Editing Tczew (section)

=== 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/>