Trzebiatów

Trzebiatów (pronounced Tshe-bia-toof [tʂɛˈbjatuf], German: Treptow an der Rega) is a town in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 10,119 inhabitants (2016). Trzebiatów is located on the Rega River in the north-western part of Poland, roughly 9 kilometers south of the Baltic coast.

See also: Trzebiatów, Stargard County
Trzebiatów
Town Hall
Coat of arms
Trzebiatów
Coordinates: 54°3′26″N 15°16′43″E
Country Poland
VoivodeshipWest Pomeranian
CountyGryfice
GminaTrzebiatów
Established9th century
City rights1277
Government
 • MayorZdzisław Matusewicz
Area
 • Total10.14 km2 (3.92 sq mi)
Population
 (2016)
 • Total10,119
 • Density1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
72-320
Car platesZGY
Websitehttp://www.trzebiatow.pl

Trzebiatów obtained town rights in 1277 under Pomeranian rulers and was initially settled by the Swedes. It was part of the Duchy of Pomerania.[1] In 1416 the town became part of the Hanseatic League,[1] then served as an important trade post and developed architecturally, with a typical Brick Gothic-style influence. It had trading connections with larger Hanseatic cities such as Gdańsk, Lübeck and Hamburg. During World War II the town escaped destruction and its preserved Old Town was registered as a protected historical monument of Poland.[1]

History
Medieval defensive walls of Trzebiatów

The lower Rega area around Gryfice and Trzebiatów was the site of a West Slavic or Lechitic gród (fortified settlement) in the 9th century. The first recorded mention of the town comes from 1170 when the Pomeranian Duke Casimir I granted a few villages and oversight of a church in the town to settlers from Lund in Sweden. The region was briefly invaded by an expanding Poland during the reign of the first Polish rulers Mieszko I and Bolesław I the Brave. It was part of the Duchy of Pomerania, which separated itself from Poland as a result of the fragmentation of Poland.

In 1504, Johannes Bugenhagen moved to the town and became Rector of the local school.[2] On 13 December 1534 a diet was assembled in the town, where the Dukes Barnim XI and Philip I as well as the nobility officially introduced Lutheranism to Pomerania, against the vote of Erasmus von Manteuffel-Arnhausen, Prince-Bishop of Cammin. In the following month Bugenhagen drafted the new church order (Kirchenordnung), founding the Pomeranian Lutheran church (today's Pomeranian Evangelical Church).[3][4][5]

As a dowager, Sophia of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1579–1658), widow of Philip II, Duke of Pomerania, lived in Treptow. Sophia's dower was a former nunnery, which she converted into a palace. While in Swedish service and thereafter Duke Francis Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg spent a lot of time with Duchess dowager Sophia in Treptow. Sophia's and Francis Henry's fathers were cousins. On 13 December 1637 Francis Henry and Marie Juliane of Nassau-Siegen (1612–1665) married in Treptow.[6] Their first child was born in Treptow in 1640.[7] Francis Henry also served Sophia as administrator of the estates pertaining to her dower.[7]

In 1637 Philip II died leaving the Pomeranian ducal house extinct. At this point the duchy came under Swedish occupation with the Brandenburgian electors claiming succession in Pomerania. It was not until 1648 that the electors annexed the central and eastern part of the former duchy, which formed the newly established province of Pomerania.

Palace in Trzebiatów, former home of the Polish writer Maria Wirtemberska

In 1750 the local palace was refurbished in classicist style for General Frederick Eugene of Württemberg, who resided there – with interruptions – until 1763. In the late 18th century the Polish noblewoman and writer Maria Wirtemberska née Czartoryska, made her contribution to the cultural life of the town. She resided at the Trzebiatów Palace, and her early works and translations were created here. The painter Jan Rustem visited her several times, and his paintings were part of the palace's art collection. The palace, stolen from its rightful owners, now houses a State public library, founded in 1946 and named after Maria Wirtemberska née Czartoryska since 1999.

With the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Brandenburg-Pomerania, already since 1618 ruled in personal union with Ducal Prussia (Kingdom since 1701), also merged into Prussia and the different German confederacies and empires of which it formed part since.

Preserved townhouses in the Old Town

Near the end of the World War II, in February 1945, despite the approaching front, the authorities did not permit the evacuation of the town's population. It was not until March 4 that the order to evacuate was issued, the day after remnants of the army had retreated from the town, leaving the civilian population to fend for itself. After the war the central and eastern part of Western Pomerania, including Trzebiatów, fell into the Soviet Zone of Occupation. The Soviets, however, placed it under the administration of Communist Poland who began ruthlessly expelling the population who had not managed to flee. The town's indigenous German population was expelled, and the town was resettled with Poles, against international law.[8]

Since 1 January 1999, the town has been within West Pomerania Voivodeship, upon its formation from the former Szczecin and Koszalin Voivodeships.

Culture
Medieval architecture of Trzebiatów, from the left: Saint Mary's Maternity Church, Kaszana Tower, Holy Spirit Chapel, Saint Gertrude's Chapel
Trzebiatów Train Station

Trzebiatów's Day of the Buckwheat is a celebration during the first week of August. It is held in memory of the day when the town guard mistakenly dropped a hot bowl of buckwheat meal on invaders from the nearby town of Gryfice, alarming the whole town and ultimately saving it. Inhabitants of Trzebiatów celebrate that event with dances, concerts, competitions and by eating cereal with ham and bacon.

Notable People

Nobility

Twin towns - sister cities

Trzebiatów is twinned with:

References
  1. "Trzebiatów". ujscieregi.pl. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  2. Hamburgische Biografie: Personenlexikon: 5 vols. (so far), Franklin Kopitzsch and Dirk Brietzke (eds.), Hamburg: Christians, 2001–2003 (vols 1–2), Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006– (to be continued), vol. 2 (2003), p. 79. ISBN 3-7672-1366-4.
  3. Pommern (11999), revised, and updated ed., Werner Buchholz (ed.), Berlin: Siedler, 22002, (=Deutsche Geschichte im Osten Europas), pp. 205-220. ISBN 3-88680-780-0.
  4. Theologische Realenzyklopädie: 36 vols., Gerhard Müller, Horst Balz and Gerhard Krause (eds.), Berlin et al.: de Gruyter, 1977–2007, vol. 27 (1997): 'Politik, Politologie - Publizistik, Presse', pp. 43ff. ISBN 3-11-015435-8.
  5. Richard Du Moulin Eckart, Geschichte der deutschen Universitäten (11929), reprint: Hildesheim and New York: Olms, 21976, pp. 111f. ISBN 3-487-06078-7.
  6. N.N., "VII. Sophie von Schleswig-Holstein, Witwe Herzog Philipps II. von Pommern, auf dem Schlosse in Treptow an der Rega", in: Baltische Studien (1832 to date), vol. 1, Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Alterthumskunde and Historische Kommission für Pommern (eds.), vol. 1: Stettin: Friedrich Heinrich Morin, 1832, pp. 247–259, here pp. 250 and 257.
  7. N.N., "VII. Sophie von Schleswig-Holstein, Witwe Herzog Philipps II. von Pommern, auf dem Schlosse in Treptow an der Rega", in: Baltische Studien (1832 to date), vol. 1, Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Alterthumskunde and Historische Kommission für Pommern (eds.), vol. 1: Stettin: Friedrich Heinrich Morin, 1832, pp. 247–259, here p. 257.
  8. Schieder, Professor Theodor, and others, The Expulsion of the German Population from the Territories East of the Oder-Neisse -Line, published by the Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, and War Victims, Bonn, Germany, 1954.
  9. "Kalisch, Marcus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). 1911.


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