LET'S EXPLORE POLAND

Copyright 1998 by the AngloPol Corporation

This series will take us through the cities, towns, villages and countryside of Poland, 
as well as give us insights into the rich history and culture of the nation.

Part 32

POMERANIA

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The history of Pomerania is complicated and diversified. The first Polish rulers of the Piast dynasty, Mieszko I and Boleslaw the Brave, in the 10th century accomplished the political unification of this land that had been divided among local dukes. At the beginning of the second millennium Poland's ties with Western Pomerania loosened, since she was unable to maintain her rule there.

The destiny of Eastern Pomerania (Gdansk) followed another path; the local ducal dynasty related to the Piasts stayed in Power in its capitals in Slawno, Swiecie and Gdansk and recognized Polish hegemony. Another attempt to unite all of the Pomeranian lands was made by Boleslaw the Wrymouth at the beginning of the 12th century, making the entire region between the Vistula, Odra and Notec one politically and territorially integrated Pomerania. There were considerable differences in terms of its integration with Poland, however. While Eastern Pomerania became one of the provinces of the Polish state, in Western Pomerania the local dynasty remained in power with Duke Warcislaw residing in Kamien Pomorski. The latter, however, obligated himself to accept baptism and military assistance and recognized Polish influence and control.

From the times of the testament of Boleslaw the Wrymouth (1138) Poland entered into a two-century period of feudal disintegration, which resulted in painful territorial losses mainly to the German feudal lords. The margraves of Brandenburg launched a frontal attack on Pomerania, destroying the former territorial and political, administrative and church structures and leading to the formation of the predatory New March, while in the eastern part of Pomerania a similar role began to be played by the Order of the Teutonic Knights, which had unfortunately been brought here by Konrad Mazowiecki.

As a result of the consistent colonization of Western Pomerania and the germanization of the ducal dynasties, Brandenburg established strong influences over this region. The expansion towards linking up the Teutonic areas with those occupied by Brandenburg was halted by the great battle at Grunwald (1410) and later by the 13-year war that ended with the peace of Torun (1466), in which Kazimierz the Jagiellon regained Gdansk Pomerania and subordinated the rest of the lands taken by the Teutonic Knights as a fief.

In Western Pomerania the local dukes continued to rule until 1637, when the last duke, Boguslaw XIV, died. Still during his reign, the district of Szczecin was taken by the Swedes. As a result of the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which ended the Thirty Years War, Western Pomerania was divided between Sweden and Brandenburg, which at the beginning of the 18th century transformed itself into the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1720 the Prussians occupied all of Western Pomerania. A period of intensive germanization of these lands began, which lasted until the end of World War II.

Gdansk Pomerania and Gdansk found themselves within the boundaries of Prussia as a result of the partitions of Poland in the years 1772 and 1793. This situation lasted until the end of World War I and the rise of Reborn Poland (1918). The 20-year Polish rule of this part of Pomerania was interrupted by a new German attack on September 1, 1939. After Germany's defeat in 1945, Poland returned to the Piast trails, taking over as a result of historical justice the entire region of Pomerania from Gdansk to Szczecin. A new period began of reconstruction and expansion of agriculture and industry, towns and villages. Through great movements of population after World War II, a new society began to form in all of Pomerania, recovering the trails of its ancestors of more than a thousand years ago. This society, through heavy industry, developed agriculture, fishing and forestry, has been able to transform its land and raise it to a level that meets its high aspirations.

Visiting Pomerania today, a land with a stormy history, irresistible charms of nature and a variety of tourist and recreation attractions, we hear the present-day voice of this land that more and more drowns out the tumult of the former wars brought here by the Danes and Brandenburgians, Teutonic Knights and Swedes, Prussians and French. This is the voice of sons who have returned to a peaceful home.

INTRODUCING POMERANIA

We begin our exploration of Pomerania with the beauty of Polish islands at the mouth of the Odra and the bewitching lakes by which castle ruins whisper about the past. Wolin, an island separating the Bay of Szczecin from the Gulf of Pomerania, is separated from the island of Uznam by the Swina straits. On it is the town of Wolin, which developed from an ancient Slavic settlement. This place is said to have been the site of the legendary town of Wineta, which was drowned by the gods for its licentiousness. Legend stands beside history, for this place is also the seat of a Polish bishopric of 1140 and historic ruins of churches and remnants of defensive walls and an archaeological museum. Ancient Drawsko [Drahim], ruins of a castle by a lake, forms a previously defensive point on the lake isthmus, alongside the beautiful road from Czaplinek to Polczyn Zdroj, which boasts 130 curves amid wooded hills.

And here is Bialy Bor, a horse-riding center, and developing recreation spot between Miastko and Szczecinek. Here, skimming through the vistas of the Szymbarskie Hills at the base of Wiezyca Hill, a sledging cavalcade scatters snow from bearded spruces and lights the trail to a skiing inn.

In Kolobrzeg, we find the annual Festival of Soldiers Songs. But, in Wdzydze Kiszewskie we hear a different song, one with a regional strain, Kashubian, and see folkdances to the sounds of a Kashubian instrument (burczybas). Here is the Kashubian Ethnographic Park and, in the vicinity, are the charming lakes of the Kashubian Lake District.

Here is also Kartuzy, surrounded by lakes, a center of regional culture, famous for its 14th century monastery. Nearby Kashubian Koscierzyna in Bedomin, is the Museum of the National Anthem, located in the birthplace of its author, General Jozef Wybicki.

Bytow holds the Teutonic Knights' castle and a regional song and dance group. There is Cedynia, a former Piast town in the Odra valley, with ruins of a Cistercian monastery, a soldiers' monument, and a battle site where the warriors of Mieszko I and Czcibor, Polish dukes, defeated the Margrave of Brandenburg Hodon in 972.

In Czaplinek the historic relics seem to be an integral part of a large tourist and recreation center. Gniew is associated with the victor at Vienna, John Sobieski, and worth visiting are defensive walls, a castle, a palace, a charming market square with arcaded burghers' houses. On the sandy Hel Peninsula there are the seaside resorts of Kuznica, Jurata, Jastarnia, Hel, a well-know fishing port, and the seat of a fishing museum, as well as a reminder of the last Polish bastion in the September 1939 fight with the Nazi invader.

At Kluki there is a Skansen (outdoor museum) of Slovenian architecture. Rowokol, the "holy mountain of Pomeranians," towers over the former land of the Slowinians, full of legends and the mysteries that seen to envelop it. Nearby is the Smoldzino and Slowinski National Park, covering more than 18,000 hectares of dune, forest, water and peat environment, and sand-bars separating lakes Lebsko and Gardno from the sea. Here wandering dunes leave wilderness behind them; here one can feel as though on a real desert, with sand all the way to the horizon.