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(Redirected from Kolberg)
:''For the 1945 German film see Kolberg (film).''
'Kołobrzeg' (; ; ; ) is a city in Middle Pomerania in north-western Poland with some 50,000 inhabitants (as of 2000). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast of the Baltic Sea (in the middle of the section divided by the Oder and Vistula Rivers). It has been the capital of Kołobrzeg County in West Pomeranian Voivodship since 1999, and previously was in Koszalin Voivodship (1950-1998).

Contents

History

Millennium Memorial

Tourist destination

Notable residents

External links

History

'Historical population
of Kołobrzeg'

1940		36,800
1945		3,000
1950		6,800
1960		16,700
1970		26,000
1975		31,800
1980		38,200
1990		45,400
1995		47,000
2000		~50,000
2002		47.500
2004		45.500
2006		44.000

[1]
The city was founded in the 9th century, but traces of a previous settlement exist from the 6th century. In its early history, it was a major port on the Baltic Sea and produced much salt, which was then one of the most expensive trading goods. The city with the rest of Pomerania was conquered several times, and first included (or possibly re-included, as new archaeological finds seem to indicate) into the Polish realm by Mieszko I of Poland in 972. Its old Slavic name came from words "kół" and "brzeg"" meaning a settlement surrounded by woodden defensive wall, and was later germanised' into Kolberg[2].
The chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, written between 1012 and 1018 to cover the period since 908, mentions the town as ''salsa Cholbergiensis'' as the seat of a bishop, Reinbern from Saxony (''Hochseegau'' [3]). After the Congress of Gniezno in 1000, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III granted the archdiocese of Gniezno the right to form a separate church hierarchy, with Kolberg as one of the dioceses. Direct links with the Polish kingdom ended when Bolesław I withdrew his troops from the area around 1013, driven out by pagan Pomeranians unwilling to convert to Christianity.
A century later (1107-1108), the town was taken by Duke of Poland Bolesław III Wrymouth. A diocese was in existence in 1124 under Prince-Bishop Otto of Bamberg. In the late 12th century Pomerania gave homage to Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire.
On May 23, 1255, the city was chartered under Lübeck law by Duke of Pomeriania Warcislaw III, and more German settlers from the Holy Roman Empire arrived. In 1361, Kolberg joined the Hanseatic League.
From 1637 till 1721 Pomerania and Kolberg were part of the Swedish Kingdom (the king of Sweden being also a duke of the German Empire), and after the Great Northern War they became part of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1761 the city was captured by the Russian commander Peter Rumyantsev during the Seven Years' War, but at the end of the war it was returned to Prussia.
During Napoleon's invasion of Prussia, the city was besieged by French armies from April 26 to July 2, 1807. The city, defended by forces led by then Lieutenant-Colonel Gneisenau, held out until the war was ended by the Treaty of Tilsit. This event was used shortly before the end of the Second World War by Joseph Goebbels for the last Nazi propaganda film ''Kolberg''. The film was meant to inspire the Germans with its depiction of the heroic Prussian defence of the city in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. Tremendous resources were devoted to filming this epic, even diverting tens of thousands of troops from the front lines to have them serve as extras in battle scenes. Ironically, the film was released in the final few weeks of Nazi Germany's existence, when most of the country's cinemas were already destroyed.

In 1944 the city was designated a stronghold – ''Festung Kolberg''. In 1945, most of the inhabitants and tens of thousands of refugees from surrounding areas (about 70,000 were trapped in the Kolberg pocket), as well as 40,000 German soldiers were evacuated from the besieged city by German naval forces in ''Operation Hannibal''.
Only abouth two thousands soldiers were left on the 17th of March to cover last sea transports.
Between 4 March and 18 March 1945, there were major battles between the Soviet and Polish forces and the German army. Due to a lack of anti-tank weapons, German battleships used their guns to support the defenders of Kolberg until nearly all of the soldiers and civilians had been evacuated. On the 18th of March, the Polish Army re-enacted ''Poland's Wedding to the Sea'' ceremony, which had been celebrated for the first time in 1920 by general Józef Haller.
The devastated city, along with all of the province of Pomerania east of the Oder river, was awarded to Poland by the Potsdam Conference. The remaining German population was either expelled or murdered by Soviet forces after their victory. The city was then resettled with Poles and many of the historic buildings eventually restored.

Millennium Memorial

In 2000 the city business council of Kolobrzeg commissioned ''"The Millenium Memorial"'' as a commemoration of 1000 years of Christianity in Pomerania, and as a tribute to Polish-German Reconciliation, celebrating the meeting of Boleslaw I, king of Poland and Otto III, king of Germany, at the Congress of Gniezno, in the year 1000.
It was designed and built by the artist Wiktor Szostalo in welded stainless steel. The two figures sit at the base of 15' tall cross, cleft in two and being held together by a dove holding an olive branch. It is installed outside the Basilica Cathedral in the city center.

Tourist destination

Kołobrzeg today is a popular tourist destination for both Poles and the Germans. It provides a unique combination of a seaside resort, health resort, an old town full of historic monuments and tourist entertainment options (e.g. numerous "beer gardens").
The town is part of the European Route of Brick Gothic[4] network, and located at a seaside bike path, the longest in Poland, commissioned on July 14, 2004. The path extends from Kołobrzeg to Podczele. It provides unique views of woods, beaches, swamps, impenetrable thickets, bird nesting grounds, and more. The path has been financed by the European Union.
An international airport was planned to be built 7 kilometres from Kołobrzeg in Bagicz. However, due to the protests of local population, the project has been scrapped.

Notable residents

★ Karl Wilhelm Ramler (1725-1798), poet

★ Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935), physician

★ Paul Oestreich (1878-1959 ), educator

★ Egon Krenz (born 1937), politician

External links

★ Municipal website , and

★ A Few Views of Kolobrzeg in Old Postcards