Starogard Gdanski
Encyclopedia
Kashubian language
Kashubian or Cassubian is one of the Lechitic languages, a subgroup of the Slavic languages....
/Pomeranian
Pomeranian language
The Pomeranian language is a group of dialects from the Lechitic cluster of the West Slavic languages. In medieval contexts, it refers to the dialects spoken by the Slavic Pomeranians...
: Starogarda; ) is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in Eastern Pomerania
Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship, or Pomerania Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in north-central Poland. It comprises most of Pomerelia , as well as an area east of the Vistula River...
in northwestern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
with 48,328 inhabitants (2004). It is 50 km from the Tricity agglomeration on the coast of Gdańsk Bay
Gdansk Bay
Gdańsk Bay or the Bay of Gdańsk or Danzig Bay is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent port city of Gdańsk in Poland and is sometimes referred to as a gulf.-Geography:...
.
Starogard has been the capital of Starogard County
Starogard County
Starogard County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Starogard Gdański, which...
in Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship, or Pomerania Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in north-central Poland. It comprises most of Pomerelia , as well as an area east of the Vistula River...
since 1999, but was previously a town in Gdańsk Voivodeship
Gdansk Voivodeship
The name Gdańsk Voivodeship has been used twice to designate local governments in Poland.----Gdańsk Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in the years 1975–98, superseded by Pomeranian Voivodeship...
from 1975 to 1998. Car registration numbers start with GST.
Starogard is the capital and second biggest city (after Tczew
Tczew
Tczew is a town on the Vistula River in Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 60,279 inhabitants . It is an important railway junction with a classification yard dating to the Prussian Eastern Railway...
) of the region called Kociewie
Kociewie
Kociewie is an ethnocultural region in the eastern part of Tuchola Forest, in northern Poland, Pomerania, south of Gdańsk. Its cultural capital is Starogard Gdański, and the biggest town is Tczew. The region has about 250,000 inhabitants. It has well-developed industry and agriculture.Populated...
and is populated by Kocievians
Kociewiacy
The Kociewiacy are a small Polish ethnic group. They live in Pomerania south of Gdansk. The region they inhabit is called Kociewie and has well-developed industry and agriculture. The capital city of Kociewie is Starogard Gdański, while their biggest city is Tczew...
.
Etymology
The name Starogard means "old city" in the Pomeranian languagePomeranian language
The Pomeranian language is a group of dialects from the Lechitic cluster of the West Slavic languages. In medieval contexts, it refers to the dialects spoken by the Slavic Pomeranians...
. Gdański is appended in the 20th century to the name to differentiate it from other places named Starogard. The German name Preußisch Stargard (Prussian Stargard) is similarly used to disambiguate from other places named Stargard. (See Stargard (disambiguation)).
History
Starigrod was first mentioned in 1198 when DukeDukes of Pomerania
- 10th and 11th century – Dukes of the Slavic Pomeranian tribes :* 1046 mention of Zemuzil * 1113 Gallus Anonymus mentions several dukes of Pomerania: Swantibor, Gniewomir, and an unnamed duke besieged in Kołobrzeg.-Duchy of Pomerania:*1121–1135 Wartislaw I*1135–1155 Ratibor I, ancestor of the...
Grzymisław II of Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
granted the settlement to the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
and Stargarde can be traced back to 1269. In 1348 the town received city rights under Kulm Law by Grandmaster Heinrich Dusemer
Heinrich Dusemer
Heinrich Dusemer von Arfberg was the 21st Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1345 to 1351.Dusemer hailed from Swabia and joined the Teutonic Order in 1311. As a young knight he fought against the Lithuanians. Legend has it that he frequently would duel with Grand Duke Vytenis...
.
Archeological evidence indicates remnants of a neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlement from four to five thousand years ago.
In 1920 with the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
Stargard came to Poland.
Since September 1939 in nearby forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
called Szpęgawski Forest
Szpegawski Forest
Szpęgawski Forest is a forest located north of the town of Starogard Gdański, Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. The area was the site of a Nazi German mass murder and mass graves of 7000 Poles, among them 1680 Kocborowo and Świecie psychiatric hospitals patients, murdered during World War...
(north-east of the town) Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
had killed in mass executions about 7000 Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, among them 1680 Kocborowo (Konradstein) and Świecie
Swiecie
Świecie is a town in northern Poland with 25,968 inhabitants , situated in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship ; it was previously in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship . It is the capital of Świecie County.-History:...
psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
s patients. About 500 handicapped children were killed in the hospital, see Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
. 2842 patients died 1940-1944.
Sports
- SKS Starogard GdańskiSKS Starogard GdanskiPolpharma Starogard Gdański is a Polish basketball team, based in Starogard Gdański, playing in Dominet Bank Ekstraliga....
, men's basketball team promoted to play in Era Basket Liga in the 2004/2005 season.
Population
| Year | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1975 | 1980 | 1990 | 1995 | 1998 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | ? | 25,800 | 33,700 | 39,500 | 44,200 | 49,500 | 50,600 | 50,700 | 49,884 |
Famous residents
- Bernhard Stadié (1833–1895), pastor, Pr. Starogard historian
- Albert Matthai (1853–1924), author
- Johann Eduard Jacobsthal (1839–1902), architect and educator
- Adolf LesserAdolf LesserAdolf Lesser was a German physician who specialized in forensic medicine. He was born in the city of Stargard, West Prussia....
(1851–1926), forensic physician - Adolf WallenbergAdolf WallenbergAdolf Wallenberg was a German internist and neurologist.Wallenberg was born in Preussisch Stargard. He studied at Heidelberg and Leipzig, receiving his doctorate from the latter University in 1886. From 1886 to 1888 he was assistant in the Städtisches Krankenhaus in Danzig, where he settled as a...
(1862–1949), internist and neurologist - John S. FlizikowskiJohn S. FlizikowskiJohn S. Flizikowski, Born April 19, 1868 in Starogard Gdanski, West Prussia and died July 15, 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, was a notable Chicago architect of residential, church and commercial buildings during the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
, (1868–1934), Chicago architect - Ferdinand NoeldechenFerdinand NoeldechenFerdinand Noeldechen was a highly decorated Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the 96. Infanterie-Division. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
(1895–1951), general - Theo MackebenTheo Mackebenthumb|Relief from Mackeben's tombstoneTheo Mackeben, born 5 January 1897 in Preußisch Stargard, Westpreußen, died 10 January 1953 in Berlin, was a German pianist, conductor and composer, particularly of film music.- Life and career :...
(1897–1953), film music composer - Reinhold BöhmkeReinhold BöhmkeReinhold Böhmke was a highly decorated Oberfeldwebel in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
(1911–2001), officer - Hans-Gotthard PestkeHans-Gotthard PestkeHans-Gotthard Pestke was a highly decorated Oberst in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or...
(1914–2001), officer - Henryk JankowskiHenryk JankowskiFather Henryk Jankowski was a Polish Roman Catholic priest. Member of Solidarity movement and one of the leading priests supporting that movement in opposition to the communist government in the 1980s, he was also a long serving provost of St. Bridget's church in Gdańsk...
(*1936), priest - Edward Pałłasz (*1936), composer
- Kazimierz DeynaKazimierz DeynaKazimierz Deyna was a Polish footballer, who played as an offensive midfielder in the playmaker role and was one of the most highly regarded players of his generation.-Early life:...
(1947–1989), soccer player - Andrzej GrubbaAndrzej GrubbaAndrzej Grubba was a Polish table tennis player.Grubba was born in Brzeźno Wielkie near Starogard Gdański...
(1958–2005), table tennis player - Paweł Papke (*1977), volleyball player