Editing Tczew (section)

== History ==
=== Middle Ages ===
Tczew (''Trsow'', ''Dersowe'', ‘weaver's town’<ref name="MKL"/>) was first mentioned as ''Trsow'' in a document by [[Gdańsk Pomerania|Pomeranian]] Duke Grzymisław bestowing the land to the [[Knights Hospitaller]] in 1198.<ref name=TCZ>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcz.pl/index.php?p=5,30,0,historia-miasta&item=&title=|title=Historia miasta Tczewa|website=Tcz.pl|access-date=22 October 2019|language=pl}}</ref> Around 1200 [[Sambor I, Duke of Pomerania]], built a fortress here.<ref name="MKL"/> In some documents, the name Derszewo appears, which stems from the name of a feudal lord, Dersław. It is unknown whether Trsow and Derszewo referred to the same or two neighboring settlements. In order to obtain better control of traffic on the Vistula, [[Duchy of Pomerania|Pomeranian]] Duke [[Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania|Sambor II]] moved his residence from [[Lubiszewo Tczewskie]] to Tczew.<ref name=gs>{{cite news|url=https://www.gdanskstrefa.com/w-grodzie-sambora-ii/ |title=W grodzie Sambora II |access-date=15 April 2020}}</ref> By 1252 the settlement was known by the names ''Tczew'' and ''Dirschau''.
[[File:Tczew, Ogrodowa, pozůstatky hradeb.JPG|thumb|left|Medieval town walls]]
In 1258 a city council was created and in 1260 Tczew was granted [[town rights]].<ref name=TCZ/> It is the only case in Poland for a city council to be established before granting city rights.<ref name=TCZ/> Craft and trade developed, there was a port on the Vistula and a [[Mint (facility)|mint]].<ref name=TCZ/> Duke [[Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania|Mestwin II]] in 1289 brought the [[Dominican Order]] to the city.<ref name=TCZ/> It was part of Poland until 1308. Following the [[Treaty of Soldin (1309)|Treaty of Soldin]] in 1309, Tczew was purchased from [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] by [[Heinrich von Plötzke]] of the [[Teutonic Knights]], despite the fact that the initial claims to the region by Brandenburg were of dubious legality.<ref name=davies>[[Norman Davies]]. ''[[God's Playground]]: A History of Poland in Two Volumes''. Oxford University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-19-925339-0}}.</ref> The townspeople were expelled by the Teutonic Knights<ref>{{cite book|last=Mikołajczyk|first=Witold|year=2009|title=Wojny polsko-krzyżackie|language=pl|publisher=Wydawnictwo Replika Zakrzewo|page=26}}</ref> and the town's organization ceased to exist for more than half a century. It was rebuilt from 1364 to 1384, and was granted [[Kulm law]] by [[Winrich von Kniprode]]. After the Polish victory in the [[Battle of Grunwald]] in 1410, the town was briefly recaptured by Poland.<ref name=gs/> In 1434 the town was burnt down by the [[Hussite]]s. In 1440 the town joined the [[Prussian Confederation]], opposing Teutonic Order's rule.<ref name=gs/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Górski|first=Karol|title=Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych|year=1949|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|location=[[Poznań]]|language=pl|page=XXXVII}}</ref> In 1457, during the [[Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466)|Thirteen Years’ War]], Bohemian mercenaries on the Order's service sold Tczew to Poland in lieu of [[Malbork treaty|indemnities]].<ref>Józef Wiesław Dyskant, ''Zatoka Świeża 1463'', p. 115–116.</ref> The [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)]] confirmed the reincorporation of Tczew to Poland. It became a county seat within the [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772)|Pomeranian Voivodeship]] in the newly created Polish province of [[Royal Prussia]], soon also part of the [[Greater Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Greater Poland Province]].

=== Modern era ===
During the [[Protestant Reformation]] most of the town's inhabitants converted to [[Lutheranism]]. In 1626, it was occupied by king [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden|Gustav II Adolf]] of [[Sweden]], who built a pontoon bridge across river [[Vistula]] and who had his camp at the southern side of the town.<ref name="MKL"/> After the war Tczew was visited twice by Polish King [[Władysław IV Vasa]], in 1634/1635 and 1636.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dawnytczew.pl/pl/historia/43-i-rzeczypospolita-1466-1772/283-wizyta-wadyslawa-iv.html|title=Wizyta Władysława IV|website=DawnyTczew.pl|access-date=22 October 2019|language=pl}}</ref> Although it was rebuilt, it then suffered during the [[Polish-Swedish Wars]]. In a nearby battle on 2 September 1657, the Poles were defeated by the combined troops of [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] and Sweden under general [[Josias II, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen]].<ref name="MKL"/>
[[File:Die Weichselbrücke bei Dirschau.JPG|thumb|left|The bridge over Vistula in 1858]]
The region was annexed from the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] during the [[First Partition of Poland]] in 1772. Tczew, as Dirschau, became part of the newly founded [[West Prussia|Province of West Prussia]]. During the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and the [[History of Poland (1795–1918)|Polish national liberation fights]] the town was captured by Polish troops of General [[Jan Henryk Dąbrowski]] in 1807, but became Prussian again in 1815. In 1818 Prussians closed down the Dominican monastery.<ref name=gs/> In October and November 1831, some Polish infantry, cavalry and artillery units of the [[November Uprising]] stopped in the city on the way to their internment places,<ref>{{cite book|last=Kasparek|first=Norbert|editor-last=Katafiasz|editor-first=Tomasz|year=2014|title=Na tułaczym szlaku... Powstańcy Listopadowi na Pomorzu|language=pl|location=[[Koszalin]]|publisher=Muzeum w Koszalinie, Archiwum Państwowe w Koszalinie|pages=138, 140, 146|chapter=Żołnierze polscy w Prusach po upadku powstania listopadowego. Powroty do kraju i wyjazdy na emigrację}}</ref> and later on, one of the insurgents' main escape routes from partitioned Poland to the [[Great Emigration]] led through the city.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Umiński|first=Janusz|year=1998|title=Losy internowanych na Pomorzu żołnierzy powstania listopadowego|magazine=Jantarowe Szlaki|volume=4 |language=pl|issue=250|page=16}}</ref>

With the [[unification of Germany]], the town became part of the [[German Empire]] in 1871 and from 1887 was the capital of the [[Kreis Dirschau|Dirschau district]] in the province of West Prussia. The town grew rapidly during the 19th century after the opening of the [[Prussian Eastern Railway]] line connecting [[Berlin]] and [[Königsberg]], with the Vistula bridge near Dirschau being an important part.

Under Prussian and German rule, the Polish population suffered from forced [[Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions|Germanization]]; for example Poles were denied Polish schools, and refused to teach their children German. The German official Heinrich Mettenmeyer wrote that German-appointed teachers were treated with the highest disdain by Polish children and their parents.<ref>Historia Pomorza, Tom 3, Część 2, Gerard Labuda Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, 1996, page 144.</ref> The town remained a center of [[Resistance movements in partitioned Poland (1795–1918)|Polish resistance]], and Poles established various organizations, including the ''Bank Ludowy'' ("People's Bank").<ref name=gs/> According to the census of 1910, Dirschau had a population of 16,894, of which 15,492 (91.7%) were [[Germans]] and 1,397 (8.3%) were [[Polish people|Poles]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Landesamt|first=Prussia (Kingdom) Statistisches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJdPhIkLJ7AC&pg=RA1-PA16|title=Gemeindelexikon für die regierungsbezirke Allenstein, Danzig, Marienwerder, Posen, Bromberg und Oppeln: Auf grund der ergebnisse der volkszählung vom. 1. Dezember 1910 und anderer amtlicher quellen bearbeitet vom Königlich Preussischen Statistischen Landesamte|date=1912|publisher=verlag des Königlichen Statistischen Landesamts|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Willkommen bei Gemeindeverzeichnis.de|url=https://www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de/gem1900/gem1900.htm?westpreussen/dirschau.htm|access-date=2021-04-12|website=www.gemeindeverzeichnis.de}}</ref> 
[[File:Tczew szkola morska POL.jpg|thumb|Maritime Academy in Tczew in the 1920s]]
After Poland regained independence in 1918, local Poles formed the People's Council in preparation for reintegration with Poland.<ref name=gs/> After [[World War I]] as a consequence of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], Tczew became part of the so-called ''[[Polish Corridor]]'' and was incorporated into the re-established [[Second Polish Republic|Polish state]]. The official handover happened on January 10, 1920, and on January 30, Polish General [[Józef Haller]] arrived in the town with his troops. The town became a center of cultural activities of the German minority in Poland, a German-language school and a theater was founded.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}} The regional member of the [[Sejm|Polish Parliament]] represented the German minority. In this period, the proportion of Germans in the town decreased drastically from over 90% in 1910 to around 9% in 1939. In 1921, Tczew had a population of 16,250, of which 4,600 (28.3%) were [[Germans]].

During the [[Interwar period]], Tczew was famous for its maritime academy (''Szkoła Morska'') which later moved to [[Gdynia]].<ref name=TCZ/>

=== World War II ===
[[File:A bridge broken by sappers September 1939.jpg|left|thumb|The Vistula bridge demolished by sappers of the Polish Army in September 1939 after the [[Wehrmacht]] invasion]]
According to the city's website, Tczew was the location of the start of [[World War II]] when German bombers attacked Polish [[sapper]] installations to prevent the bridges from being blown up at 04:34 on 1 September 1939 (the shelling of [[Westerplatte]] commenced at 04:45). The Germans sent two trains with soldiers to capture the bridges, disguised as freight trains, but due to Polish railroaders' intervention at [[Szymankowo]], they came late, losing the element of surprise, and the bridges were blown up after 6 am that day.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Andrzej Ziółkowski|title=1 września 1939 r. Fiasko Planu "Dirschau"|trans-title=1 September 1939. A fail of "Dirschau" plan|magazine=Do Broni!|issue=special 2/2009|publisher=ZP Grupa|issn=1732-9450|language=pl|pages=62–70}}</ref>

During the [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German occupation of Poland]] (1939–45) Tczew, as ''Dirschau'', was annexed into the newly formed province of [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]] of [[Nazi Germany]]. The [[Polish people|Polish]] population was subjected to mass arrests, repressions, [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expulsions]] and murder. The ''[[SS Heimwehr Danzig|SS-Heimwehr-Sturmbann Götze]]'' entered the town in September 1939 to carry out actions against Poles, including mass arrests with the help of local Germans organized in the ''[[Selbstschutz]]'', who denounced local Polish activists.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|pages=106–107}}</ref> The Germans imprisoned hundreds of Poles in camps established in a former factory (present-day museum), in a craft school and in military barracks.<ref>Wardzyńska (2009), p. 109</ref> In November 1939, Germans carried out executions of numerous Poles from Tczew, including local teachers, officials (including pre-war mayor Karol Hempel,) craftsmen, a policeman, and even a seventeen-year-old student.<ref>Wardzyńska (2009), p. 150</ref> Catholic priests from [[Pelplin]], who were not murdered in Pelplin, were imprisoned in the Tczew barracks and then murdered in the [[Szpęgawski Forest]] (see also ''[[Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland]]'').<ref>Wardzyńska (2009), p. 155-156</ref> In January 1940, the [[SS]] and [[Selbstschutz]] carried out two public executions of 33 Polish residents, including railway employees, officials, craftsmen and merchants, at the market square.<ref>Wardzyńska (2009), p. 157</ref> Also Poles from [[Starogard County|Starogard]] and [[Tuchola County|Tuchola]] counties, who refused to sign the [[Volksliste]], were imprisoned in Tczew and then murdered in a nearby forest.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2017|title=Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=113|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref> From 1939 to 1941, the ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe]]'' operated a penal [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camp in the town.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000822|title=Einsatzgruppen-Straflager Dirschau|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=7 September 2021|language=de}}</ref>
[[File:Tczew 043.jpg|thumb|Monument to Poles murdered in Tczew by the Germans during World War II]]
In 1941, the Germans created a transition camp for Poles expelled from the region in a local factory (present-day museum).<ref name=mw>Wardzyńska (2017), p. 88</ref><ref name=nmm>{{cite web|url=https://en.nmm.pl/the-vistula-river-museum/history-of-the-building-7|title=History of the building - Vistula River Museum|website=National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk|access-date=25 July 2020}}</ref> People were held there for several weeks, and then expelled to the [[General Government]].<ref name=mw/> Hundreds of Polish inhabitants of Tczew were expelled in 1940 and 1941.<ref>Wardzyńska (2017), p. 71, 105, 107</ref> Some inhabitants were also deported to [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] to Germany.<ref name=gs/> In 1943, local Poles managed to save some [[Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany|kidnapped Polish children]] from the [[Zamość]] region, by buying them from the Germans at the local train station.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kozaczyńska|first=Beata|editor-last=Kostkiewicz|editor-first=Janina|year=2020|title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945)|language=pl|location=[[Kraków]]|publisher=[[Jagiellonian University|Uniwersytet Jagielloński]], [[Biblioteka Jagiellońska]]|page=123|chapter=Gdy zabrakło łez... Tragizm losu polskich dzieci wysiedlonych z Zamojszczyzny (1942-1943)}}</ref>

After World War II the town, was one of the most damaged cities of Gdańsk Pomerania. Virtually none of its remaining factories were capable of production. There had been considerable loss of population down to around 18-20 thousand people. Shortly before the end of World War II it was occupied by the [[Soviet Army]]. After the end of war the town became part of [[People's Republic of Poland]] and renamed Tczew again. German residents were dispossessed and expelled; Polish residents took the first effort of reconstruction, and revitalization.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tcz.pl/index.php?p=5,30,0,historia-miasta&item=&title= |title=Historia miasta Tczewa |access-date=15 April 2020}}</ref>

===Recent period===
From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the [[Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–1998)|Gdańsk Voivodeship]]. In 1984 the Museum of the Vistula River, a branch of the [[National Maritime Museum, Gdańsk|National Maritime Museum]] in [[Gdańsk]], was opened in the building of the pre-war metal products factory, in which during World War II Germans operated a transit camp for Poles expelled from the region.<ref name=nmm/>

Currently, there are several companies in the electrical industry and machine building.

January 30, i.e. the date of Tczew's return to Poland after the [[History of Poland (1795–1918)|partition period]], is celebrated as Tczew Day.<ref name=TCZ/>

=== Number of inhabitants by year ===
[[File:Most tczew.jpg|thumb|Road and railway bridges on the Vistula river in Tczew]]
{{Historical populations|align=left|cols=2|1772|1442|1782|1587|1831|2310|1875|9713|1880|10939|1890|11897|1900|12808|1905|14164|1921|16251|1931|22758|1943|25869|1950|24619|1960|33696|1970|41100|1980|53600|1990|59500|2000|61200|2009|60279|2020|59430
|footnote=Note that the above table is based on primary sources which may be biased.<ref name="MKL" >''Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon'', 6th edition, Vol. 5, Leipzig and Vienna 1903, p. 43.</ref><ref name="JFG">[[Johann Friedrich Goldbeck]]: ''Vollständige Topographie des Königreichs Preußen''. Teil II, Marienwerder 1789, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SQw_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA52 p. 52, no 2.]</ref><ref name="VWG">Michael Rademacher: ''[http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/dan_dirschau.html Deutsche Verwaltungsgeschichte Westpreußen], [[Kreis Dirschau]] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516034640/http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/dan_dirschau.html |date=2010-05-16 }}'' (2006) {{in lang|de}}.</ref><ref name="AEP" >August Eduard Preuß: ''Preußische Landes- und Volkskunde''. Königsberg 1835, [https://books.google.com/books?id=L_sAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA390 pp. 390–391, no. 24.]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Dokumentacja Geograficzna|volume=3/4|year=1967|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Geografii [[Polish Academy of Sciences|Polskiej Akademii Nauk]]|page=52}}</ref>}}
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