Home > Kolobrzeg

1 City name

The name probably comes from its geographical location and means "near coast" in Pomeranian and Polish. The German name probably comes from the original Slavic name.

2 History

Settlements were found in the 9th century, but earlier traces of settlement in city territory are from 6th century. In early history, Kołobrzeg was major port on the Baltic Sea and produced a lot of saltFor other meanings of the word salt see salt (disambiguation In chemistry, a salt is a composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, so that the product is neutral and without a net charge. They are typically the product of a chemi, which was then one of the most expensive trading goods.

Kołobrzeg, with the rest of Pomerania was included (or re included, as the new archaeological finds seem to indicate) into the Polish realm by Mieszko I of Poland in 972Events Otto II marries Theophanu, Byzantine princess. Battle of Cedynia Polish duke Mieszko I defeats Germans. Pope Benedict VI succeeds Pope John XIII as pope. Boleslaus II the Pious succeeds Boleslav I of Bohemia in Bohemia. Yaropolk of Kiev succeeds Sv. After the Meeting in Gniezno in 1000Events World Population 300 million. Gunpowder invented in China. Scandinavia, Iceland and Hungary Christianized. Stephen I becomes King of Hungary. Sancho III of Navarre becomes King Aragon, Navarre, and Castile. Leif Ericson lands in North America, call the emperor Otto III granted Poland the rights to form a separate church hierarchy. One of the newly founded dioceses was located in Kolobrzeg, which was under the archdiocese in Gniezno. The first bishop of Kołobrzeg was Reinbern from Hochseegau . The Diocese and direct link with the Polish kingdom ended when Boleslaw I Chrobry withdrew his troops from the area around 1013, chased out by pagan Pomeranians, not willing to convert to Christianity.

A century later, Kołobrzeg was again taken over by Poland under Boleslaw Krzywousty. A diocese was in existence in 1124 under Prince-Bishop Otto of Bamberg . In late 12 century Pomerania made a homage to Holy Roman Empire and Denmark, from time to time taking part in life of divided Poland, to which it belonged from point of view of church organisation.

On May 23, 1255, the city was chartered with the Lübeck Law by duke Warcisław III , and settlers from Holy Roman Empire started to arrive.

From 1637 till 1721 Pomerania and Kolberg were part of the Swedish Kingdom (the king of Sweden being also duke of the empire) and after the Great Northern War included into the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1761 the city was captured by Russians during the Seven Years War, but at the end of the war it was returned to Prussia.

During Napoleon's invasion of Prussia, the city was besieged by French armies from April 26 to July 2, 1807. In a stubborn and ultimately hopeless defence, the city held out until the war was ended by the Treaty of Tilsit, which sealed France's almost total victory over Prussia. In 1871 Kolberg became a part of the then created German Empire.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War, Kolberg was chosen by Joseph Goebbels for the site of the last Nazi propaganda film Kolberg. The film was to inspire the Germans with the heroic but hopeless Prussian defence of the city in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. Tremendous resources were devoted to filming this epic, even diverting tens of thousands of troops from the front lines to have them serve as extras in battle scenes. The film was released in the final few weeks of Nazi Germany's existence.

In 1944 the city became a stronghold Festung Kolberg , most of civilians were expelled from the city, and between March 4 and March 18, 1945, there were major battles between the Soviet, Polish armies and the German army. Just after the capture the city, Polish army repeated the symbolic engagement of Poland with the sea, that was celebrated for the first time in 1920 by general Józef Haller. The devastated city was eventually returned to Poland by Potsdam Conference.