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Szczecin

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Template:Infobox Poland

Szczecin (['ʃʧɛtɕin]ⓘ; Template:Audio-de; Template:Lang-csb; Latin: Stetinum, Scecinum, and Sedinum) is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's sixth-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city has a total population of 420,638.

Szczecin is located on the Oder River (Odra), south of the Lagoon of Szczecin and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of Oder and on several large islands between western and eastern branch of the river.

Origins of the name

Early medieval sources show: Stetin 1133, Stetyn 1188, Priznoborus vir nobilis in Stetin, Symon nobilis Stettinensis 1234, in vico Stetin 1240, Barnim Dei gratia dux Pomeranorum... civitati nostri Stetin 1243, Stityn 1251, Sigillum Burgoncium de Stitin municipal seal of the 13th century, which is the same to the modern Polish spelling of Szczecin. The name is almost certainly of the same origin as others Polish names such as Szczytno, Szczucin and Szczuczyn. In Latin, the city was known as Stetinum.

 
City Hall

There are several possible etymologies of the city name:

  1. Szczecin comes from the word szczyt which means peak, hill top in modern Polish, but also a long shield in Old Polish. So Szczecin means a town located on a hill top, or a town fortified as a stronghold.
  2. Szczecin comes from a personal name Szczuka and means Szczuka's town
  3. Szczecin comes from a personal name Szczeta/Szczota and means Szczota's town
  4. Szczecin comes from a word szczecina which means bristle. So Szczecin is a town with many swines, or a town fortified like bristle. If this is true Szczecin could be identified with Burstaborg mentioned in Scandinavian chronicles.

Because in 1310 Duke Warcislaw IV of Pomerania had founded a new city called New Szczecin and Szczecinek is modelled after the Szczecin municipality, the original Szczecin was sometimes called Old Szczecin (Latin: Stetinum Antiqua, Template:Lang-pl; Template:Lang-de)

In the 16th century Polish literature used two alternative spellings: Szczecin (seems to be the exact pronunciation of the city name used by its Slavonic inhabitants, previously spelled in Latin as Stetin since the 12th century) and Sztetyn (seems to be a copy of the German pronunciation). The first form of Szczecin prevailed in the following years and was officially confirmed in the 19th century, long before the city became Polish in 1945.

Prior to 1945, the city, inhabited since the Late Middle Ages almost entirely by Germans, was known internationally and locally as Stettin, its German name.

History

Main article: History of Szczecin
 
The town's fortifications as seen in 1642
 
Harbour as seen in 1900
File:SZCZECINSTARYRATUSZ.JPG
The Old Town Hall, now the city's history museum
 
The Old Town was rebuilt in the late 1990s, consisting of new buildings, some of which were reconstructions of buildings destroyed in WWII

A stronghold of the Lusatian culture was here in the early Iron Age period. East Germanic tribes inhabited the area until about 200 AD. Another stronghold of the Slavic Pomeranians was built in the 8th century at the ford of the Oder River.

It was the main centre of a small Western Slavonic tribe living in the fork of the Oder river between the main branch and the Randow river. It is not certain if this tribe belonged to the Pomeranians who lived on the right bank of the Odra, or to the Polabians or Veleti who lived on the left bank of the Odra. It is also possible that Szczecin was controlled in some manner by both tribes. It is very likely that Mieszko I of Poland, who conquered Pomerania in the years 967–972, also took control of Szczecin and Wolin. Piasts rule in Stettin was overthrown by pagan counter-revolution around 1005. Most of the time, the Pomeranians kept their Slavic pagan faith. Several Triglav temples existed nearby.

After the decline of Wolin in the 12th century, Szczecin became one of the most important and powerful cities of the Baltic Sea south coasts, having some 5,000 inhabitants. In a winter campaign of 1121–1122, Szczecin was subjugated by Boleslaus II of Poland, who invited German bishop Otto of Bamberg to baptize the citizens (1124). In the next years it was subjugated by the Warcislaw I, duke of Pomerania, who organized the second visit of Bishop Otto in 1128. At this time the first Christian church of St. Peter and Paul was erected.

In the second half of the 12th century, a group of German tradesmen (from various parts of the Holy Roman Empire) settled in the city around St. Jacob's church, which was founded by Beringer, a trader from Bamberg, and consecrated in 1187. For centuries the dukes, oriented towards the west, invited West and Central German settlers to colonize Pomeranian wastelands and to found villages. Duke Barnim I granted a local government charter to this community in 1237, separating the Germans from the Slavic majority community settled around St. Nikolas church (in the neighbourhoods of Chyżyn, Upper Wik, Lower Wik). Full ___location charter under the Magdeburg law was granted to Szczecin (one Lusatian und two neigboring German settlements)in 1243 by Duke Barnim I Dobry of Pommerania.

Around that time the major ethnical group of Stettin changed from Slavic to German.

Stettin joined the German Hanseatic League in 1278. From 1309 on (under Duke Otto I) till the 1630s Stettin was the capital of the Duchy of Pomerania ruled by the Griffin dynasty, of Slavic origins, while the city and Western Pomerania became finally German.

After the extinction of the Griffin dynasty, Stettin, along with the rest of Western Pomerania, was granted to Sweden at the Peace of Westphalia (1648), despite the protests of the Elector of Brandenburg, who had a legal claim to inherit all of Pomerania. In 1720 after the Great Northern War, the Swedes were forced to cede the city to King Frederick William I of Prussia. Stettin became a major Prussian (and, after 1871 German) city. In 1939 Stettin had about 400,000 inhabitants and was Germany's third-biggest naval port (after Hamburg and Bremen) and of great importance for the supply and trade of Berlin.

In 1935 the German Wehrmacht established Stettin as the headquarters for Wehrkreis II, which controlled the military units in all of Mecklenburg and Pomerania. It was also the Area Headquarters for units stationed at Stettin I and II; Swinemünde; Greifswald; and Stralsund. Stettin was the home Station for the German 2nd Motorized Infantry Division, which took part in Invasion of Poland in 1939 cutting across the Polish Corridor. 65% of Stettin's buildings and almost all of the city centre, seaport, and industry were destroyed during the Allied air raids in 1944, and heavy fighting between the German and the Soviet Army (26 April 1945).

Stettin remained German until 1945, when the Soviet Red Army seized the city. Many of the city's inhabitants fled in fear of revenge and it was virtually deserted after being captured by Soviet army on Apr 26, 1945. Later, they returned, as it was undecided if the city would be in Poland, or in the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. In the aftermath of World War II the city became, unexpectedly and contrary to the Potsdam Conference, part of Poland due to the Polish army simply taking it.[citation needed] Most of Pomerania, including Stettin and the Oder mouth, was eventually given to Poland. Subsequently the remaining German population was expelled.

Polish authorities were lead by Piotr Zaremba. Many Germans had to work in the Soviet military camps that were outside Polish jurisdiction. In the 1950s most of Stettin's Germans were expelled from the city, although there was a significant German minority for the next 10 years. The number of inhabitants: 1939: 382,000 - 1945: 260,000 (German population expelled, war losses) - 1950: 180,000. In the 1950s most of Stettin's Germans were expelled from the city, although there was a significant German minority for the next 10 years.

In 1945 there was already a small Polish community consisting of the few Stettin citizens from before of WWII and the Polish enforced workers during WWII, who survived the war. Stettin was resettled with Poles, from every region of Poland mainly from the area around Poznań, where their homes had been destroyed during the German occupation and during fighting on the Eastern Front. The city was also resettled with Poles from Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. This settlement process was coordinated by the city of Poznań and Stettin was renamed Szczecin.

Old and new settlers did a great effort to raise the Szczecin from ruins, rebuild, reconstruct and extend the city's industry, residential areas but also the cultural heritage (e.g the Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in Szczecin), and it was still harder to do this under the communist regime. Szczecin became a major industrial centre of and a principal seaport not only for Poland (especially the Silesian coal) but also for Czechoslovakia and East Germany. It witnessed anti-communist revolts in 1970 and 1980 and participated in the birth of Solidarity movement. Since 1999 Szczecin has been the capital of West Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Dukes of Szczecin

Famous residents

Before 1945

After 1945

  • Kasia Nosowska (born 1971), singer of Szczecin-based rock band Hey
  • Katarzyna Halabura (born 1977), Senior Library Assistant for Wandsworth Council, is widely considered one of the top ten librarians in London in 2006.

Historical population

12th century: 5,000 inhabitants
1720: 6,000 inhabitants
1740: 12,300 inhabitants
1816: 21,500 inhabitants
1843: 37,100 inhabitants
1861: 58,500 inhabitants
1872: 76,000 inhabitants
1890: 116,228 inhabitants
1910: 236,000 inhabitants
1939: 382,000 inhabitants
1945: 260,000 inhabitants (German population largely expelled, war losses.)
1950: 180,000 inhabitants (drop due to continuing expulsion of Germans)
1960: 269,400 inhabitants (resettling of Poles)
1970: 338,000 inhabitants
1975: 369,700 inhabitants
1980: 388,300 inhabitants
1990: ?
2000: 415,748 inhabitants
2002: 415,117 inhabitants
2003: 414,032 inhabitants
2004: 411,900 inhabitants

Architecture and urban planning

Szczecin's architectural style is mainly influenced by those of the last half of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century: Academic art and Art Nouveau. In many areas built after 1945, social realism is prevalent.

Urban planning of Szczecin is unusual. The first thing observed by a newcomer is abundance of green areas: parks and avenues – wide streets with trees planted in the island separating opposite traffic (where often tram tracks are laid); and roundabouts. This makes Szczecin's city project quite similar to that of Paris. The reason is, Szczecin (like Paris) was rebuilt in the 1880s using a design by Georges-Eugène Haussmann.

This course of designing streets in Szczecin is still used, as many recently built (or modified) city areas include roundabouts and avenues.

Politics and administration

Municipal politics

Szczecin is governed by the city council and the mayor. The mayor (prezydent miasta), as well as the council, is elected by the city's citizens every four years.

Marian Jurczyk, Solidarity icon, is Szczecin's mayor. His achievements are however widely criticised and he is blamed for over 10 millions zlotys compensations which city must pay for canceling the land selling deal, his lack of formal education, and his apparent cluelessness in many important matters. Jurczyk's famous errors includes forgetting the name of his own deputy he just nominated or quoting Jesus in his speech to the council.

Because of this criticism recall voices of recall were raised. On 23 March 2004 necessary 32,000 signatures were received by Recall Committee. Recall referendum took place on 23 May 2004. However the necessary 30% turnout wasn't reached as only 19% of voters cast their ballots. An overwhelming majority of those voting (92%), supported mayor's recall. This means that current political situation is quite difficult.

Municipal administration

The city is administratively divided into boroughs (dzielnica), which are further divided into smaller neighbourhoods. The governing bodies of the latter serve the role of auxiliary local government bodies called Neighborhood Councils (Polish: Rady Osiedla). Elections for Neighborhood Councils are held up to six months after each City Council elections. Attendance is rather low (on 13 April 2003 it ranged from 1.03% to 27.75% and was 3.78% on average). Councillors are responsible mostly for small infrastructure like trees, park benches, playgrounds, etc. Other functions are mostly advisory. Official list of districts

 
Modern division onto boroughs

Dzielnica Śródmieście (City Centre)

Centrum, Drzetowo-Grabowo, Łękno, Międzyodrze-Wyspa Pucka, Niebuszewo-Bolinko, Nowe Miasto, Stare Miasto, Śródmieście Północ, Śródmieście-Zachód, Turzyn

Dzielnica Północ (North)

Bukowo, Golęcino-Gocław, Niebuszewo, Skolwin, Stołczyn, Warszewo, Żelechowa

Dzielnica Zachód (West)

Głębokie-Pilchowo, Gumieńce, Krzekowo-Bezrzecze, os.Arkońskie-Niemierzyn, Osów, Pogodno, Pomorzany, Świerczewo, os.Zawadzkiego-Klonowica

Dzielnica Prawobrzeże (Right-Bank)

Bukowe-Klęskowo, Dąbie, Majowe-Kijewo, Płonia-Śmierdnica-Jezierzyce, Podjuchy, os.Słoneczne, Wielgowo-Sławociesze, Załom, Zdroje, Żydowce-Klucz

Other historical neigbourhoods

Babin, Barnucin, Basen Górniczy,Błędów, Boleszyce, Bystrzyk, Cieszyce, Cieśnik, Dolina, Drzetowo, Dunikowo, Glinki, Grabowo, Jezierzyce, Kaliny, Kępa Barnicka, Kijewko, Kluczewko, Kłobucko, Kniewo, Kraśnica, Krzekoszów, Lotnisko, Łasztownia, Niemierzyn, Odolany, Oleszna, Podbórz, Port, os.Przyjaźni, Rogatka, Rudnik, Sienna, Skoki, Słowieńsko, Sosnówko, Starków, Stoki, Struga, Śmierdnica, os.Świerczewskie, Trzebusz, Urok, Widok, Zdunowo.

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) from Szczecin

Economy

 
PAZIM building
File:SZCZECINGALAXY.JPG
One of Szczecin's most important recent developments has been the Galaxy Centrum shopping center

Szczecin has the biggest shipyard in Poland, which recently went bankrupt and was successfully reinstated. It has a fishing industry and a steel mill. It is served by Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport and by the Port of Szczecin, third biggest port of Poland. It is also home to several major companies. Among them is the major food producer Drobimex, Polish Steamship Company, producer of construction materials Komfort, Bosman brewery and Cefarm drug factory. It also houses several of the new business firms of the IT branch, among them the Vobis Microcomputer group and the home.pl web portal.

Culture

Major cultural events in Szczecin are:

  • Days of the Sea (Polish Dni Morza) held every June
  • Street Artists Festival (Polish Festiwal Artystów Ulicy) held every July
  • Days of The Ukrainian Culture (Polish Dni Kultury Ukraińskiej) held every May.
  • Air show on Dabie airport held every May

Museums

  • National Museum in Szczecin (Polish Muzeum Narodowe w Szczecinie) collects arts, old jewelry, military equipment. It has three branches:
    • Museum of the City of Szczecin (Polish Muzeum Miasta Szczecina)
    • Maritime Museum (Polish Muzeum Morskie)
    • Gallery of Contemporary Arts (Polish Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej)
  • Museum of the Szczecin Archidiocese (Polish Muzeum Archidiecezjalne w Szczecinie) collects sacral arts and historical documents

Arts and Entertainment

  • Bismarck tower Szczecin
  • Kana Theatre (Polish Teatr Kana)
  • Modern Theatre (Polish Teatr Współczesny)
  • Opera in the Castle (Polish Opera na Zamku)
  • Polish Theatre (Polish Teatr Polski)
  • The Pomeranian Dukes' Castle in Szczecin (Polish Zamek Książąt Pomorskich w Szczecinie)
    • The Castle Cinema (Polish Kino Zamek)
    • The Cellar by the Vault Cabaret (Polish Kabaret Piwnica przy Krypcie)
    • The Crypt Theatre (Polish Teatr Krypta)

Education and science

Scientific and regional organizations

Sports

There are many popular professional sports team in Szczecin area. The most popular sport today is probably football (thanks to Pogon Szczecin just promoted to play in the 1st league in season 2004/2005). Amateur sports are played by thousands of Szczecin citizens and also in schools of all levels (elementary, secondary, university).

Professional teams

Pogoń Szczecin, Polish football club
Pogoń Szczecin, Polish football club

Amateur leagues

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Szczecin.

Internet guides

Regional media

History and culture

Economy and transportation

Education and Science

Sports

Local Businesses

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