Editing Kwidzyn (section)

===Interbellum and World War II===
[[File:Marienwerder-1 (2).jpg|thumb|left|1920s view of the castle and cathedral]]
As a result of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] after [[World War I]], the district of Marienwerder was divided. The parts west of the Vistula were incorporated into the [[Polish Second Republic]], which had just regained its independence. The parts east of the Vistula, to which the town of Marienwerder belonged, was to take part in the [[1920 East Prussian plebiscite|East Prussian plebiscite]], which was organized under the control of the [[League of Nations]]. The Inter-Allied Commission with nearly 2,000 troops often favored the Germans, and its services towards Poles were often delayed and limited, while the administration remained under German control.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Plebiscyt 1920 roku. Walka o Polskość Warmii, Mazur i Powiśla|language=pl|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=15}}</ref> The town was home to the Polish Warmian Plebiscite Committee and the Committee for Polish Affairs, which, however, had to operate partly secretly.<ref>''Plebiscyt 1920 roku. Walka o Polskość Warmii, Mazur i Powiśla'', pp. 16–17</ref> On May 16, 1920, the largest Polish plebiscite demonstration in Powiśle took place in the town, and Poles had to organize defenses against attacks by German militias.<ref>''Plebiscyt 1920 roku. Walka o Polskość Warmii, Mazur i Powiśla'', p. 17</ref> According to Polish sources there was German electoral fraud<ref name=ple18>''Plebiscyt 1920 roku. Walka o Polskość Warmii, Mazur i Powiśla'', p. 18</ref> resulted in 7,811 votes given to remain in East Prussia, and therefore Germany, and only 362 for Poland.<ref>{{cite book |title=Selbstbestimmung für Ostdeutschland – Eine Dokumentation zum 50 Jahrestag der ost- und westpreussischen Volksabstimmung am 11. Juli 1920|first1=Herbert| last1=Marzian|first2=Csaba|last2=Kenez|year=1970|page=117 |language=de}}</ref> Afterwards, [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] terror intensified.<ref name=ple18/>

[[File:Marienwerder (Luftaufnahme).jpg|thumb|Aerial view of the town in the 1920s]]
According to the [[Geneva Conventions]], the Polish community was entitled to its own schools, and from 1934 local Poles strove to establish a Polish school.<ref name=nhi>{{cite web|url=https://nowahistoria.interia.pl/ii-rzeczpospolita/news-rzeczypospolita-kwidzynska-dzieje-polskiego-gimnazjum-w-prus,nId,1053059|title=Rzeczypospolita Kwidzyńska - dzieje Polskiego Gimnazjum w Prusach Wschodnich|website=Interia Nowa Historia|author=Justyna Liguz|access-date=20 September 2020|language=pl}}</ref> The Germans blocked the establishment of the school, and Polish organizations filed 100 complaints to the German administration before the Polish private [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] was finally established on November 10, 1937.<ref name=nhi/> Local German press incited the Germans against the Polish school,<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]]|page=31}}</ref> and in 1938 a fourteen-year-old boy was shot at the school playground, which the German police ignored, and the shooter was not caught.<ref name=nhi/> The Germans, especially the [[Hitler Youth]], repeatedly harassed and attacked Polish students and devastated the school.<ref name=nhi/> It was forcibly closed down on August 25, 1939.<ref>Andreas Lawaty, Wiesław Mincer and Anna Domańska: ''Deutsch-polnische Beziehungen in Geschichte und Gegenwart – Bibliographie''. Vol 2: ''Religion, Buch, Presse, Wissenschaft, Bildung, Philosophie'', Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, {{ISBN|3-447-04243-5}}, p. 879 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=gx2IFngILiAC&pg=PA880 restricted preview)]</ref> The German police surrounded the Polish school and arrested its principal Władysław Gębik, 13 teachers, other staff and 162 students, who were imprisoned in Tapiau (today [[Gvardeysk]]),<ref name=mc>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|page=41}}</ref> Strobjehnen ([[Kulikovo, Zelenogradsky District|Kulikovo]]) and Grünhoff ([[Roshchino, Zelenogradsky District|Roshchino]]).<ref name=nhi/> Later on, students under the age of 18 were released, older students were forcibly conscripted into the [[Wehrmacht]], while teachers and staff were deported to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]],<ref name=nhi/> where most of them were murdered.<ref>Cygański, p. 43</ref> The head of the local Polish ''Bank Ludowy'' was also arrested, and the local Polish consulate was cut off from telephone lines, nevertheless the [[Polskie Radio|state radio]] in Poland still provided information regarding the attack on the Polish school on the same day.<ref name=mc/>

Nazi Germany co-formed the ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe V]]'' in the town, which then entered several Polish cities, including [[Grudziądz]], [[Ciechanów]], [[Łomża]] and [[Siedlce]], to commit various [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|atrocities against Poles]] during the German [[invasion of Poland]], which started [[World War II]].<ref>Wardzyńska (2009), p. 54</ref> Many Poles [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] from [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]] were deported to [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] in the town's vicinity.<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=IPN|pages=119, 129|isbn=978-83-8098-174-4}}</ref> The Germans also operated a subcamp of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]] in the town.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tenhumbergreinhard.de/1933-1945-lager-1/1933-1945-lager-m/marienwerder.html|title=Marienwerder|access-date=20 September 2020|language=de}}</ref> On 21 January at approximately 16:00, a surprising order came to evacuvate the civilians westwards towards [[Chojnice]]. When the Red Army invaded East Prussia at least 95% of the citizens of Marienwerder were speaking German as their mother tongue, and therefore they feared the atrocities committed to the German population. A majority of them left the city but not all arrived save territory alive. Those which stayed were robbed, raped and eventually murdered by the Red Army. On 30 January the town was captured by the Red Army. The Red Army established a war hospital in the town for 20,000 people. The town center was burned and pillaged by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] soldiers. In the course of 1945 the city was emptied of the last German inhabitants.
Meanwhile, large parts of the inner city were sacked. Since then, Polish newcomers from Poland and Lithuania repopulated the town and its environments. The Lutheran ecclesiastical buildings were handed over to the Catholic Church.{{sfn|Neuman|Gründer|1983|pp=315–316}}
After [[World War II]], the town became again part of Poland under the terms of the [[Potsdam Agreement]], although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the 1980s.