Witnica

Template:Other places Template:Infobox settlement Witnica Template:IPAc-pl (Template:Langx)Template:Citation needed is a town in western Poland, situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship,Template:TERYT with 6,747 inhabitants (2019).

The town is located in the historic Lubusz Land. The town's name derives from the Polish words wić or witka, meaning a willow twig or a type of willow.<ref name=WIT>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Along with Lubusz Land it was part of medieval Poland, and later it was also under the rule of Brandenburg, the Czech Crown, Prussia, and between 1871 and 1945 it was part of Germany, located in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. The Germans brought Polish prisoners of war for forced labour to the town during World War II.<ref name=pw>Template:Cite web</ref> In the final stages of World War II, half of the population fled before the Red Army captured the town in February 1945.<ref name=pw/> Polish POWs were liberated.<ref name=pw/>

After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the area was reintegrated into Poland.<ref name=WIT/> The remaining German population was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. New Polish settlers, mostly expellees from the former eastern territories annexed by the Soviet Union, moved to the town. War damage was not significant, reaching 8% of the buildings.<ref name=pw/> The ruins were dismantled to obtain bricks for the reconstruction of Warsaw destroyed by the Germans.<ref name=pw/>