Babimost (; ) is a town in Zielona Góra County, Lubusz Voivodeship, western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Babimost. Babimost has an area of , In the mid-17th century, the starost of Babimost was Krzysztof Żegocki, who during the Swedish invasion of Poland was the first to organize a guerrilla unit to fight the invading forces and became famous in the battles of Kościan and Jasna Góra, thus earning the title of the "First Partisan of the Commonwealth". During the war, which was part of the Second Northern War, Babimost was devastated by Swedish troops in 1656. The reconstruction of a synagogue is documented around 1700, a Protestant church was erected in 1782. The inhabitants were mainly shoe manufacturers, linen producers and hop (beer) and wine producers.

Upon the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, the town fell to Prussia. After the successful Greater Poland uprising of 1806, it was regained by the Poles and included within the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it again passed to Prussia, and was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Posen. Prussians conducted a policy of Germanisation towards the local population.

After the Vistula–Oder Offensive of the Red Army in the late days of World War II, large parts of the town lay in ruins. In 1945, Babimost was reintegrated with Poland and its German inhabitants were to be expelled by the new administration in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. However, with Polish and German ethnicities coexisting over centuries, no clear division between Poles and Germans could be made, so that the majority of those who were to be expelled, could stay by renouncing any German language and culture.

Sports

The local football club is Klon Babimost. It competes in the lower leagues.

The local floorball club is Fenomen Babimost.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Babimost.

See also

  • Zielona Góra Airport

References

  • Bulletin of Public Information of Gmina Babimost
  • Jewish community of Babimost on Virtual Shtetl