an influx of the inhabitants of the areas annexed by Poland who opted not to become Poles and the town's population swelled temporarily to 37,518. The city experienced a short period of growth followed by a period of decline in the early 1930s. High unemployment and the ineffectiveness of local administration led to rising support for the NSDAP. The administrative arrangement lasted only eleven years when the province, also known as Gau Kurmark, joined the province of Brandenburg as a governmental district. The city also served as headquarters to the 77th SS-Standarte of the Allgemeine-SS. During World War II the city became part of the Pommernstellung line of fortifications. In 1945 the town was declared a Festung by Adolf Hitler. It was captured by the joint Polish and Red Army forces after two weeks of heavy fighting. 75% of the city was destroyed and almost 90% of the historic city centre was in ruins. In 1945, the city again became part of Poland and the German population was expelled while Polish expelees from the east and refugees from areas of Central Poland were resettled in the city. The historical city centre was only partially restored.