Editing Lębork (section)

==History==
===Middle Ages===
[[File:636712 Lębork obszar Starego Miasta z basztami 05.JPG|thumb|left|175px|Ivy Tower (''Wieża Bluszczowa''), part of the medieval city walls]]
The region formed part of Poland since the establishment of the country in the 10th century. The town was founded on the site of a previous Slavic settlement, dating back to the 10th century.<ref name=pwn>{{cite web|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Lebork;3932135.html|title=Lębork|website=Encyklopedia PWN|access-date=11 February 2020|language=pl}}</ref> Its name was Germanised to ''Lewin'' and then ''Lewinburg'' by the [[Teutonic Knights]],<ref>Slavia occidentalis: Tomy 46–47 1991, page 371.</ref><ref>Słownik etymologiczny miast i gmin PRL Stanisław Rospond – 1984</ref> after annexation from Poland in 1310.<ref name=pwn/> In 1341 [[Dietrich von Altenburg]], [[Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights]], granted 100 ''Hufen'' (similar to [[Hide (unit)|hides]]) to Rutcher von Emmerich for the foundation of a town named ''Lewinburg'' (Lauenburg) with [[Kulm rights]],<ref name="S229">Schmidt, 229</ref> presumably to secure the territory around [[Słupsk|Stolp (Słupsk)]].<ref>Schmidt, p. 228</ref> East of the original city the [[Teutonic Order]] completed the ''[[Ordensburg]]'' castle in 1363. The castle was partly razed after the 1410 [[Battle of Grunwald]] and remained under Polish control until 1411. In 1440 the town joined the [[Prussian Confederation]], which opposed the Teutonic Knights, and at the request of which King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] signed the act of re-incorporation of the town and region to the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] in 1454. The population of Lauenburg was composed in large part of [[Kashubians]], later [[Slovincians]].

In 1454 after the outbreak of the [[Thirteen Years' War (1454–66)|Thirteen Years' War]], troops from [[Gdańsk|Danzig (Gdańsk)]] occupied Lauenburg and [[Bytów|Bütow (Bytów)]]; the following year they were turned over to [[Eric II, Duke of Pomerania]], to form an alliance.<ref name="S229"/> Because Lauenburg remained loyal to the Prussian Confederation and not the Teutonic Order, King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] of Poland granted the town three nearby villages.<ref name="S229"/> Troops from the Polish-allied city of Gdańsk (Danzig) reoccupied Lauenburg in 1459 when the mayor, Lorenz Senftopf, entered into negotiations with the Teutonic Knights. Eric replaced the Danzigers with Teutonic Knights the following year, however, when he switched sides during the war. After the Teutonic Knights were ultimately defeated in the Thirteen Years' War, Lębork passed to Poland, according to the 1466 [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)|Second Peace of Thorn]],<ref name=sgk>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom V|year=1884|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=199}}</ref> and was granted by Casimir IV Jagiellon to Eric and his Pomeranian successors as part of the [[Lauenburg and Bütow Land]], a Polish [[fief]].

===Modern era===
[[File:Lębork ratusz DSC 2614 (Nemo5576).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Lębork coat of arms on the facade of the town hall]]
The [[Protestant Reformation]] was introduced in the town soon after 1519.<ref name="S229"/> The territory came back to Polish King [[Władysław IV Vasa]] as a reverted fief and was integrated with the Polish [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772)|Pomeranian Voivodeship]] after the 1637 death of [[Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania]].<ref name=sgk/> As Lębork was the leading city of the territory, it became the seat of the [[starostwo|eldership]] (''starostwo'').<ref name=sp2>{{cite web|url=http://www.sp2bytow.home.pl/bytow/1637-1658.html|title=1637-1658|website=Historia Bytowa w pigułce|access-date=11 February 2020|language=pl}}</ref> The [[starost]]s were [[Stanisław Koniecpolski]] and [[Jakub Wejher]].<ref name=sp2/> The [[Counter-Reformation]] was largely ineffective in the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] town. Lębork was occupied by [[Swedish Empire|Swedes]] in the [[Northern Wars]]. To gain an ally against Sweden during the [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]], King [[John II Casimir of Poland]] gave the Lauenburg and Bütow Land to Margrave [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick William]] of [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] as a hereditary fiefdom in the 1657 [[Treaty of Bromberg]]. The Swedish troops burnt Lauenburg before their retreat in 1658, destroying seventy houses and the town hall.<ref name="S229"/> Frederick William released the town from tax duties for five years to aid in its rebuilding. Lauenburg suffered a second fire in 1682.<ref name=sgk/> King [[John III Sobieski]] made peaceful attempts to reintegrate the town directly to Poland, but to no avail.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=87}}

In 1701, Lauenburg/Lębork became a [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]]-administered territory under the sovereignty of the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Polish Crown]]. From 1737 to 1752, [[Polish Reformed Church]] services were held in the town.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gresch|first=Eberhard|title=Im Blickpunkt der Geschichte der Reformation: Evangelisch-Reformierte in (Ost-)Preußen|year=2012|page=13}}</ref> The 1773 Treaty of Warsaw granted full sovereignty over the territory to Prussia after the [[First Partition of Poland]]. The Lauenburg and Bütow Land, transformed into a [[Districts of Prussia|district]] (''Lauenburg-Bütowscher Kreis''), was first included in the newly established province of [[West Prussia]], but was transferred to the [[Province of Pomerania (1653–1815)|province of Pomerania]] in 1777.
[[File:LĘBORK. AB-052.JPG|thumb|right|Staromiejska Street, one of the most prominent promenades in the town]]
When the district was divided in 1846, Lauenburg became the capital of a new district (''Landkreis Lauenburg i. Pom.''). Lauenburg began to develop as an industrial center after its 1852 connection to the [[Prussian Eastern Railway]] to Danzig and [[Szczecin|Stettin (Szczecin)]].<ref name="S229"/> In 1866, the Masonic Lodge was formed, whose membership was in the main made up of the elite entrepreneurial class. The building survives to this day. The town became part of the [[German Empire]] in 1871 during the [[unification of Germany]]. Chancellor [[Otto Fürst von Bismarck]] (1815–1898) was made an honorary citizen in 1874. (He was also created [[Duke of Lauenburg]] in 1890 after his resignation as Chancellor of the German Empire, but this title refers to the city of [[Lauenburg/Elbe]] in present-day Germany, and should not be confused with Lębork/Lauenburg in Pomerania.) New [[Germans|German]] settlers came to the town, but [[Polish people|Poles]] also still settled there.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=99-100}} Despite [[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|Germanisation]] policies, the Polish-Kashubian movement developed.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=124}} Helpful in preserving Polish culture and identity was the local Catholic church, in which [[Polish language]] lessons were still organized.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=125}}

[[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] regained independence after [[World War I]] in 1918, and local Poles organized a pro-Polish rally, which was shut down by the local German police. Polish activists were sentenced to several months in prison, and then to [[exile]].{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=127}} Despite Polish attempts at regaining control of the region, the [[Treaty of Versailles]] did not restore the pre-[[Partitions of Poland|partition]] borders and the town remained within interwar Germany. In the subsequent years many German migrants resettled in and around Lauenburg,<ref name="S230">Schmidt, 230</ref> while many Poles, including Kashubians, left for the nearby Polish [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Pomeranian Voivodeship]].{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=142}} The town's economy has declined and the nationalists, communists and [[Nazi Party|Nazis]] gained popularity among the German population.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=137-140}} The Poles were active in the [[Union of Poles in Germany]].<ref name=pwn/> After the Nazis took power, Poles, as well as [[Jews]], were persecuted.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=140-142}} Under the leadership of Willy Fruggel a ''[[Hochschule]]'' for teacher education was established in the city in 1933.<ref name="S230"/> The football club [[SV Sturm Lauenburg]] played within [[Gauliga Pommern]].

After the outbreak of [[World War II]], the persecution of indigenous Poles, including Kashubians, intensified, and the patients of the local psychiatric hospital were [[Massacres in Piaśnica|murdered in Piaśnica]], however, the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance movement]] remained present in the district.{{sfn|Lindemajer|Machura|1982|p=163-164}} In 1942, the Germans founded a subcamp of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]] and sent prisoners from the [[Buchenwald concentration camp]] there.<ref name=mg>{{cite journal|last=Gliński|first=Mirosław|title=Podobozy i większe komanda zewnętrzne obozu Stutthof (1939–1945)|journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum|language=pl|volume=3|page=169|issn=0137-5377}}</ref> Further prisoners were sent from the main Stutthof camp, and the subcamp was dissolved only in February 1945, during the German-organized evacuation of the Stutthof main camp.<ref name=mg/> The Germans also operated a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamp of the [[Stalag II-B]] [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|prisoner-of-war camp]] for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] POWs in the town.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stalag2b.free.fr/leskommandos.htm|title=Les Kommandos|website=Stalag IIB Hammerstein, Czarne en Pologne|access-date=29 May 2022|language=fr}}</ref> The town was occupied without resistance by the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Red Army]] on 10 March 1945. Most of the Old Town burned in the subsequent Soviet rampage, although the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] Church of St. James and the Teutonic castle survived.<ref name="S230"/> During this time about 600 people committed suicide.<ref name=lakotta>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelspecial/d-39863564.html|title=Tief vergraben, nicht dran rühren|last=Lakotta|first=Beate|publisher=[[Der Spiegel|SPON]]|date=2005-03-05|access-date=2010-08-16|language=de}}</ref>

As Lębork, the town became again part of Poland in accordance with the post-war [[Potsdam Agreement]]. [[Germans]] remaining in the town were either immediately [[expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement or were allowed to voluntarily leave in the 1950s. The remaining [[Polish people|Polish]] inhabitants were joined by other Poles, incl. those displaced from [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|Poland's eastern lands]] annexed after the war by the Soviet Union. The town was administratively part of the [[Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975)|Gdańsk Voivodeship]] in 1945–1975, and then the [[Słupsk Voivodeship]] in 1975–1998.