Puck, Poland

13th-century Gothic Church of Saints Peter and Paul

The settlement became a marketplace and a seaport as early as the 7th century. The name, as was common during the Middle Ages, was spelled differently: in a 1277 document Putzc, 1277 Pusecz, 1288 Puczse and Putsk, 1289 Pucz. It was part of Poland, and in 1309 it was annexed by the Teutonic Order. Puck achieved town status in 1348. The town's first hospital was founded in the 14th century.[1] In the late 14th or early 15th century a castle was built.[2]

In 1440 the town joined the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule,[3] and upon the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon re-incorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. The Teutonic Knights renounced any claims in a 1466 peacy treaty.[4] It was the seat of local County Administration (Starostwo) within the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the province of Royal Prussia in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The starosts resided in the castle, which was later expanded, and which also housed the arsenal.[2]

The Polish kings tried to create a fleet at Danzig, but autonomous Hanseatic Danzig would not allow them in their territory. Ships chartered by Poland had to land at Puck in 1567. Poland tried to establish a Polish Navy, gaining the use some harbors in Livonia and Finland, but a standing navy never materialized. King of Sigismund III Vasa also tried to establish a fleet in his attempts to wrest the crown of Sweden from King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, but Sigismund's attempts were destroyed in 1628. In 1655–1656, Puck was successfully defended during a Swedish siege in time of the Swedish invasion of Poland.[2][5] The town, including the castle, was spared from serious damage,[2] however, the hospital was destroyed.[1] Polish King John III Sobieski funded the construction of a new hospital, completed in 1681.[1]

Poland's Wedding to the Sea in Puck in 1920

In 1772, through the First Partition of Poland, the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and in 1773 became part of the newly established province of West Prussia. The Prussian administration dismantled the castle and the remains of the medieval town walls.[2] The town, as Putzig, became part of Germany in 1871, and in 1913 it became the garrison of the first planes of German Naval aviation.[6] After the First World War, Poland regained independence and Puck was assigned to the Second Polish Republic by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1920 Poland celebrated Poland's Wedding to the Sea in Puck. The first actual Polish Navy was founded at the end of World War I in 1918 with some French and British involvement. Puck was the only Polish harbour until Gdynia was built in the 1920s and served as the main harbour of the Polish Navy until the Second World War.

World War II

Memorial plaque at the town hall dedicated to inhabitants of Puck murdered by the Germans in the Piasnica massacre in 1939

Puck was bombed by Nazi Germany at 5.20am Polish time on Friday September 1, known thereafter as Grey Friday, the first day of the invasion of Poland, which started World War II. Luftwaffe bombers dropped a projectile on the town, which also had an airbase for the Naval Air Squadron; dealing significant damage to the Polish air force units stationed there.[7]

During the subsequent German occupation, many Poles from the region, including officials, merchants, directors, teachers, judges, priests, notaries, railwaymen, pharmacists, blacksmiths, technicians, postmen and farmers, were imprisoned in Puck, and afterwards murdered in the Piasnica massacre as part of the Intelligenzaktion.[8] In November 1939, the SS expelled families of Poles who were either murdered in the massacres or deported to Nazi concentration camps.[9] Also Polish students from local high schools were massacred in Piaśnica.[10]

In the building of the local brewery in 1940, the Germans created a transit camp, in which racial selection of the expelled Polish inhabitants of the region was carried out (see: Racial policy of Nazi Germany).[11] Those considered to be "racially valuable" were deported to Germanisation camps and labor camps in Germany, and the rest were expelled to the General Government.[12] Poles expelled from Gmina Dziemiany were used as forced labour in the local factory.[13]

Germans operated a branch of the Stutthof concentration camp in Puck in the years 1941 to 1944. After the war, in 1945, Puck was again part of the Republic of Poland.

Kitesurfing at the beach

Marina

Memorials of gen. Jozef Haller and Poland's Wedding to the Sea

Ethnographic museum

• Gothic St Peter and Paul's church (13th century)
• Town Hall (1865)
• Burghers' houses at the main square (Plac Wolności), 17th century, rebuilt in the 19th century
• Flooded port (8th-10th century) located some 500 metres from the shore
• Remnants of a brick castle (14th century)
• Memorials of gen. Józef Haller and Poland's Wedding to the Sea
• Puck region museum (Muzeum Ziemi Puckiej)
• Former 17th-century hospital, now housing an ethnographic museum[1]
• Wooden pier
• Marina
• Caves in Mechowo
• Coastal Landscape Park (Nadmorski Park Krajobrazowy)

The local football team is Zatoka 95 Puck.[14] It competes in the lower leagues.

• Heinrich Joseph Horwitz (1824–1899), German liberal politician
• Heinrich Edwin Rickert (1833–1902), German journalist and liberal politician
• Stanisław Jaskułka (born 1958) a retired Polish long jumper, came fifth with 8.13 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics
• Daniel Pliński (born 1978) a former Polish volleyball player, a member of Poland men's national volleyball team fromn 2005 to 2010, competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Marcin Wika (born 1983) a Polish volleyball player, a member of Poland men's national volleyball team from 2008 to 2009, competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Jakub Biskup (born 1983) a Polish footballer, over 250 pro games
• Adam Łapeta (born 1987) a Polish professional basketball player

Puck, Poland is twinned with:

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  Puck is an important water sports centre
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  Port in Puck during annual pilgrimage of fishermen from Hel Peninsula to a church fair of St. Peter and Paul in Puck
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  Small marina and pier in Puck
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  Town Hall (Ratusz)
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  Regional museum
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  Restaurant on pier in Puck
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  An evening view of the town
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  Music school
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  Antoni Abraham Monument
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  Monument commemorating the 1656 Polish defense of Puck
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  Hospital in Puck
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  Monument to Polish pilots who died in World War II

• Hel
• Jastarnia
• Amber Road

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Puck.

• Puck on-line
• Puck region museum (Muzeum Ziemi Puckiej)
• Seaside Landscape Park (Nadmorski Park Krajobrazowy)
• Statistics on Puck - Central Statistical Office (en)
• Map of the town
• Puck on the map of Poland
• HOM Puck – Scout Sailing Centre in Puck (pl)
• Stare fotografie miasta Puck
• Puck ® 2013