Krotoszyn

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Template:Short description {{#invoke:Other uses|otherX|places with the same name}} Template:Expand Polish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox settlement Krotoszyn (Template:IPA; Template:Langx; is a town in west-central PolandTemplate:TERYT with 29,485 inhabitants Template:As of. It is the seat of Krotoszyn County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.

Founded in the late medieval period, Krotoszyn prospered as a regional center of trade and crafts located at the intersection of important trade routes. The town features heritage sites in a variety of styles, including Gothic, Baroque and Neo-Renaissance, a preserved market square and a regional museum.

History

File:Klasztor z kościołem p.w. św. Piotra i Pawła II..JPG
Regional Museum and Baroque Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Krotoszyn was founded by local nobleman Template:Interlanguage link, participant of the Battle of Grunwald,<ref name=kal>Template:Cite web</ref> and was granted town rights in 1415 by King Władysław II Jagiełło.<ref name=rw>Template:Cite web</ref> It was a private town owned by the Krotoski, Niewieski, Rozdrażewski and Potocki families, historically located in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province.<ref name=kal/> After the town suffered a fire in 1453, King Casimir IV of Poland vested it with new privileges, establishing a weekly market and three annual fairs.<ref name=kal/>

It developed as a regional center of trade and crafts, located at the intersection of the Kalisz–Głogów and Toruń–Wrocław trade routes.<ref name=rw/> During the Thirty Years' War, in 1628, Protestant refugees from German states settled in the town.<ref name=kal/> It was plundered by the Swedes, during the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1656, but soon recovered and famous fairs were held there.<ref name=rw/>

It was annexed by Prussia in 1793 during the Second Partition of Poland. After the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815 it was re-annexed by Prussia,<ref name=rw/> and in 1871 it subsequently became part of Germany. During the German rule in the 19th century, the town was located in the Prussian province of Posen.<ref name=EB1911>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> The castle of Krotoszyn was the centre of a mediatised principality formed in 1819 out of the holdings of the Prussian crown and granted to the prince of Thurn und Taxis in compensation for his relinquishing control over the Prussian postal system<ref name=EB1911/> and it was subjected to Germanisation.<ref name=kal/> Famous Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin stopped in the town in 1829.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During the Polish Greater Poland uprising (1848) Germans and Jews attacked the local Polish committee, and the Poles had to move their activities to Koźmin Wielkopolski.<ref name=kal/> Later on, despite the Germanisation policies, Poles established a number of organizations, including an industrial society, a cooperative bank and a local branch of the "Sokół" Polish Gymnastic Society.<ref name=kal/>

Many inhabitants took part in the Greater Poland uprising (1918–19), during which the town was liberated by the insurgents on 1 January 1919,<ref name=rw/><ref name=pw>Template:Cite web</ref> nearly two months after Poland regained its independence.

World War II

File:MOs810, WG 2014 20, OChK Las Miejski (Krotoszyn, szaniec powstanczy).JPG
Monument to Polish soldiers who fought in defense of Krotoszyn in 1939

The Germans attacked Krotoszyn on 1 September 1939, the first day of the invasion of Poland and World War II.<ref name=kal/> On 2 September they bombed a train with Polish civilians fleeing the Wehrmacht from Krotoszyn, killing 300 people<ref name=kal/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and on 3 September they captured the town.<ref name=kal/> The Germans established a transit camp for Polish prisoners of war and over 4,500 Polish soldiers passed through the camp.<ref name=kal/> In mid-September 1939, the Einsatzgruppe VI entered the town to commit various crimes against the Polish population.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 60</ref>

During the German occupation the Polish population was subjected to mass arrests,<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 116</ref> Germanisation policies, discrimination, expulsions, executions<ref name=kal/> and deportations to forced labour in Germany.<ref name=apew/> Poles from Krotoszyn, including several local policemen and the town's deputy mayor, as well as several alumni of local schools, were also murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in April–May 1940.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Germans destroyed the memorial dedicated to local Polish insurgents of 1918–1919, while another monument plaque was hidden by Poles and thus preserved.<ref name=pw/> Germany also established and operated a Nazi prison and two forced labour subcamps of the Stalag XXI-D prisoner-of-war camp in the town.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nevertheless, local Poles managed to organize the underground resistance movement, which included secret Polish teaching, scout troops, a local branch of the Home Army,<ref name=kal/> the Secret Military Organization and structures of the Polish Underground State.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Independent underground Polish press was issued in the town.<ref name=apew>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The town was liberated by Soviet troops and local Poles in January 1945<ref name=kal/> and restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which then stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. Some members of the Polish resistance movement were persecuted by the communists after the war.<ref name=apew/>

It was within Kalisz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.

Economy

The dominant trade is in grain and seeds, and the headquarters of the Polish branch of Mahle GmbH is located there.

File:SM Krotoszyn Sienkiewicza 5 2019 (2).jpg
Place of stay of Fryderyk Chopin in 1829

Demographics

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Cuisine

The officially protected traditional food originating from Krotoszyn is wędzonka krotoszyńska, a type of Polish smoked pork meat (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland).<ref name=wk>Template:Cite web</ref> Local traditions of meat production date back hundreds of years, and the first butchers' guilds were established shortly after granting town rights in the early 15th century.<ref name=wk/>

Sports

The main sports club of the town is Astra Krotoszyn with football and volleyball sections.

Notable people

International relations

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Twin towns – Sister cities

Krotoszyn is twinned with:

References

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Template:Krotoszyn County Template:Gmina Krotoszyn Template:Authority control

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