Kreis Schwetz

The Schwetz district was a Prussian district that existed from 1818 to 1920, with its capital at Schwetz. It was located on the western bank of the Vistula river in the part of West Prussia that fell to Poland after World War I through the Treaty of Versailles in 1920.

Kreis Schwetz in 1890
Province of West Prussia (1919)
  Regierungsbezirk Danzig
  Regierungsbezirk Marienwerder

History

The area of the Schwetz district became part of the Kingdom of Prussia with the First Partition of Poland in 1772 and belonged to the Konitz district until 1818. In 1815, the area became part of Regierungsbezirk Marienwerder in the province of West Prussia. As part of a comprehensive district reform, the new Schwetz district was formed on April 1, 1818, with its capital at Schwetz. With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, the Schwetz district had to be ceded by Germany to Poland on January 10, 1920 for the purpose of establishing the Polish Corridor. After the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the annexation of the territory by Nazi Germany, the district became part of the new Regierungsbezirk Bromberg in the newly formed Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. Towards the end of World War II, the district was occupied by the Red Army in the spring of 1945 and was restored to Poland.

Demographics

The district of Schwetz had a mixed population of Germans and Poles. While Germans made up the majority of the population initially, over time the Polish population grew faster and Poles formed the majority by 1890. According to the Prussian census of 1905, the district had a population of 87,151, of which 55% were Poles and 45% were Germans.[1]

Population of Schwetz district [1]
1834 1837 1852 1861
Germans 25,394 59.7% 25,673 57.5% 33,052 54.3% 34,648 53.3%
Poles 17,147 40.3% 18,977 42.5% 27,795 45.7% 30,310 46.7%
Total 42,541 44,650 60,847 64,958

References
  1. Belzyt, Leszek (1998). Sprachliche Minderheiten im preussischen Staat: 1815 - 1914 ; die preußische Sprachenstatistik in Bearbeitung und Kommentar. Marburg: Herder-Inst. ISBN 978-3-87969-267-5.
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