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Kętrzyn

Kętrzyn (, until 1946 Rastembork; Rastenburg ) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,478 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Kętrzyn County in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship.

The town is known for the surrounding Masurian Lakeland and numerous monuments of historical value such as the Wolf's Lair in nearby Gierłoż, which was Adolf Hitler's primary headquarters in Eastern Europe over the course of Nazi Germany's military campaign on the Eastern Front during World War II. The town is also known for its 14th century Teutonic Kętrzyn Castle.

History
The original inhabitants of the region were the Balt tribe of the Aesti, mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania (AD 98). The town, known in German as Rastenburg and in Polish as Rastembork, was established in 1329 in the State of the Teutonic Knights and was granted town rights in 1357 by Henning Schindekop.

After the Battle of Grunwald, in 1410, the mayor surrendered the town to Poland, however, it fell back to the Teutonic Knights in 1411. In 1440, the town joined the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation. Upon the request of the Confederation, King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region and town to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. The town then recognized the Polish King as the rightful ruler and the townspeople sent their representative to Königsberg to pay homage to the King.

After the Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) the town was part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order's state and, from 1525 to 1701, it was part of the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief until 1657. In the second half of the 17th century, Poles constituted around a half of the town's population, the other half being Germans. In 1667, a Polish church school was established.

In 1701 the town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and subsequently, in 1871, part of Germany. During the Seven Years' War, from 1758 to 1762, the town was occupied by the Russians, in June 1807, throughout the Napoleonic wars, the division of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski was stationed in the town. Following the unsuccessful Polish November Uprising, in 1832–1833, Polish insurgents, including several officers, were interned in the town.

In the late 19th century a Polish Lutheran parish still existed in Rastenburg, despite the policy of Germanisation conducted by the Prussian authorities. In the second half of the 19th century, a sugar factory, brewery and mill were built.

20th century
Rastenburg and the surrounding district was the scene of the First World War's First Battle of the Masurian Lakes and Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes. During the Second World War Adolf Hitler's wartime military headquarters, the Wolf's Lair, was in the forest east of Rastenburg. The bunker was the setting for the failed assassination attempt of the 20 July plot against Hitler. During the war, the Germans operated a forced labour camp for Jews in the town.

In 1945, the area suffered devastation from both the retreating Germans and advancing Soviets during the Vistula-Oder campaign. Some ruins of the Wolf's Lair remain. The town was a Wehrmacht garrison town until it was occupied by the Red Army on 27 January 1945. The largely abandoned town was heavily destroyed by the Soviets.

After the war, the town was transferred to Poland under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference. Its surviving German residents who had not evacuated were subsequently expelled westward in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and replaced with Poles, most of whom were themselves expelled from the pre-war Polish Vilnius Region that was annexed by the Soviet Union and given to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. The town was given the historic Polish name Rastembork in 1945, and in 1946 it was renamed to Kętrzyn after the Polish historian, activist and patriot Wojciech Kętrzyński, who attended the local gymnasium in the years 1855–1859.

After the war, the town's life was being rebuilt. In 1945, the Municipal Theater was established. Thanks to voluntary contributions, books were purchased for newly organized public libraries. A museum was created in the renovated castle.

From 1975 to 1998, Kętrzyn was administratively located in the Olsztyn Voivodeship.

Climate
Kętrzyn's climate is either oceanic (Köppen: Cfb) or humid continental (Köppen: Dfb), depending on the isotherm used. The climate of the city has a considerable thermal amplitude, but still with some not so pronounced influence of the sea.

Sports
The local football team is. It competes in the lower leagues.

People

 * Johann Dietrich von Hülsen (1693–1767), Prussian general
 * Karl Bogislaus Reichert (1811–1883), German anatomist, embryologist and histologist.
 * Wojciech Kętrzyński (1838–1918), Polish historian and activist
 * Elisabet Boehm (1859–1943), German women's rights advocate
 * Arno Holz (1863–1929), German poet and dramatist
 * Wilhelm Wien (1864–1928), German physicist worked on blackbody radiation
 * Emma Döll (1873–1930), German politician (SPD/USPD/KPD)
 * Rüdiger von Heyking (1894–1956), German Luftwaffe general
 * Hanns Scharff (1907–1992), German Luftwaffe interrogator internationally renowned for developing humane, effective interrogation techniques
 * Waldemar Grzimek (1918–1984), German sculptor
 * Siegfried Tiefensee (1922–2009), German composer
 * Dietrich von Bausznern (1928–1980), German composer, cantor, organist and music teacher
 * Marek Ziółkowski (born 1955), Polish diplomat
 * Krzysztof Kononowicz (born 1963), former candidate for the office of mayor of Białystok and internet celebrity
 * Piotr Lech (born 1968), Polish footballer
 * Krzysztof Raczkowski (1970–2005), musician and drummer of the Polish death metal band Vader
 * Piotr Trafarski (born 1983), Polish footballer

Twin towns – Sister cities
Kętrzyn is twinned with:
 * 🇺🇦 Volodymyr, Ukraine
 * 🇩🇪 Wesel, Germany
 * 🇨🇿 Zlaté Hory, Czech Republic

title: Kętrzyn


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Iława

Iława (Deutsch Eylau ) is a town in northern Poland with 32,276 inhabitants (2010). It is the capital of Iława County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.

The town is located in the Iławskie Lake District, on the longest lake in Poland - Jeziorak. It is located in the area of historical Pomesania. The rivers Iławka and Tynwałd flow through Iława. Within the town's administrative area there is the largest inland island in Poland - Wielka Żuława, which has a permanent ferry connection with the town. The town is located in the area of the Green Lungs of Poland - an area characterized by clean air and diversity of the natural system. From the west and north, Iława is surrounded by the Iława Lake District Landscape Park. Iława is a holiday, paralympic and tourist resort. In the forest just outside Iława there are two Polish Television holiday resorts (Sarnówek and Tłokowisko) to which journalists come for a holiday. From Iława you can reach the Baltic Sea through Jeziorak Lake and the historic, unique in the world Elbląg Canal.

At Lake Silm, one of the world's several training centres for skippers and port pilots, they learn to manoeuvre seagoing ships on miniaturised models. The town is called the summer capital of traditional jazz because of the oldest festival of this music genre in Europe - Old Jazz Meeting "Złota Tarka". In Iława there is the Pope's Calvary of the Iława Lake District, whose canoe-shaped Stations of the Cross refer to and commemorate Karol Wojtyła's two visits to Jeziorak, after which the future Pope was kayaking with young people. Iława lies on the Road of St. James (one of the most important Christian pilgrimage routes in the world) which leads to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella in Spain.

Natural conditions
According to the data of January 1, 2009, the area of the city is 21. 88 km², placing the city on the third position in the province. The town is also the fifth largest in the Warmia and Mazury region and the fifth in the population.

Iława and its surroundings lie on undulating moraine and sandstone areas, distinguished by varied forms of sculpture. Within the city, on Lake Jeziorak (the longest lake in Poland and the sixth largest) is the island of Wielka Żuława with relics of an Old Prussian town. In the vicinity of the city, in the sand terrain, there are lakes, mainly gutter lakes, surrounded by significant forest complexes. In Iława itself, apart from the mentioned Jeziorak, there are a dozen or so smaller lakes (i.e. Little Jeziorak, Iławskie, Dół). The lakes and rivers of the Iławskie Lake land form, together with the Elbląg Canal, a wide system of inland navigation, connecting the surrounding water bodies. This channel makes it possible to reach the Baltic Sea from Iława.

History
The city existed originally as an Old Prussian settlement and was recorded by Teutonic Knights in Prussia in 1305. It is documented in a manuscript by Luther von Braunschweig in 1317 and its first names are known as Ylavia, Ylaw, and Ilow. It was located on the Iławka River between Lakes Jeziorak and Iławskie. The town was under the jurisdiction of the komtur of Christburg (Dzierzgoń) and since 1340 under Osterode (Ostróda).

At the start of the Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) in February 1454, Iława sided with the Prussian Confederation, at the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon signed the act of incorporation of the region to Poland. In April 1454 the town pledged allegiance to the Polish King. After Poland's loss at the Battle of Chojnice, in November 1454 it was taken over by the Teutonic Knights, who handed over its defence to Czech mercenaries. In 1457, the unpaid Czech mercenaries sold the town to Poland. After the peace treaty signed in Toruń in 1466 the town was a part of Poland as a fief. In 1520 Polish King Sigismund I the Old granted Iława the right to collect tolls on the bridge over Jeziorak.

In 1525 the town became part of the Duchy of Prussia, a vassal state of the Polish Crown, and in 1701 it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Administered within the new province of West Prussia in 1773, it became part of the German Empire in 1871. During the Seven Years' War, the town was occupied by Russia between 1758 and 1762. In October–December 1831, several Polish infantry units of the November Uprising stopped in the town on the way to their internment places.

In 1862 the Elbląg Canal was built between Elbing (Elbląg) and Eylau by engineer Georg Steenke, which enabled the inland town to transport bulk of lumber, farm products, and other goods north to Elbing and the Baltic Sea. This was superseded ten years later by rail transport, when the Thorn (Toruń)-Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk) railway line was constructed.

According to the German census of 1910, the town had a population of 10,087, of which 9,566 (94.8%) were Germans and 380 (3.8%) were Poles. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the East Prussian plebiscite of 1920 allowed the residents to cast votes either in favor of remaining in Germany or becoming a part of Poland. The vote took place amid persecution of Polish activists by the German side. Ultimately the town voted to remain in Germany by 4,746 to 235 votes. It became part of Regierungsbezirk West Prussia in the Province of East Prussia.

During World War II, the Germans operated a penal subcamp of the prison in Sztum. Its prisoners were mostly Poles, and many either died of hunger or cold, or were executed. There was also a forced labour camp for some 1,200 people, and Poles were also enslaved as forced labour in the town's vicinity. The Polish resistance movement was active and one of the region's main smuggling points for underground Polish press was located in the area. Towards the end of the war, most population left the town, and the Soviet Army destroyed approximately 85% of the town. After World War II, the town became again part of Poland in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The historic Polish name Iława was adopted to replace the Germanized name.

Toponyms
The name Iława is thought to originate from the ancient Prussian word ilis, meaning black. The related Baltic-Slavic word ilo or ilu means the black colour but also mud. The name might refer to the swampy area where the city lies, or to the dark water of the lake Jeziorak.

The oldest written form of the name Iława is Latin Ylavia. This form appeared on a location document from 1317. Later documents of 1333 and 1334 mention Ylav, while the variety Ylau is mentioned in 1338. In the fifteenth century, the form Ylow and Ylow Thethonicalis appeared. In the years 1430 and 1438, the documents issued by the Dzierzgon command post spoke of Deutschen Ylaw. In the years 1443, 1457 and 1458 the town was named Ylau, and in 1456 it took the form of Ilau, then in 1459 it was changed to Eylaw. The name Deutze Eylau is used in 1457 and its other form Dwetsch Eylau in 1468. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, the names Teutschen Eylau, Deutscheneylau and Theuto Ilavia appear. In the 18th century, the Deutsch Eylau form was adopted, valid until 1933. On 1 January 1934 the name was changed to Stadt Deutsch Eylau (Stadt - en. The town), and since 1945 the Polish name of the town is Iława, which was officially approved on 7 May 1946.

Symbols of the town
On the coat of arms of Iława there is the figure of the Mother of God with the Child in her arms, who sits on the throne at the city gate. The coat of arms of Iława was amended by the resolution of the City Council of May 28, 1998.

Iława's city bugle-call was approved by the resolution of the City Council of August 29, 1996. It is played every day at 12.00 on the trumpet from the town hall tower. It was composed in 1995 by Henryk Majewski - a well-known jazz musician, one of the organizers of the Złota Tarka festival held annually in Iława. The flag of Iława was approved by a resolution of the City Council of April 24, 1997. It depicts the coat of arms of Iława and ten alternately arranged wavy stripes in white and blue, which symbolize waves of Jeziorak lake.

Neighbourhoods in Iława

 * Stare Miasto
 * Centrum
 * Ostródzkie
 * Piastowskie
 * Młodych
 * Kormoran
 * Lipowy Dwór
 * Gajerek
 * Podleśne
 * XXX-lecia
 * Dzielnica Przemysłowa
 * Lubawskie
 * Kopernika
 * Nowy Świat
 * Słoneczne
 * Marina Iława
 * Wojska Polskiego
 * Sobieskiego

Demography
Data as of 30 June 2009: According to the data of 30 June 2008 the city had 33 775 inhabitants.

Economy and industry
In Iława County there is the second lowest unemployment rate in Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship (5. 8%) just after Olsztyn County (5. 1%) - data as of the end of August 2016. Iława is a subzone of the Warmia and Mazury Special Economic Zone.

Cultural life
The town holiday is June 11, commemorating the location of Ilawa in 1305. Most of the cultural events in the city are under the patronage of the Iława Culture Centre. At the ICK there is the "Pasja"; cinema, where DKF "Kadr"; operates. There is the Municipal Public Library in Iława, as well as the District Pedagogical Library, which is a part of the District Centre for Education Development in Iława, and a branch of the Warmia and Mazury Pedagogical Library of Iława. The Karol Wojtyła Foundation in Elbląg. There are several art galleries in the city.

Festivals

 * Open Air MayDay Lead Festival
 * International Traditional Jazz Festival "Złota Tarka"; (oldest traditional jazz festival in Europe)
 * Summer Theatrical Impressions
 * Jeziorak Szanty
 * International Festival of Classical Music "Viva Musica"
 * Fama Rock Festival
 * Hip-hop and rap music festival - Park Jam
 * Soundlake Festival

Museums

 * Sailing Memorial Chamber
 * Museum of Automation and Military Affairs
 * Museum of Graphic Arts "Mon petit Louvre";

Local press

 * Kurier Iławski (weekly)
 * Gazeta Iławska, weekly supplement to Gazeta Olsztyńska (weekly)
 * Life of the Region (weekly)
 * Panorama of the Region (monthly)
 * Iławski Poviat - Regional monthly magazine
 * Charming - a newspaper for children and young people published by the Iława Lakeland and Dylewskie Hills Landscape Parks Complex, published three times a year

Television

 * Iława internet television ilawatv.pl

Radio

 * Radio Eska Iława
 * Meloradio

Local websites

 * ilawa.pl
 * ilawa.wm.pl
 * powiatilawski.pl
 * ilawa.naszemiasto.pl
 * infoilawa.pl
 * ilawa.dlawas.info

Iława in culture
In 1974, the film Gniazdo directed by Jan Rybkowski was recorded on Wielka Żuława Island, telling the story of the first years of the Polish state. The action of two adventures of "Pan Samochodzik"; - Nowe przygody Pana Samochodzika and Pan Samochodzik i złota rękawica by Zbigniew Nienacki - took place in Iława and at Jeziorak. In November 1995. Volker Schlöndorff (author of, "Blaszany bębenek";) shot scenes for his film King Olch with John Malkovich in the ruins of Szymbark Castle (8 km from Iława). In 1989, TVP recorded a documentary film Bloody Ilawa about the Ilawa prison famous for its rebellion, pacification and self-mutilation, as well as for the beating of the interned in spring 1982.

Jewish cemetery
The Jewish cemetery in Iława was established shortly after 1812 and covered an area of 0. 44 hectare. It was devastated by the Nazis and then liquidated by the communist authorities between 1975 and 1976. The land and the remains of the people buried there were used to renovate the IKS Jeziorak stadium. Currently in its place there is an IKS Jeziorak training pitch.

Sports
Iława is a centre of water sports. The city has many marinas, water equipment and bicycle rentals. The town has a sports stadium, a sportsand entertainment hall, a sports swimming pool (Sports and Recreation Centre), a bowling alley, a Pump track extreme cycling track, a skatepark, an indoor ice rink, a traffic town, 2 guarded beaches, 3 Orlik pitches, a motocross-bike and bicycle track, a forest shootingrange, a rowing track, a mini-golf course, and several gyms. On November 18, 1992 at the Municipal Stadium in Iława a friendly football match between Poland and Latvia took place.

The Iława Sports Centre for Tourism and Recreation operates in Iława, which supports various sports sections. In the city there is a sports club Jeziorak Iława, consisting of several sections, among others football, handball, table tennis and taekwondo. Moreover, there are local clubs, institutions andassociations in Iława which bring together people who practice, amongothers martial arts, rowing, volleyball, tennis, athletics, swimming, shooting and cycling.

There is a troop of the Polish Scouting Association in Iława. There aretwo multi-level teams, three teams of hikers (16–21 years old), oneteam of older scouts (13–16 years old), four teams of scouts (19-13years old) and four teams of chefs.

Walk trails
Source:

 * Yellow Trail (28. 3 km): from Iława to Samborow along Lake Jeziorak
 * Blue Trail (26 km): from Iława through Sarnówek to Siemiany along Jeziorak Lake
 * Green Trail (41. 3 km): from Iława to Kamieniec
 * The Forest Teaching Trail "Jasne";
 * "Silm"; Forest Teaching Trail

Bike trails
Source:

 * Trail red (about 60 km): from Iława north east to Jezierzyce and west to Kisielice
 * Trail blue (about 60 km): from Iława to Zalewo along Gil Mały, Gil Wielki and Jeziorak lakes
 * Trail green (about 137 km): from Iława to Elbląg along the Elbląg Canal
 * Yellow trail (about 131 km): from Gorzno to Elbląg along the Elbląg Canal

Kayak trails
Source:

 * The Sir Charles Canoeing Trail. John Paul II - Ostróda - Miłomłyn - Siemiany - Gizerek - IŁAWA
 * The Old Apple Canoeing Trail - Miłomłyn - IŁAWA (length. 63,4 km) - Stare Jabłonki - J. Szeląg M. - J. Szeląg W. - J. Pauzeńskie - Ostróda - J. Drwęckie - K. Elbląski - Miłomłyn - K. Iławski - J.Jeziorak - Chmielówka - Makowo - Szałkowo - IŁAWA
 * Kayak Trail IŁAWA - Stare Jabłonki (length: 1. 5 km) (73,3 km) -IŁAWA - Iławka - Drwęca - J. Drwęckie - Ostróda - J. Pauzeńskie - J.Szeląg W. i M. - S. Jabłonki
 * Canoe trail IŁAWA - IŁAWA (length. 136. 7 km) - Reich. Iławka - Rz. Drwęca - J. Drwęckie - Ostróda - J. Szeląg Wielki - J. Szeląg M. - Stare
 * Jabłonki - K. Elbląski - Miłomłyn - K. Iławski - J. Dauby - J. Jeziorak - IŁAWA

Sail trails
Source:

 * Trail of Iława and Elbląg canal - IŁAWA - Makowo - Zatoka Kraga - Lake Dauby - Lake Karnickie - Miłomłyn - K. Elbląski - J. Drwęckie
 * Trail of Jeziorak and Płaskie Lake - IŁAWA - Siemiany - Jerzwałd
 * Trail of Lake Jeziorak and Ewingi - IŁAWA - Siemiany - Matyty - Dobrzyki - Zalewo
 * Trail of Iława and Elbląg canal - IŁAWA - Makowo - Zat. Kraga - K.Iławski - Miłomłyn - K. Elbląski

Notable residents

 * Daria Abramowicz (born 1987), sports psychologist
 * Richard Altmann (1852–1900), pathologist
 * Erich Diestel (1892–1973), Wehrmacht general
 * Karl Heinemann (1857–1927), German literary historian and philologist
 * Friedrich Karst (1893–1975), general
 * Mirosław Kochalski (born 1965), mayor of Warsaw
 * Jarosław Kotewicz (born 1969), high jumper
 * Joachim Meichssner (1906–1944), Wehrmacht officer and resistance fighter
 * Paul Semrau (1915–1945), Luftwaffe pilot
 * Helmuth Stieff (1901–1944), Wehrmacht general and resistance fighter
 * Gustav Wilke (1898–1977), Fallschirmjäger general

Twin towns — Sister cities
Iława is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Herborn (Germany)
 * Tholen (Netherlands)
 * 🇱🇹 Gargždai (Lithuania)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Iława


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Ostróda

Ostróda (Old Prussian: Austrāti) is a town in northern Poland, in the historic region of Masuria. It is the seat of the Ostróda County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and has approximately 33,191 inhabitants (2009).

Ostróda is the largest town in the western part of Masuria, and the second largest in all of Masuria after Ełk.

Geography
The town lies in the west of the historic Masuria region on the Drwęca river, a right tributary of the Vistula. Lake Drwęca west of the town is part of the Masurian Lake District. Ostróda has become a growing tourist site owing to its relaxing natural surroundings.

The National road 7 from Gdańsk to Warsaw, part of European route E77, passes through Ostróda. The Elbląg Canal connects Ostróda with the Baltic coast.

Middle Ages
At the site of an original settlement of Old Prussians on an island at the river delta where the Drwęca river flows into Lake Drwęca the town of Ostróda evolved. In 1270 the Teutonic Order began constructing wooden earthworks to control the original settlement as well as defend the initial Polish and German settlers. The knights named the new town Osterode after Osterode am Harz in present-day Lower Saxony, Germany (now a sister city with Ostróda). Between 1349-1370 the Order replaced the wood-and-earth fort with a stone castle. The town, whose charter traditionally dates to 1335, quickly became a regional administrative center for the Order.

After the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, Claus von Doringe conquered the castle and delivered the town to the victorious Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło. The Polish king brought the body of Ulrich von Jungingen there before travelling to besiege Marienburg (Malbork); the regrouping Teutonic Knights recaptured Osterode a few months later.

In 1440, local nobility co-founded the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, upon the request of which the town was incorporated to the Kingdom of Poland by King Casimir IV Jagiellon in 1454. During the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the town was repeatedly captured by both the Poles and Prussian Confederation on one side and the Teutonic Knights on the other. After the peace treaty signed in Toruń in 1466 it formed part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order.

Modern era
From 1525 until 1701 Osterode was part of Ducal Prussia, a fief of Poland until 1657, and after 1701 part of Kingdom of Prussia. In the 17th century and until the 19th century the town and its surroundings were inhabited mostly by Poles. The majority of inhabitants were Protestant and the Evangelical church books date back to 17th century. During the Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629, Polish troops were stationed there in 1626, and in 1628, the town was briefly occupied by the Swedes. From 1633, with the approval of the Polish King Władysław IV Vasa, Osterode and the county was under the administration of Duke John Christian of Brieg, one of the last dukes of the Piast dynasty (until his death in 1639).

After the Battle of Eylau in February 1807 French troops gathered in Osterode, from February to April 1807 Napoleon I used the castle as his headquarter. In June 1807 Polish troops of General Józef Zajączek were stationed in the town. In 1818 it became the seat of a Kreis (district) within the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1871 Osterode was included in the newly formed German Empire.

In the 19th century the town was part of territory dominated by the Polish language, and the Osterode district was inhabited mostly by Poles (71% in 1825, 65% in 1867). The town was a significant Polish centre, whose most famous representative was pastor Gustaw Gizewiusz. Polish newspapers were edited and published in the town, including Mazur from 1885. In 1868 Karol Salewski established a Polish bookshop and a Polish printing house. Osterode was the largest town of Masuria in the early 20th century (according to data from 1905 and 1925), after surpassing Lyck (Ełk) (according to data from 1880 and 1890).

During World War I and the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg, General Paul von Hindenburg had his 8th Army headquarters at the Osterode schoolhouse. In the East Prussian plebiscite of 1920 8,663 inhabitants voted to remain in German East Prussia, 17 votes supported Poland.

During World War II, some expelled Poles from Lubawa County were enslaved by the Germans as forced labour in the town's vicinity. Most of the Osterode citizens had fled during the evacuation of East Prussia, when on 21 January 1945 Osterode was captured by the Soviet Red Army without fighting. However, about 70% of the town was destroyed by arson attacks afterwards. With the conquest by the Soviet Union and the Potsdam Agreement, the town became again part of Poland and most of the remaining German population was expelled. In 1950 26 percent of the population originated from the eastern areas of pre-war Poland, 18 percent were pre-war inhabitants.

While it was previously in Olsztyn Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998, Ostróda has been situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999.

Jewish community

The first certifiable Jewish families lived in Osterode in 1732, a Jewish cemetery was established in 1735. In 1845 the Jewish community counted about 110 members, in 1860, there were 160 and in 1880 222 Jews living in Osterode. The number declined to 123 in 1933 and 75 in 1937. A small synagogue was built in 1856 and a new, larger one based on the Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) style in 1893. In 1932 a Jewish shop was attacked with explosives, boycotts of Jewish shops took place in 1935. The synagogue and the Jewish cemetery were destroyed in the Kristallnacht riots of November 1938. In 1939, the Jewish community was officially dissolved. The remaining pre-war Jewish population was murdered by Nazi Germany in the Holocaust.

Sports
The local football club is Sokół Ostróda. It competes in the lower leagues.

Twin towns — Sister cities
Ostróda is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Osterode am Harz, Germany (24.04.1994)
 * 🇷🇺 Neman, Russia
 * 🇱🇹 Šilutė, Lithuania (27.09.2001)
 * 🇱🇹 Tauragė, Lithuania

Notable residents

 * John Christian of Brieg (1591–1639), died in Osterode
 * Christian Jakob Kraus (1753–1807), philosopher, economist, linguist
 * Gustaw Gizewiusz (1810–1848), Polish political figure, folklorist, translator
 * Paul Dahlke (1865-1928), Physician and Buddhist
 * Hans Manteuffel (1879-1963), architect
 * Friedrich-Wilhelm Neumann (1889–1975), Wehrmacht officer
 * Bruno Karczewski (1913–1971), Wehrmacht officer
 * Hans Hellmut Kirst (1914–1989), Author
 * Alexander Allerson (born 1930), German actor
 * Rita Baltutt Kyle (born 1937), Author
 * Werner Olk (born 1938), footballer and coach
 * Kazimierz Czarnecki (born 1948), weightlifter
 * Gustaw Marek Brzezin (born 1958), politician
 * Patryk Czarnowski (born 1985), volleyball player
 * Maciej Krzykowski, (born 1991) also known as Av3k is a professional Quake player

Honorary citizens

 * Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak
 * Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz
 * Günter Verheugen
 * Tadeusz Oracki
 * Edgar Steiner
 * Michal Kmiotek

title: Ostróda


text:
USS Vestal

USS Vestal (AR-4) was a repair ship in service with the United States Navy from 1913 to 1946. Before her conversion to a repair ship, she had served as a collier since 1909. Vestal served in both World Wars. She was damaged during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and received two battle stars for her World War II service.

Commissioning
The history of USS Vestal (AR-4) began when Erie (Fleet Collier No. 1) was authorized on 17 April 1904; but the ship was renamed Vestal in October 1905, well before her keel was laid down on 25 March 1907 at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Launched on 19 May 1908, Vestal was placed in service as a fleet collier, with a civilian crew, at her builders' yard on 4 October 1909.

Refitting

Vestal served the fleet as a collier, operating along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies from the autumn of 1909 to the summer of 1910. After a voyage to Europe to coal ships of the Atlantic Fleet in those waters, the ship returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was taken out of service at the Boston Navy Yard on 25 October 1912. The ship underwent nearly a year's worth of yard work and was commissioned as a fleet repair ship in 1913 under the command of Commander Edward L. Beach, Sr., USN (father of submariner Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr.).

After fitting out, Vestal departed her conversion yard on 26 October for Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she conducted her shakedown between 29 October to 10 November. After touching at Key West, Florida, for coal on 14 November, Vestal moved on to Pensacola, Florida, her base for operations as a repair ship for the Atlantic Fleet. She was attached to the Atlantic fleet and served along the east coast and in the West Indies until spring of 1914 when she was dispatched along with other ships for the occupation of the Mexican port of Vera Cruz. The auxiliary vessel provided repair services at Vera Cruz from 2 May to 20 September before she sailed for Boston, escorting the cruiser Salem to the navy yard there for overhaul.

Vestal then operated off the Virginia Capes and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before she returned to the Boston Navy Yard on 10 June 1915, after calls at New York City and Newport, Rhode Island She took on stores and provisions at Boston and underwent repairs there before she rejoined the fleet at Narragansett Bay on 19 May 1916.

World War I

Following the U.S. entry into World War I, Vestal was deployed to Queenstown, Ireland, where she provided services for ships of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla. She stayed there for the duration of the war and beyond, finally returning in 1919. For the next six years Vestal served the Scouting Force and Battle Fleet. During the navy-wide assignment of alphanumeric hull numbers on 17 July 1920, Vestal was classified as a repair ship, AR-4.

In 1925 she underwent modification that changed her from a coal-powered ship to an oil-fired one. Soon thereafter, on 25 September, the submarine USS S-51 (SS-162) was rammed and sunk by SS City of Rome and Vestal was called to help recover the submarine. Vestal conducted her salvage operations from October to early December 1925 and again from 27 April to 5 July 1926. During the latter period, the submarine was raised from the bottom. Following the completion of recovery, Vestal was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1927.

Pacific service 1927–1946
The Pacific Fleet was shifted to a new base at Pearl Harbor following Fleet Problem XXI in the spring of 1940. Vestal also made the move. After returning from the west coast for an overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, Vestal resumed her duties. On 6 December 1941, she was moored alongside USS Arizona (BB-39), at berth F 7, off Ford Island, to provide services to the battleship during her scheduled period of tender upkeep between 6 and 12 December.

Pearl Harbor

On December 7 shortly before 08:00 Japanese carrier-based aircraft swept down upon Pearl Harbor. At 07:55, Vestal went to general quarters, manning every gun. At about 08:05, her 3 in gun commenced firing.

At about the same time, two bombs – intended for the more valuable battleship inboard on Battleship Row – hit the repair ship. One struck the port side, penetrated three decks, passed through a crew's space, and exploded in a storage hold, starting fires that necessitated flooding the forward magazines. The second hit the starboard side, passed through the carpenter shop and the shipfitter shop, and left an irregular hole about five feet in diameter in the bottom of the ship.

The 3 in gun jammed after three rounds, and the crew was working to clear the jam when an explosion blew Vestal's gunners overboard. Thereafter, maintaining anti-aircraft fire became secondary to saving the ship.

At about 08:10, a bomb penetrated Arizona's deck near the starboard side of number 2 turret and exploded in the powder magazine below. The resultant explosion touched off adjacent main battery magazines, exploding the forward part of the battleship and literally clearing Vestal's deck of her crew.

Among those blown overside was her commanding officer, Commander Cassin Young. He swam back to the ship, and countermanded an abandon ship order given by another officer by coolly saying, "Lads, we're getting this ship underway." Fortunately, the engineer officer still had the "black gang" getting up steam.

Oil from the ruptured tanks of the Arizona caught fire in the explosion, which in turn set Vestal ablaze aft and amidships. At 08:45 men forward cut her mooring lines with axes, freeing her from Arizona, and she got underway, steering by engines alone. The naval tug Hoga, whose tugmaster had served aboard Vestal just a few months before the attack, pulled Vestal's bow away from the inferno engulfing Arizona and the repair ship, and the latter began to creep out of danger. In spite of slowly assuming a list to starboard and settling by the stern, she anchored in 35 ft of water off McGrew's Point at 09:10.

Continued flooding caused Vestal to settle by the stern and increased the list to six and one-half degrees. At the direction of Commander Young, Vestal got underway again at 09:50, less than an hour after the Japanese attack ended. Vestal intentionally ran aground at Aiea Bay soon thereafter. Commander Young explained his order to run aground in his after-action report: "Because of the unstable condition of the ship...", Young explained in his after-action report, "...(the) ship being on fire in several places and the possibility of further attacks, it was decided to ground the ship." Commander Young was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in saving Vestal.

Despite being damaged herself Vestal participated in some of the post-attack salvage operations, sending repair parties to the overturned hull of the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) so that welders could cut into the ship and rescue men trapped there after the battleship capsized.

In the days following the attack, Vestal's men repaired their own ship because yard facilities were at a premium. Within a week of the raid Vestal's crew had pumped out the oil and water that had flooded the compartments below the waterline and cleared out the damaged and gutted holds – all work that had to be completed before the rebuilding process could begin.

Tongatapu
After repairs and alterations and operations at Pearl Harbor Vestal received orders on 12 August 1942 to proceed to the South Pacific. She set sail for Tongatapu in the Tonga Islands. She arrived there two weeks later, on 29 August, less than a month after the launching of Operation Watchtower, the invasion of the Solomon Islands. Over the months that followed the Japanese would contest the Americans and their Australian and New Zealand allies with skill and tenacity.

During Vestal's 60 days at Tongatapu she completed 963 repair jobs for some 58 ships and four shore activities. Included were repairs to warships such as USS Saratoga (CV-3) (torpedoed by JAPANESE SUBMARINE I-26 on 31 August); USS South Dakota (BB-57) (damaged from grounding at Lahai Passage, Tonga Islands, on 6 September); and USS North Carolina (BB-55) (torpedo damage suffered on 15 September).

Repairing USS South Dakota
One of the more difficult jobs was the one performed on South Dakota. The battleship had run aground on an uncharted reef and put into Tongatapu for emergency repairs. Vestal's divers commenced their work at 16:00 on 6 September and began checking the ship's seams. With only six divers working, Vestal's party operated until 02:00 on 7 September and reported the damage as a series of splits extending along some 150 ft of the ship's bottom. By the next morning, 8 September, Vestal's skilled repairmen, together with men of the battleship's crew, managed to mend the damage sufficiently to allow the ship to return to the United States for permanent repairs.

Repairing USS Saratoga
When Saratoga put into Tongatapu after being torpedoed by I-26 on 31 August, Vestal's divers combined forces with USS Navajo (AT–64) to inspect the damage and later trim and brace the hole. Pumps managed to clear the water out of the flooded fire room and tons of cement were poured into the hole to patch the damaged area. Within 12 days of her arrival at Tongatapu, Saratoga was able to return to the United States.

Repairing USS Enterprise
Vestal subsequently sailed for the New Hebrides on 26 October, though a change of orders brought her to New Caledonian waters instead, and she reached Nouméa on 31 October. Her arrival could not have been more timely, as the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands had taken place just days before, from 25 to 27 October. South Dakota and USS Enterprise (CV-6), two of the most heavily damaged ships in the battle, were at Nouméa.

A bomb hit on the latter had buckled a 30 by section of the flight deck, aft, bulging it about four feet above deck level. In addition, the hit flooded the after elevator machinery room and blew out bulkheads and damaged furniture in "officer's country." Ordered to sea before the damage was completely repaired, the carrier took with her two Vestal officers and a large repair party of 75 Seabees, who continued work even when Enterprise went to battle stations. Those Vestal men were included in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to Enterprise.

Repairing USS South Dakota
South Dakota, like Enterprise, had suffered major damage. She had taken a bomb hit on one of her 16 in gun turrets, had been torn by shrapnel, and had collided with the destroyer USS Mahan (DD-364) during the battle. The destroyer had not only holed the battleship's starboard side but had left an anchor in the wardroom. Even though Vestal repair parties were busy with Enterprise's urgent repairs they also went to work on the damaged South Dakota, listing her over to patch the hole on the battleship's starboard side at the waterline. Her craftsmen repaired the wardroom (removing Mahan's anchor in the process), patched shrapnel holes, and put sprung hatches and damaged fire mains in order. She was back in action in just five days.

Espiritu Santo
During her time at Nouméa, Vestal completed 158 jobs on 21 ships; she departed that port on 13 November; reached Espiritu Santo three days later; and began a year's schedule of repair service. During the next 12 months, Vestal tackled some 5,603 jobs on 279 ships and 24 shore facilities. Some of the outstanding repair jobs were on ships damaged during the bitter naval engagements in the Solomons in late 1942 and early 1943. There were: USS San Francisco (CA-38), ripped by heavy caliber hits during the night battle off Savo Island on 13 November 1942; USS New Orleans (CA-32) and USS Pensacola (CA-24), the latter with a torpedo hole measuring 24 by 40 ft, a flooded after engine room, and two propeller shafts broken; the New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Achilles - already famous for her part in the 1939 Battle of the River Plate and the subsequent sinking of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee - which, besides shrapnel and collision damage, had taken a direct hit on her after turret; and the torpedoed and fire-damaged cargo ship USS Alchiba (AKA-6).

In addition, she performed repairs on the torpedoed light cruiser USS St. Louis (CL-49), the torpedoed Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart (1939); the bomb-damaged transport USS Zeilin (AP-9); and others, including USS Tappahannock (AO-43) and HMNZS Leander. She also corrected battle damage to and performed alterations on 12 LST's and a large number of miscellaneous lesser ships. Only once during that time, from 27 May to 2 June 1943, did the ship herself undergo repairs.

Repairing USS Pensacola

One of the most outstanding pieces of salvage work performed by Vestal was for the heavy cruiser USS Pensacola (CA-24), heavily damaged at the Battle of Tassafaronga. A torpedo had caused such extensive damage aft that her stern was barely attached to the rest of the ship and swayed gently with the current. A few frames, some hull plating, and one propeller shaft were practically all that still held the aftermost section to the rest of the ship. As Vestal's commanding officer later recounted, "Never had an AR (repair ship) been presented with such a task; no records on how it should best be done were available."

By trial and error, and relying on previous experience, Vestal workers turned-to. The hole was plugged and braced for stability, compartments that could be were sealed and pumped out; three propellers of about seven tons each were pulled off to reduce drag. "One has to be something of an artificer", her commanding officer recounted, "... to realize the problems that came up to do with this job, such as underwater welding and cutting, which was still a fairly new thing." Vestal's force used a dynamite charge to jar one propeller loose and had to burn through the shaft of another to get it off.

After Pensacola came USS Minneapolis (CA-36), torpedoed amidships and with 75 ft of her bow missing. Vestal put her in shape, too, for a trip to a stateside yard where permanent repairs could be made. "So it went", continued the commanding officer, "... one broken, twisted, torpedoed, burned ship after another was repaired well enough to make a navy yard or put back on the firing line."

Funafuti
On 18 November 1943, Vestal departed Espiritu Santo, bound for the Ellice Islands, and reached her destination, Funafuti, on the 22nd. During her brief stay there the repair ship completed some 604 major repair tasks for 77 ships and for eight shore activities. Her outstanding job during that tour was her work on the light carrier USS Independence (CVL-22).

Marshall Islands
Underway for Makin on 30 January 1944, Vestal's orders were changed en route. The ship proceeded instead for the Marshall Islands, reaching Majuro atoll on 3 February. The big repair job awaiting her there was that for the battleship USS Washington (BB-56), which had suffered heavy collision damage forward with the USS Indiana (BB-58). Although estimates called for it to be a 30-day job, Vestal, often working 24-hour shifts, completed the task in only 10 days. After that, Washington sailed for Pearl Harbor to receive permanent repairs.

In need of repairs herself, especially new evaporators, Vestal departed Majuro and sailed, via Pearl Harbor, for the Mare Island Navy Yard. Upon conclusion of those repairs, the addition of new equipment, alterations, a general overhaul, and a vari-colored paint job, Vestal departed Mare Island on 8 September, bound for the Carolines. Her voyage took her via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok. There she picked up tows for the remainder of her voyage, a cement barge, Chromite, and the Navy ammunition barge YF-254. She reached Ulithi on 15 October 1944.

During the ship's sojourn at Ulithi, Vestal completed 2,195 jobs for 149 ships – including 14 battleships, nine carriers, five cruisers, five destroyers, 35 tankers, and other miscellaneous naval and merchant ships. Her biggest repair job of that time was the light cruiser USS Reno (CL-96), torpedoed off San Bernardino Strait by JAPANESE SUBMARINE I-41 on the night of 3 November. Once again, Vestal's workers performed their tasks quickly and efficiently, having Reno on her way in a short time for permanent repairs in a stateside yard.

Saipan and Okinawa
Underway for the Marianas on 25 February 1945, Vestal arrived at Saipan two days later, to commence what would be over two months of service there, principally repairing amphibious craft used for the Iwo Jima invasion. While Vestal lay at anchor at Saipan, the Okinawa invasion commenced on 1 April 1945. Less than a month later, Vestal sailed for Kerama Retto, a chain of islands off the southwestern tip of Okinawa, and arrived there on 1 May.

During May, Vestal went to general quarters 59 times as Japanese planes made suicide attacks on the ships engaged in the bitter Okinawa campaign. Experience proved that the best defense against the suiciders was a smoke or fog screen produced by all ships that blended into one gigantic mass of low-hanging clouds. For that purpose, Vestal had two boats equipped with fog generators and several barrels of oil. Besides the fog generators, smoke pots would be thrown over the bow of the ship to emit a dense, white, sickly-smelling smoke for about 15 minutes apiece. Besides the danger posed by suiciders, deck sentries kept a sharp lookout for any enemy who might attempt to swim out to the ships with mines or explosive charges.

At Kerama Retto, Vestal's big job was repairing destroyers. Her jobs included the kamikaze-damaged USS Newcomb (DD-586) and USS Evans (DD-552).

Vestal remained at Kerama Retto through mid-June before she got underway on the 23d for Nakagusuku Wan, later renamed Buckner Bay, arriving there later that same day. The repair ship remained in that body of water for the remainder of the war. At 20:55 on 10 August 1945, a pyrotechnic display burst forth as word arrived telling that Japan was entertaining thoughts of surrender. "So great was the display of fireworks and so immense the feeling of victory that once the tension had been broken, the true peace announcement received at 0805, 15 August 1945, caused hardly a ripple of enthusiasm: nevertheless the spirit of victory was uppermost in the hearts and conversations of all hands."

Post-World War II service
The main danger to the fleet after Japan surrendered was typhoons. Vestal had sortied twice from Buckner Bay before "V-J Day" — once on 19 July and once on 1 August. On 16 September, Vestal sortied for the third time on typhoon evasion, returning to the harbor the next day after having ridden out 68 kn winds and heavy seas.

Vestal carried out storm-damage repairs over the ensuing days before another typhoon – the fourth for the Ryūkyūs that year – swirled in from the sea on the 28th. Upon receipt of orders from Commander, Service Division 104, Vestal weighed anchor and headed out to sea at 15:00, her stem sluicing seaward from Buckner Bay. "The glassy sea, humid atmosphere, and falling barometer portended the approaching engagement between ship and her relentlessly violent foes, sea and wind."

The merchantmen Fleetwood and Kenyan Victory took positions 800 yd astern and in single file with Vestal leading the way, steaming westward and away from the threatening blackness massing to the east of Okinawa. Overhauling a four-ship convoy, Captain H. J. Pohl, Vestal's commanding officer, assumed command of the now seven-ship group. The ships met the fierce winds head-on to lessen the roll and steered to take the surging seas on the quarter, maneuvering skillfully to prevent damage or, worse, loss. By late in the afternoon of the third day, Pohl, the convoy's commodore, had his ships back in Buckner Bay, safe and sound.

That particular storm-evasion sortie proved only to be a realistic exercise compared to what came next. On 6 October, Vestal received warnings of Typhoon Louise (1945) — a tropical storm 400 mi in diameter with winds of 100 kn near the center, moving west-northwest at 17 kn.

At 00:15 on the 7th, Vestal and all ships present in Buckner Bay received word to prepare to execute typhoon plan "X-ray" upon one hour's notice. By mid-afternoon, those orders arrived; and the fleet began stirring itself to action for its survival. Among the first vessels to get underway was Vestal, the venerable repair ship clearing the harbor entrance at 16:00, steaming due east. Ultimately, USS Beaver (ARG-19) and the merchantmen Hope Victory, Grey's Harbor, and Esso Rochester joined her.

Rising seas, increasing winds, and a plummeting barometer ushered in Monday, 8 October, but Vestal and her brood maintained their eastward course through the next day, 9 October – the day when the typhoon struck Okinawa with unparalleled force. At that time, Vestal was steering a "crazy-patch course", eluding the storm that included seas up to 40 ft high and winds registering between 50 and 65 kn. Hoping for a possible entry into Buckner Bay on Wednesday, 10 October, Vestal headed westerly, bucking strong head winds.

At 14:05 on 10 October, while Vestal headed back to Buckner Bay, a signalman on the flying bridge called out: "Life raft on port bow." "Second life raft on port beam", came another cry only a few moments later. Barely perceptible several thousand yards to port were tiny specks, rising with the waves – specks which turned out to be the survivors of the sunken USS LSM-15 that had gone down in the fury of the typhoon during the previous night.

Ordering the other ships to proceed independently, Vestal put about to port and shortly thereafter swung to windward of the nearest life raft. In the lee thus formed, the repair ship lowered a motor whaleboat; that craft picked up 17 men from the first raft. Ultimately, 15 more survivors clambered up the boarding nets to safety; a total of two officers and 30 men were recovered from the sea.

Entering Buckner Bay at dusk, Vestal witnessed the savage typhoon's aftermath with the dawn of the 11th. Once again, Vestal immediately turned to the task of repairing the battered ships of the fleet. Subsequently, Vestal performed her vital service functions supporting the occupation of China and Japan, before she sailed back to the United States. Her disposal was delayed in order to allow the ship to perform decommissioning work on other ships referred to the 13th Naval District for disposal, Vestal was ultimately decommissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on 14 August 1946. Struck from the Navy List on 25 September of the same year, she lay inactive for the next two and one-half years before stripping began on 20 May 1949. Her hull was sold on 28 July 1950 to the Boston Metals Company, Baltimore, Maryland, and subsequently scrapped.

Vestal (AR-4) received two battle stars for her World War II service.

title: USS Vestal


text:
Collier

Collier or colliers may refer to:

Coal industry

 * Collier, coal miner or coal merchant
 * Colliery, coal mining and selling; or a coal mine
 * Collier (ship), a bulk cargo ship which carried coal
 * Charcoal maker, in colonial United States and also in Sussex, England
 * Collier, Royalty

Places

 * Collier Row, a place in the London Borough of Havering
 * Colliers Wood, an area in the London Borough of Merton
 * Collier County, Florida, a county of Florida's southwest coast
 * Collier, Georgia, an unincorporated community
 * Colliers, West Virginia, a small town in the northern panhandle area of West Virginia
 * Colliers, Newfoundland and Labrador, a town on the Avalon Peninsula
 * Collier Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh
 * Collier Range National Park, Australian park
 * Collier High School (New Jersey), a school in Wickatunk, New Jersey

People

 * Collier (surname)
 * Collier Twentyman Smithers (1867–1943), British portrait artist

Other

 * Collier Baronets, a title in the British honours system
 * Collier Books, a publishing imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company
 * Collier's Encyclopedia, a U.S. encyclopedia
 * Collier Motors, the last auto dealer in the U.S. under the American Motors banner
 * Collier (necklace), a type of necklace, possibly a synonym for choker
 * Collier Trophy, is the highest honor in American aviation
 * Collier's, a U.S. magazine published between 1888 and 1957
 * Colliers (company), commercial real estate services company
 * Colliers Wood United F.C., an English association football club

title: Collier


text:
Nowy Targ

Nowy Targ (Officially: Royal Free city of Nowy Targ, Yiddish: Naymark, Goral Dialect: Miasto) is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mountains, at the confluence of the Czarny Dunajec and the Biały Dunajec. It is the seat of the Nowy Targ County and the rural Gmina Nowy Targ, as well as the Tatra Euroregion.

With 33,293 inhabitants, Nowy Targ is the largest town and the historic capital of Podhale, as well as its main commercial, communication and industrial center.

The town has the Podhale State Vocational University and the highest located airport in Poland.

Established before 1233, Nowy Targ received city rights on 22 June 1346 from King Casimir the Great. The historic architectural and urban complex of the town with a medieval market square has been preserved to this day.

Toponymy
In 1233, a settlement called in Stare Cło (Antiquum Theoloneum) or Długie Pole is mentioned in the vicinity of the present town. Later, a settlement of Novum Forum, Neoforum was established in the new place. The name of the town was spelled in Nowy Targ or Nowytarg.

The town's full official name is Królewskie Wolne Miasto Nowy Targ, which can be translated as 'Royal Free Town Nowy Targ'. Nowy Targ was a royal town of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and was granted staple right in 1638. In nearby Slovakia, the town is known as Nový Trh.

Nowy Targ is commonly called in the Goral dialect of Miasto. During the foundation period, the town was called the German name Neumarkt, and during the Austrian partition it was called Naj-Mark (נײַ־מאַרק) by local Jews. During the German occupation of Poland, the authorities of the General Government introduced the official name of Neumarkt am Dohnst.

Timeline of town history

 * 1308 - Cistercians receive a land grant to form new settlements in the mountain region. A border settlement called Stare Cło (Altzoll, Old Customs Post) is founded soon thereafter.
 * 1346 - Nowy Targ founded by King Casimir the Great, based on the Stare Cło settlement, and granted significant internal autonomy based on Magdeburg law.
 * 1487 - King Casimir IV Jagiellon grants the rights to two annual festivals, and a weekly market fair on Thursdays. (The weekly open-air market continues to this day, now on Thursday and Saturday mornings.)
 * 1533 - Nowy Targ obtains a statute requiring merchants to pass through the city when crossing the border.
 * 1601 - Great fire destroys the parochial church and city records.
 * 1656 - Swedish troops sack the town during the Deluge.
 * 1670 The Battle of Nowy Targ occurs ending the Peasant Rebellion in Podhale of Gorals
 * 1710 - Another fire consumes 41 houses and the church.
 * 1770 - Nowy Targ annexed by Austria (see: Partitions of Poland).
 * 1886 - City Hall opens.
 * 1914 - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is arrested as a possible spy in southern Poland by Austrian authorities; he is jailed in Nowy Targ for approximately 12 days.
 * 1918-1920 - The region becomes part of the Lemko Republic after World War I.
 * 1933 - Polish president Ignacy Mościcki visits.
 * 1939 - German forces invade on 1 September, at approx. 16:30.
 * 1941 - Resistance movement called the Tatra Confederation formed in Nowy Targ.
 * 1942 - Jewish ghetto liquidated by Nazis on 30 August.
 * 1945 - The Red Army forces out German occupants on 29 January. 4 Jewish Holocaust survivors who return to the town are being murdered by locals and the rest flee.
 * 1966 - Born Wojciech Wiercioch, Polish writer.
 * 1979 - Pope John Paul II visits Nowy Targ on 8 June, during his first pilgrimage to Poland.

Geography
Nowy Targ is located in the heart of Podhale (one of the Goral Lands) at the altitude of 585–850 m above sea level (AMSL); latitude 49°28' N, longitude 20°01' E. Distance to the main urban agglomerations in Poland is: Warsaw – 376 km, Łódź – 348 km, Kraków – 84 km, Gdańsk – 690 km, Wrocław – 346 km, Katowice – 157 km, Kielce – 200 km, Rzeszów – 214 km, Szczecin – 727 km, Białystok - 574 km, Poznań – 475 km, Częstochowa – 226 km, Słupsk – 759 km.

Climate
Due to its altitude, Nowy Targ is one of the coldest cities in Poland together with Suwałki and Zakopane. Winter usually lasts from late November to early April and between 90 and 110 days a year there is a snow cover. Air frost has been measured in every month of the year except for July. Summers are mild with occasional thunderstorms and high temperatures between 17 and 25 degrees Celsius. Hot days (over 30 °C) are rare, only occurring twice annually on average. Precipitation is heavy for Polish standards, varying between 900 mm at the airport and 1100 mm in Kowaniec to around 1350 mm on Bukowina Miejska, the highest part of the city. The growing season equally varies between on average 150 days on Bukowina Miejska to around 200 days in the lower parts of the city. Nowy Targ is in the AHS Heat Zones 1-2 and USDA Hardiness Zone 4a to 5b, depending on the location.

According to the Köppen climate classification, Nowy Targ straddles the border of the Warm Summer Continental (Dfb) and Subarctic (Dfc) climates, with most of the city falling in the Dfb group. The Dfc climate is only found above 800 mof elevation within Nowy Targ.

Culture

 * City Cultural Center (Miejski Ośrodek Kultury)
 * Youth Cultural Center (Młodzieżowy Dom Kultury)
 * The Jatka Gallery (Galeria Jatki)

Museums

 * Museum of Podhale (Muzeum Podhalańskie PTTK)

Cinemas

 * Cinema "Tatry"

St. Anna Church
Wooden church overseeing the city cemetery. Its origins date to the 15th century, although local legends describe it as founded in 1219.

Initially built in a gothic style, it was later repaired and rebuilt featuring, among others, a baroque altar piece and paintings, a rococo pulpit, and 18th-century organ and bell tower.

St. Catherine Church
Dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, the church was built in 1346 by King Casimir the Great. It is the oldest existing church of the Podhale region.

The church has been damaged by numerous fires and military attacks, and subsequently rebuilt and renovated. The interior retains its baroque character, especially in the altar and side chapels, although numerous pieces are replicas of wooden originals lost to fire. A painting of St. Catherine from 1892 dominates the main altar.

Education

 * Podhalańska Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa in Nowy Targ

Ice hockey

 * Podhale Nowy Targ

Floorball

 * KS Szarotka Nowy Targ
 * KS Górale Nowy Targ

Nature reserves

 * Bor na Czerwonem - a reserve in Nowy Targ where the protected Drosera rotundifolia, Mountain Pine and Black Grouse grow.

Twin towns — Sister cities
Nowy Targ is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Radevormwald, Germany
 * 🇸🇰 Kežmarok, Slovakia
 * 🇫🇷 Évry, France
 * 🇮🇹 Roverbella, Italy

title: Nowy Targ


text:
Cobh

Cobh, known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of 14,418 inhabitants at the 2022 census, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's only dedicated cruise terminal. Tourism in the area draws on the maritime and emigration legacy of the town.

Facing the town are Spike and Haulbowline islands. On a high point in the town stands St Colman's, the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cloyne. It is one of the tallest buildings in Ireland, standing at 91.4 metres (300 ft).

Name
The village on Great Island was known as "Ballyvoloon", a transliteration of the Irish Baile Ui-Mhaoileoin (English: "O'Malone's town"), while the Royal Navy port, established in the 1750s, became known as "The Cove of Cork" or "Cove". The combined conurbation was renamed to "Queenstown", in 1849, during a visit by Queen Victoria. The name was changed to Cobh, during the Irish War of Independence, following the passing of a motion by the local administrative council on 2 July 1920. Cobh is a Gaelicisation of the English name Cove, and it shares the same pronunciation. It has no meaning in the Irish language.

In ancient times the area was known as Cuan an Neimheadh (the Harbour of Neimheidh), a figure in medieval Irish legend. Great Island was called Oileán Ard Neimheidh (the high or important island of Neimheidh).

Early history
According to legend, one of the first colonists of Ireland was Neimheidh, who landed in Cork Harbour over 1,000 years BC. He and his followers were said to have been wiped out in a plague, but the Great Island was known in Irish as Oilean Ard Neimheadh because of its association with him. Later it became known as Crich Liathain because of the powerful Uí Liatháin kingdom, who ruled in the area from Late Antiquity into the early 13th century. The island subsequently became known as Oilean Mor An Barra (the Great Island of Barry & Barrymore), after the Barry family who inherited it.

The village on the island was known in English as Ballyvoloon, overlooking "The Cove". In 1743 the British built a fort, later to become known as Cove Fort, to the east of the village. The settlement was first referred to as Cove village in 1750 by Smith the historian who said: "it was inhabited by seamen and revenue officials". The Cork directory of 1787 shows about thirty businesses in the town, including one butcher and one draper.

The Water Club established at Haulbowline in 1720 was the progenitor of the present Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC, now based in Crosshaven) and is the oldest yacht club in the world. The RCYC was based for many years in Cobh and the present Sirius Arts Centre used to be a clubhouse of the RCYC organisation. In 1966, the RCYC merged with the Royal Munster Yacht Club, retaining the name of the RCYC but moving its headquarters to those of the RMYC at Crosshaven at the other side of the harbour.

19th century
International upheaval led to Cobh undergoing rapid development in the early 19th century. Due to the natural protection of its harbour setting, the town became important as a tactical centre for naval military base purposes, never more so than at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Today, the Irish Naval Service headquarters is on Haulbowline Island facing Cobh.

The wars against the French led to the town, then usually known as Ballyvoloon or The Cove of Cork, being developed as a British naval port assigned an admiral. Many of the present-day buildings date from this time of build-up. George Brodrick, 5th Viscount Midleton engaged the English architect Decimus Burton to improve the streetscape and buildings during the 1840s. The eventual cessation of hostilities dented Cobh's prosperity for a while, but it soon became known as a health resort; many patients stayed here for their health because of the temperate climate. Amongst their number was Charles Wolfe, who wrote "The Burial of Sir John Moore After Corunna". Wolfe's body is buried in the Old Church Cemetery outside the town.

The Titanic
One of the major transatlantic Irish ports, the town was the departure point for 2.5 million of the 6 million Irish people who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950. On 11 April 1912, as Queenstown, it was the final port of call for the Titanic before she set out across the Atlantic on the last leg of her maiden voyage. She was assisted by the P.S. America and the P.S. Ireland, two ageing White Star Line tenders, along with several other smaller boats delivering first-class passengers' luggage. Some sources and local lore suggest that a Titanic crew member, John Coffey, a native of Cobh, left the ship at this time, thereby saving his life. 123 passengers boarded at Cobh, with only 44 surviving the sinking.

Penal transportation
Cobh was earlier a major embarkation port for men, women and children who were deported to penal colonies such as Australia. The Scots Church has since 1973 housed the Cobh Museum which holds records of such deportations in ships' log books. The Scots Church (a Presbyterian church until its 1969 closure) overlooks the harbour from where so many departed.

Shipbuilding
A significant shipbuilding industry was developed in the town. The remnants of the Verolme Shipyard today maintain many of the original cranes and hoists now forming part of industrial and maritime heritage.

The age of steam brought Cobh association with several milestones, including the first steam ship to sail from Ireland to England (1821) and the first steamship to cross the Atlantic (Sirius 1838), which sailed from Passage West.

RMS Lusitania and the First World War
Another ship to be associated with the town, the Cunard passenger liner RMS Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat off the Old Head of Kinsale while en route from the US to Liverpool on 7 May 1915. 1,198 passengers died, while 700 were rescued. The survivors and the dead alike were brought to Queenstown, and the bodies of over 100 who perished in the disaster lie buried in the Old Church Cemetery just north of the town. The Lusitania Peace Memorial is located in Casement Square, in front of the Arch Building housing the Cobh Library and Tourist Information Centre. During the First World War, Queenstown was a naval base for British and American destroyers operating against the U-boats that preyed upon Allied merchant shipping. Q-ships (heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks) were called Q-ships precisely because many were, in fact, fitted out in Queenstown. The first division of American destroyers arrived in May 1917, and the sailors who served on those vessels were the first American servicemen to see combat duty in the war. When that first convoy arrived in port after enduring a rough passage in what were little more than open boats, its members were met by a crowd of sailors and townspeople, thankful for their anticipated help towards stopping the U-boats that were blockading western Europe. Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, commander of the Coast of Ireland station, met the senior American officer, Commander Joseph Taussig, at the dock and inquired as to how soon the weatherbeaten American ships could be put to use. "We're ready now, sir!" was the widely quoted answer from the American.

The United States Navy established U.S. Naval Air Station Queenstown in February 1918. It operated flying boats during the last months of WW1, and closed in April 1919.

Due to its tactical military importance, under the terms of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, the port remained a UK sovereign base within the Irish Free State after 1922. Along with the other Treaty Ports, it was handed over to the government of the Irish Free State in 1938.

Economy and tourism
Tourism is a large employer in Cobh. Large cruise liners visit Cobh each year, mainly during the summer months, although many of the tourists are transported out of Cobh by bus to other tourist destinations. In all, almost 100,000 cruise liner passengers and crew arrive in the town each year when their ships berth right in the centre of the town at the Republic of Ireland's only dedicated cruise terminal. Tourist attractions are focused on the maritime and emigration legacy of the town and include the Queenstown Story at the Cobh Heritage Centre, Titanic Experience, Titanic Trail walking tour, Cobh Museum, Cobh Road Train, Spike Island tours and St Colman's Cathedral. The town has remained largely unchanged since RMS Titanic departed from Cork Harbour in 1912, with the streetscape and piers still much the same. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island. The latter is the headquarters of the Irish Naval Service, formerly a British naval base.

Cobh was home to Ireland's only steelworks, the former state-owned Irish Steel works which was closed by its buyer, Ispat International, in 2001. There is a controversy over the slag heap on the steelworks, where there are concerns that it may be leaching into the harbour. Another important employer in Cobh was the Dutch-owned Verolme Cork Dockyard, in Rushbrooke. It opened in 1960 but ceased operations in the mid-1980s. In 1981 the MV Leinster was built at Verolme for service on the Dublin – Holyhead route. The last ship built at Verolme was the Irish Naval Service's LÉ Eithne (P31). Ship repair work is still carried at Rushbrooke using the drydock and slip way carriages.

In the 21st century, a number of new developments were completed, such as a new retail park at Ticknock in 2008, and a leisure centre (with 25m swimming pool) in August 2007. In 2010, tours of Spike Island commenced, with tours leaving from Kennedy Pier, near the town centre.

Rail
Outside of the Dublin metropolitan area, Cobh is one of the few towns in Ireland served by a commuter train service. The town is one of two termini for Cork Commuter Services. The other is Midleton. Regular commuter services run between Cork city and Cobh, calling at, among others, Fota railway station, Carrigaloe railway station, and Rushbrooke railway station, along the way. Trains run every day and the journey time to Cork is under 25 minutes.

Cobh railway station opened, as Queenstown station, on 10 March 1862 and was renamed c. 1925.

Air
The nearest airport is Cork Airport, which can be reached in 20–30 minutes from Cobh via the R624 road and the N25 road.

Port
The Port Operations Centre for Cork Harbour is located in the town. The port's harbour pilot launches are based at the Camber - a pier and dock area at the eastern end of the town.

Roads
Currently there is only a single road (the R624) and road bridge that leads onto Great Island. This road bridge, Belvelly Bridge, was built at Belvelly in 1803 at one of the narrowest points in the channels around Great Island.

Cross River Ferry
In 1993 a Cross River Ferry was established which allowed cars and passengers to travel from Glenbrook near Monkstown to Carrigaloe on the Great Island. The crossing from Glenbrook to Carrigaloe takes four minutes and runs daily. Reservations are not required.

Local government and politics
In 1862, Queenstown Town Commissioners were established by a local act. In 1899, under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, this body became an urban district council. It was renamed Cobh Urban District in 1920. In 2002, under the Local Government Act 2001, it became Cobh Town Council.

In 2014, this local government body was abolished. Since then, the town has fallen within the responsibility of Cork County Council. Cobh Municipal District, one of eight municipal districts in the county, is represented by six elected councillors. As of the 2019 local election, these include 1 Labour Party, 2 Fine Gael, 1 Fianna Fáil, 1 Green Party and 1 independent councillor.

The town is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork East.

Arts and culture
The Sirius Arts Centre is a hub for the arts in Cobh and is located on the waterfront. It hosts cultural events and music concerts both in-house and around Cobh.

The Cobh Peoples Regatta is held every year around August, and includes onstage performances from local musicians and performers as well as a pageant to decide the 'Regatta Queen'. The festival typically ends with a fireworks display over the harbour.

Cobh was the setting for the 2009 Connor McPherson film The Eclipse, and also used as a filming location for the 1999 movie Angela's Ashes.

Education
Cobh has several primary and secondary schools, including Colaiste Muire secondary school and Carrignafoy Community College. Scoil Iosaef Naofa is a boys' primary school in the town, and has reached the Sciath na Scoil finals (in hurling and gaelic football) on several occasions.

Sport
Cobh GAA is the local GAA club, and has a centre for gaelic games at Carrignafoy.

Cobh Pirates RFC are the town's rugby union club, and compete at underage and other levels. The club celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2015. They play their home games at 'The Paddocks' in Newtown, where facilities include a gym, two playing pitches, a training pitch and a rubber training surface. The Cobh Pirates Ladies team was formed circa 2010.

The most noted football team in the area is Cobh Ramblers, where Roy Keane started-out before transferring to English side Nottingham Forest, and Stephen Ireland started his career with the club's underage, Springfield Ramblers. Cobh Ramblers play in the League of Ireland First Division, with home games at St Colman's Park.

Cobh Golf Club has an 18-hole championship course at Marino on the main R624 road into the town. Cobh is also home to one of the oldest existing tennis clubs in Ireland, Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, founded in 1870.

There are two coastal rowing clubs in the area, Cobh Fishermen and Rushbrooke Rowing Club, with the latter established in 1989. Other events on the water include the "Escape from Spike Island" triathlon, which was first held in 2012 and organised by Cobh Triathlon Club. It takes place annually in late summer.

People

 * Anne Elizabeth Ball (1808–1872) and Mary Ball (1812–1898), sisters and scientists in the history of phycology
 * Robert Ball (1802–1857) brother of Anne and Mary Ball, zoologist
 * Decimus Burton (1800–1881), English architect and designer of much of Cobh's streetscape
 * Nellie Cashman (1845–1925), gold prospector and philanthropist who was born near Cobh or at Midleton
 * Patsy Donovan (1865–1953), major league baseball player in the US
 * Charles Guilfoyle Doran (1835–1909), Fenian and clerk of works for the building of Cobh Cathedral, lived in the town most of his life
 * Jack Doyle (1913–1978), boxer, actor and singer
 * Frederick Edwards (1894–1964), recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * Joe English, round-the-world sailor and international yachtsman
 * Robert Forde (1875–1959), Antarctic explorer
 * Maeve Higgins, comedian
 * Stephen Ireland, former Manchester City and Republic of Ireland international footballer
 * Roy Keane, former Manchester United footballer, started his professional career with Cobh Ramblers
 * Ann Lovett (1968-1984), Irish schoolgirl who was born in Cobh. She later moved to County Cavan and subsequently to County Longford, where she died in January 1984 aged 15. The circumstances of her death caused a national scandal.
 * Sean McLoughlin, Hull City footballer
 * Elizabeth Louisa Moresby (1862–1931), fantasy writer
 * John O'Flynn, footballer
 * Fergus O'Rourke (1923–2010), zoologist resident in Cobh while Professor at University College Cork
 * Thomas H. O'Shea (1898–1962), Irish Volunteer and labour leader
 * Sonia O'Sullivan, silver medalist in the 5000 m race at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games
 * Fiona Shaw, actress, born here in 1958
 * Sinéad Sheppard, local councillor and former member of pop band Six
 * James Roche Verling (1787–1858), personal physician to Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile in St. Helena
 * Patrick Walsh (1931–2023), emeritus bishop of Down and Connor, originally from Cobh
 * Joseph Wheeler, 19th century founder of the Rushbrooke ship yard

Twin towns

 * Kolbuszowa, Poland
 * Ploërmel, France
 * Lake Charles, Louisiana, US
 * Pontarddulais, Wales

title: Cobh


text:
Nowy Sącz

Nowy Sącz (Újszandec; צאַנז; Nový Sonč; Neu Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid Sądecki Region as well as the third most populous city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

Names
Nowy Sącz has been known in German as Neu Sandez (older spelling Neu Sandec) and in Hungarian as Újszandec. The Rusyn name was Novyj Sanc. Its Yiddish names include צאַנז (Tsanz) and נײַ-סאַנץ (Nay-Sants).

History
Nowy Sącz was founded on 8 November 1292 by the Polish and Bohemian ruler Wenceslaus II, on the site of an earlier village named Kamienica. The foundation of Nowy Sącz took place due to the efforts of Bishop of Kraków, Paweł of Przemanków, who owned Kamienica. Upon request of the bishop, Wenceslaus II granted it Magdeburg rights, making it the only Polish town founded by the Bohemian king. Its name was taken from the nearby town of Stary Sącz. As early as 1329, the name was spelled Nowy Sandacz.

In the 14th and 15th century Nowy Sącz emerged as one of the most important economic and cultural centres of this part of the Kingdom of Poland. The town benefited from its proximity on the trade route to Hungary due to privileges granted by King Władysław I the Elbow-high, and later his son, Casimir III the Great, for supporting him during the Rebellion of wojt Albert in 1311–1312. During these times, the majority of the town's inhabitants were German colonists. In the 15th century it produced steel and woollen products, and nearly rivalled Kraków in visual arts. In 1329, Nowy Sącz signed a treaty with Kraków, upon which Kraków merchants, on their way to Hungary, had to stop at Nowy Sącz; Nowy Sącz merchants, on their way to Gdańsk, were obliged to stay at Kraków. In the mid-14th century, King Casimir the Great built a royal castle here and surrounded the town with a defensive wall. Nowy Sącz was the seat of a castellan and a starosta, becoming an important point in the system of defence of the southern border of Poland. The town was further elevated in 1448 when Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki promoted a local church to the status of a Collegiate. Nowy Sącz was a royal city of Poland, administratively located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown.

Nowy Sącz prospered in the Polish Golden Age (16th century). It was an important centre of the Protestant Reformation. Local leader of the Polish Brethren, Stanisław Farnowski, was very popular among local nobility. Good times ended in the 17th century. In 1611 a great fire destroyed much of the town, and during the Swedish invasion of Poland, the town was captured by the Swedes (late 1655), who burned and looted it. Nowy Sącz was a centre of the rebellion against the invaders.

Partitions of Poland

The decline of the town continued in the 18th century, when Nowy Sącz suffered more destruction during the Great Northern War and the Bar Confederation, when the castle was burned. In 1772, during the First Partition of Poland, the town was annexed by the Habsburg Empire and made part of newly formed Galicia, where it remained until November 1918. Nowy Sącz rose to new prominence in the 19th century when the Austrian authorities built a railway connecting it with Vienna (1880s). Nowy Sącz was the seat of a county, new buildings were opened, the town was a rail hub with a large rail repair shop opened in 1876.

On 17 April 1894, the central part of Nowy Sącz burned in a fire, with a town hall and ancient town records. At that time, the town was important in Hasidic Jewish history for the founding of the Sanz Hasidic dynasty during the 19th century, the precursor to the Bobov dynasty founded in nearby Bobowa (with a synagogue with occasional services by Kraków congregation) and the Klausenberg dynasty.

World wars
At the beginning of World War I, Nowy Sącz was occupied by the Russian Army. The Russians were driven back by the Central Powers in December 1914. In the final stages of the war, on 31 October – 1 November 1918, Poles stationed in the Austrian 10th Infantry Regiment in the city and local members of the secret Polish Military Organisation liberated it from Austrian rule, almost two weeks before Poland regained independence. Nowy Sącz and its surroundings, including Nowy Targ and Sanok, were claimed by the Lemko Republic (1918–1920) with capital in Florynka. Within interwar Poland the city saw industrial expansion and the railway factory expanded. In 1936, the Museum of Sącz Land was opened in the restored royal castle. Nowy Sącz had a population of around 34,000 in 1939.

During the invasion of Poland starting World War II, Nazi Germany carried out air raids on 1–2 September 1939, and then German troops entered the city on 6 September. Afterwards, the German Einsatzgruppe I entered the city to commit various atrocities against the population, and then its members co-formed the local German police and security forces. Under German occupation the city was made part of the General Government. Poles expelled in December 1939 from several villages in the German-annexed Sieradz County were deported in freight trains to Nowy Sącz, while many locals were among Poles imprisoned in the infamous Montelupich Prison in Kraków and then murdered in the Krzesławice Fort of the Kraków Fortress, as part of the Intelligenzaktion. Because of its proximity to Slovakia, it lay on a major route for resistance fighters of the Polish Home Army. The Gestapo was active in capturing those trying to cross the border, including the murder of several Polish pilots. In June 1940, the resistance rescued Jan Karski from a hospital there, and a year later 32 people were shot in reprisal for the escape; several others were sent to concentration camps.

The regional Jewish community numbered about 25,000 before World War II, and nearly a third of the town's population was Jewish; ninety per cent of them died or did not return. The Nowy Sącz Ghetto for around 20,000 Jewish people was established by the German authorities near the castle. Its inhabitants were deported aboard Holocaust trains to Belzec extermination camp over three days in August 1942 and murdered. Across the river in the Jewish Cemetery, 300–500 Polish people were executed for their participation in the sheltering of Jews. Several Poles were also held by the occupiers in the local prison for helping Jews, before being deported to concentration camps.

The Red Army fought its way into the city on 20 January 1945. The city was restored to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which remained in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. At war's end, about 60% of the city had been destroyed. Nowy Sącz was honoured for its heroism with the Cross of Grunwald, third class in 1946. In 1947 much of the Lemko population, living in villages southeast of the town, was deported in Action Vistula (mostly to land recently regained from Germany) in reaction to the nationalist Ukrainian activity in the region.

Geography
Nowy Sącz is located at the confluence of the Kamienica River and Dunajec, about 20 km north of the Slovak border, in the Sądecka Valley (Kotlina Sądecka) at an altitude of 381 m. It is surrounded by ranges of the eastern Outer Western Carpathian Mountains: Beskid Sądecki to the south, Beskid Wyspowy to the west, Beskid Niski to the southeast, and the foothills of Pogórze Rożnowskie to the north. The geological basis is Carpathian flysch – an undifferentiated grey-banded sandstone – with alluvial sediment from the Dunajec, Poprad, and Kamienica rivers in the valley basin.

Nowy Sącz is the governmental seat of Nowy Sącz County part of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Województwo Małopolskie since 1999. Between 1975 and 1998 it was the provincial seat of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship. Before that and during the Second Polish Republic, Nowy Sącz was a county seat in the Kraków Voivodeship. In 1951 it became a town with the rights of a county. It is the historic and tourist centre of Sądecczyzna, the Sądecki district.

Climate
Nowy Sącz has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) using the -3 C isotherm or a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb) using the 0 C isotherm. The climate is temperate, with an average annual rainfall of about 700 mm.

Economy
During the Polish communist regime, Nowy Sącz was the capital of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship (1975–98). In the 1950s the Polish authorities applied a special economic programme for the town, called the Nowy Sacz Experiment. The plan was to provide improvement and acceleration of the region's economic development, but it was only partially completed. The town was an important centre of the railway industry, and now contains one of the biggest railway engineering works in Poland. Since the social and political changes in Poland that started in 1989, the industry has faced economic problems.

Nowy Sącz is also important in the food industry, specialising in processing fruits, especially apples. Most of the factories were in the Biegonice district. Now the local government is trying to change the structure of the industry, restructuring old factories and encouraging new companies to start up. This initiative also includes a move to the hi-tech industry. Nowy Sącz had one of the first computer companies in Poland, with the largest assembly plant in Europe, but this has closed due to ownership friction with the government. The building trade is also represented in the town, which has a major European window-manufacturer. Like all the bigger towns in Lesser Poland, it has seen a significant influx of the largest European grocery chains.

A main economic problem now is the high level of unemployment which, officially about 20%, is one of the highest in the European Union. Recently the local government has tried to address the persistent economic and social problems of the local Romani community, including access to utilities and education.

Architecture
The city has many historic features, including one of the largest marketplaces in Europe after Kraków, along with one of the largest old squares in Poland
 * Ratusz (city hall) centred in the Market Square, built in the late 19th century
 * The partially restored ruins of a mediæval Royal Castle from the 14th century during the reign of Kazimierz the Great. It was destroyed in 1945 at the end of World War II when it was used as a German ammunition store and was the site of mass executions. There are also the remains of the city walls nearby.
 * Saint Margaret's Basilica (Bazylika kolegiacka Św. Małgorzaty), a Gothic church from the 14th century. The coat of arms shows St. Margaret and a dragon; her name day is 20 July.
 * A 15th-century Gothic House (Dom Gotycki) containing a regional museum.
 * Holy Spirit Church - Jesuit, former Premonstratensian Gothic (choir) and Baroque (nave)
 * Former Franciscan church - initially built in the 13th century and demolished after the suppression of the order by Joseph II. Until now only the Chapel of the Transfiguration (1654-1672) survived and serves as a Lutheran church
 * The Great Synagogue, dating from 1746. There is a memorial tablet on the front in Polish, Hebrew, and Yiddish. Across the Kamienica River is the Jewish cemetery.
 * St. Lawrence Church - Gothic Revial, built 1906-1909 according to the project by Jan Sas Zubrzycki
 * St. Casimir Church - Gothic Revial, built 1908-1912 according to the project by Teodor Talowski
 * Kolonia Kolejowa - company town from the late 19th century, built for the railway workers. Notable structires are the workers' club (Dom robotniczy) and the Sacred Heart Church (1897-1899, designed by Teodor Talowski)
 * Nowy Sącz railway station - opened in 1876, rebuilt in Art Nouveau style in 1909
 * Saint Roch, a church of wooden construction from the 15th century, in the Dąbrówka district. The old cemetery chapel St. Helen's Church is another example.
 * An open-air museum or skansen (Sądecki Park Etnograficzny), containing a village of relocated authentic structures recreating indigenous architecture, customs, and folk culture from the region. Of particular note are the wooden churches, including an Orthodox church and the Roma (Gypsy) village.

Tourism
The mountainous country around Nowy Sącz is also popular with tourists, hikers and skiers, especially the Beskid Sądecki mountains (part of the Carpathians), of which the highest peak is Radziejowa (1262 m above sea level). Nearby popular mountain resorts include Krynica-Zdrój and Piwniczna-Zdrój ("Zdrój" means "health spa"). 15 km north of Nowy Sącz is Lake Rożnów (Jezioro Rożnowskie), a reservoir (22 km long, covering an area of 16 km2, and having a capacity of 193,000,000 m3), with many dachas and camping sites. To the north of the lake is the Ciężkowice-Rożnów Landscape Park (Park Ciężkowicko-Rożnowski). An annual festival of dance featuring children from highland regions from around the world takes place in July.

Sports

 * Sandecja Nowy Sacz – a football team, currently in the Polish First Division
 * KS Dunajec/Start Nowy Sacz – a football team, playing in the local league
 * MKS Beskid Nowy Sącz – a handball team, playing in the Polish First Division
 * Olimpia Nowy Sacz – a handball team, playing in the Polish First Division
 * UKS Dwójka Nowy Sacz – a handball team, playing in the Polish Second Division
 * RC Czarno Biali – a rugby team, playing in the Polish Second Division
 * SKS Start Nowy Sącz – a whitewater kayaking club
 * NS Backyard Wrestling – a local wrestling federation

Education

 * Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu - National-Louis University — a business college with a strong emphasis on English. It has American accreditation.
 * Akademia Nauk Stosowanych (Academy of Applied Sciences)
 * Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości
 * ZSEM "Elektryk" Technikum nr 7, Technical Secondary School of Electronics and Mechatronics. Best school of that type in the whole of Poland in 2014 by Educational Foundation "Perspektywy" ratings.

Notable people

 * Arthur Berson (1859–1942), German meteorologist
 * Bolesław Barbacki (1891–1941), Polish painter, actor, director
 * Pinchas Burstein (1927–1977), later known as Maryan S. Maryan, Jewish-American artist and Holocaust survivor
 * Chaim Halberstam (1793–1876), Hasidic rebbe
 * Carl Menger (1840–1921), Founder of Austrian School of Economics
 * Władysław Hasior (1928–1999), Polish artist and sculptor
 * Dawid Janczyk (born 1987), Polish international football player
 * Majka Jeżowska (born 1960), Polish singer
 * Joanna Kanska (born 1959), Polish-British actress
 * Władysław Kiełbasa (1893–1939), lieutenant colonel in the Polish Army
 * Janusz Kowalik (born 1944), Polish footballer for KS Cracovia and first ever MVP of the NASL in 1968
 * Adam Kossowski (1905–1986), Polish artist
 * Władysław Lizoń (born 1954), Canadian Member of Parliament, Former National president of the Canadian Polish Congress
 * Aleksander Michał Lubomirski (?–1675), Starost of Nowy Sącz
 * Jerzy Aleksander Lubomirski (?–1735), Starost of Nowy Sącz
 * Stanisław Lubomirski (?–1585), Starost
 * Raphael Mahler (1899–1977), historian
 * Mariusz Mężyk (born 1983), footballer
 * Józef Ogórek (born 1948), Polish Sculptor
 * Józef Oleksy (1946–2015), Polish Prime Minister
 * Efraim Racker (1913–1991), biochemist
 * Zygmunt Tarło (c. 1561 or c. 1562–1628), Kasztelan of Nowy Sącz
 * Piotr Świerczewski (born 1972), Polish international football player

Twin towns – sister cities
Nowy Sącz is twinned with:

 * 🇺🇸 Columbia County, Georgia, United States
 * 🇵🇱 Elbląg, Poland
 * 🇧🇬 Gabrovo, Bulgaria
 * 🇭🇺 Kiskunhalas, Hungary
 * 🇳🇴 Narvik, Norway
 * 🇮🇱 Netanya, Israel
 * 🇸🇰 Prešov, Slovakia
 * 🇸🇰 Stará Ľubovňa, Slovakia
 * 🇺🇦 Stryi, Ukraine
 * 🇨🇳 Suzhou, China
 * 🇵🇱 Tarnów, Poland
 * 🇱🇹 Trakai, Lithuania
 * 🇫🇷 La Baule-Escoublac, France
 * 🏴 The Wirral, United Kingdom

title: Nowy Sącz


text:
Hongō, Tokyo

Hongō (本郷) is a district of Tokyo located in Bunkyō, due north of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and west of Ueno.

History
Hongō was a ward of the former city of Tokyo until 1947, when it merged with another ward, Koishikawa, to form the modern Bunkyō.

Transportation
Hongō-sanchōme Station (Marunouchi Line and Toei Oedo Line) is in the center of this Ward, which is main station of this ward.

Education
Hongō is home to the University of Tokyo, Juntendo and Toyo Gakuen Universities. There are many schools and universities in this ward and it has been regarded as a school zone since Meiji era.

Bunkyo Board of Education operates the local public elementary and middle schools.

Zoned elementary schools for parts of Hongo are:
 * Hongo (本郷小学校) for 1-2 and 4-5-chome
 * Yushima (湯島小学校) for 3 and 7-chome
 * Seishi (誠之小学校) for 6-chome

Zoned junior high schools for parts of Hongo include:
 * Hongo (本郷台中学校) for 1-5 and 7-chome
 * No. 6 (第六中学校) for 6-chome

Notable people

 * Yaoya Oshichi – greengrocer's daughter who was burned at the stake for arson in 1683.

title: Hongō, Tokyo


text:
Province of Hohenzollern

The Province of Hohenzollern (Hohenzollernsche Lande, Hohenzollern Lands) was a district of Prussia from 1850 to 1946. It was located in Swabia, the region of southern Germany that was the ancestral home of the House of Hohenzollern, to which the kings of Prussia belonged.

The Hohenzollern Lands were formed in 1850 from two principalities that had belonged to members of the Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern family. They were united to create a unique type of administrative district (Regierungsbezirk) that was not a true province – a Regierungsbezirk was normally a part of a province – but that had almost all the rights of a Prussian province. The Hohenzollern Lands lost their separate identity in 1946 when they were made part of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern following World War II.

History
The Catholic ruling houses of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen had hereditary treaties with Prussia that went back to 1695 and 1707 respectively. During the German Revolutions of 1848–1849, when the principalities' future came into question, King Frederick William IV of Prussia was initially reluctant to take them over. His historian and advisor Rudolf von Stillfried-Rattonitz told him that if he did not, the two Swabian princes "would inevitably have to throw themselves into the arms of the 400-year-old House of Württemberg, … [Prussia's] hereditary enemy", a disgrace that the king could not bear. In May 1849 he approved a treaty of annexation that was signed on 7 December 1849; the two princes abdicated the same day. The Prussian state took possession of Sigmaringen on 6 April 1850 and of Hechingen on 8 April. The two former principalities were then merged into one governmental district with administrative headquarters in the town of Sigmaringen.

The Hohenzollern Lands, with a total population of only about 65,500 in 1850, were smaller in size and less populous than any of the full Prussian provinces. The district was subordinate overall to ministries in Berlin, although since it had the status of a province, it was represented in the Prussian State Council (Staatsrat), and its district president was equal to the governors (Oberpräsidenten) of Prussian provinces. Many of its administrative functions, however, were the responsibility of the nearby Rhine Province.

During the Austro-Prussia War of 1866, the Hohenzollern Lands were occupied from 27 June to 6 August by troops from Württemberg, which fought with the German Confederation on the losing Austrian side of the war.

In 1875 Prussia established provincial associations (Provinzialverbänden), bodies of local self-government that were above the municipalities and the rural and urban districts, and that replaced the older, lower-level administrative districts. With their formation, the Hohenzollern Lands gained self-government through a Landeskommunalverband, a corporate body under public law for the self-administration of the district and for which a district parliament (Kommunallandtag) was elected. Both remained in existence until 1973. The Hohenzollern Lands' court of appeal until 1879 was in Arnsberg, about 450 km to the north. After that the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt am Main was responsible. Its military, higher education system and medical system were under the jurisdiction of the Rhine Province. The administration of the Sigmaringen district, which performed the tasks of a state government, was initially divided into the seven Hohenzollern upper bureaus (Oberämter) of Gammertingen, Haigerloch, Hechingen, Ostrach, Sigmaringen, Trochtelfingen and Wald. In 1925 the upper administrative districts (Oberamtsbezirke) Gammertingen, Haigerloch, Hechingen and Sigmaringen were combined to form the two new Oberämter, Hechingen and Sigmaringen.

In 1918, following World War I, the Hohenzollern Lands became a province of the Free State of Prussia, and their overall status remained unchanged during the life of the Weimar Republic. In 1933, after the Nazi seizure of power, all provincial functions were de facto suspended and provinces were placed under direct rule. The Hohenzollern Lands belonged to the Nazi Gau (territory) of Württemberg-Hohenzollern under Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter (Reich governor) of Württemberg Wilhelm Murr. The Hohenzollern Lands nevertheless formally remained a Prussian administrative district.

After World War II the area became part of the French occupation zone. In 1946 the military government united it with the southern part of the former state of Württemberg to form the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern with Tübingen as its capital. It became part of West Germany when it was established in 1949. The districts of Hechingen and Sigmaringen were retained, even when Württemberg-Hohenzollern was absorbed into Baden-Württemberg in 1952.

The Hohenzollern Lands' boundaries were lost during the district reform of Baden-Württemberg in 1973. Today the area is divided among nine rural districts (Landkreise) within three administrative districts, all of which include non-Hohenzollern areas. The majority lies in the Sigmaringen and Zollernalbkreis Landkreise, whose borders partly coincide, especially in the north, with those of the former Hohenzollern Lands.

title: Province of Hohenzollern