Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz (; ;
Latin:
Bydgostia) is a city in northern
Poland, on the
Brda and
Vistula rivers, with a population of 369,151 (2004). It has been the capital of the
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of the
Bydgoszcz Voivodeship (1947-1998) and before that, of the
Pomeranian Voivodeship (1945-1947).
Bydgoszcz is part of the metroplex
Bydgoszcz-Toruń with Toruń, only 45 km away, and over 600,000 inhabitants. In September 2004 the Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz joined
Toruń University as Collegium Medicum UMK in Bydgoszcz.
Originally a fishing settlement called
Bydgoszcz ("Bydgostia" in Latin), the city became a stronghold for the Vistula trade routes. In the 13th century it was the site of a
castellany, first mentioned in
1238. Bydgoszcz was occupied by the
Teutonic Knights from
1331-
1337, and was recovered by King
Casimir III, who granted the city
municipal rights on
19 April 1346. The city increasingly saw an influx of
ethnic Germans and Jews after that date.
In the 15th-16th centuries Bydgoszcz was a significant site for
corn trading. The
Treaty of Bydgoszcz was signed in the town in
1657.
Bydgoszcz followed the history of
Greater Poland until
1772, when it was annexed by the
Kingdom of Prussia in the
First Partition of Poland. During this time, the canal was built from Bydgoszcz to
Nakło which connected the north-flowing Vistula river via the Brda to the west-flowing
Noteć, which in turn flowed to the
Oder via the
Warta.
In
1807 Bydgoszcz became part of the
Duchy of Warsaw. In
1815 it returned to Prussian rule as part of the autonomous
Grand Duchy of Poznań and capital of
Bromberg district. After 1871 the city was part of the
German Empire's
Province of Posen. After
World War I and the
Great Poland Uprising, Bydgoszcz returned to Poland in
1919. It shifted in
1938 to
Pomeranian Voivodeship.
From
1939-
45 during
World War II, Bydgoszcz was occupied by
Nazi Germany and annexed to the
Reichsgau Wartheland. On
September 3 1939, shortly after the war started, the disputed
Bromberg Bloody Sunday incident occurred in which numerous
Poles and
Germans were killed; the incident was used by
Nazi propaganda for retaliation against Poles after Bydgoszcz was occupied by the
Wehrmacht on
September 9. The city's
Jewish citizens were repressed, as thousands of people were sent to concentration camps and/or executed. Bydgoszcz (
Fordon) was the site of
Bromberg-Ost, a female subcamp of
Stutthof. The subcamp staffed several female
SS guards (
Aufseherin) and was commanded by the
Oberaufseherin Johanna Wisotzki and a male commandant. According to
Nowa encyklopedia powszechna PWN, 37,000 citizens of the city died during the war.[
1]
In 1945 Bydgoszcz was liberated and returned to Poland.
Major corporations
*
Zachem SA*
Zespół Elektrociepłowni Bydgoszcz SA*
PESA Pojazdy Szynowe (PESA Rail Vehicles)*
Akademia Techniczno-Rolnicza im. Jana i Jędrzeja Śniadeckich*
Akademia Muzyczna*
Toruń University Collegium Medicum im. Ludwika Rydygiera (Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu, Akademia Medyczna)
*
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego*
Ośrodek Akademii Ekonomicznej w Poznaniu* Sekcja Wydziału Teologicznego Uniwersytetu im. A. Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
*
Kujawsko-Pomorska Szkoła Wyższa*
Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki*
Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki i Nauk Społeczno-Prawnych*
Wyższa Szkoła Ochrony Środowiska*
Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania i Finansów*
Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki in
Łódź, Branch in Bydgoszcz
*
Ostromecko Astoria Bydgoszcz - men's
basketball team playing in
Era Basket Liga: 8th in 2003/2004 season.
*
GCB Adriana Gazeta Pomorska Bydgoszcz- women's
volleyball team playing in
Polish Seria A Women's Volleyball League: 2nd place in 2004/2005 season.
* Budlex
Polonia Bydgoszcz -
motorcycle speedway team from the Polish Ekstraliga. 2nd place in the 2005 season.
*
Zawisza Bydgoszcz* Bydgoszcz will be the host of the 2008
IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships
Bydgoszcz constituency
Members of Parliament (
Sejm) elected from Bydgoszcz constituency
* Paweł Olszewski, PO
* Teresa Piotrowska, PO
* Maciej Swiatkowski, PO
* Grazyna Ciemniak, SLD
* Slawomir Jeneralski, SLD
* Janusz Zemke, SLD
* Witold Hatka, LPR
* Tomasz Markowski, PiS
* Wojciech Mojzesowicz, PiS
* Tomasz Latos, PiS
* Andrzej Walkowiak, PiS
* Jan Bestry, Samoobrona
*
Hansjochem Autrum, zoologist
*
Zbigniew Boniek, football player
*
Jan Kulczyk, businessman
*
Hugo Hergesell*
Eberhard von Mackensen, general
*
Edmund Michał Piszcz, bishop
*
Marian Rejewski, cryptologist
*
Radek Sikorski, Poland's defence minister
*
Cherkasy,
Ukraine*
Hartford,
United States*
Kragujevac,
Serbia*
Kremenchuk,
Ukraine*
 |
Germany |
Mannheim,
Germany*
Ningbo,
People's Republic of China*
Pavlodar,
Kazakhstan*
Patras,
Greece*
Perth,
Scotland*
Reggio Emilia,
Italy*
Tempe,
United States*
Wilhelmshaven,
Germany*
Bydgoszcz (Nazi camp)*
Bydgoszcz Department (Polish:
Departament Bydgoski), a unit of administrative division and local government in the
Duchy of Warsaw from 1806-1815.
*
Municipal website*
Wirtualna Bydgoszcz - informator bydgoski *
Canal Bydgoski 
