Stargard ([ˈstarɡart]ⓘ; 1945: Starogród, 1950–2016: Stargard Szczeciński; German: Stargard in Pommern or Stargard an der Ihna; Kashubian: Stôrgard) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 2021 it was inhabited by 67,293 people.[1] It is situated on the Ina River. The city is the seat of the Stargard County, and, extraterritorially, of the municipality of Stargard. It is the second biggest city of Szczecin agglomeration. Stargard is a major railroad junction, where the southwards connection from Szczecin splits into two directions: towards Poznań and Gdańsk.
Etymology
The city's name is of Pomeranian (Kashubian) origin and stands for old (stari) town/city (gard or gôrd).[2]
In this meaning, the term gard is still being used by the only surviving Pomeranian language speakers, the Kashubs. However, some experts say that the name is of proto-Norse origin: starn (star) and gate (as in English).[3]
The settlement was founded in the 8th century at the site of the present-day district of Osetno near downtown Stargard.[4] In 967 it became part of the emerging Polish state under the first Polish rulers from the Piast dynasty.[4][5] Stargard was first mentioned in 1124,[6] when it was part of Poland under Bolesław III Wrymouth. A church was founded in 1140.[7] Stargard received Magdeburg city rights in 1243 from Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania.
It was one of the most important towns and a major trade centre of the Duchy of Pomerania, after it split off from Poland as a result of the 12th-century fragmentation of Poland. From 1283, the city had a port at the mouth of the Ina River in the nowadays abandoned village of Inoujście.[6] Defensive city walls were built in the 13th century and expanded in the 14th, 15th and early 16th centuries.[8] In 1363 the city joined the Hanseatic League.
As a result of the ongoing fragmentation of Pomerania, in 1368 Stargard became part of the Duchy of Słupsk (Pomerania-Stolp) and in 1377 it became the capital of a separate eponymous duchy, which in 1403 fell back to Duchy of Słupsk, a vassal state of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1478 Stargard became part of the reunified Duchy of Pomerania.
In the meantime, the trade rivalry with the nearby city of Szczecin led to the outbreak of the Stargard-Szczecin war in 1454,[6] which ended in 1464. In 1477 Stargard helped Duke Wartislaw X recapture the town of Gartz during a Brandenburgian invasion.[9]
Modern period
Stargard in the 17th century
Stargard was part of the Duchy of Pomerania until its dissolution after the death of the last duke Bogislaw XIV in 1637.[6] During the Thirty Years' War the city was captured by Sweden in 1630.[8] It was besieged by the troops of the Holy Roman Empire in 1635,[10] and in order to hamper the attacks the Swedish commander set fire to the suburbs, causing a city fire, however, it was still captured by imperial troops.[11] In 1636 it was recaptured by the Swedes, then it was taken and plundered by Imperial troops to fall back to the Swedes again after the Battle of Wittstock.[12] In 1637 it was again captured by Imperial troops and then by Sweden.[12] As a result of the war, the population decreased by about 75%.[13]
As a result of the unification of Germany in 1871 the city became part of the German Empire. On 1 April 1901 it became an independent city, separate from the Saatzig District. According to the Prussian census of 1905, Stargard had a population of 26,907, of which 97% were Germans and 3% were Poles.[15] During World War I, the Germans operated a prisoner-of-war camp in Stargard, which housed in total some 50,000 POWs, including Russian (including ethnic Poles from the Russian Partition of Poland conscripted to the Tsarist army), French (including Algerians), Belgian, American, English, Serbian, Romanian, Portuguese, Italian and Japanese.[16] In interwar Germany, the town was the site of a concentration camp for unwanted Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.[17] The Stargarder Zeitung was as a local newspaper published in Stargard. In the March 1933 German federal election the Nazi Party received 58.7% of the vote in the city.[18]
In February 1945, one of the last German armoured offensives, Operation Solstice, was launched from the Stargard area. The local population was evacuated by the Germans on the order of Heinrich Himmler before the approaching Soviets in the final stages of the war.[13][4]
In 1950 the city was renamed Stargard Szczeciński by adding the adjective Szczeciński after the nearby city of Szczecin to distinguish it from Starogard Gdański in Gdańsk Pomerania.[13] In 1961 the city limits were expanded by including the settlement of Kluczewo as a new district.[6]
In 1979 the city suffered a flood.
In 1993 the city celebrated the 750th anniversary of receiving city rights.[13]
In 2004 a north-western part of the town was made into an industrial park - Stargardzki Park Przemysłowy. Another industrial park is located in the south - Park Przemysłowy Wysokich Technologii.
On January 1, 2016, the town was renamed back to Stargard.[25]
Heavy bombing during World War II devastated most of Stargard's fine historical sites and destroyed over 75% of the city. Some of these monuments, such as St. Mary's Church (13th–15th centuries) and the 16th-century town hall, have been rebuilt.[26] The newly restored buildings are on the European Route of Brick Gothic. Some of the notable surviving examples include:
Baroque guardhouse at the marketplace, now housing a museum
Panorama Park with the Panorama Palace
Holy Spirit church
Church of the Transfiguration
War cemetery where about 5,000 soldiers of various nationalities were buried during World War I and II: Polish, French, Serbian/Yugoslav, Russian/Soviet, Italian, Romanian, Belgian, British, Moroccan, Portuguese and Dutch
^ ab"Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Data for territorial unit 3214011.
^Brücker, Aleksander (1927). Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish). oboczne gard zachowały nazwy na Pomorzu (Stargard, 'starogród', ...)
^Kociuba, Jarosław (2012). Pomorze - Praktyczny przewodnik turystyczny po ziemiach Księstwa Pomorskiego (in Polish). Szczecin: Walkowska Wydawnictwo. p. 422. ISBN9788361805496.
^ abc"O powiecie". BIP Starostwo Powiatowe w Stargardzie (in Polish). Retrieved 30 May 2020.
^Labuda, Gerard (1993). "Chrystianizacja Pomorza (X–XIII stulecie)". Studia Gdańskie (in Polish). Vol. IX. Gdańsk-Oliwa. p. 47.
^ abcdefg"Stargard". Encyklopedia PWN (in Polish). Retrieved 14 February 2020.
^ abGrzegorz Podruczny Niezrealizowane projekty twierdzy w Stargardzie, "Stargardia X" (2015), p. 282 (in Polish)
^Kratz, Gustav (1865). Die Städte der Provinz Pommern. Abriss ihrer Geschichte, zumeist nach Urkunden. Berlin. p. 363.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Aniszewska, Jolanta (2011). "W obowiązku pamięci... Stalag II D i formy upamiętnienia jeńców wojennych w Stargardzie Szczecińskim". Łambinowicki rocznik muzealny (in Polish). 34. Opole: 11. ISSN0137-5199.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2009). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 1210, 1226. ISBN978-0-253-35328-3.
^Chrzanowski, Bogdan (2022). Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 (in Polish). Gdańsk: IPN. p. 25. ISBN978-83-8229-411-8.
The list includes the 107 urban municipalities governed by a city mayor (prezydent miasta) instead of a town mayor (burmistrz) · Cities with powiat rights are in italics · Voivodeship cities are in bold
Poland
West Pomeranian Voivodeship
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